WS: Bud Kaeding ready to tackle Eldora

Bud Kaeding, the 20-year-old son of California racer Brent Kaeding, looks forward to this weekend's Stoops Freightliner USAC Sprint Car openers in Ohio and Indiana. Kaeding won last year's USAC Western Sprint Car title and will concentrate on the National championship this season. The "Don Branson/Jud Larson Classic" at the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio and the "Glen Niebel Classic" at the Anderson (Ind.) Speedway serve as the series debuts, combining dirt and pavement in an action-packed weekend of racing. Saturday night's "Branson/Larson" race at Eldora's 1/2-mile dirt oval continues a tradition begun in 1981 when Dave Peperak won the inaugural 30-lap feature. Last year's Western Sprint Car campaign produced seven feature wins for Kaeding but all were on the pavement. Six came at Irwindale (CA) Speedway in only seven starts there! Sunday's "Glen Niebel Classic" at Anderson's 1/4-mile paved oval might be more to Kaeding's liking. The 50-lap feature there caps an afternoon of events which also includes MCI WorldCom National Midget Car competition and Kaeding plans to compete in both ends of the "doubleheader." Defending Stoops Freightliner Sprint Car Champ Dave Darland of Kokomo, Ind. leads a field of top drivers into the two season openers. He'll be joined by Derek Davidson, Eric Gordon, Tracy Hines, Tony Elliott and Jack Hewitt, among others. Practice at Eldora gets under way at 6:30 pm, with qualifying at 7 and racing at 8. The feature is a 30-lapper. Sunday's Anderson events kick off with Midget Car practice at 10:30 am. Qualifying starts at 12:30 pm and the first race is set for 2.

--USAC--