DEATH NEWS :ELDORA SPEEDWAY GENERAL MANAGER LEVI JONES HAVE JUST BEEN CONFIMED D….
The appointment serves as a homecoming for Jones, with the 42-year-old from Olney, Illinois, having raced for Eldora Speedway owner Tony Stewart in the United States Auto Club (USAC) from 2006 until the midpoint of 2013, winning six of his seven USAC championships with Tony Stewart Racing.
Jones comes to Eldora from IndyCar, where he has been director of Indy NXT, the stepping-stone division to the flagship NTT IndyCar Series. Prior to his three-year tenure at IndyCar, Jones held numerous competition and executive positions with USAC, rising from national series competition director in 2015-2019 to executive vice president from 2019 until October 2021 when he joined IndyCar.
Jones will officially begin his general manager role at Eldora on Sept. 16 following IndyCar’s season finale at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.
“On behalf of everyone at Eldora Speedway, we’re excited and grateful to have Levi Jones as our general manager,” Stewart said. “Levi has always held Eldora in high regard, both as a racer and as an executive. Now in his role as general manager, he combines a racer’s perspective with excellent managerial and promotional experience earned in USAC and IndyCar. Our fans and competitors should know that Eldora is in very good hands, just as it had been before.
“We had a terrific leader in Jerry Gappens, and all of us were devastated by his passing. I’m incredibly proud of the entire staff who stepped up in what has been a very trying time. At numerous points this summer, we all asked, ‘What would Jerry have done?’ as we worked to put our best foot forward.
“I want to especially thank Jonathan Bateman, who has worn nearly every hat and done every job at Eldora since joining us in 2006. He became our interim general manager after Jerry passed, and he had less than two weeks to get ready for one of our biggest races, the Dirt Late Model Dream. He was an absolute pro, and the Dream and our summer slate of racing wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the experience and work ethic Jonathan brings to Eldora every day.”
