RPW Exclusive: Tyler Walker Eyeing Return To Eldora Speedway For Kings Royal Week With Rutherford Motorsports
Column By: DYLAN TERRY / RPW – ROSSBURG, OH – It’s actually happening folks. Tyler Walker is returning to the Eldora Speedway for Kings Royal week.
After starting to resurrect his sprint car driving career earlier this summer, the winner of the 2011 Kings Royal will be making his first start at “the Big E” with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series since the 2012 season, while also making his debut with High Limit Racing.
Fresh off of running Pennsylvania Speedweek in the #19R car owned by Ron Rutherford, Walker will again be teaming up with Rutherford for the entirety of the upcoming Kings Royal week at Eldora which takes place on July 16th-19th.
This time around will be slightly different however. Instead of running Rutherford’s #19R, Walker will instead be piloting a #69 “meme-themed” Puppets Powered car. The car is sponsored by Bitcoin Puppets, which is a meme-loving community that has become one of the most recognizable in the Bitcoin virtual currency ecosystem.
The #69 hot rod features many bright colors and features a cartoonish/coloring book type of look and is also lettered with the iconic comic sans font, which is easily recognizable to many people.
It is a fitting scheme for Walker, who has had a one of kind career.
After being one of the hottest and most talented prospects in dirt racing early on in his career, Tyler had a fall from grace during the early 2010’s.
Walker had seemingly “disappeared” from the public limelight from around 2013 up until this year. He had dealt with numerous off track struggles such as arrests, homelessness and a continuous battle with substance addiction.
Many fans had thought we had seen the last of the kid from Hermoso Beach, California in the racing world before Walker had started to reemerge earlier on this season.
Reinvigorated and rejuvenated, the now 45 year old has seemingly kept his nose out of trouble and is starting to put his life back together piece by piece.
During PA Speedweek with Rutherford, Tyler turned his first laps back behind the wheel of a 410 sprint car in a number of years. Walker tallied finishes of 17th at Lincoln, and 23rd at Hagerstown while also having B-Main exits at Williams Grove, Path Valley and both shows at Port Royal. He was also was the hard charger during that show at Lincoln, advancing six positions.
While the results didn’t necessarily go the way they had hoped, it is a very tall task to come out after a hiatus and be firing on all cylinders against a group of locals as strong as the “Pennsylvania Posse”. They’re amongst the best in the country when it comes to giving both national touring series’ a run for their money.
It will be very exciting to see King Tyler the XXVIII back at the famous half mile in Rossburg, OH where he secured one of, if not the biggest victories in his entire career with the “greatest show on dirt” fourteen years prior.
It will be some tough competition and likely an uphill battle with over 63 entries already announced as of Thursday, but Tyler is looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity to trade slide jobs with the best in the business once again.
Most importantly, he is looking forward to being back, back to a place that has meant so much to him and his career, the Eldora Speedway.
