Dayton, OH — The stage is set for the fourth annual Hoosiers vs. Buckeyes Driving Challenge to take place at Hollywood Dayton Raceway on Saturday night (Dec. 15).

The Buckeyes prevailed in the first annual contest in 2015 and held on for a narrow 351-333 triumph in the third edition in 2017. The Hoosiers captured the competition in its second year in 2016 and will look to even the score following this year’s clash.

The Hoosier squad will be captained by Trace Tetrick, the all-time leading driver at Hoosier Park as well as the winner of the second annual North American Drivers Challenge at Miami Valley Raceway last January. Tetrick once again topped the Hoosier Park dash standings in 2018 with 309 victories and a 19.1 percent win percentage. Tetrick’s teammates will be Ricky Macomber Jr. (157 wins at Hoosier), LeWayne Miller (127), Mike Oosting (120) and Brandon Bates (112).

Jeremy Smith has earned the right to captain the Buckeyes’ squad as the leading driver at the current Hollywood Dayton Raceway meet. Through Dec. 2, Smith had won 123 races as he seeks to score his first meet driver’s title. The balance of the team will be comprised of the top five drivers in the Hollywood Dayton dash standings as of the completion of the Saturday (Dec. 8) program. Currently that would be Dan Noble (83 wins), Chris Page (80), Josh Sutton (77) and Kayne Kauffman (51). Still in the hunt is Tyler Smith with 48 local scores.

Three of the featured drivers rank in the Top 10 of the national dash standings. Noble is fifth on the year with 533 tallies, followed by Page in seventh with 480 wins and Tetrick in eighth with 475.

The competition will be held over six races on the Dec. 15 card with each squad getting even numbered post positions in half of the designated races. The scoring system used is 30 points for a win, then 24-18-14-11-8-5-3-1-0 for second through tenth place finishes.

“I know the Hoosier drivers will be coming over here trying to even the score, but we’ve got other ideas about dominating this annual contest,” said captain Jeremy Smith. “They’ve got about as much chance as Indiana would of beating Ohio State in football. I guarantee a victory!”

Hollywood Gaming provides $2,500 in prize money for the Hoosiers vs. Buckeyes contest and the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association chips in $500.

In the first three annual contests, the drivers on both squads graciously donated the entire prize pool to Dayton Firefighters Local 136, who provides the ambulance and EMT service to Hollywood Dayton for each race card, and who use the funds to distribute toys to needy children throughout their Dayton service area every Christmas.