Chris Ferguson has never been as confident heading into a major-event weekend at Eldora Speedway as he is going into the track’s Intercontinental Classic this weekend. And for good reason. Not only has the 30-year-old Mount Holly, N.C., driver been trending upward with his performances at Eldora over the past two years, but he’s also having one of his best seasons on the national stage in 2020.

For those reasons, Ferguson knows that this week’s $50,000-to-win Intercontinental Classic — the participants-only event that replaced Eldora’s 50th World 100 this year due to coronavirus restrictions — may just be the best chance he’ll ever have to score a coveted mega-event victory at the historic half-mile track in Rossburg, Ohio.

Watch Eldora's Intercontinental Classic live on FloRacing!

“I feel like my confidence is as high as ever going back up there with the year we’ve had,” said Ferguson, who has traveled more broadly than ever in 2020 and found more success while doing it. “We’ve found some stuff that’s really fast that we like. It doesn’t matter where we’re at whether its a half-mile or 3/8, or if it’s Lucas Oil or World of Outlaws, we seem to be in contention. And the way we’ve been at Eldora lately, we’re hoping we can go up there and do the same.”

Ferguson has indeed been solid just about every where he and his family-owned race team have competed this year. He’s been especially strong and consistent when the competition has been at its highest, starting with June’s trip to Eldora for the $50,000-to-win Stream Invitational that replaced this year’s Dream.

As one of 48 drivers invited to the event, Ferguson shined by setting fast time during qualifying for the first of two preliminary night programs on Thursday and finished 10th in the feature that night. He was even better by the 67-lap Stream finale, when he rallied from his 18th starting spot to finish fifth.

Since the Stream, Ferguson has put together a solid summer, highlighted by a stretch of nine Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events from mid-July through August. During that stretch of big-money racing with the Lucas Oil tour, Ferguson scored five top-five finishes, added three more top-10s and missed just one feature lineup.

Ferguson’s most impressive run during his recent streak came during his trip to Wheatland, Mo., for Lucas Oil Speedway’s combined Show-Me 100 and Diamond Nationals weekend. After a fourth-place finish in the $20,000-to-win Show-Me 100 on night one, Ferguson held off defending Lucas Oil Series champion Jonathan Davenport to earn his second-career Lucas Oil Series victory during the track’s Diamond Nationals.

Ferguson followed his Wheatland victory by traveling farther west the next week to I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb., where he scored a pair of ninth-place feature finishes during the Silver Dollar Nationals weekend. In August he added a fourth-place finish in the $50,000-to-win North-South 100 at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., and two more fourth-place finishes during Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway’s Rumble by the River.

While the extensive traveling this season has resulted in fewer victories than usual — besides his Diamond Nationals victory, Ferguson’s only other wins this year are a pair of $5,000 Ultimate Southeast Series victories at Cherokee Speedway — but Ferguson doesn’t hesitate to rank 2020 among the best seasons of his career.

“Only having three wins, that’s a little different for us, but as far as being competitive, there’s not many big races we’ve gone to that we haven’t been top five or at least top 10,” Ferguson said. “I would definitely say it’s my best year as far as the national scene. I’ve had years where I’ve won 10 or 15 races, but this year to be going to these big shows and we’re consistently being as competitive as we’ve been, that’s something we’ve been trying to build up to for a long time.”

Ferguson hopes the experience he’s gained from his extensive summer travels will pay off when he returns to Eldora this week. The three-day Intercontinental Classic kicks off Thursday night with the first of two $10,000-to-win preliminary night programs. Another $10,000-to-win program will run Friday ahead of Saturday’s $50,000-to-win event.

“Anybody will tell you going and racing different tracks and having to change your driving style and just being out of your norm, that’s going to make you better,” said Ferguson, whose summer trips to Wheatland, I-80 and Port Royal where his first visits to those tracks. “I definitely think that racing as much as we have and as far off as we have has helped me as a driver. I have no doubt it’s going to help me at Eldora because Eldora is one of the tracks that you have to change your driving style from practice until feature. That’s why you see guys that are always good at Eldora, because they’re good at doing that.

“In my opinion, it’s always about the lines there. You have to know where to run and when to run it. In qualifying a lot of times it’s faster to be right around the fence, then come heat race time, you have to move around because the track’s changing. Then in the feature, you really have to search.

“I think my experience with all that is finally paying off. I feel like I have a good grasp now of knowing when you can hold it wide open or when you can drive it straight, and when you gotta drive on the cushion or when you gotta drive smooth. I think the experience there is really important. Everybody’s cars aren’t always equal, but I think they’re pretty close. What separates who’s good at Eldora really is knowing where to run.”

Ferguson’s in-depth knowledge of Eldora’s tricky surface has made him a frequent contender during the track’s major event weekends, especially over the past two seasons. In 2019, he scored prelim night finishes of fourth and second at the Dream before finishing fourth in the 100-lap main event. Later that year he added World 100 prelim finishes of third and fourth before slipping to 20th in the World feature.

Combined with his standout performance at the Stream in June, Ferguson feels he’s on the right path at The Big E.

“I think in the longer races, I’ve got a better shot now than I ever have,” Ferguson said. “We’ve had really good runs in the preliminary features — we’ve been second, third, fourth, right there in the hunt. But in the 100-lappers, we’ve finally gotten to where I really think we’re a threat to win.

“As far as being one of the most competitive cars there the past couple years, I think people know to keep an eye on the 22 when we’re out there. Years before that, we were always one to qualify good and heat race good, but we couldn’t put it together in the feature. I think we’ve turned the page on that.”

Getting to the point that he’s a serious contender at Eldora has been years in the making for Ferguson and his team. From his first trip to the track in 2009, Ferguson has been working to become a better driver at the famed track. His improvement to this point has also followed the growth trajectory of his family’s race team.

Although he and his crew still operate out of a two-car garage, they’ve grown well beyond their humble beginnings to become a force in the Southeast region and now a contender on the national stage.

“I’m sometimes taken back by all of it and how far we’ve come,” Ferguson said. “My dad still owns the team and with my crew, I’ve had the same core group for the past 10 years. The sponsors I’ve had for years helping me, they’re the ones that allow me to do what I do. It’s a core group and they all know it’s a group effort. They’re all on board and they’re all happy to work together in supporting what we’re doing. If I didn’t have that it wouldn’t be possible. It’s just a testament that if you keep going and work hard, you’ll get some help.

“We’ve had local sponsors that have always helped me, but for a long time, we didn’t have sponsors that paid for motors or bought a car or anything like that. We did what we could and we had good stuff, but we only had one of it. And I don’t care what anyone says, it’s hard to drive hours and spend whole days in a pickup truck. I drove to Fairbury (Speedway in Illinois) in a dually and a 40-foot trailer. It’s hard to do that. And that’s where we were for a long time. But doing that and showing people we could go and run with the big guys, that got us to where we are today and showed people what we were capable of. We wouldn’t have the team we have now with the cars and motors and hauler if we didn’t get out and do what we did for all those years.”

While he’s quick to thank the vast support he and his team receive from sponsors, Ferguson also knows his program wouldn’t be where it is today without his fans. His fanbase is one of the largest and most loyal among any driver in the sport. That’s played a big part in helping him expand his program thanks to revenue from merchandise and the exposure a large audience offers his sponsors.

Ferguson also knows his fanbase wouldn’t be what it is today without Eldora Speedway. His strong performances there through the years have helped attract new members to his tribe, and the face time a normal Eldora weekend allows him to have with fans helps build closer relationships while also selling more T-shirts and other merchandise.

There won’t be that fan interaction at Eldora this weekend. Just like the Stream Invitational in June, the Intercontinental Classic is restricted to drivers and teams only because of coronavirus restrictions placed on large events.

“There’s a whole experience with Eldora that just isn’t the same without the fans,” Ferguson said. “When you have your (merchandise) trailer up there and you go in there for a couple hours and just get to meet the fans and get to know so many people who support you. That whole experience is gone this year. It sucks because that’s a big part of why I love doing this is to be able to have those moments.

“It’s night and day different. It’s strange looking up there and just no one being there. It’d be different it was a place that doesn’t have a huge crowd, but we’re just so used to that place being slammed packed. Part of the vibe of Eldora is that atmosphere. The pressure there. The feel of it. Especially at the World. I tell everybody, if you want to experience racing at the purest form, go to Eldora on Saturday when they start those heat races. You’ll feel something you’ve never felt before. But without the fans there, it definitely takes the air out of it.”

While the vibe will be different without the fans and the crowd fueling the tension, there’s no doubt that Intercontinental Classic is still a big race that any driver, Ferguson included, would love to win. Along with the $50,000 paycheck, it’s still a big race at Eldora, and a big-race win at Eldora will add luster to any driver’s resume.

“It’s not gonna be the same as the World, but in my opinion, it’s as big as any other crown jewel,” Ferguson said. “All the crown jewels are mega events, but they’re not the Dream or the World. I think (the Stream and Intercontinental) are still on the same level as those (other crown jewel races), but that trophy won’t say World 100 on it. I still think everybody’s gonna remember 2020 for a long time, and I think the guy that wins the race that would’ve been the World, will be remembered for it. I think it’ll stand out.”

Ferguson hopes it’s him that stands out in the history books as the driver who won the World 100 replacement race during a crazy 2020 season. Even though he wouldn’t be lifting the prestigious globe trophy if he makes it on the victory lane stage come Saturday night, it would still be a special moment for Ferguson and his team — a moment he’s been working to achieve for a long time.

“Every sport has its marquee track or race. NASCAR’s got Daytona, sprint cars got Knoxville, Indy cars have Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Eldora is that for Dirt Late Models,” Ferguson said. “If you want to leave your mark on this sport, whether it’s next weekend or 20 years down the road, you win at Eldora. People remember you if you do that.

“We’ve been close with top-fives, and I’m happy with that. At the same time, they’re definitely bittersweet. When you’re that close to a big win, you know that you were just a couple of adjustments away from probably winning that race, and it’s disappointing because you’re kicking yourself for not making those adjustments. But you know, I ran top-fives with Lucas Oil and World of Outlaws before I won one with those guys. I did it enough and a win finally happened. Maybe that’s where we are with these big races and Eldora. It’s like we’re right on the verge, and who knows? Maybe this year is our year.”