More Midget Races Cancelled
 

I see that Montpelier has cancelled the remaining D1 midget races. When are the midget orgs going to decide that the present formula for midget racing is not working? There are new generation midget engines available right now for $10-12,000 that last for up to 3 years without a rebuild. Over two years ago I heard Kevin Miller on the D.O. radio show say that this is what is needed. So why aren't these engines IN THE CARS RIGHT NOW??? Spending $7900 for a current engine rebuild isn't far from spending $10-12,000 for a brand new cheap engine. When will all the midget orgs put ******** aside and start wilh a clean sheet of paper for midgets?

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I understand that Powri drivers are saying that they will NOT be attending the Gold Crown

This is not good

Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
 

Originally Posted by miledirt:
I understand that Powri drivers are saying that they will NOT be attending the Gold Crown

This is not good

I was afraid of that:7:

Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
 

I was wondering if that would happen when we read that POWRi was no longer co-sanctioning this event with USAC.
PLEASE...will Kenny Brown, Jim Siner, Kevin Miller, Jason Smith, Kevin Gundaker and whoever else it will take, go have lunch somewhere and get this stuff resolved.
If not for yourselves, do it for the good of the sport of Midget racing.

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no doubt, cause if this is true, we just went from a 40 something car count to a 20 something car count

Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
 

Originally Posted by miledirt:
no doubt, cause if this is true, we just went from a 40 something car count to a 20 something car count

If that's the case count me OUT!:15:

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Originally Posted by mortboyz:
I was wondering if that would happen when we read that POWRi was no longer co-sanctioning this event with USAC.
PLEASE...will Kenny Brown, Jim Siner, Kevin Miller, Jason Smith, Kevin Gundaker and whoever else it will take, go have lunch somewhere and get this stuff resolved.
If not for yourselves, do it for the good of the sport of Midget racing.

Uh... better yet.... All of them sit down together with a clean sheet of paper, forget about all the ********, cut the ties with the manufacturers/tire companies and resurrect what's left of midget racing. There will have to be some major sacrifices gentleman or you can kiss goodbye midget racing. Please don't come back telling us that a $22,000 engine is going to save the sport. Get the costs of operating a midget in line with the purse and you will see people getting back into the sport.

Fans need to start e-mailing these people and demand that something be done NOW.

---------- Post added at 12:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:20 PM ----------

A source e-mailed me explaining that USAC cancelled the Montpelier races.

Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
 

Unless energy costs come down.....you can give them away for free and most people couldn't afford to go race.....ANY type of race car.

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Don,

It is NOT going to happen! Midget racing has turned into a rich mans sport. As you already know, the money it costs to race them has eliminated the small guys like you and I, that love midget racing. We can't compete with the wallets of anyone that can still afford to race in this economy! Hoosier has obsolescence engineered into each and every tire that they sell and they have the correct people in place to mandate what tires you and I run so that we have to bolt on new every single time the car hits the track or we do not compete! That is the fact! At least on pavement it is. I don't know about dirt racing if it's the same situation? I know it's not the same, but the big teams are still bolting on new I'd bet.
But, as far as I'm concerned, the tire bills are as much or more to blame as the engine bills. 4 bucks a gallon to get to the track and back doesn't help either.

Even if I could buy an engine today that would cost 8, or 10, or 12 grand and I could compete with it, my car would stay in the shop because I cannot afford the tire bill at the end of the night. Not too many small guys can anymore, especially in this economy. You get paid 200 bucks for making the feature and you pay 600 or more dollars for tires. That means you lost big!

It's just not meant for the small guys like you and I anymore! Hopefully the higher above powers recognize this and make some major changes, but I don't think it's going to happen.

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Aside from the points made so far and Team3521 has pretty much sumed it up, the purse structure needs to be completely overhauled. Not sure how many of you have actually seen the payout of the midget orgs but it's very, very heavy on the top and it goes south big time beyond 2nd place and actually second place money is nothing to brag about. If you want to see more cars at the track, then finishing cars 3rd on back need a little more piece of the pie. If you look at who has been winning you can see that about 3-4 teams have been gobbling up all the money. Most of the winning teams showed up at LaSalle and just about everyone else decided not.

We traveled 500 miles to the Southern Illinois Center last December for a $5000 to win race. About half the field of cars that showed up left with 0 (Z-E-R-O ) that didn't make the feature. That's nothing... no B feature money.... no tow money.... ZERO. So they promoted the race on the backs of the racers that entertained their crowd for free..... Hey, the toilet cleaners got more money than some of the racers that night...... NICE

Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
 

Originally Posted by DonMoore10:
Aside from the points made so far and Team3521 has pretty much sumed it up, the purse structure needs to be completely overhauled. Not sure how many of you have actually seen the payout of the midget orgs but it's very, very heavy on the top and it goes south big time beyond 2nd place and actually second place money is nothing to brag about. If you want to see more cars at the track, then finishing cars 3rd on back need a little more piece of the pie. If you look at who has been winning you can see that about 3-4 teams have been gobbling up all the money. Most of the winning teams showed up at LaSalle and just about everyone else decided not.

We traveled 500 miles to the Southern Illinois Center last December for a $5000 to win race. About half the field of cars that showed up left with 0 (Z-E-R-O ) that didn't make the feature. That's nothing... no B feature money.... no tow money.... ZERO. So they promoted the race on the backs of the racers that entertained their crowd for free..... Hey, the toilet cleaners got more money than the some of the racers that night...... NICE

Don I'm not denying there is a problem but just for once I'd like to see YOU come up with some answers instead of just rehashing the same problems over and over and over....... So tell me Don how is the size of the pie gonna increase, from the promoter, I doubt it its not like they are getting rich. The fans, maybe a few of us would pay extra $ to see midgets but an equal number would get priced out of the equation. From the tire companies, well thats what has already happened in some cases but then they want to mandate what you run on so thats a wash too. Tell me where IS that $ gonna come from? For once give us some intelligent answers not just the same old complaints(and no I'm not "off topic")

Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
 

1. Please read my first post in this thread. I've outlined how to cut the costs of midget engines in half and those engines will last up to three years without a rebuild. FYI, some teams are rebuilding engines after single digit performances.

2. Cut the cord with the tire manufacturers. Competition will lower tire costs along with developing a tire that will last more than one race.

3. Regarding purses: No need to raise ticket prices. Instead of $5000 to win it would be $2000 to win , for example, and the $3000 from the top would be distributed throughout the field. This is a very simple concept by cutting the top out and sprinkling it down the ladder. For a reasonable example, go to the Rumble Series web site and read the payout that Tony Barhorst has published for the Fort Wayne races. That payout is not the perfect example but is much better than any mainline midget payout that I know of in the country.

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Welcome back Don. It has been a while since you have been on this forum, and even though I promised not to play your games anymore, I cannot resist.

A couple points.
1. When USAC and Badger announced that they were going to introduce the chip rule, it was announced as a way to save money. For some reason POWRi has decided not to adopt this rule. Which is somewhat surprising because it would seem that the POWRi guys would want to control cost as much as anyone. While several of their teams deffinitely have big budgets, overall the budgets in the POWRi group is less than the USAC teams. Not having co-sanctioned events has hurt both groups this year, and may kill off a great midget race in the Gold Cup.

2. Tire deals help this sport. Do you really think there is enough demand for midget tires that the manufactuers are going to have a price war? By having a tire deal, the manufactuers know that they are going to sell a decent number of tires. Since they know that they are going to have a decent number of tires to sell, they know what price to set to make a profit and how much to "sponsor" the series. If we did not have a tire deal, in the long run two things would happen. The price of tires would go up because the tire companies know have to compete in the market place which means that they would need to adverstise more. Eventually, the tire companies would realize that the midget tire business does not have the profit margins of the other groups, and would leave the market. For the racer, it would mean a bigger tire bill because they will have to buy more tires. Brand X works better on dry slick tracks, Brand Y works better on tacky tracks, Brand Z works better on black clay.

3. A series of cars with $10,000 motors would work great. There are a ton of "outlaw" Modified drivers already spending 10k on a race motor. It would be great if we can get some of those drivers to trade a modified for a midget. However, we need to be realistic. Don't stop with just the motor. Have a realistic weigh rule. Ban exotic metals. Look at every piece of equipment on these cars. Is the cost/speed benefit worth it? Now that we have created this class, we need to understand the pecking order. This class is not the top midget class in the country. This title still belongs to USAC. This is going to be a level below USAC. We need to think ASCS versus WOO. The ASCS series is very popular and has good car counts through out the country. The larger national shows at the right venues routinely bring in 50+ cars. The ASCS never tried to be the WOO. They tried to the ASCS. ASCS cars routinely run with the WOO and routinely get beat. A couple of the bigger ASCS teams will have a spare 410 in the trailer that they pull out for the WOO shows. This would work in the midgets as well.

4. We need to some brave people to make this class grow. We need a fearless person who be the leader of this group. We need some brave promoters who will book the shows without knowing how many cars will be there. It would be great if we could get one brave track to agree to be the home track of this series with races every other weekend. We need a brave people to build some of these cars without knowing the purse structure, where they will race, or how often will would race. The guy who owns the "outlaw" modified is the exact guy we should be going after. However, in most markets he can race his car at a home track on Friday night, a choice of tracks on Saturday nights, and if he is lucky some special events on Sunday nights. It is going to be hard to convince him to sell his car that he can run 2-3 times a week for our class.

5. There are some success stories out there for us to learn from. ASCS was formed because of the WOO costs. 305's were formed because of the ASCS costs. Crate motor divisions were created from the ******** of the 305 series. IMCA modifieds started at one track in Iowa, and now they are everywhere.

All we need is someone with a vision that is brave enough to make it happen. We also need team owners that our brave enough to make it happen. These people need to understand that this is a new series. We are not going to make USAC conform to our class. This is a new class for all of the drivers that had a car parked in the shop that could not afford to race at a nationl level. The WOO only comes to my area once a year and I go to that show. The ASCS comes 8-10 times a year, and I go to all of their shows as well.

Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
 

Can anyone imagine if it was the other way, and the USAC guys were refusing to run? People would go nuts. I will still support ANY promoter that is willing to pay $1000 to start a midget race. With this kind of thinking it may be one of my last chances to see midgets. Also makes me wonder why Tri City Speedway didn't have any other midget shows this year? Could this be retaliation? Could it have nothing to do with the chip?

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JMHO, but if you aren't a car owner, or sponsor one, or drive one, you don't have a dog in this fight, as far as I'm concerned, I think Don has hit the nail on the head, I've been preaching it for years, and no one listens, they just go away, it's totally upside down, the guys that go home, with empty pockets, get no reward for their time and money, nothing, except knowing where their money went, and it sure as hell didn't follow them home, the players that some of you like to call "fillers", are the one's paying for your intertainment, not the 3-4 that are taking the money home in their pockets. Think how many more owners you could pick up, for $200.00! Bob:)

Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
 

Originally Posted by miledirt:
I understand that Powri drivers are saying that they will NOT be attending the Gold Crown

This is not good

POWRI didn't support midget week and 3 of the races were as good as any I've seen this year.

Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
 

Wolfpack said what I feel. If we get the kind of racing we seen from a rev limiter that we had at Midget week.. Im all for it and don't care to go see them, since they don't care to show up for us.

Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
 

Originally Posted by TQ29m:
JMHO, but if you aren't a car owner, or sponsor one, or drive one, you don't have a dog in this fight, as far as I'm concerned, I think Don has hit the nail on the head, I've been preaching it for years, and no one listens, they just go away, it's totally upside down, the guys that go home, with empty pockets, get no reward for their time and money, nothing, except knowing where their money went, and it sure as hell didn't follow them home, the players that some of you like to call "fillers", are the one's paying for your intertainment, not the 3-4 that are taking the money home in their pockets. Think how many more owners you could pick up, for $200.00! Bob:)

*** Are you talking about we the fans don:t have a dog in this fight? If the fans don;t show up for a race who takes a bath the promoter and he can only take so many then he won:t book any more of those races and then everybody loses . I agree with you on yeah Don has some good points on things (wow never thought I;d say that) like the cheaper motors and spreading out the money less on top . Guess what I am trying to say is that everybody who likes midgets has a dog in this fight

Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
 

Originally Posted by jim goerge:
*** Are you talking about we the fans don:t have a dog in this fight? If the fans don;t show up for a race who takes a bath the promoter and he can only take so many then he won:t book any more of those races and then everybody loses . I agree with you on yeah Don has some good points on things (wow never thought I;d say that) like the cheaper motors and spreading out the money less on top . Guess what I am trying to say is that everybody who likes midgets has a dog in this fight

Agreed. I can think of 5 of us that drove over 250 miles each to watch the USAC midgets at Lasalle last weekend. And we could have all gone and watched sprintcars instead and saved a bunch in fuel costs.

And I've seen plenty of good non rev limiter midget races this year too. Unlike Chuck I travel plenty and dont sit home and constantly post on every topic.

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Bring back the VW's
:deadhorse:

Guys were are forgetting one key point when talking about payouts. The promoters!! These guys must be profitable and make it count because the only have 21 weekends to do it in and the track is what pays their bills. Keeping that in mind how do u expect a promoter to pay the kind of purses you would like Don when 6 cars show up! (not a dig on you Don). Im just like the rest of you guys I want to race somewhat close to home on a semi-regular basis. Knowing that i have a 11 headed gaerte i dont expect to compete with he big dogs on the national stage. However i still want to race. USAC takes a beating on here most of the time! Whether they deserve it or not another topic! They did do one thing right (not perfect) D1! Again I say no perfect but a step in the right direction. The biggest problem was nobody showed up!!! IMO they could have changed 3 things and got approx 25 cars each night.
1. Spread the races over the state not just up north get all the promoters involed ask each one to do 1 race and the second could tag along with a regular usac sprint show. This would increase visibility to the startup program and lesson the blow (risk) to the promoter.

2. 1 tire per night. This limits cost to owners/ driver. You could do it with or without a tire spec.

3. Purse structure. 850 to win 175-200 to start. The big dogs wont run their high dollar engine for that when they can win 2k national midgets. 175-200 will still keep the total purse reasonable for the promoter to book a show! And still cover some expenses for team owners.

To make this work we must keep in mind that this is not national midgets but a feeder series to make the national midgets better. Both for power i and usac!!

Lastly, we all must support it. I would bet if you could guarantee 25-30 midgets with the above purse (which is not bad) you could book any track in indiana with the exception of Lawrenceburg. Not because he wouldnt do it but because the motors that would be running in this series couldnt take it. Like my 11 headed gaerte.

I dont think you need a 22k motor to make a national show. My gaerte has won a couple of heats with Usac and 2 top tens with poweri. IMO. Motors are not the problem.

Not saying everything should be done this way but, maybe a start.

Michael Koontz
Posted via Mobile Device

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What Don has said in regard to the midgets over the years is/has become largely true. I have had my vehement disagreement's over the years with Don (as moderators of this board can vouch for.)
What Don says in regard to many of the points of contention ring true.

The policy of the Rumble In Fort Wayne is to have a larger payout at the back and middle of the field. Not perfect, but it adds up over a full payout each day for two days.

Here is the payout I have had over the last several years. We get 39 to 44 midgets both days.

http://www.rumbleseries.com/entriesftwayne.php

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Let's not lose sight of reality. Almost everyone on this board agreed with Don's message that midget racing is in trouble. He was not saying anything that anyone with a little common sense could see. The solution to the problem is where everyone disagrees.

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There is a cheap midget tire already available that will last all year on dirt and pavement. The 13" American Racer dwarf/legend car tire that IRS midgets run. The only way for midget racers to come out ahead at the end of a night is if you don't have to buy ANY tires. My dad and I made money with our modified beacause we only had to buy two sets of tires for the year! Those tires would also be easier on engines and equal out the haves and have nots. It's good to hear there are cheaper engines available now and if you combined that with the tires I mentioned the sport would flourish again. Hell, I would probably get back into it if they did that. I'll bet many others would too. After Lasalle I fear the worst for Granite City but aren't they running non-wing sprints each night also? If so I'll still go.

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Originally Posted by Jonr:
Let's not lose sight of reality. Almost everyone on this board agreed with Don's message that midget racing is in trouble. He was not saying anything that anyone with a little common sense could see. The solution to the problem is where everyone disagrees.

The solution to the problems are with the CUTTING of costs of building and operating these cars...someone should compile a graph on how much they have spiraled out of control since the late 80's.

Don and many others have posted ways to do that. I don't agree with all of them..but for the most part, they have been proven correct. Others with the same cost cutting opinion should post what they think here.

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As for Poweri, they have tried to come support Indiana racing, but ask Kokomo what happens when you schedule thm in Indiana. It isn't poweri that's the problem, as long as they stay in Illinois,as some people think.Too bad the well in midget racing has been poisoned, it used to be great racing.:(

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we need REAL promoters to put a lot more people in the stands. thats a very big reason why we cant get paid more.

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First of all the rev limit was set at about what the engines were normally running anyway so that rule didn't do anything to help. The weight rule USAC instituted 2 years ago weighing the driver and car actually makes the cars have to be lighter than they were before. It was 900lbs.W/o driver. Now it's 1050 with driver. For a 900 lb. car the driver can only weigh 150lbs. It is now legal to build a car less than 900lbs. The average midget without a bunch of titanium weighs approx. 975lbs. If USAC was actually trying to help out the average guy their weight with driver should be atleast 1100lbs. It's obvious to me and apparently everyone in Poweri that USAC's "cost reduction rules" are nothing but smoke and mirrors! I'm with D.O. bring back the VW's!!!!

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Originally Posted by keith anderson:
we need REAL promoters to put a lot more people in the stands. thats a very big reason why we cant get paid more.

Is that really only the responsibility of the promoter? Sure, he's the one who has to pay the bills and stands to profit on a good night. But if we could fill the grandstands everywhere we raced, then we could all race for more money.

Wouldn't it be easier to accomplish that goal if 30 participants took an active role in helping to fill the grandstands? How many Facebook followers do most of these drivers have? 10 more fans per driver is 300 more fans in the stands, or probably $4,500 more in grandstand revenue.

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I've read some very interesting posts on here so far. Please keep in mind that the LaSalle race was a National midget race which, being a reasonable distance of Indiana (plenty of midgets there), St. Louis (plenty of Powri midgets there), and Badgerland (15-20 active cars there ) should have drawn more than 16 cars. It's safe to say that 13 of the cars were well funded teams that participate in most of the national races. So about 3 extras showed up. So the question here is: Why didn't more than about 3 extras show up? There are reasons. On the other hand, why are the mini sprints so popular? Plenty of those cars around and they are a relatively new sport in popularity. Well, the number one reason I have heard over the past few years is COST. And doesn't it make it more inviting if you have a chance to win or at least make enough money to cover the night's expenses?

Here are some suggestions that may get a few more people to get cars out on the track. Keep in mind that there are some sacrifices that will have to be made and that "the way it's always been done" needs to go by the wayside if we want to go in a positive direction.

CHANGE THE PURSE STRUCTURE: I went to the POWRi web site and downloaded the current purse structure and modified it. The total purse currently is $8355. I bumped that up a little to $8400 for my figures.

1. 1100 2. 800 3. 525 4. 450 5. 400 6. 325 7-21. 300

TIRES. Eliminate all tire deals. If there is an American Racer tire (as explained on here by another person) that will last most of the season and still be capable of winning races, adopt that tire as mandatory. Policing this would involve a little tweeking but this is a must. And any other rule that will neutralize the engine power. Reducing the width and size of the rear tires is a possiblity also.

ENGINES. Two years ago we heard of using a $10,000-12,000 engine for USAC national races. I'm sure that this will not go over big with the well funded teams and some drivers but these cheap engines need to be mandated ASAP. Allow the 1000 mini to compete.

WEIGHT RULE. Develop a weight rule that will neutralize driver weight.

VW's. Give these cars with VW's some advantages to get them out on the track again an to be competitive.

SELF STARTERS. There probably is not a promoter in the US that would not welcome this rule. I know many of you will disagree with this but it really needs to happen.

FEATURE STARTING POSITION. Take a close look at the ARDC rules regarding starting positions in the feature. For example, if you won the previous race, your starting position would be no better than say 14th position. This would certainly make it more interesting for the fans and would give a host of drivers a chance to win. It must be working in ARDC, they have tons of cars that show up for every race and they have plenty of different winners. A chance to win for a team that may not always start up front. So, if you finished in the top 5 this week, next week you're going to the middle or near the back for the next race.

WHAT DO WE DO WITH CURRENT ENGINES. ( BTW, I have four of them ) That would be easy. Keep running them but mandating a ton of weight to carry around the track is a possibility. Just one of many possibilities.

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For the sake of my blood pressure I have been avoiding this topic. I'm drawn into the discussion now for a couple reasons:
1. I have an inflation adjusted chart of midget racing costs covering 1936 thru 2007 [the last time i cared to get involved in this endless debate]. I'll send a copy to anyone who wants to see it.
2. As an IRS carowner I can attest to the low tire bills. I bought $700 worth of tires at the start of the season so we could run our second car. This about matches the tire bill for last season. I don't expect to buy anymore tires this year. Maybe a couple right rears will be needed for next season.

Our primary car won a feature on dirt this season and has been competitive in the usual 17/18 car IRS field. Our payout is completely flat: $100 per car. Other than broken parts I'm out around $100 more per night. This is all the midget racing I can afford.

Chuck Schultz
gearmanx@aol.com

PS: Please don't mention VW and cost saving in the same paragraph. Don't ask me how I know this when my wife is around.

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Originally Posted by Andrew S. Quinn:
Agreed. I can think of 5 of us that drove over 250 miles each to watch the USAC midgets at Lasalle last weekend. And we could have all gone and watched sprintcars instead and saved a bunch in fuel costs.

And I've seen plenty of good non rev limiter midget races this year too. Unlike Chuck I travel plenty and dont sit home and constantly post on every topic.

Who here has seen me at tracks over 100 miles from Cincinnati this year? Please raise your hand?

Im actually laughing my ass off over this idiotic post. Yeah, I work six days a week and still make 40 plus. Glad you can travel all year and see all you want, What do you think im working toward?


I stand behind what I said. Im personally sick of traveling to Midget shows to see less than a feature full compete. If a rev limiter helps a team race a extra 6 races a year, Im all for it. Maybe we'll have full fields again.

Something needs to be done and the first thing is when 80 percent of a organization says their for something. The other 20 percent plus engine builders, tire makers ect laying money on the table shouldn't override the 80 percent.

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Saw this. At least there is some good news for midgets.

http://www.speedrome.com/2011/Press%...t%20Series.pdf

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Very interesting topic guys. I too was disappointed after driving to Lasalle and only seeing 16 midgets. 2 heats and a feature of midget racing left me wanting more.

I believe midget racing can be saved but it would take somebody with some money and power to get it done. Unfortunately the people with the money and power in midget racing don't think there is a problem!

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Originally Posted by bullring:
Unfortunately the people with the money and power in midget racing don't think there is a problem!

That statement says it all. Here is the carnage that midget racing has suffered in the past few years:

Michigan WOMMS Series GONE
All the Michigan midget orgs GONE
AMRA Arizona midgets GONE
SMRS GONE SOWS/Brewer substitute series 2011
Angell Park weekly midget racing GONE
John Gurley Midget Series GONE
D1 midget races Monpelier, IN 2 remaining races cancelled
Terre Haute Hut Hundred original location GONE
16th Street Speedway GONE
Buckeye (Ohio) Midget Series GONE
RCA Dome Midgets GONE

Midget racing died in New England because of rising costs and the popularity of stock cars. That was the early 1950's. It seems that nobody gets the clue and the slippery slope is repeating itself. It's the job of the sanctioning body to independently determine what's best for their series. Should anyone take an owner seriously when he complains about the cost of rewriting the rules when he rolls in with an 18-wheeler for a 72" wheelbase car?
Posted via Mobile Device

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There's a direct relationship between 18 wheel midget haulers and only 16 cars showing up at LaSalle.

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Something else to be considered is the amount of "midget type" racing everywhere now. There's way too many classes that have it watered down. 1200, 1000, 900, 600 upright mini sprints, 600 and 250/270 "sidewinders", mini sprints, micro sprints, Jr sprints, modified midgets, Kenyon cars, TQ's, Ford Focus and on and on......these are the same customers that should be running national midgets, weather it's in IN, IL, PA, out to CA or down to FL and Texas. Forget about new classes, it's starting to look like go karting. Incorporate free thinking and inovation back into racing to keep it from going to an all Spike/Toyota/Hoosier class by allowing bike engines, chain drive, belt drive......even the new 4 stroke snowmobile engines. You need a wheel base rule, and CC or cubic inch rule, and thats it on 13" wheels with YOUR choice of tire. Don's right, bag the tire rules and soaking tires. Many of the tracks midgets are getting to run are stock car tracks and have scales. So some kind of weight handicapping could be an equalizer also. And then come up with a reasonable age rule, leaving the younger kids to hone their talent in quarter midgets (.25's for you new folks) and the teenagers the 600 class as a stepping stone like Powri is doing.
You can't write the rule book from what's sitting in your garage or race trailer. As said before, the ego's have to be parked, not the vw's and chevy 2's. The Chili Bowl still thrives because of the lack of rules, but is getting close to becoming political and narrow minded, and with the economy, Emmitt and Lanny's ages and health, look for a steady decline in their entries in the near future.

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Originally Posted by DonMoore10:
That statement says it all. Here is the carnage that midget racing has suffered in the past few years:

RCA Dome Midgets GONE

Be a little hard to have this one again since the RCA Dome is GONE