Taken from page 4 of the latest SCREAM newsletter:
While rolling out our latest creation at the Performance Racing Industry trade show in December, I ran across several friends and Focus Midget competitors. One of them, a young gun from the Midwest who made his start in the Focus cars and then moved up into National Sprints and Midgets, had a troubling tale to tell. He told me he was at the show “trying to find a million dollars”. As it turns out, this guy had done quite well in the Focus division and his success, coupled with good connections and a booming economy, enabled him to put together a spectacular team and to “Go National”. Fast forward to Dec. ‘08 however, and things were quite different. The sponsors were all gone. One of his parents had lost their job. My young friend was at the show “trying to find a million dollars” so that he could keep his team intact for the ‘09 season.
He didn’t find his million. In fact he found almost no sponsorship that week. And as a result, his racing program for this season will be far, far different from what it was last year. This is a story that to varying degrees is getting repeated all over the country right now. Racing of all kinds, including Midget Racing, is going through a ground shaking change and I think it is a change that will be with us for a long time to come. Those who adapt to the coming changes will be the survivors - in the case of Midget racing, this means that the time has come to embrace new technologies that can lower costs and improve reliability while maintaining high performance standards. About the only things left that still run mechanical fuel injection are Midgets, and tractors. Let’s not be the last ones to leave that party...
I think that Midget Racing has a place, and a future, in motorsports for many years to come. But I also think it will be vastly different from what we have today. $40,000.00 engines and tow rigs costing more than the average home will have no place in the future of our sport, just as they had no place in its past. The most fun I ever had in racing involved pulling my car to the track on an open trailer, sleeping on the side of the road, and earning enough money at my job to pay for my own racing. Looks to me as if racing is about to get fun again..."
To read the whole thing, go to
http://www.focusmidgets.com:thumb