Check Kevin Miller's sticky post about this

The POWER-I/USAC races last year were ran by POWER-I. USAC had no control over the events. One of those little Stinner Bros. was in control. Greg S. at USAC created these races and gave control to POWER-I, seems like a move made trying to bring two groups together. It also appeared that the little Stinner fellow took complete control and pushed USAC to the side (I even heard rumors that USAC employees had to pay admission), he ran the drivers mtg., ran the events, used all POWER-I race procedures, ect.. At Haubstaut POWER-I parked Brady Bacon for contact with their pts. leader during the semi and then would not allow him to use his USAC provisional.

Let look at the big picture, USAC will ave. 30 + midgets this year, all the big teams and big names will be there. POWER-I will ave 35+ midgets this year, with a product inferior to USAC provided the following happens: The USAC owners like KK,TSR,WILKE-PAC,Klatt, Kunz,Wagner,RFMS, 9racing, ect.. all must now support the new people at USAC. Last year the owners bitched and complained about running USAC races with POWER-I in control. OWNERS do not make the same mistake the dirt sprint guys made!! Do not run off to every POWER-I race thats doesn't conflict with USAC. Or, you could end up just like the sprinters in Indiana, make your shows special, help market yourself, don't stand on the corner and give it away .

You're right, ossuks. Even Staab was in street clothes at those races. Bacon was actually benched at McCool Junction. Jim Siner was actually the one in control, and he did an OK job for the most part, although POWRi has some trouble with scoring and lining up at times.

Suffice to say that it didn't feel like the race was being run by USAC.

Where you're wrong is who came up with these races. USAC was added last year at McCool Junction and Macon. Tommy Helfrich wanted to run a midget race last year and brought in POWRi as the sanction, adding USAC as a co-sanction. Unfortunately, that leaves USAC as being under the thumb of POWRi at those events, and it seems as though POWRi has gotten power-hungry instead of recognizing their niche in midget racing.

I think USAC will be fine with the rest of their shows, especially if the Badger co-sanctions are still good. Unfortunately, it looks like this will bring about a loss of Haubstadt, Macon, and McCool Junction for the USAC Midgets. I just wonder what direction Staab, Miller, and Smith will go now...

In my biased and narrowminded opinion I am not confident POWRi has enough smarts to have purposely put themselves in a position to over take USAC.

If USAC was not in the business of stepping on it's foot for the past decade one could argue that POWRi may not even exist. Because USAC had no dirt midget program to speak of or a local presence at many of the tracks within 2-3 hours of Indianapolis there was a void and when you combine a MARA series that was dying on the vine there was a niche' prime for the taking and in walks Gateway/POWRi.

USAC took a major step in the right direction last November/December which will bring to an end the pathetic effort in race administration we all witnessed the past 3 years.

I am confident young aspiring racers don't go to sleep at night dreaming about winning a POWRi title. Although I am sure the Loyet kid is proud of his title as he should be I am also confident he would trade it in in the blink of an eye for a USAC National Midget title.

Point being when the new President and staff get some momentum and re-establish themselves as a group that makes fair and consistent calls, starts promoting themselves, polishes that 53 year old badge off and let it shine like it should etc. etc. etc. the perceived overthrow of USAC by POWRi will take care of itself because USAC will once again be the place to be compete and they will have sanctioning bodies calling them wishing to co-sanction of which they can do so on USAC's terms not the "little Stinner brother" terms.

Wow! A lot of mud being thrown around here. Last I looked, all these orgs had plenty of races on their schedule. Not sure what all the hissy fits are about co-sanctioning races. I see that POWRi waved the flag and are not scheduling anything against the Belleville and Knoxville shows. That seems very cooperative to me. Not many of their teams race there to begin with so I'm not sure why that even happens. I've been very happy with the POWRi guys regarding the way they run their races. Nobody is perfect, but they do a great job of promoting midgets and running their production. They run a business and they've been very successful. Congratulations to them for keeping midget racing alive and well.

Don Moore
Midget #10

Never said it before but, well said Don Moore. I could not agree more. I think POWRI does a great job of running their shows without showing favorites. If anything I have seen Jim Siner be harder on Tim his brother than the other competitiors.

As DO stated, Check Kevin Millers Post! However, I am interested in the differences in what the actual car count will be. 12 seems a little short but I would think 30 is a reach. Also, the argument to Not Run off and Race at these events is Valid, However it seems to be contrary to the Argument made about the reason for droping Kamp from the Midget Week. That was obviously changed in favor of a Big Purse Sprint Race... Honestly, In that case, I think it was the right thing to do. Competition is generally a Good Thing and although when NAMARS was going head to head against USAC, the problem was because it was here in Indiana. The ONLY way I see to Build the Midget Series in Indiana, is to set Races and Build Fans and Teams. Don;t give your teams a reason to run off to Iowa or where-ever. Build them a Race Schedule here and I think you will see more Midget Teams. I think it is worth noting that if Tom Helfrich and Bob Sargent desided to go with PowrI, there was probably Good Reasons. I;d guess that it comes down to Car Count, Fan Count and Money!....and Money!...... Regardless, it should be a Great Summer of Racing and Choice for a Fan...is a Good Thing.......Wolfe-e

Multi-sanctioned races like the Pepsi/Mt. Dew Knoxville Midget Event at Knoxville Raceway are the way to go for the big events. I think that ALL midget sanctioning bodies need to work together and co-sanction at selected race events. I think if USAC alienates themselves from the other sanctioning bodies, that the fans will see this as a bad sign of things to come in midget racing.

w hy does usac follow other group rules when rules are diffenrt i think all rules should be same at co races u can race with usac but u cant race with home group cause rules are dif so why run at all if u r a usac menber and u cant race at co races y join u lose because rulrs r diffent i think all rules should b same if u race usac all groups should honor your usac menbership but not true in 07

From Jim Morrison

The Haubstadt race last year was originally booked as a POWERi race because of the proximity of the group to the track. As I understand it (from my interview with Tommy Helfrich for my article in Flat Out), USAC's Rollie Helmling then asked the club to be a part of the show. He has been a long-time fan of Haubstadt -- going to the races with his father when a young boy in the 1950s -- and wanted the club to be a part of it.

One of the problems with a co-sanctioned event is which organization's rules are being used. Since it was a USAC points race, decisions made under the POWERi rules that differed from USAC's rules could have impacted competitors in their chase for the points championship -- like parking Ricky Stenhouse Jr., in the semi. (Not transferring cost him points in USAC standings that meant nothing in the POWERi standings, since he was not chasing that championship. Brad Loyet, on the otherhand, scored points with both groups.) To me, these are things to work out in advance but it is impossible to know everything in advance that might come up.

It seemed to me in the pits, and in the infield, that POWERi and USAC were not comfortable having the other there. It also seemed an attitude of one-up-manship existed. If USAC was not comfortable with the situation, it would seem only natural for the club to choose not to participate again if POWERi was there. As for Haubstadt, it is back to where it was when the race was originally scheduled in 2006. A POWERi only show.

Because I live now in Ohio, I have had few opportunities to attend a POWERi race. In fact, the one at Haubstadt last year was my first. I have no real opinion on how POWERi does as an organization putting on its own races. I hear good things from others. But, if my opinion was based on what I saw at Haubstadt last year, I might think twice about going to another. A co-sanction should be an attitude of cooperation for the benefit of the race promoter, not this is our opportunity to show that we are better than the other guy.