[jonboat15]

Originally Posted by revjimk Yea, but will there be any East Coast cars to compete with USAC guys? I'd hate to see a car count of 12 or less.... Bummer....

Some of the top ARDC teams are selling out, check the classifieds. Turn out the lights cause the party is over.

[billw]

Ardc was in trouble once non wing 360s came into the area. Ardc was weak to begin with and the tracks in this area are better suited to sprints plus they pay nearly double to win. Ardc was regulated to micro sprint tracks and half miles when they needed to be at places like path valley grandview and lincoln

[jonboat15]

They were in trouble before the usac 360s which came in last year. Check wiki and look at some of the tracks the club raced at, many tracks smaller than half miles. And when did you start considering the ARDC weak, Have you been here to witness the last 35 years of their racing?

[Ntfsprint5w]

From what I was told drivers wanted a May-August schedule and USAC didn't want that. As for "checking the classifieds for cars" there aren't any from PA on there yet but there are some for sale including Alex Bright's operation. There are rumblings of some people forming to have some races this year. There is one race scheduled for the midgets at Lincoln Speedway on May 11th as of now. Things could change.

[billw]

Originally Posted by jonboat15 They were in trouble before the usac 360s which came in last year. Check wiki and look at some of the tracks the club raced at, many tracks smaller than half miles. And when did you start considering the ARDC weak, Have you been here to witness the last 35 years of their racing?

im referring to the last 5 years or so when theyve struggled to get 15 cars. yes they were in trouble before the 360s came in had ardc been as strong as they were in 2008-2010 or so they probably would have been ok with another non wing option in the area.

[revjimk]

Originally Posted by Dick Monahan It's really sad for those of us who followed ARDC in the 60s, when they were almost as strong as the USAC midgets with whom they occasionally sanctioned some shows. When a few ARDC cars ventured to a NEMA race, they tended to kick our tails. During the 70s, Ed Darrell promoted a weekly ARDC show at Grandview, and I believe that eventually killed them. The owners who wanted to travel switched to some kind of sprint car, rather than go to Grandview every Sunday night. Then, when the weekly shows died, a number of local (to Grandview) cars dropped out because they didn't want to travel. The car counts never recovered. They lost more support when they went to wings and then dropped them. Even if their own actions didn't hurt them, trying to run in an area that had 420 sprints, 360 sprints, 358 sprints, super sportsmen and various sizes of minisprints would have made it very difficult, anyway. There just wasn't room in the schedules to fit in a class that was confusing to many racing fans, but was trying to maintain a relatively high payoff. In contrast, NEMA is surviving in New England. They started a "Lite" class that runs a lesser engine and, as a result, can deliver a 2-class show that regularly brings close to 30 cars. Last year, NEMA averaged 13 cars, while the Lites averaged 15. The costs still hurt, though. During the 2018 season, 31 NEMA cars and 48(!) Lite cars ran at least one show. NEMA ran 13 shows and the Lites ran 15 shows. For those who aren't familiar with them, both classes run wings and only pavement tracks. Finally, there is a USAC-sanctioned group, the DMA Midgets that run without wings, with dozen or so shows at Bear Ridge Speedway in Northern Vermont, with a few shows at a couple of other nearby dirt tracks. I don't get to many, but I've been told the average 12-15 cars. Like the Lites, they run lesser engines. As with similar situation throughout the years I've been following them, I don't believe any of the engine rules are compatible between USAC, Nema, Lites, and DMA, which is sad.

Yea, I met those NEMA guys from Bethany, Ct. (not far from my Mom's) at Chili Bowl. They were running VW engines (didn't do so well at CB...) My only gripe is that I don't like pavement racing at all. I've been tempted to try out Bear Ridge, but its a long drive... maybe this summer. A few years back I went to a SCONE race at (now defunct) Canaan, NH track, took an old buddy (now deceased) who was a gearhead, but never saw sprints. It was interesting, I guess OK for New England, but track was some kind of black stuff, almost looked like wood stove ash..... great pass on the last turn for the win... but i couldn't see a thing
dust.
Maybe I'll drive up to Vt. this summer, have a buddy there too (but I think he's WAY up North (big state, North to South)

[HDbill]

Indiana open wheel is available BECAUSE of people dedicated to open wheel racing and their fans. Our sport has suffered countless setbacks since the TV was invented along with the internet and track closures etc. So we all know that the days of ARDC running NINE shows a week in front of packed stadiums were over before most on this web site were born. But it also managed to survive and increase car counts with new blood countless times, over and over, because MIDGETS are just so cool. Nothing compares to the CHILI BOWL...So, PLEASE, REFRAIN from posting "from what I heard" gossip and negative comments that don't help anything. There are some people that love midgets trying to find a way out of this. They could use any help or support available and really don't need people "stepping on their shoe aces".

[revjimk]

Originally Posted by HDbill Indiana open wheel is available BECAUSE of people dedicated to open wheel racing and their fans. Our sport has suffered countless setbacks since the TV was invented along with the internet and track closures etc. So we all know that the days of ARDC running NINE shows a week in front of packed stadiums were over before most on this web site were born. But it also managed to survive and increase car counts with new blood countless times, over and over, because MIDGETS are just so cool. Nothing compares to the CHILI BOWL...So, PLEASE, REFRAIN from posting "from what I heard" gossip and negative comments that don't help anything. There are some people that love midgets trying to find a way out of this. They could use any help or support available and really don't need people "stepping on their shoe aces".

So are you saying ARDC is still alive & this is a false rumor?
That would be cool....

[wlesher]

Jon boat my name is wayne lesher....I'm curious what your name is?

I'm also assuming I'm the person who you are referring to as cutting and running

For your inadequate information I have recently purchased a midget in hope of supporting a couple races

Also if you would like to involved you can certainly help out. I'm sure though you will continue to run your mouth. Anonymously of coarse. Because that's the way you and those like you roll.

Everyone has an opinion on what happened to east coast midgets. Maybe it was the rules, maybe engine cost, maybe this maybe that.

The bottom line is most of the expensive engines have left and we still can't get interest in local events.

That's exactly why we arent racing.....when you have 30 cars available and 8 show up to a race.

But I guess you know that already since you seem to know everything.

Wayne Lesher
The man who killed the ARDC

[wlesher]

Your information isnt even close to correct