More Midget Races Cancelled

DonMoore10 · 9/19/11, 9:48 AM

I would like to address two related topics: Scheduled practices before race dates and Ford Focus racing.

Scheduled practices before race dates. To make this clearer, I'm talking about, for example, an "official sanctioned practice" a day prior to a midget race at the same track. I participated in the D1 pavement midget show this past weekend at Columbus Motor Speedway. I called the track on Friday (the race was Saturday night) to see what the schedule was and I did this because I couldn't find any info on the internet. One of the Nuckles bros answered the phone. He told he didn't know what the schedule was, so please call back on Saturday morning and he told me that the pits would open at 3 PM. Just reporting the facts here, IOWheelers.

OK...Here's what I found out when I arrived at the track on Saturday afternoon. Literally every midget team was already in the pits when I arrived at 2:30, a half hour before the pits were supposed to open. OK... that really didn't bother me. Fine and dandy. BUT....

When I got in line to buy the pit pass, I heard that there was a practice the night before.

Now let me get right to the point. Why are we having practices the day before for these regional races?

*** This is just one example of the insanity going on with midget racing paying pennies.

I don't get it at all. This is an EXAMPLE of sending the cost of operating a midget team sky high and out of the reach of people who actually work for a living and don't have one of the NASCAR haulers with all the bells and whistles to compete. Now... if you schedule three practice nights, every high dollar team is going to be there all three nights. do you get my point yet? Don't get me wrong, if a team wants to spend zillions of dollars to win pennies, no one is going to stop them. But, to play into the hands of the "HAVES" and pile hotel costs, midget fuel costs, tire costs etc etc etc (and you can bet that those teams practicing were burning up plenty of the purple tires for the "practice" and on top of that trying to get ahead of the Jones at all costs. THIS IS TOTALLY INSANE, people. And then everyone wonders why only 11 midgets show up for this nonsense. Is it not totally elementary what is going on here?? Do we need rocket scientists to point all this out?? *** again.

Secondly, Ford Focus racing. Someone stated earlier that watching the Focus cars race was like watching paint dry. I totally disagree. If you were at Columbus Saturday night, you would not come away with that thought at all. And this has to do also with the misconception that slower cars do not produce good racing. The Ford Focus feature was quite entertaining and I gave it four stars. Very competitive and you didn't know who was going to win till the last second. And as unscientifically proved in a thread on IOW a few years back, to the fans in the stand, speed has nothing to do with great midget competition. furthermore, to me, the Focus cars looked just as fast (even though they actually weren't) as the D1 midgets.

Mud Packer · 9/19/11, 10:09 AM

Don,

Rather surprised that ALL race teams weren't notified about the open practice on Friday night. I am sure that the speedway charged for pit passes and I would think that they would welcome any and all money no matter where it comes from.

Roy Bleckert · 9/19/11, 10:20 AM

@ DAD & Don Moore

Quit trying to edumacate the huddled masses LOLLLLL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ya EFI is much easier to set up maintain etc. than Mech FI or Carbs & will have your engine running meaner, leaner & cleaner, even NastyCar is going EFI so at some point somewhere EFI will be the norm , Short Track Racing in general needs to start transitioning over sooner than later

Trying to make Midgets or any short track event into a clone of a NastyCar event is insane IMO & if you continue down this path you wind up with 6 cars & 50 fans showing up .... then.............................................. ..................................

Midget 89 · 9/19/11, 12:02 PM

Jerry Nuckles has a son running a D1 midget. Was the extra practice for his friends?

DAD · 9/19/11, 12:28 PM

WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY! Someone could cast up a knock off 110 ci Offy. Make it the spec midget motor. Make it optional carb or injection for those real old timers. Allow only castor to be used as lube. And we would all be happy. It could be done for one half the cost of the the other motors used now. It might be just a little slower than the Focus midgets are but then we could do the same with the V8 60 for them. I'll go to the races just to smell the old castor vapors again.

Midget 89 · 9/19/11, 12:43 PM

Question for Don Moore: How do the USAC D1 engine rules differ from the from the National Series?

DonMoore10 · 9/19/11, 1:34 PM

AFAK, everything is the same top to bottom except for the purse. Apparently the four purple tires I had to buy ($$$$$$$$$$$$$$$) for this series are not good anywhere else...

And a little extra tid bit for what it's worth... the purple tire truck didn't show up till the last minute..

DAD · 9/19/11, 1:46 PM

Everybody knows that a spec tire is good way to control cost in racing, ask Hoosier Tire Co. One time I was trying to raise the car count by letting my helper go out in a back up car with a 5 year old RR tire on it and was told no can't do that He couldn't go on the track without the spec tire. That cost everybody because we were 1 car short of 20 cars, and a full purse.

DonMoore10 · 9/19/11, 1:52 PM

There is no spec tire(s) for the D1 dirt races. It's the same overinflated price for a SP2 as the National series.

Roy Bleckert · 9/19/11, 2:24 PM

@ DAD

Another way to look at it The junkyards are already full of 110 Offy style knock off engines , practically every 4 cylinder passenger car engine built in the last 15 years are DOHC most in the 1.8 - 2.5 liter range , or 110 - 150 C. I.

Even the New Tech has a tradition in Old Tech

9/19/11, 10:09 AM	#202 Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
Mud Packer Senior Member Race Count Last Year: 59 Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 5,067	Don, Rather surprised that ALL race teams weren't notified about the open practice on Friday night. I am sure that the speedway charged for pit passes and I would think that they would welcome any and all money no matter where it comes from. __________________ Mike Be nice to people on the way up. You might need them on the way down. Jimmy Durante

9/19/11, 1:34 PM	#207 Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
DonMoore10 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 1,474	AFAK, everything is the same top to bottom except for the purse. Apparently the four purple tires I had to buy ($$$$$$$$$$$$$$$) for this series are not good anywhere else... And a little extra tid bit for what it's worth... the purple tire truck didn't show up till the last minute.. _________________________________________________ Last edited by DonMoore10; 9/19/11 at 1:40 PM.

9/19/11, 2:24 PM	#210 Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
Roy Bleckert Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 377	@ DAD Another way to look at it The junkyards are already full of 110 Offy style knock off engines , practically every 4 cylinder passenger car engine built in the last 15 years are DOHC most in the 1.8 - 2.5 liter range , or 110 - 150 C. I. Even the New Tech has a tradition in Old Tech _________________________________________________ Last edited by Roy Bleckert; 9/19/11 at 2:27 PM.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

9/19/11, 9:48 AM	#201 Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
DonMoore10 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 1,474	I would like to address two related topics: Scheduled practices before race dates and Ford Focus racing. Scheduled practices before race dates. To make this clearer, I'm talking about, for example, an "official sanctioned practice" a day prior to a midget race at the same track. I participated in the D1 pavement midget show this past weekend at Columbus Motor Speedway. I called the track on Friday (the race was Saturday night) to see what the schedule was and I did this because I couldn't find any info on the internet. One of the Nuckles bros answered the phone. He told he didn't know what the schedule was, so please call back on Saturday morning and he told me that the pits would open at 3 PM. Just reporting the facts here, IOWheelers. OK...Here's what I found out when I arrived at the track on Saturday afternoon. Literally every midget team was already in the pits when I arrived at 2:30, a half hour before the pits were supposed to open. OK... that really didn't bother me. Fine and dandy. BUT.... When I got in line to buy the pit pass, I heard that there was a practice the night before. Now let me get right to the point. Why are we having practices the day before for these regional races? * This is just one example of the insanity going on with midget racing paying pennies. I don't get it at all. This is an EXAMPLE of sending the cost of operating a midget team sky high and out of the reach of people who actually work for a living and don't have one of the NASCAR haulers with all the bells and whistles to compete. Now... if you schedule three practice nights, every high dollar team is going to be there all three nights. do you get my point yet? Don't get me wrong, if a team wants to spend zillions of dollars to win pennies, no one is going to stop them. But, to play into the hands of the "HAVES" and pile hotel costs, midget fuel costs, tire costs etc etc etc (and you can bet that those teams practicing were burning up plenty of the purple tires for the "practice" and on top of that trying to get ahead of the Jones at all costs. THIS IS TOTALLY INSANE, people. And then everyone wonders why only 11 midgets show up for this nonsense. Is it not totally elementary what is going on here?? Do we need rocket scientists to point all this out?? * again. Secondly, Ford Focus racing. Someone stated earlier that watching the Focus cars race was like watching paint dry. I totally disagree. If you were at Columbus Saturday night, you would not come away with that thought at all. And this has to do also with the misconception that slower cars do not produce good racing. The Ford Focus feature was quite entertaining and I gave it four stars. Very competitive and you didn't know who was going to win till the last second. And as unscientifically proved in a thread on IOW a few years back, to the fans in the stand, speed has nothing to do with great midget competition. furthermore, to me, the Focus cars looked just as fast (even though they actually weren't) as the D1 midgets.

9/19/11, 10:20 AM	#203 Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
Roy Bleckert Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 377	@ DAD & Don Moore Quit trying to edumacate the huddled masses LOLLLLL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ya EFI is much easier to set up maintain etc. than Mech FI or Carbs & will have your engine running meaner, leaner & cleaner, even NastyCar is going EFI so at some point somewhere EFI will be the norm , Short Track Racing in general needs to start transitioning over sooner than later Trying to make Midgets or any short track event into a clone of a NastyCar event is insane IMO & if you continue down this path you wind up with 6 cars & 50 fans showing up .... then.............................................. ..................................

9/19/11, 12:02 PM	#204 Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
Midget 89 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 1,022	Jerry Nuckles has a son running a D1 midget. Was the extra practice for his friends?

9/19/11, 12:28 PM	#205 Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
DAD Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 5,955	WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY! Someone could cast up a knock off 110 ci Offy. Make it the spec midget motor. Make it optional carb or injection for those real old timers. Allow only castor to be used as lube. And we would all be happy. It could be done for one half the cost of the the other motors used now. It might be just a little slower than the Focus midgets are but then we could do the same with the V8 60 for them. I'll go to the races just to smell the old castor vapors again.

9/19/11, 12:43 PM	#206 Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
Midget 89 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 1,022	Question for Don Moore: How do the USAC D1 engine rules differ from the from the National Series?

9/19/11, 1:46 PM	#208 Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
DAD Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 5,955	Everybody knows that a spec tire is good way to control cost in racing, ask Hoosier Tire Co. One time I was trying to raise the car count by letting my helper go out in a back up car with a 5 year old RR tire on it and was told no can't do that He couldn't go on the track without the spec tire. That cost everybody because we were 1 car short of 20 cars, and a full purse.

9/19/11, 1:52 PM	#209 Re: More Midget Races Cancelled
DonMoore10 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 1,474	There is no spec tire(s) for the D1 dirt races. It's the same overinflated price for a SP2 as the National series.