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jjones752 (Offline)
  #11 1/4/14 10:20 AM
Another thing to consider here is that in the earlier examples shown to prove "plausibility", Limerock is a dedicated sports car roadcourse, Sebring is a converted airport and the "road course" at Culver City took the midgets outside the quarter mile; the point I'm making is that the corner radii in all three examples are big enough that a solid-axle Midget would have a fighting chance of negotiating the turn. Indoors, the corners would have to be so tight on a non-oval that tire scrub would just about bring them to a halt. Karts can do it because they have no suspension and they're set up to pick the inside rear tire up in a corner. We get around left turns with copious amounts of stagger; ya can't change stagger from left to right in the middle of a race...

Jim Jones
Midwest Thunder Speed2 Midget #97
jjones752 (Offline)
  #12 1/4/14 10:51 AM
For what it's worth, the Culver City setup wasn't really and over-under deal; in the first picture you can make out the outer loop and where it exited and re-entered the oval. The elevation change was presumably to clear the wall, but also perhaps to help free the cars up to get around the right turns; see second picture of Troy-boy "freeing her up" big time.
Note also that the road-course loop is clearly abandoned; probably because it just didn't work out all that well.

Jim Jones
Midwest Thunder Speed2 Midget #97
Likes: ARCA91
ARCA91 (Offline)
  #13 1/4/14 11:01 AM
Holy cow, those are some nice road course pictures. So the dream was reality at some point.

AARN is versatile enough to try this out and more than likely at the Nassau Coliseum out on Long Island. Yeah Baltimore was a good try, but they said if they can somehow land another date for Providence's Dunkin Donuts Centre, they wont hesitate because the fans even showed up on New Years Eve for that one.
Likes: Puppy
gearguy (Offline)
  #14 1/4/14 11:38 AM
Midgets aren't that far from the suspension setups used on some great 1950s road racing specials. It might be a good idea to run an exhibition event on a short road course before taking the concept indoors. Probably swap out the jake ladder for the panard bar on the rear.
I've decided that all forms of motorized mayhem should be embraced. Life is too short and regulation/buzz killers too close to dump on anyone's particular form of motorsports.
How cool is it when professional drag racers take on the Chilli Bowl or the 24 Hours of Lemons?
If someone wants to run midgets on a road course I know my gang would give it a try.
JJMooney (Offline)
  #15 1/4/14 11:47 AM
Originally Posted by jjones752:
For what it's worth, the Culver City setup wasn't really an over-under deal
You're right. I got it confused with this place:

This was Atlantic Speedway, also in California. It was more of figure 8 course with a cross-over bridge and tunnel. I'd hate to be the guy hung up on the railing on the bridge!

Here's some more pics of Culver City, including a diagram of the road course:


Likes: ARCA91
jjones752 (Offline)
  #16 1/4/14 11:58 AM
That shot from the stands is probably the best overall view of the track I've ever seen; it shows the walls have clearly been removed so the elevation change was obviously just to add interest. This shot from the site your pictures are from is of a 500-mile (!) Midget race at Riverside Raceway in 1958, which I believe was promoted by Aggie and won by Allen Heath. I think there was alse a 500-mile Jalopy race and for sure there was a 500 miler for CRA Sprint Cars at Riverside which I remember was televised on Channel 11 in LA because I watched it at age 6. I think it was announced by Walker Edmiston, who was a local TV personality (and later the voice of Ernie the Keebler Elf) and amateur SCCA Sports Car chauffer.

Jim Jones
Midwest Thunder Speed2 Midget #97
Likes: ARCA91
ARCA91 (Offline)
  #17 1/4/14 5:46 PM
Oh its do-able, and they beat us to the punch. I knew they take winged sprint cars from Winchester Speedway (dirt)and run them at Summit Point Road Course on Sundays, but that's West Virginia for ya. I had no idea CRA Sprints ran Riverside!
jjones752 (Offline)
  #18 1/5/14 10:30 AM
Originally Posted by ARCA91:
Oh its do-able, and they beat us to the punch. I knew they take winged sprint cars from Winchester Speedway (dirt)and run them at Summit Point Road Course on Sundays, but that's West Virginia for ya. I had no idea CRA Sprints ran Riverside!
I'm pretty sure it was a one-time deal for both the Midgets and Sprints on the road course, but CRA ran several times on the half-mile oval that consisted of the road course's infamous Turn Nine and a mirror-image connector that's indicated by the dotted lines on the map. Incidentally the map makes the resulting oval look decidedly paper-clippish; I don't think it's to scale. And, the "club circuit" was never built.
Regarding the possibility of AARN running right and left turns with radical-offset TQ's, that could get REALLY interesting...
Attachments:
210_TQ_2.jpg (8.8 KB)


Jim Jones
Midwest Thunder Speed2 Midget #97
ARCA91 (Offline)
  #19 1/6/14 5:31 PM
...and really interesting is exactly what will fill the seats. I say we take Thursday's optional Practice One in Atlantic City and try this out. I know Don is bringing his lefthander AND his interchangable Midget at this point........... -->
jjones752 (Offline)
  #20 1/6/14 5:45 PM
I don't think you noticed the tongue in my cheek; by "interesting" I meant "really dicey" negotiating a right-hand turn, what with all that left-side weight bias.
But hey, what do I know? If Don (whoever that is) and his "lefthander" and "interchangeable midget" (whatever they are) wanna give it a shot, I say more power to 'em. Just make sure you post the videos on here...

Jim Jones
Midwest Thunder Speed2 Midget #97
2 Likes: ARCA91, Puppy
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