Midget Racing Must Change
 

I really wanted to call this midget racing must die but I thought that was harsh. I have been to two races this year, last week's Hut Hundred and the USAC regional race at Columbus. THe car counts in both were discouraging.

The Hut was a very good race but where were the cars? There were two sanctioning bodies on a short track and they only could pull 33 cars. This is hyped as one of the biggest midget races of the year. The Micro Midgets pulled in 40-50 cars.

AT Columbus, things were worst. THere were 12 cars there. I have been to most of the midget races at Columbus over the past 10 years and the car counts have dwindled from 30 or more to 12. THis was also supposed to include the WOMS/USAC Division but I don't believe there was a car from Michigan.

I am not a vested car owner or a driver, I am just a guy who rediscovered midget racing in the early 90's. I have seen a lot of full fields and great races. I have also seen the fields dwindle to a fraction of what they were. I will admit that the racing can still be very good.

I don't know exactly what the answer is. Heck, maybe it is too late. It seems like the sanctioning bodies don't really seem to care. Maybe it is time to let it go and start new.

Re: Midget Racing Must Change
 

I was looking on Ed Pink's webdite last night. $42,000 for a good motor to run for small purses.

Re: Midget Racing Must Change
 

This subject has been beaten to death on here for quite a while and I don't think you are going to get any arguments from anyone on here that Midgets are in serious trouble.

The little guy (middle class guy) can't afford to go race midgets anymore. That is the bottom line. Until some large changes are made, it will remain that way. Same thing is happening to pavement sprint cars and soon to follow will be Silver Crown races. I love all 3 of these cars and it's very sad to me to watch this happen. USAC needs to look at the root cause. I mean the very ROOT. Every car in the pits of these races that are in trouble have a couple of things in common that are very expensive, one of them being tires. USAC needs to go to HOOSIER and tell them to lower their prices substantially because they are killing the sport, or they will find another manufacture of tires.

I went to my local track last Friday night and there were 40 4 cylinder pony stock cars there, they had to run a B main. There were 30 Dwarf cars there that is a traveling series and they had probably 25 cars. WHY? Because you can run one of those cars cheap. They don't pay to run one of those cars, but they are cheap to run and people still want to go race, so they find what they can afford.
I told the guy I was with, you could buy two of those pony stock cars for the price of one set of tires for a midget. The fans were entertained with these classes too. They were racing 3 and sometimes 4 wide.

Why do you have to have a 30-40k engine in a national midget to compete? Engine maintenance on these is outrageous also. Back in the day, guys did their own engine work.
Why do we need to buy 2 sets of tires when we get to a USAC race? Why do we need to buy carbon fiber body kits and Titanium everything so that we can put the weight where it needs to be?
The weight limit needs to be raised in my opinion to eliminate this issue by the way. Why not raise the weight to 1200 or 1250 with the driver after the race. You would see older cars come out of the wood work and fill the fields back up.
There are a number of things that could be done. USAC has to lead the way and everyone else will follow. I love midget racing and I really don't want them to die. Something has to be done.

Re: Midget Racing Must Change
 

The similarities of the ******** of the midget orgs and the ******** that go on in Washington D. C. are about the same, so you may see snow in July before you see an established midget org make any changes to get us out of this mess.

Re: Midget Racing Must Change
 

what i think needs to be changed is the purse pay out structure. pay 1500 to win but work the rest of the purse so the bottom pays 300 to 350 to start and go up from there. actually i would like to see 400 to start. that would bring cars out of the garage.
paying 2500, 2000 to win and around 200 to start in today's economy is not bringing cars out. as don moore always says, why should the car owners pay to be the show. at 400 to start now the car owner might be able to break even.

Re: Midget Racing Must Change
 

I totally agree with Mr. Moore and with Polecar. But there are more important things for the power above to worry about than car count I guess.

Re: Midget Racing Must Change
 

its going the same with 410 sprinters only its not as obvious yet.

The problem is the engine limit and sticking as much money and research into only one or two designs to get as much out it as possible. There are options, The Aussie engine 12,000 bucks, 1000 and 1200cc motorcycle engines, Wouldn't be surprised if some of the outboard boat motors of today wouldn't put a whoopin on em in some instances. Big difference between 12,000 or less for a motor and 42,000, Like the ability for have a one or three car team?

Re: Midget Racing Must Change
 

I have no idea what the heck you are talking about?
Midget racing to expensive? I have heard that same old song 50 years now.
There are ten time as many midgets and different classes that should be called midgets, There for the fan base is spread out very thin, These midget owners Who cry will still cry if they would or could get them all on the same page at the same number of tracks that ran back then and the same number of sanctioning bodies.
It is a different game now you just about have to pay entrance fees at most races now.The back gate is usualy the big cash draw now.
Sit down and count how many midgets, Focus, Micro's, midget lite and so on are running now, most cant get more than 10 to 15 cars at a race date.
What is really needed is a good promotor to get some of those under the same umbrella and running at the same time.
But that will never happen as most owners think they are smarter than the promotors and will go off and start anther midget group, Just what midget racing needs an other series!

Re: Midget Racing Must Change
 

ARDC had a full field again last night at Grandview and has never been stronger.Pauch jr. wins from the 18 hole.:9::99::

Re: Midget Racing Must Change
 

Re: Midget Racing Must Change
 

Originally Posted by aussiemidgetfan:
Changing anything about the cars that makes existing cars ineligible is the fastest way to ensure midget racing is totally obliterated. Realistically whilst the economy is in the toilet, all racing is going to suffer especially the lowest levels as disposable income evaporates.

I am really getting tired of hearing about all this economy crap. i know several drivers who have steped down to much more affordable race cars. You are starting to see several sprint car guys getting into modifieds. This post starting out about the "Pony cars" is exactly right. Guys still love to race. They are going to race whatever. Your big names are going to set on the sidelines because it would hurt there ego to run something less. Thats fine by me, not the guy I want to watch anyhow. Right now the tracks that have let cars get out of hand are really hurting. The tracks that have pretty decent tech and are good to the drivers are booming. Asphault tracks seem to be dead, but I can take you to one that is pulling in 100 to 140 cars per night depending on how many classes they run.

Re: Midget Racing Must Change
 

I've said what I have to say about this subject about a million times and I'm tired of repeating myself.

Lets just say that the "problems" are much more than engines and tires. I put that in quotes because I don't see the sport as having one or two problems, but there are many, many factors that are going on.

The organizations that seem to care about the sport and their competitors are thriving(ARDC AND POWRI). Both groups are averaging at or near 30 cars a race. USAC is struggling along with hit and miss counts. They will always get some cars because they are USAC.

No offense to anyone who competed, but if anyone thinks N.Vernon is a good indication of how competitive a 1000 is to a midget, I have a feeling that if the same scenario took place with the cars at Haubstaudt, the optimism wouldn't be as great. The two best midget/driver combos at N. Vernon won their heats.

As far as the cost goes.....I have customers who have run 1000 Mini's and full midgets and they tell me that it is within a few thousand of being a wash. I personally don't know because I have never owned a Mini. One of my customers bought a Midget complete last year for $7,000. He took the motor from it and won a USAC/SMRS midget feature and ran consistantly in the top 10 with Powri.

I think always quoting the prices of Ed's motors is a little unfair when the S/T Esslinger costs $16,500 and the tweener Esslinger is $22,000. The tweener motor is a great motor that can run with any of the motors anywhere with the exception of the big miles. We haven't even brought up used motors.

If we are going to quote the most expensive motor; I'd say the Chevy that TSR used probably costs around $100,000 or more per engine and I don't know anyone that wants one of those.

Midget racing is in alot of ways what it's always been, the difference is now in many areas of the Midwest there are so many races and types of cars to race that the fans and teams are basically served up racing on a Silver Platter in their own backyard. If it doesn't suit you here, then screw it......I'll get a different type of car and go 50 Miles down the road and race there.

Midget racing isn't for everyone, but it is very exciting when done properly. This is just my opinion, but I have been around midget racing for the most part of 40 years and I really believe that many of the best races I have seen have been over the past 5 years. (The best race I ever saw was the 1993 Chili Bowl). The reliability and quality of the cars is a major reason for that.

Re: Midget Racing Must Change
 

There is alot of "fat" that could be trimmed. I mean to you really need a stacker and semi to get a midget or sprint car to the track? Big pit carts and fancy push vehicles? Do we really need 800 hp to race on a 1/4 mile dirt track?

Re: Midget Racing Must Change
 

123(what I was told) micro's at Miami County Sat. night. Plenty of racers. Usac could do same if they could get on same page about a few changes.