I grew up watching U.M.R.A. T.Q. Midgets and have enjoyed competing in many races over my career. Unfortunately with 3 clubs, they have suffered the biggest hit. I'm hoping they will still have some races in 2014, but haven't heard anything nor have I seen any activity on their website or Facebook either. There is so much history with this club! It would be a shame to see it die!

J.T. Stapp

Re: Is umra still alive for 2014?
 

JT, I tend to disagree with you on the 3 organizations, hurting the car counts. I think everyone had plenty of cars at their races last season, you can have too many, as we had back a fw years when we had some with cars counts in the low 60's, that doesn't bode well for keeping the interest up, before the first heat races were run, we had trailered half of them, for a lot of them, that took out the fun, and put in the sting, and, especially when we were running with several other divisions, the hurt went on to the promoter, not everyone came to watch us. Despite what we hear on the media, I think this will be a tough year for a lot of things, and racing in general, expenses for the teams, as well as the fans. As far as Umra goes, I hope someone will pick it up and try to make a go out of it, Randy sure worked his butt off last year, but they had so many rainouts, at good tracks, and then with little help, I think he did an oustanding job. I think everyone is aware of the long time problems with Umra, but sometimes you just have to suck it up, and take a chance on being able to load up, still mostly in one piece. The best years were when Ron Linville ran it, in my opinion, and last year, Randy made a good run at it, I'd like to see him take another swing at it, but a man has to do what he feels is right, but I still think with 3 organizations, there are enough cars to get full fields, and it gives you a lot of choices where you can run. Keep your fingers crossed, maybe we'll see a schedule for Umra before the season starts. Bob!

Re: Is umra still alive for 2014?
 

UMRA suffered the lowest car counts of all 3 groups especially on pavement in 2013. I liked the big car counts personally. T.Q. Midget racing was at its strongest in the late 90s and early 2000s. In 1999 there were only 3 drivers that made all 24 A-Mains. Terry Goff, Jim Weir, and myself. The competition was tough, but it made it special to make the Feature or Win a Heat Race, B-Main, or A-Main. JMO. :)

Re: Is umra still alive for 2014?
 

SO? What's that tell you, not that many like to run pavement, simple as that, and, thank goodness, they only had one on the schedule this past season. They had some good races on the schedule this year, but only got to run 2-3, because of the rainouts, I pulled to 3, and got to run 1, and there were plenty of cars at that one, there were 2 from Texas, now that's a long pull. Bob

Re: Is umra still alive for 2014?
 

The problem with the big car counts is this, when we pull that many cars to a track with 5-6 other divisions, it overwhelms the personel, and makes the night run long, then people blame the TQ's for it, and it really isn't their fault, we do better with about 20 or so cars at a venue like that, 25 to 30 when we are at one of own tracks, or where they don't have so many divisions. I like it like it is, if someone had made the move back when we were having 60+ cars, it woulda been great, and there would have been a lot more participation, but it's building back, I think with the number of choices a team has now, helps a bunch, they can pick the ones they want to run, they don't have to go a long distance, or to a track they may not really like, just so they can run! Bob

Re: Is umra still alive for 2014?
 

to me it dosnt matter if they have 20 or 60 they still put on one great show.

Re: Is umra still alive for 2014?
 

I cherish the fact that I got to race with the UMRA at its height when they had 50 or more cars at every race. Reminded my dad of the glory days of midget racing when 50 cars was the norm. We chose to go to places like Shelbyville and Rushville to run with them strictly because we wanted to challenge ourselves and race with the best TQ racers in the country. Guys like Terry Goff, Mike Smith, and Bryce Townsend made you work to earn every position. The UMRA was also special because it could pull a crowd by itself at places like Rushville and Shelbyville and they ran a complete show WITH QUALIFYING (not even POWRI will do a real complete show). No other series at the level of TQ racing could pull that off. Every promoter I know wants car counts. Car counts mean more people through the back gate, and most likely more people through the front gate.

Re: Is umra still alive for 2014?
 

I agree those were the best times it seemed. 99 was our rookie season and it was an accomplishment to make the show back then. Unfortunately certain issues arose and things started going downhill, then the split. I'm happy to see things on the rebound since I now own a car again. I do hate that the umra is where its at now but hopefully things with the other clubs can pick things up and we can get back to great turnouts. I love the standalone shows at the fairgrounds tracks more so than running as a support series all at the big tracks, but thats just me. The year Bryce came over was awesome, the Rays, Hunsinger etc coming over made for some really tough racing. I love these little cars and the great shows they put on.

Re: Is umra still alive for 2014?
 

I agree, promoters like 40 plus cars because they pay their own way on the back gate and anything extra through the front gate is a bonus. When there are around 20-24 or less it doesn't work out the same.

Re: Is umra still alive for 2014?
 

I remember a couple years ago at Montpelier they only brought 12 or 13 cars the year before that it was mid 30s..having 3 sanctioning bodies has really thinned out the car counts, especially if their are 2 races on the same night..but the racing is still just as good. I think promoters look at the number aspect on scheduling them..If they only bring in 14 cars how many ppl will they put in the seats etc..stronger car counts help bring the organizations back..personally I love tq racing.

Tyler