Midwest Pavement Midget Racing,(Comment))
Hi, I'm Dan, former owner of the Wolverine Outlaw Midget Series. Can pavement midget racing be saved and who are the good guys? Who is doing what for the benefit of midget racing and who's biggest concern is the money at the end of the day?
My wife and I put everything into our series over the last three years to build our series. Time, money and energy was not spared. I began this year with high hopes and big plans. We would pay $1000 to win at all our races. That should draw a good car count at each of our events. We decided to open up the tire rule to give choice to our racers so that it might be less costly to compete at our events. All's well.
In come the three musketeers, Eric Bunn, Don Kenyon and Irish Saunders from Hoosier.They won't honor the co-sanction races if we use any tire other than Hoosier at any of our races. I call USAC after being told by them that they would wreck my schedule and take my co-sanction races away if I used any tire other than Hoosier.USAC calls me back and tells me that these guys can get my races canceled. I could feel the love. Finally they say I can use what I want at my own races but must use only Hoosier with them. OK we get a co-sanction race at Berlin lined up with USAC. Big crowd and 2 cars from USAC show up.. I hear later that Kenyon broke off his own group to race that same day down at Grundy. Do these people sound like they are doing what is best for midget racing?It's all about them. Are these the same people to lead midget racing into the future? I recently passed the torch on to someone else because I tired of dealing with people you just can't trust.Life is just to short .At the start of this season I was willing to and intended to, if necessary, bank roll the entire season for WOMS. I guess if you follow along their lead and do not disrupt their money making machine, everything is OK. In our area of the country we say what we mean and than do what we say. That's a foreign language to them.
I feel like midget racing lost someone that could have done a lot of good in general but because of the three stooges fighting me at every turn it just was not worth it. What a bunch of self serving money hungry people. I was willing to spent a substantial amount of money of my own to further pavement midget racing but until the driver's and owners realize who the good guys are and support them , nothing will change. Hoosier is effectively killing pavement midget racing for the masses and Don Kenyon and Eric Bunn are helping at every turn. We could have had a tri state championship with WOMS,USAC and UMARA with races in each state but as long as these people are in charge it will never happen. They need absolute control right down to the tire you use and beyond. They may feel they are winning but midget racing is losing.
I have heard the threats face to face and these people are not friends of midget racing. Some people put them on a pedestal but I can assure you they should not be there.Maybe in the past at some point they were ambassadors for the sport but that is long gone. They effectively took the fun out of it for me. I still have my midget and will race it occasionally but I have bought a boat. I think of what could have been and it is abundantly clear that some people just want the status quo. I think the three amigos are extremely happy to see me go as they have outlasted another possible threat to their stranglehold on power.UMARA is already essentially a club run by Hoosier and USAC. Midget racing will continue to be the loser. It's really sad. These comments truthfully reflect my own personal experiences in running WOMS. I love midget racing and yearn to have it see the success and recognition it deserves.Those of you who know me, know that I speak the truth.
This will be my final post concerning midget racing. I really felt I could make a difference but underestimated the resistance I would encounter. There is a delicate balance of power in pavement midget racing and the status quo will do anything to keep it the way it presently is. I have met a lot of great people in midget racing, some that will be my friends forever. Some day things will change but will there be any interest anymore? I sincerely hope so. This week end looks to be great weather so I will be out on Lake Michigan.

Dan Vander Molen