The survival/revival of midget racing has been debated quite heavily, however I have yet to hear talk of what I think is the fundamental problem facing midget racing – weekly racing. What I mean by weekly racing is the lack of tracks throughout the country that have midgets as a weekly racing division. Why is this a problem? It eliminates the backbone for the success of any racing division, cost effective entry or continuance within the sport.

Almost all critics of the current midget paradigm have focused on the cost of engines. I agree that is an issue, but not paramount to the over all growth or sustainability of midget racing. What is critical to the growth of midget racing is new blood into the sport and that cannot be achieved by having a division that exists by virtue of travel. I feel one of the reasons for the continued growth of sprint cars is not directly related to the cost to filed a car, but the ability to race as a weekly division. This allows someone to race 15 or so times a year with no more travel than the distance to the same track each week substantially reducing costs for a season. In addition, many of the tracks have rules that limit or mandate tires to be even more cost effective. However, the rules “package” is such that the weekly racers who want to travel can with little to no additional costs other than travel itself.

Given that midgets cannot draw from “local” weekly racers for most national events or high profile races, the midget car counts in my mind have been very good and better than most traveling series. Most of the critics will disagree. However, lets use the World of Outlaws sprint cars and late models as an example. Within these touring series there are only a dozen or so fulltime teams, yet the races will draw 30 to 40+ cars. The reason for this is the ability to draw from the weekly racing competitors. These touring series race in areas where there are weekly late model and sprint car divisions. Without the weekly competitors, the touring series would have worse car counts than the midgets. This is not just a recent economic issue either, for years the World of Outlaw sprint cars would only have at most 18 full time teams yet get large car counts for each event.

Look at the hierarchy of your local race track. Generally, there is a bomber/factory division (entry level), street stock/sportsmans (middle division(s)), modifieds and/or late models (premier division). With this setup a racer can get into the sport very cost effectively and move up to other divisions without ever racing at another track., a farm system of sorts.

There are already tracks throughout the country that race different sprint car divisions within their weekly racing divisions (360, 410, wing, non-wing, spec, etc.). I think that midgets would only need two divisions, an entry level/low cost (Focus, IRS, type rules) and a main/premier division (existing midget type). The touring aspect of midgets could still exist in their present form, but have the benefit of larger car counts due to the locals racing. This scenario would put midget racing into a similar scenario as sprint cars, WOO, etc.

If/when midget racing can become a local weekly racing division the ability of the sport to flourish is assured. Obviously, the first step is convincing local track promoters that midgets as a weekly racing division is a good thing. It has been proven to be successful in cases when it has been exercised. But specifics on how that is to be accomplished on a national level, I myself am not sure. I will save that topic for another time.