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DonMoore10 · 12/12/07, 10:47 AM

The National Midget Forum has been happening for several years. It was held in Indianapolis once a year and then it moved to the Chili Bowl a few years ago. Bob Parks from BMARA and Ron Hoettels of SESCO Engines are the two participants that I know personally. Not sure of the other people that attend. And as Pgray pointed out, he has no idea about what this group does and what they are trying to accomplish. I agree!!!! Who knows. The results or outcome of the meetings is a deep dark secret. I have never seen anything in print as to what took place at one of these meetings.

If they have been meeting all these years, I have a question for anybody in the world to answer:

Can anyone name three concepts, rules, changes, whatever that was ever accomplished as a result of this group meeting? Please be specific as too what was decided and how they went about implementing it with all the midget groups around the country.

Suggestions for changing the way we go about midget racing has been discussed endlessly on various forums in the past several years. I can direct you to some very good articles in the now defunct OPEN WHEEL mag that address some very key issues. Those articles were published
back in the 90's. This is now almost 2008, ten or more years later, and we are still stuck in the same rut.

The outrageous costs of midget racing were etched in stone back in the 90's when USAC allowed some key changes. WE used to see one physical car racing for a midget team on both dirt and pavement. Now a team must have at least two cars to compete on both surfaces. Twice the cost. This problem can be reversed with one rule change. A race team is only allowed to run one physical car for all surfaces and the car number assigned must stay with that car. Any other car fielded by that team must have another number. Thus, points $$$ would have to be earned by one car and no switching allowed. Damaged cars, new cars etc would have to approved by the org and the old car would have be taken out of service. There is more to it, but if the rules are written correctly, this change would work. This is a very drastic change and would meet tremendous opposition, I'm sure, from all the money teams. Don't look for this to happen unless the orgs have elephant balls.

Tires. Well, almost all the orgs have tire deals with Hoosier that pay big bucks to keep the competition out. A lot of teams have tire deals. Some of these orgs are tied up for years with a contract with Hoosier and orgs like BMARA who vote on changes have elected to continue with business as usual. So how is the tire problem ever going to change?? Some teams are bailing out of BMARA because they can't afford to keep racing. I would like to see everyone go to a smaller RR tire with a hard compound. This would help equalize the differences in engines and improve the competition for the fans. Wider cars mean less room for passing.

Indoor racing. I would like to see the Fort Wayne races become USAC National events and put an end to all the exceptions that are made for the cars that compete there. A USAC or POWRi national event would attract the all the stars and cars that compete throughout the year.

I have more to say on all of this but those are my thoughts. Unfortunately, I'm not optimistic about any changes that are going to happen soon. As I said before, the orgs would have to really, really have some muscle to reverse the direction that we going at this time.

Finally, step back a bit and ponder how rediculous it is that some teams are spending over a million dollars a year to win $2000-$2500!!!!

12/12/07, 10:47 AM	#6 Re: National Midget Forum ideas?
DonMoore10 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 1,474	The National Midget Forum has been happening for several years. It was held in Indianapolis once a year and then it moved to the Chili Bowl a few years ago. Bob Parks from BMARA and Ron Hoettels of SESCO Engines are the two participants that I know personally. Not sure of the other people that attend. And as Pgray pointed out, he has no idea about what this group does and what they are trying to accomplish. I agree!!!! Who knows. The results or outcome of the meetings is a deep dark secret. I have never seen anything in print as to what took place at one of these meetings. If they have been meeting all these years, I have a question for anybody in the world to answer: Can anyone name three concepts, rules, changes, whatever that was ever accomplished as a result of this group meeting? Please be specific as too what was decided and how they went about implementing it with all the midget groups around the country. Suggestions for changing the way we go about midget racing has been discussed endlessly on various forums in the past several years. I can direct you to some very good articles in the now defunct OPEN WHEEL mag that address some very key issues. Those articles were published back in the 90's. This is now almost 2008, ten or more years later, and we are still stuck in the same rut. The outrageous costs of midget racing were etched in stone back in the 90's when USAC allowed some key changes. WE used to see one physical car racing for a midget team on both dirt and pavement. Now a team must have at least two cars to compete on both surfaces. Twice the cost. This problem can be reversed with one rule change. A race team is only allowed to run one physical car for all surfaces and the car number assigned must stay with that car. Any other car fielded by that team must have another number. Thus, points $$$ would have to be earned by one car and no switching allowed. Damaged cars, new cars etc would have to approved by the org and the old car would have be taken out of service. There is more to it, but if the rules are written correctly, this change would work. This is a very drastic change and would meet tremendous opposition, I'm sure, from all the money teams. Don't look for this to happen unless the orgs have elephant balls. Tires. Well, almost all the orgs have tire deals with Hoosier that pay big bucks to keep the competition out. A lot of teams have tire deals. Some of these orgs are tied up for years with a contract with Hoosier and orgs like BMARA who vote on changes have elected to continue with business as usual. So how is the tire problem ever going to change?? Some teams are bailing out of BMARA because they can't afford to keep racing. I would like to see everyone go to a smaller RR tire with a hard compound. This would help equalize the differences in engines and improve the competition for the fans. Wider cars mean less room for passing. Indoor racing. I would like to see the Fort Wayne races become USAC National events and put an end to all the exceptions that are made for the cars that compete there. A USAC or POWRi national event would attract the all the stars and cars that compete throughout the year. I have more to say on all of this but those are my thoughts. Unfortunately, I'm not optimistic about any changes that are going to happen soon. As I said before, the orgs would have to really, really have some muscle to reverse the direction that we going at this time. Finally, step back a bit and ponder how rediculous it is that some teams are spending over a million dollars a year to win $2000-$2500!!!!