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I don't have a lot of time on this Earth...but here is my two cents. I participate in the NEMA Lites series as a crew chief back here in New England. We run on asphalt with wings and the Ford Focus midget engine. This series is probably the MOST COMPETITIVE series I have ever witnessed. On a good night we have 20+ cars show up and the racing is INTENSE. The Focus powerplant was a great idea at the start, but the cars were so closely matched that people started building $70,000 cars around an $8,000 dollar engine. We have outlawed titanium parts, have a two tire a night rule, and only allow one cockpit adjustable component. We race for little to no money so to speak, and while that may suck from time to time, that's the price you have to pay to go racing. Over time, we may be able to start devolping a purse for most of our races. The reason that we are sucessful comes down to one thing. The people in the stands, for the most part, DON'T CARE whether or not that midget out on the race track has a 400 HP Esslinger or Gaerte or a 200 HP Focus under the hood. If the racing is good...they will want to see more of it. The focus in midget racing when it comes to engines should be, in my opinon, on engines that can last 2 or more seasons, and allow the teams to spend their money on TIRES. Soft tires make for good racing. Focus cars in USAC are dogs because of the tire rules in USAC. We run lap times half a second to a second of the full midgets in NEMA and around 90 miles an hour average to 100 mph. We have had at least six different winners, including a couple of first timers. Life is pretty good out here in New England, and midgets are thriving in the home of Modifieds and Pro Stocks. Imagine that....
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