I agree with Dad that Chett is a heck of a driver and would be competitive in most anything. Extra weight is not going to slow him down. I've seen him race that car at Montpelier and Union County Speedways, and be very competitive with full National Midgets. The point here is that not all production automotive engines are created equal. The USAC HPD series co-sanctioned 6 races with Midwest mini sprint associations this summer - mini sprints won 5 out of 6 against USAC legal Focus cars. In my opinion, the cars have similar horsepower, but Focus weigh 200 lbs more, and struggle to accelerate on starts due to the heavier driveline. A Focus car won at the high banked 3/8 mile Atomic Speedway, where it could utilize its momentum.

I'm a huge fan of the DII concept and believe this off-season is critical for developing a set of rules that encompass a wide variety of production engines and mini sprints. I'd like to see specs that target horsepower at the 225 range, easily accessible for Focus with minor modifications not current permitted by USAC. The Ecotech and Honda can be built economically at this HP level. We cannot go into the 2016 season allowing Ecotechs modified to put out 275+ HP competing against other DII midgets.