As we've been preparing for this Friday's (and originally last Friday's) Herb Barlow Memorial featuring POWRi Midgets and Micros along with MOWA sprints and a big Street Stock race... we've sort of been taking a fresh look at our weekly program for next year.

We were wanting to add another open wheel class to our 305's and Micros to add to our rotation. A few weeks ago I put out a feeler on our FB page about going to a crate non-wing class - which was very well received. The underlying concern is not raising our weekly ticket price above the current $12 while adding something other than what some would consider another support class.

Last week we shifted gears and reached out to various people in the midget community thinking it would be better to race cars and motors that already exist instead of creating an entirely new class for racers to throw money at. We have slowly put together a rough plan to run National Midgets as a part of our weekly rotation on weeks where there is not a POWRi or USAC event in the area. This class would run roughly 10 nights per year in addition to our normal 3-4 POWRi events.

In order to fit this Midget class into our current purse structure, it was going to need some outside support. Having received commitments for probably 80% of what we felt we needed to make it work, this plan is far enough along to send up the trial balloon for input from others we haven't visited with.

Here's the current thinking...

1. The class would pay $1,000 to win - $150 to start.
2. If you have won 2 POWRi or USAC features in the past year - you are not eligible to race.
3. Engine Rule: 4 Spark plugs per car.
4. Direct drive only.
5. POWRi Tire/Wheel Rule.
6. Other than that.. have at it.

Feel free to text me any comments or thoughts to 217-371-3653 or catch me this Friday at our show in Jacksonville. We feel like we have one of the best Midget tracks in the Midwest and our fans seem to enjoy the action National Midgets bring. Why not do it a little more often mainly for fun.

See you Friday Night.

Ken Dobson
Jacksonville Speedway