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Dave Argabright · 7/27/08, 12:43 PM

I couldn't agree more with Mud Packer and others. From my seat, it was a thoroughly entertaining race. And very clean, with few yellows but lots of side-by-side racing. :thumb

One might look at the fact that just four cars were on the lead lap at the finish. Fact is, the Little 500 often has just one car on the lead lap at the finish, yet nearly everyone I know agrees it is a fabulous race. The nature of these long races is that people get lapped, particularly in a race with so few cautions. I thought it was terrific that three cars were in the hunt over the last 100 laps, and had Bobby East had a few more laps he would have been right there as well.

I was skeptical of the format going in, because I'm not a fan of long races with pre-scheduled breaks. But I have changed my mind. I love this format, and I can hardly imagine this event with 34 cars of equal quality and speed. Wow!

I like the two competition yellows, although I agree with the concerns that the more affluent teams will throw tires at the car at every stop. But IMO the track management did a good job considering that there were many questions and unknowns going in. Now that they've got one under their belt, they have a lot more information for next year.

The most notable thing I got from this race is the terrific impact the USAC Regional midget series (as well as Kenyon and Focus series) is going to have on open wheel racing. This group of kids performed beautifully on a big stage, and proved they are talented, smart racers. Everybody--fast and slow alike--raced cleanly and with a lot of maturity. I was very impressed with the entire group, particularly Dakota, Ricky Ehrgott, Alison McLeod, Joe Liguori, and Chett Gehrke, who proved they can race hard in a long-distance event.

Rex Norris III was very strong in the early going before he lost his brakes. Mike Murgoitio was impressive and would have been a real player if he hadn't had a flat tire in the first 20 laps. The race had lots of players and you could see a completely different scenario if a few things had played out just a little differently. That's the beauty of the longer races.

Do I wish there had been more cars? Sure. Do I wish there had been more fans in the stands? Sure. But you've got to build from the ground up.

Again, this is just the view from my seat, but I thought Anderson promoter Rick Dawson went the extra mile when he offered everyone with a 400 ticket stub a $10 discount for the USAC National race at Anderson in September. He took a huge gamble with this race and I hope over the long haul it becomes very successful, because midget racing needs more marquee events like this one.

This event has the potential to the most significant midget race in our area, and I hope it can reach its potential.

7/27/08, 12:43 PM	#8 Re: Anderson 400 Midget Classic Results
Dave Argabright Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 118	I couldn't agree more with Mud Packer and others. From my seat, it was a thoroughly entertaining race. And very clean, with few yellows but lots of side-by-side racing. :thumb One might look at the fact that just four cars were on the lead lap at the finish. Fact is, the Little 500 often has just one car on the lead lap at the finish, yet nearly everyone I know agrees it is a fabulous race. The nature of these long races is that people get lapped, particularly in a race with so few cautions. I thought it was terrific that three cars were in the hunt over the last 100 laps, and had Bobby East had a few more laps he would have been right there as well. I was skeptical of the format going in, because I'm not a fan of long races with pre-scheduled breaks. But I have changed my mind. I love this format, and I can hardly imagine this event with 34 cars of equal quality and speed. Wow! I like the two competition yellows, although I agree with the concerns that the more affluent teams will throw tires at the car at every stop. But IMO the track management did a good job considering that there were many questions and unknowns going in. Now that they've got one under their belt, they have a lot more information for next year. The most notable thing I got from this race is the terrific impact the USAC Regional midget series (as well as Kenyon and Focus series) is going to have on open wheel racing. This group of kids performed beautifully on a big stage, and proved they are talented, smart racers. Everybody--fast and slow alike--raced cleanly and with a lot of maturity. I was very impressed with the entire group, particularly Dakota, Ricky Ehrgott, Alison McLeod, Joe Liguori, and Chett Gehrke, who proved they can race hard in a long-distance event. Rex Norris III was very strong in the early going before he lost his brakes. Mike Murgoitio was impressive and would have been a real player if he hadn't had a flat tire in the first 20 laps. The race had lots of players and you could see a completely different scenario if a few things had played out just a little differently. That's the beauty of the longer races. Do I wish there had been more cars? Sure. Do I wish there had been more fans in the stands? Sure. But you've got to build from the ground up. Again, this is just the view from my seat, but I thought Anderson promoter Rick Dawson went the extra mile when he offered everyone with a 400 ticket stub a $10 discount for the USAC National race at Anderson in September. He took a huge gamble with this race and I hope over the long haul it becomes very successful, because midget racing needs more marquee events like this one. This event has the potential to the most significant midget race in our area, and I hope it can reach its potential.