by: Bill Freis
Joliet, IL It has been an exciting 2008 UMARA season, and what has been a very tight points battle for the National midget division the past two and a half months, comes down to one final event this Saturday at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan.
Determining the final outcome though, is as simple as A, B, C. Veteran driver Jimmy Anderson of Joliet leads David Byrne and rookie Mario Clouser going into this Saturday’s event. Anderson holds a 92-point lead over Byrne and 149 point lead over third place Clouser and with a possible total of 170 points available this weekend, anything could happen.
Although Anderson himself has yet to win a championship, he and his family are no strangers to being in championship point battles. His late father, Jim and mother Sharon have owned midget racecars for over forty years and have four championships to their credit. As car owners they won the 1977 UARA and Joliet Stadium championship and then the 1992 and 1994 UMARA championship. Anderson took over driving the family’s car in 1997. In 2006 midway through the season he teamed up with car owner Bob Guess to combine resources and equipment, leading to a second place points finish for both the driver and the car-owner. In 2007 the team struggled a bit early on and would finish third in points.
Shullsburg Wisconsin’s David Byrne began racing at the age of eight and won his first championship in 1996 racing go-karts. Byrne has his sights set on winning more championships and moving up the ranks eventually to race in NASCAR, and winning the UMARA championship would certainly be a big step in achieving those goals. Byrne has won four feature events this season, one with the UMARA and three with the Wolverine Outlaw Midget Series (WOMS) out of Michigan. In 2007 he finished second in UMARA points behind David Gough and ahead of Anderson and this past spring stated that “We will not be satisfied with anything less than winning a championship this season!”
Another driver looking to make his way up the racing ladder is UMARA National midget rookie Mario Clouser of Auburn, Illinois. Clouser began racing quarter midgets in 1994 and won his first championship in 1999. This year he has come from deep in the points early in the season to be a contender in the closing weeks. The 2007 USAC/UMARA Ford Focus midget champ has won four of the last five events and three in a row to move himself solidly into third place. He trails second place Byrne by only 57 points, but whether he finishes first or third it will have been a tremendous year for a rookie driver.
The 2008 UMARA season came to a close for three of its four divisions at the Bob Lockard Memorial back on August 30 at the Grundy County Speedway. Rookie Brandon Allen of Yorkville clinched the USAC/UMARA Ford Focus midget championship, Rookie Tanner Whitten clinched the UMARA Sportsman midget championship and New Lenox’s Nick Odell narrowly edged out Mike Anderson (younger brother of Jimmy) for the UMARA Dwarf Car title.
This Saturday’s event at Berlin Raceway will certainly be an exciting and memorable one as championships for all three sanctioning bodies (UMARA, WOMS and USAC) will be decided. It has been an exciting season to follow the UMARA points battles and it all culminates at this event. Byrne and Clouser would like nothing better than to pull off the upset and add another championship notch to their racing belts. Anderson would love nothing better than to honor the memory of his late father “Big Jim”, by hoisting the champions hardware and bringing it back home to Joliet where his family’s racing legacy began some forty years ago.
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