How about some midget action? This race goes back to '71 when Tri-County Speedway had a series of Thursday night USAC Midgets shows. I attended them all as the track was only some 30 minutes from my job. This is a recap of the race I considered the best of the four (I thought there were more) I have in my trusty steno pad.

Time Trials - 23 cars - Track Record 19.90 by Dave Strickland

91 Harry Beck.................20.50
14 Ron Eden...................21.18
-6 Billy Engelhart.............20.29
69 Jim McClean...............21.81
-5 Danny Caruthers.........20.15
-4 Jerry McClung.............20.51
35 George Bell................21.91
60 George Stefanich........20.91
42 Larry Rice..................20.37
10 Les Scott..................20.46
-1 Billy Shuman...............20.19
-2 Dave Strickland...........20.01 Quick Time
82 Merle Bettenhausen.....20.35
75 Leo Bonari..................21.49
-2 Jim Kirk......................20.74
20 Johnny Anderson.........20.23
51 Sonny Ates................21.37
-4 Lee Kunzman..............20.27
22 John Toth..................20.75
61 Pancho Carter............20.85
11 Bill Renshaw...............20.97
47 Butch Haisman............20.43

Fast Car Dash - 3 Laps - 1:01.83 NTR

No.Driver.....................Finish

20 Johnny Anderson.........3
-1 Billy Shuman...............1
-5 Danny Caruthers.........4
-2 Dave Strickland...........2

First Heat - 6 Laps - 2:05.03

69 Jim McClean...............7
51 Sonny Ates................6
60 George Stefanich........5
21 Jim Kirk.....................1
47 Butch Haisman...........8
10 Les Scott..................3
20 Johnny Anderson........2
-2 Dave Strickland..........4

Second Heat - 6 Laps - 2:02.74 NTR

11 Bill Renshaw..............4
22 Johnny Toth..............6
91 Harry Beck................5
82 Merle Bettenhausen....2
-4 Lee Kunzman.............3
-5 Danny Caruthers........1
75 Leo Bonari................8

Third Heat - 6 Laps - No Time

45 Dennis Devea............8
14 Ron Eden.................6
61 Pancho Carter...........2
-4 Jerry McClung...........1
42 Larry Rice.................4
-6 Billy Engelhart...........3
-1 Billy Shuman.............5
69 Jim McClean..............7

Fourth Heat - 6 Laps - 2:06.91

60 George Stefanich.......5
22 John Toth................2
75 Leo Bonari................7
14 Ron Eden.................6
45 Jim McClean.............4
91 Harry Beck...............3
11 Bill Renshaw.............1

Semi-Feature - 8 Laps - 2:46.72 NTR

11 Bill Renshaw..............1
14 Ron Eden..................4
51 Sonny Ates...............5
75 Leo Bonari.................6
45 Jim McClean...............2
22 John Toth.................7
61 Pancho Carter............8
60 George Stefanich........3

Feature Race - 30 Laps - 10:32.37 NTR

42 Larry Rice.................10
82 Merle Bettenhausen.....2
10 Les Scott..................11
-6 Billy Engelhart.............5
41 Lee Kunzman..............3
20 Johnny Anderson........12
-1 Billy Shuman................6
-5 Danny Caruthers.....WINNER
-2 Dave Strickland............8
91 Harry Beck.................16
-4 Jerry McClung..............7
21 Jim Kirk......................18
61 Pancho Carter.............13
60 George Stefanich.........14
11 Bill Renshaw.................9
45 Jim McClean................15
14 Ron Eden....................17

+ I have results from four of these Thursday night events and chose to
show this one because of the win by Danny "Kid" Caruthers. I had become a big fan of the guy by this time and believe he would have had a HOF career if not for the tragic fate which befell him. He was "on the gas" personified.

+ The other Thursday night feature winners in this series at Tri-County were Dave Strickland from 4th spot on 6/10/71; Jimmy Caruthers from 14th spot on 6/17/71; and Jerry McClung from 2nd on 7/1/71.

+ Tri-County Speedway, still dirt at the time, proved to be an excellent track for midget racing. Better shows than the sprints IMO.

+ While the car count was on the low side, the quality was OUTDOGGONESTANDING as you can see.

+ I believe Ron Eden is the father of Sondi Eden.

+ Funny what sticks in your memory banks (occasionaly WRONG in my case) but I recall Billy Renshaw being sponsored by Dairy Queen, in fact I think I heard that he operated one in Wisconsin.

+ I have no idea what the format was for these shows. Some guys ran in two heats plus the semi. Might have been done just to give us more racing with the short field and all. Remember, in those days there were no support classes. You went to see USAC midgets......that's what you got, and all you got.

Enough (too much maybe) for now.

One of my regrets was missing every last one of these shows. I was dating a young lady at the time. She was and still is a nice person but I think my priorities were a little messed up at the time.

Pancho I guess was still racing as Duane Carter Jr. Was he in the Kenyon midget, if so, where was Mel that evening?

I see Dave Strickland was still piloting the Shannon Buick midget and Less Scott with the ageless ex-Jimmie Davies midget.

[QUOTE=Gregg;151308]One of my regrets was missing every last one of these shows. I was dating a young lady at the time. She was and still is a nice person but I think my priorities were a little messed up at the time.

Gregg,

Her name wasn't Mary by chance?

Can someone give us a brief rundown of the format back then please?

Fish mentioned something that i caught before I read all of his post..some guys in 2 heats plus the semi. There really is no rhyme or reason in which cars ran heat 4 based on all their results in their first heat.

Renshaw got a win in heat 4 and 4th in heat 2...then he ran the semi and won it as well????

USAC probably promised 4 full heats, a semi, and a feature to tracks that booked them so I understand manufacturing the 4th heat, I am just curious as to how they determined who got to/had to run it???

Wish I could go back to those days. I was born the following year. As a kid I remember going to open wheel races here in Missouri and just watching that class or maybe ONE support class. Somewhere since my childhood we have gone from 2 classes of 24 cars each to 24 classes of 2 cars each.

Makes me wonder how sprint/midget car counts would look these days if there were no modifieds, micro sprints, mini sprints, focus midgets, bombers, hornets, etc etc.

And while I'm on this soapbox, I have to ask... "How did they have any good racing in the 70's when nobody had toter homes or 48 foot trailers?" ha ha ha

[QUOTE=Mud Packer;151313] No. The Mary era had yet to start. I did take Mary to a race at the 'burg and told her to dress down for a dirt show. She dressed to the 9s but that didn't last long.

Tri-County was a great place for racing. I remember some wicked crashes in both sprints and midgets.

Does anyone remember the driver who was thrown out of his midget in the 3rd turn? Was that Bobby Grim or Ronnie Duman?

We didn't how deprived - or is it depraved - we were back then

That was Bobby Grim. The throttle stuck and he hit the thrid turn wall. As I understood the seat belt broke and he was thrown out on the track. He was very lucky the midget didn't land on him. It was close.

I wonder how much flak they caught on the message boards for having a show with only 23 cars? Man, looks like Midget racing has been on it's deathbed for at least 39 years.

Those expensive Sescos and ChevyII's ran the Offy out of business. I can't believe the sport survived without USAC stepping in and saving the sport.

Yes, Ron is Sondi's father. Ron operated his own midget around this time, in some sort of "partnership" with, I think, an Ammerman.
Bill Renshaw and his wife owned and operated a DQ in their home town in southern Illinois before they moved to the Indy area. Their two sons later tried driving.
Marv, I wish you hadn't made the comment about "no support classes" because that snapped me back to reality before I was ready to quit reminiscing.

---------- Post added at 04:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:44 PM ----------

Ah, yes! The days of "well, give 'em more cubic inches" were upon us even back then. The Chevy IIs couldn't run with the 110 Offies, so USAC (and others) gave the stock blocks more cubes. Eventually the stock blocks were putting out more power than the Offies, so, guess what?! Let me see -- will 122 inches make the Offies competitive again??