Rain-Filled PA Midget Week Equals Long Trip for Walker
By Jessica Jenkins

USAC's much anticipated midget week to the East hauled out to Pennsylvania for four nights of racing from August 14th to 17th. However, someone must have not told the weather that rain and dirt track racing don't mix as all but one night was called early due to the rain that moved through the Keystone State.

For Gage Walker it was a huge undertaking to drive across two states for half a week of racing. After almost one month without taking his car out on track (while deciding to skip the big track in Belleville, KS), Walker was more than ready to get back behind the wheel of his #7x ride.

On Sunday, August 14 at Susquehanna Speedway in York Haven, he started off quickly in hot laps when he placed the seventh quickest time. Rain moved in shortly after and scrapped the rest of the night. Monday night at Spring Run's Path Valley Speedway Park didn't even get that far as rain was falling before they ever arrived at the track. So instead of racing, USAC's young stars took to some competitive beach volleyball games to keep themselves occupied.

However, the next day things were looking much better to get on track near Newmanstown, PA. That is, until a huge rainstorm moved over the area during the afternoon, even knocking down some branches across one of the roads into the track. Undeterred the operators of Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway went to work and, despite a delay, managed to get the track into racing condition. Once he finally got on track, Walker ran the twelfth fastest lap in practice before qualifying seventeenth. The way it worked out, he started on the pole of the second heat and did everything he needed to in order to win and easily lock himself into the feature. Thanks to his qualifying time, the 18 year old lined up on the outside of the eighth row to take the green flag in the 30-lap race. Working his way up through the field, Walker got halfway through the race before a restart that did not go so well sent him flipping between turns one and two on lap 17. Done for the night, Walker climbed from his red #7x midget and wound up with an eighteenth place result.

Though Walker himself was in good shape, the car's frame had gotten bent up enough to keep it out of commission for Wednesday. Thankfully he and his family-owned team were able to roll out their backup on the final night of Pennsylvania Midget Week. No matter what the radar had looked like, it appeared USAC was going to fit in their second full night of racing. Unloading at Lincoln Speedway near Abbottstown, Walker picked up a bit from 24 hours earlier as he recorded the eleventh fastest hot lap time. He qualified fourteenth then turned his second place start in heat 2 into a runner-up finish, once again easily making the feature. When they pushed off for the beginning of 30 laps, the clouds were beginning to look threatening once more and 6 laps in they were clobbered by a heavy rain shower. However, the radar looked like it might cooperate and track workers instantly got to work on the speedway. The delay was not expected to be long, but with the cars off track and the vortex theory not being utilized, more rain began to creep into the picture. Once the next batch of rain hit, every window of opportunity to finish the race disappeared along with a surface they could race on. With only a handful of laps in the books, the race was determined to be a rainout and no results were given. Walker is still twelfth in USAC National Midget points though, surrounded by a lot of the big names in dirt midget competition.

So, four potentially thrilling nights of racing turned into one and a partial races. That's not much of a tradeoff for all of the miles and hours put into getting all the way over to Pennsylvania. But that is just the way racing goes sometimes (and with Pennsylvania's Pocono Raceway enduring so many weather problems this year, it seems as though it's just a rainy season out there).

The half week of racing in Pennsylvania came after a doubleheader in Arkansas back in June for Walker and his Indianapolis-based team. Next up for the rising star in USAC should be a little bit closer to home at Daugherty Speedway in Boswell, IN on September 10th, as part of the USAC Indiana Midget series. He is certainly hoping to be able to turn around the bad luck that has been plaguing him this season once they reach the 3/8-mile oval.

In the meantime, you can find pictures and videos or get to know him better when visiting his website (GageWalkerRacing.com) and by liking his Facebook fan page (Facebook.com/GageWalkerRacing)! Or to keep up with him on a day-to-day basis, follow him on Twitter @GageWalker7.