Just wanted to share this. Not looking to fire up a debate and I will not respond to anyone trying to start one.

The Badger Midgets instituted their production based engine format completely in 2016. 2017 was the second full year of the program. Badger and the POWRI National series co-sanctioned the Angell Park Speedway Pepsi Nationals in 2017. Below are links to the first and second heat race videos from that co-sanctioned event. Scott Hatton won the first heat in a production based Honda engine and Robbie Ray(me) nearly won the second heat (finished second to Casey Shuman) using a fully legal Badger Honda engine built by Mark Ray. There were Fontanas, Esslingers, W9 Mopars, SR-11s and even Toyotas following the Hondas to the finish line!! Obviously, how you run is not entirely attributed to the power of the engine, but it was fantastic to see how competitive a Badger legal production based engine could be.

Scott Hatton in Heat 1 - https://youtu.be/5HoEhiImTUM

Robbie Ray in Heat 2 - https://youtu.be/s1nx1BvpWA4

In the feature event Scott Hatton turned the 5th best overall lap time (15.659) and Robbie Ray turned the 11th best lap time (15.965) compared to Andrew Felker who turned an overall best lap at 15.449. Eventual winner Zach Daum in his Toyota TRD engine turned a best lap of 15.505 seconds in the feature event. This information is verified on race-monitor.com here http://www.race-monitor.com/Results/Session/6094676

On June 19, 2017 Scott Hatton set the all time Angell Park Speedway 20 lap track record using a fully legal Badger Midget engine besting a mark set by Bill Balog. Balog set the mark using a Fontana Midget engine. This is verified in this news article here http://www.bmara.com/news/?i=49542

There are new engine builders looking to enter the Badger Production Based engine program. Recently, KMOD Performance out of North Carolina announced they had a Badger legal Honda K24 engine for sale for a cost of just $13,498.00 brand new! See the link below for verification.

https://kmodperformance.myshopify.co...nt=47562707981

Engine builders are easily seeing a full season from these engines without a required rebuild and some think they could go even longer. So, the running cost of the engines is proving to be extremely inexpensive by comparison to other programs.

The initial cost of a Badger Midget engine is more than a 50% reduction from the SR-11s, Esslingers, and Fontanas. Compared to a Toyota it is around a 70% reduction.

The goal of the Badger Midget program is to increase participation through cost reduction. Just think, you can purchase a brand new Badger legal Midget engine and race it with POWRI, USAC, WMRA, BCRA, ARDC, Monpelier, etc etc and also run with the Badger Midgets! If you are interested in the Badger Midget engine program be sure to contact me via pm.

Thank you!

My hope is that the Badger production based Midget engine program will not only increase participation but also keep racers in Midget racing. Too many have looked at the cost vs reward of Midget racing and decided Sprint Cars are a better return on their investment. If we reduce the cost but keep purses the same as they are now, I believe Midget racing stays viable long term!

Is there anyone out there putting their own engines (Badger Midget engine) together and running well?

Yes, the engine in my car is built by my father in a small two car garage. We won both the Badger driver championship and car owner championship in 2017.

We bought a second engine last year and are going to put it in a second car for 2018. If everyone would like I am willing to start another thread and show you in pictures the step by step process to building a Badger production engine. You will see how incredible it is to take something from a salvage yard and turn it into the engine we ran at the Pepsi Nationals. Its incredible that you can be competitive using these engines against the SR11s, Esslingers, Fontanas and even Toyotas.