Originally Posted by p318:
Since the Belleville thread has gotten so off message with the exception to a few, I'm going to try to get one going that actually deals with suggestions to help improve the Belleville Midget Nationals. Please, no posts about midget engines being the problem, etc. Please keep reality of midgets and midget racing one year out in mind.
I'd like to start by asking a few questions and hope for some reasonable answers that the Midget Nationals can possibly pursue, knowing that not all suggestions can become reality due to reasons behind control of the Midget Nationals committee.
Q: Should the Midget Nationals look at asking USAC back to be the controlling sanctioning body? Yes
Q: Should the Midget Nationals look at asking USAC back to be the sanctioning body with the control of the races (ie. Director of Competition) being someone independent of USAC as to not let any appearance of favortism or total control by USAC dictate how the race is run?
Q: Should the Midget Nationals look at asking all sanctioning bodies to to assist in running the race and make the Midget Nationals a sanctioned race of each sanctioning body? Yes. I think that this is a must.
Q: Should the Midget Nationals look at having a committee consisting of sanctioning bodies representatives come up with a format in which the Midget Nationals would be run (ie. rules, race formats, purse, etc.)? I would go with USAC rules and have Belleville set the format. Committe's become to political. One person needs to call the shots.
Q: Should the Midget Nationals look at having a committee consisting of owners and drivers that would come up with the rules and guidelines in which the race would be run? No. Same comment as above.
Q: Should the Midget Nationals committee look at having different races, such as this year's 305 sprints, run with the Midget Nationals that would be consistant with cars run by some midget drivers (ie. USAC non-wing sprints, outlaw sprints), giving some drivers a chance for another race? Interesting idea, but not sure on how well it would work. The only real crossover would be to have a wingless show as well, but I think car count for the wingless show would be just as big a problem as for the midgets. The 305's seem to want to be there. I would probably keep them.
Q: Should the Midget Nationals be kept on the current late July, early August date and held in conjunction with the fair but put more activities in place around the race to get more fan involvement (ie. autograph party, drivers/fan golf tournament, softball game, etc.)?I don't think it was a lack of activities that kept the fans away. It was a lack of cars. Or too much competion. I live in the KC area. My choices were to drive 3 1/2 hours and stay in a hotel to watch the midgets with questionable car counts, or stay in my own bed and watch USAC sprints. Other people had to choose between the midget nationals and 360 nationals.
Q: Should the Midget Nationals move the race off of the current late July, early August date and concentrate just on having the race? The fair actually starts the Sunday before the nationals and runs through the nationals. I would look at starting the fair a couple days early and having the race weekend kick off the fair week. Going against the 360 nationals is always going to hurt. Also, USAC is trying to build a midwest swing around the Osky race, so the current weekend will always have challenges
Q: Should the Midget Nationals purse be adjusted with the payout being more spread out and not as top heavy?Yes. This is a must. There are quite a few people afraid of Belleville. You need to give them a reason to come to the track
Q: Any other suggestions you may have? see below
Let's try to keep this as a positive post that can give the Midget Nationals some ideas on how to make the Midget Nationals what they used to be where drivers and fans looked forward to coming because of the race and in some cases, because of activities outside of the race. Lots of ideas may not work but if you have any ideas, put them out there and it may be just the idea to they are looking for.
The last thing that I would do is the one that would be the hardest. It would be to have USAC/POWRi/Badger/ADRC realize that they all need the premier events to survive. It is the theory of the water in the river. When the river has lots of water, everybody on the river does better. When the water level is down, everyone struggles. When Belleville, the Hut Hundred, Fireman Nationals,Indiana Midget week, Gold Crown do well, it helps all of midget racing. When one strugles they all strugle.
The groups should all agree to co sanction the premiere events. The group that currently is the host to the event could set the rules for the event, but all series would have it on their schedules. No one would promote against the premier events.
For the last two years the Gold Crown has been a fantastic show. I thought that the races were a couple of the best that I had seen during the entire year. When I first went, it was a co sanctioned show between USAC and POWRi. Last year it was a USAC show, but POWRi was off that weekend. This year it is a USAC show, and POWRi is having a race the same weekend. This is the type of things that really hurts midget racing.
