Here in Indiana the lightning sprints get to run a 12" rr and 10" lr with no minimum weight rule. Helps to even it out more. But not everyone can get the weight down. To many cheeseburgers and fries during the week for me lol.

Hustler

Get your elbows up and have at it. A really good 1000cc midget should be able to keep up with the average big brother Midget. Not your $60,000.00 Toyota"s or MoPar"s but your average $15,000.00 or so Esslinger will get a run for its money on a small slick track.. A friend of mine and I were talking about the stone cold facts of Midget racing today. 99% of all National Midget racers today are racing for 4th or 5th place. Not many racers can justify a $60,000.00 motor to win a $2,000.00 race. We on the other hand can take an old $2,000.00 almost bone stock ZX10R and run in the middle of the pack in a lot of full Midget races at Montpelier. If and When other track operators catch on to the Montpelier Formula we may see a resurgent of Sportsmen Midgets right at the "Death throes" of the National Midget form of racing.

Rumor has it that several 1200cc (known at the time as Mini Sprints) raced in the first Chili Bowls, and that Sammy may have driven one.

clb>>> we cross the scales at 1025 pounds or so and do pretty good with the Big Midgets. There is a belief out there that all that extra weight is our super secret. It would sure be nice to try them at about 750 pounds which is the weight we started racing at 20 or so years ago. One of the Tony Felkers FSC cars with an average driver and no frills like we race with and a Suzuki GSXR 1000 required 80 pounds of weight to make the MMSA weight rules.

Honest Dad himself

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Where will be your base of operation?

Super. Another group that I had a great time running with at Sycamore and was looking forward to possibly joining again on a few odd off nights. Now, another group where the Yellow Zonker will no longer be welcome, at least until the old oiler gives up the ghost.
Nothing against the IMRA though; a good bunch of folks who are probably only doing what they think is best.

I'm surprised nobody has put a zx14 or busa motor in for the montpelier series. Pretty sure it would be easy to pull off. Lol

In Colorado , one track has midgets/lightning sprints racing together every week. It is a 1/4 mile, flat, dry track. Lightning sprints win more then half the races and again won the class championship. Mostly older midgets, and lots of new drivers, but very competative. they even handicap the lightning sprints by making us take off the shift linkage so we cannot shift. We are racing with them Saturday and also racing with the wings with the lightning sprints on the same program. Makes for a tired driver at the end of the night, especially at my age (49).

Hot

We have thought about the ZX14R as a replacement and even the Busa several years ago. The only problem with both motors is, they are bigger and heavier than the ZX10R. They do make a little more torque but are equal or slightly lower in Horsepower. We very seldom run in the torque zone trying to keep it on the pipe so to speak when racing so the bigger motors are not really the answer.

But never fear Kawasaki is going to turn something loose on the 30th of September that will probably set the Motorcycle Industry on it's ear as well as the 1000cc Midget racers.

The Bimmer-Phobes and Techno-Phobes will really have something to wring their hands over. Will they accept the advancement of technology and embrace it to improve the breed or relegate themselves to old schools engine designs of the past and fall into a spiral of more and more expensive refurbishing of older motors as others have done so before them, all In the guise of making it cheaper for the racer.

I guess the reason I liked Mini Sprints over Lightning Sprint is the old school Mini Sprint racers loved change and couldn't wait for the next new motor to come out, the wishy-washy Lightning Sprint racers are afraid of everything and want to fix everything with a not so well thought out rule.

People please don't be afraid of Technology but embrace it and use it to your advantage.

Honest Dad himself

Ray

You are missing the point. While junk yard cheap the echo tec is a long way from being a race motor. Ruling out the older cars in favor of smaller engines and or making aftermarket parts used for internal parts in those smaller 1000cc engines is sure not the most economical route. Junk yard new motors are almost always cheaper than a hot rod hand-grenade. The automobile and motorcycle industry is undergoing tremendous change right now. They are Getting more and more horsepower out of smaller and smaller packages so don't limit yourself >>>>let nature dictate what you race. Keep your rules simple and allow for experimentation.

Honest Dad himself

Here in Florida we The Southern States Midgets run as Jones said a combo of 1000cc, Ecotec, Focus midgets. So far this year it is split right down the middle and works out very well. We do not allow "National" type engines and the weight difference is the equalizer. Our rule along with IMRA, BAM, Illi, Outlaw Midgets (in the NE) are very close. Tracks and other organizations should take a look at this to increase car count....The people the matter (FANS) have no clue if it is a chain driven or a quickchange car. All they care about is "GOOD" racing from us as ENTERTAINERS for their hard earn $$