We heard it was coming. Only time will tell if it was the death blow for the club or a life saving change. I hope they get what it is they are looking for. I'll leave my comments at that.

The 2010 rules package will appeal to the core group of BCRA racers, many of who have combo cars, and discourage the non-BCRA regulars from cherry-picking. I wonder what will happen to the BCRA/USAC joint shows in 2010. The ASCS division could be a plus, but it bothers me that they will run with the regular show, becuase they have shown this season that the ASCS cars cannot run with a full midget. We'll have to wait and see if these changes revitalize BCRA

This is novel. A midget club actually thinking for themselves rather than rubber stamping the big box rules.

Combo Cars, now that's a thought,

While I am not going to speak for the BCRA, there are no plans to do joint races with USAC (from what I understand) their memebership does not support them.

As for the ASCS division, I would tell you that you are wrong. Many of the cars stay on the lead lap during the main event, are they running up front, no, but neither are the Pontiacs. The LeMans style race has worked well. In addition the joint races this year have been mainly Focus powered cars. This Saturday night we will have 3 EcoTecs on the track, they might change your opinion.

Hell one night Dillon Silverman had a top 5 finish going but was passed on a late race restart (the Focus cars really struggle against the midgets on the restarts) finally finishing 7th on the lead lap (within a straight of the winner). On a tacky track you are correct the cars do not stand a chance, but how many of those do you get during Summer in the Central Valley.

So what you have seen this year is that the Focus cars cannot run with a full midget (which we already knew) the ASCS motor should be a different story.

The BCRA made decisions based on their membership and I for one think they are headed in the right direction.

As for the Capital City Midgets, we have seen our car count grow from 2 to 10 in about a year. I challenge you to find another group that has done the same. Unfortunately 2 of our cars are "combo" cars that only run pavement. We will carry that momentum into the BCRA ASCS division and help make them a stronger club. Hopefully by 2010 year end the joint show will have two main events, an ASCS and a Midget. It would be the hope that the top 4 of the ASCS main tag the midget main. At about 14 ASCS Legal Cars I will propose/support that change to the program (who knows that might be the start of the seaon with the number of calls I am getting per day, I know we are building 2 new cars which should increase our car count by 2, and take us to 12).

Without a doubt there are good things on the horizon for the BCRA and I am proud to have been a small part of it.

Rick

Wow!! Congratulations guys.

Don Moore

The BCRA has a very unique opportunity and I am glad to see that they are taking advantage of it. The Northern part of California is blessed with an abundance of great short tracks. We have good fans and lots of competitors who know about and enjoy Midget Racing. We don't have an Irwindale, or an ORP, but I think thats a GOOD thing. Seems like it keeps USAC away which is fine with just about anybody you ask up there.

So now, rather than continue to try and keep the INSANE dirt/pavement Midget formula alive and thus continue to watch participation dwindle, it seems that the BCRA has adopted a strategy that matches well with their competitors, fans and with those awesome, "home town" short tracks they have so many of. This is a formula that is perfect for this part of the country. Just watch....

My comment was based on what I witnessed at Placerville and Shasta. If there are 12 ASCS cars, I think that's a stand-alone feature. Dont get me wrong, I think BCRA is headed the right direction.

You are correct about Shasta, we brought dull knives to a gun fight. But also keep in mind these were Focus powered dirt cars that we put some slicks on to drive in circles to support the show. With that said we had some fun, and added to the car count for Rick which I know he appreciated. Remember without us it would have been a 9 car show, not good for the fans. Also we were running on 2-3 year old Focus pavement tires (harder than hockey pucks) as we were not going to go buy a bunch of new tires to run one race. If we go back to Shasta on September 12th with the EcoTec, you can bet I will put sticker tires on all of my cars.

As for Placerville?? Which show? I have never finished the main more than 1 lap down and the last time I was there we beat a couple of full midgets in the main. Yes Marguson put us a lap down, he was on rails. We do have a few rookies that are struggling a bit more and thus are getting lapped a couple of times, but that problem could be resolved by car count as it would create a semi that they could race in to get more experience.

I think over time you will see the gap decrease, but lets face it on a tacky track we cannot compete with the current cars. Also, we have to run a 50 durometer RR, which also hinders us on slick tracks. It is more difficult to hook up the cars, if we went to the same tire it would also make the race closer, maybe something that we should think about.

It is true that we are running two different classes together and on some tracks we will be "competitive" (i.e. close to the lead lap) on others we are going to get spanked (especially with the Focus engines). But in the end we are having fun and isn't that what it is about.

Thanks for clarification on where you saw the races, that helps put it in perspective.