Disclaimer: I absolutely loved going to Angell Park Speedway, and by association I loved the Badger midgets. It was always exciting to see who was going to pull into the pits on any given night. I have moved away from Wisconsin several years ago, but still follow both the track and the series.

I know that Badger started going down this road last year, but to completely outlaw purpose built motors seems like a big step. I was surprised that this article did not make the board yet.

Badger Announces Engine Platform for 2016
McFarland, WI - The Badger Midget Auto Racing Association Car Owner's voted on Tuesday, October 13, 2015 to move forward with their plan to fully implement their new engine platform designed to bring affordability to Midget racing engines while maintaining ingenuity, creativity but most importantly performance.

The BMARA voted to disallow purpose built race engines designed specifically for Midget racing. The new engine platform is based on the use of production engines from passenger car vehicle manufacturers. Engines are required to utilize an OEM cylinder head, OEM engine block and an OEM crankshaft from manufacturers such as Chevrolet, Honda, Ford, Toyota and many others. The maximum cubic inch limit is 146.457 CID which means that most engines will be 2.3 to 2.4 liters according to manufacturer standards. These engines can be found in vehicles such as the Chevrolet Colbalt, Honda Accord, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry as well as many other vehicles found on the road today.

Chevrolet, Honda, Ford, Toyota manufacture hundreds of thousands of these engines every year making OEM components readily available for extremely low prices from your local car dealerships or salvage yards. The OEM cylinder head, OEM engine block and OEM crankshaft are not allowed to be significantly modified in order to maintain parity between manufacturers and to keep the cost of these components to a bare minimum.

Race teams or engine shops are then able to utilize aftermarket performance parts from suppliers who are already manufacturing parts for these engines, many of whom make the specialty parts for traditional Midget Car engines as well. This reduces cost due to the increased volume of parts being manufactured and the increase in suppliers.

The result of the change in the BMARA engine platform has been a 60 percent reduction in cost from the purpose built race engines, and only a 15 percent reduction in horsepower. The 2015 season saw an increase in participation from car owners, drivers, and fans bringing with it a fresh new outlook on Midget racing in Wisconsin. The 2016 season is set to see an even bigger increase in participation and competition bringing action packed Midget racing back to the levels that made fans fall in love with the sport.

Now that is a short set of rules.

By the end of next year they should be up to or above National Midgets in Horsepower>>>>and very close in cost. Just got to raise them ports a tad. Ti valves and rods would be in order next.

Honest Dad himself

Uh, I think this looks like a press release, not a rule book.

Correct. Copied from their website after reading a tweet about it.

Simple and concise the way it is not much tec required.

Honest Dad himself

No mention of chain drive cars. They're not referenced in the 2015 rules either. So I'm assuming they'll continue as they have been?

Great move should have been done years ago. More programs go to this may bring midget racing back.

I know you have listed this in an earlier thread, Dad... but let's do it again. If I was going out to our area car dealers and Powersports dealers (Hello SDHill if you read this) and wanted to round up some bonus money for racers that win with various badges... knowing that the Ecotech is probably the most common direct drive option... list for me the production engines from various manufacturers that are realistically capable of competing in a DII class like we had last week at Jacksonville.

It would be nice to get some old fashioned battle of the badges on production-based engines going again.

Kdobson

Well Chrysler has the Neon and Ford has the DuraTec, however I think the late model versions have been raised up to 2500cc that makes them 6 cubic inches too big. That little Honda does a pretty good job also. And like I said now the manufactures are making smaller motors and forcing the air in all by itself and then squirting the fuel into the combustion chamber like the diesel does. Times and engine design is changing at light speed. The rule makers need to learn to change also. The only way to make money however is to sell racers expensive race parts. Whenever a new class comes on board the "Speed Merchants" are in hot pursuit of them. Mini Sprints and the 600cc Sidewinder have had great success running basically stock Motorcycle Motors. But sure enough they can find ways of throwing lots of money at them also. Seems like they always have a ready made market in the racer.

Honest Dad himself

Dftly was a "big step"...just at the end of a short season / the 1st BMARA had of any efforts of this such...lots of plans and efforts to bring "national engines" back out, are now null & void...hope some one brings up a motion to vote the restricted "Nationals" back in (for even a year or two), at the Nov meeting...