Or "Mortifieds" as Morty used to called them.

I’m sure many on this board remember the old Namars 5 Crown (I believe it was called) midget/sprint cars series that ran in Indiana years ago. I remember seeing greats like Kevin Doty in a midget and Steve Christman’s #25 sprint car. Man those races were priceless.
And if I remember right, those races were just midgets and sprints.

I remember both Namars and Cora midget groups.

I just had a memory come up the other day on Facebook where I went to the Arnie Knepper Memorial at Little Belleville,and I had stopped to see Morty in the hospital in St Louis that afternoon before the races.A couple weeks later,on the final day of the Smackdown he passed away. Sure miss him and his funny stories.....And his laugh......



I used to go to the NAMARS 5 crown on my way back to Maine after Knoxville. You are right,many of those races were great. Usually 50 or so midgets and sprint cars.

The early Indiana Midget week races were in August,basically around the same time frame as the NAMARS races had been.

Yeah, if I remember right, and without looking it up, Indiana Midget Week became a thing the season following NAMARS, and The Indiana 5 Crown, going bust. That was a great series! There were all kinds of interesting combinations with drivers taking temporary rides and whatnot since it wasn't USAC sanctioned.

The 5 Crown became a money loser after Jack sold NAMARS. It was a solid series when he had it.

There was a ton of midget racing not all that long ago. "National"-type cars. 20 years ago we had USAC, NAMARS, MARA, and I believe ARCA even had a midget division. A non-pro racer had a lot of options back then without having to go the "lesser car" route. No disrespect to the D2 guys, it's the only option nowadays! A midwest guy could reasonably race with all those groups in that day.

UMARA was a Northern Illinois based group that attracted many USAC regulars, Tony Stewart, Kenny Irwin, Ryan Newman, Dan Drinan and Tracy Hines raced at Grundy County. Also, Badger was really strong in that era.

I think I met you at an LPS 5 crown race. I traded your Aussie friend my Critter Malone shirt. About 10 years later I told Critter about it at a sprint week race and the next night he had found an old box of shirts and waved me down and gave one to me. I need to dig it out and wear it.

I purchased a 1999 NAMARS Program/Yearbook on an online auction from a few weeks back.

Here are some pages from that program.