Just as long as we never relive the reagan years.

I didn't say I agreed with the way things were going!!! When it comes to micro racing (which I did in Indiana for 3 years 2003-2005 and thoroughly enjoyed) that cam be changed as it is a family/hobby sport. In midget racing we are fighting with 2 bigger issues.

Corporate sponsors/Corporate run teams. They have the money so they have the ears of all involved.

Number 2 The Parents that are only in midgets for a year or 2 that are just using midgets as the stepping stone to bigger and better things. Again the money has the ears of all of the organizations.

Again I don't agree with it but at times it feels like pissing in the wind.

like a person who whizzes against the wind and then wonders why his white sneakers turned yellow

Don is right, but I think we have reached the point of :headbang

I'm afraid the days of most midgets being owned, maintained, and campaigned by blue collar folks are history, just like the days of 60 or more cars trying for 33 spots in the Hut Hundred.

These days are over !
But it was fun.
2 wins
16 top 6 finishes in24 starts

Made $4500 at end of year.

1 out for me.

:dologob:

This can be done. Stay tuned.

Don, it can be done , and one guy doing it by himself would be peeing in the wind. The problem is the ones who say it can't. If enough of them realized if they say it can they ,can turn the tide. Wilber and Orville would have never left the ground saying I can't.

A fire has been started which is the first step.......

Thank you Don for bringing depression and eternal pessimism to my Sunday, yet again.

It was going far too good.

We bought a new VW in 1984 for $10,000. We bought a used Potter V-6 for $10,000 in 1993. We bought a new Brayton SB2-2 in 1998 for $20,000. I have a customer who just bought a new Esslinger STT complete for $22,000. Is it the baddest Esslinger they offer? No, but it is perfect for 95% of all midget races. I have customers who are buying fresh,used MoPars complete for $13,000. Again a motor perfect for 95% of all midget races. I just had a customer buy a complete Stealth car w/ Gearte for under $10,000. Can it win a USAC show, probably not, but can run top 10 in most PowerI,Badger and Ardc shows. (My point is to show some of the costs of engines in the last 20years)

Why do teams continually compare themselves to USAC'S best when that is not where they compete or where they want to compete? That is like a local winged 410 team being mad at the WoO.

Costs do need to be addressed in some ares, and my feelings on the pavement tires and Hoosiers monopoly are well stated on these pages, but this whole deal where if the costs of the engines where under $10,000 or tires where reduced then each state would have an abundence of midgets just isn't going to happen. The reason Ohio doesn't have midgets is because there are so many levels of sprints that it doesn't make sense to run midgets at their track.

In areas of the country where there is little midget racing, the ASCS thing may take off some, but your looking at maybe 10-20 cars at most in many of the areas. Still not very many individually, but they could have a nice nationals. I still question the idea of one builder and a spec sealed motor, because more than 20-30 motors will over work the builder and then you are counting on Chevy to be around 5-10 years from now.

Ralph Potter spent thousands upon thousands developing his own V-6 and eventually his health became a bigger issue than the money. I think the world of Ralph, but he willingly spent his money for the pleasure of seeing his cars with his engines beat others. Once he felt that he didn't want to invest in that pleasure anymore, he moved on.

To some people the 40's are the glory years, to others it's the 50's,60's,70's,80's or
90's. I routinely have young guys tell me that the 90's where the best years because the cars where cheap and the racing better. Funny, but during the 90's I had several veterans tell me the racing was too expensive and that the 70's or 80's where the best years.

I like Dave Argabright, but having he or any other writer who have never owned or raced a car explain the costs of racing to me is like a Rolling Stone writer explaining the costs of a tour to someone who was a tour manager for a mid level band. They know what they are told and they can get some numbers, but they just don't know all that goes into it.

As far as the economy goes, after great expansion comes great retraction and frankly it was a complete sham all based on borrowed money and potential/future income. We needed this to happen to get back to the meat of the situation and address the real problems. If they are dealt with swiftly and properly, we will be back on the road of prosperity within the next 2-5 years. Jobs will be lost and companies will go away, maybe even my own, but the weak have to be weeded out or exposed so they can be fixed or shut down. That is how this country was built and that is how it has prospered and that is how we will continue to exist.

We are all guarenteed the pursuit of happiness, we are not guarenteed that we will always find it or it will always be there, but in this country if you don't quit and you are not whiner and you get to work, you are always guarenteed a chance and that is all you can ask. Many of this countries biggest fortunes where made during or the result of the depression.

We are in the midst of some serious financial situations, but yet we are still in the position to complain about something as trivial as motorsports. These are pretty good times if you ask me.

Let's assume that a team never runs a USAC midget race. Would you please point out to me where a midget team is going to compete in an outdoor race in the United States, with the exception of SMRS and IRS, and not be haunted by the USAC rule book?