[racephoto1]

Before USAC screwed it up the focus deal would have been great. Tq's aren't bad. They run the Burg, Bloomington, and at times with the USAC sprint cars.(Burg,Brownstown to name a couple from last season).Also pavement.

Upright mini sprints have healthy car counts and decent purses. They also run sprint car tracks.

But lets be honest , why mess with a midget.If you are over 13 years old,the only way to go is a sprint car.Cole Whitt, Chris Windom, and Hunter Schuerenberg,are just a few examples of youngsters stepping up. They aren't doing too bad either.

[slide22]

Mini Sprints are actually getting ALOT of exposure this year. With the AMSA they will run with the Outlaws twice, All Stars, and several times with the USAC sprints. Also with the MMSA they have run with USAC at Bloomington twice.

[Dwayne]

Originally Posted by racephoto1 Before But lets be honest , why mess with a midget.If you are over 13 years old,the only way to go is a sprint car.Cole Whitt, Chris Windom, and Hunter Schuerenberg,are just a few examples of youngsters stepping up. They aren't doing too bad either.

Schuerenburg and Windom both stepped up to Sprinters from the 600 Micro Sprints. The least expensive, most competitive, and best training ground in Indiana right now

[smbpreformance]

Originally Posted by rt9906 The car counts last year in the South East averaged about 14 - 15 per event.( a couple events had more) The West was slightly more or the same. From what I have seen the average in IN is about 9. So why discourage this guy? There are so many, used available Focus Midgets and parts that he could probably find a really good deal. I would agree - the initial problem with the Series was the mis-management of it by USAC - however it seems to still be around. "Unless theres a large effort to save them there not worth investing in" Does that mean they are all going to disappear? I understand that everybody has a right to their own opinion - however every time the Focus Midgets have been mentioned for the past 3 years on this a a couple of other boards - they are immediately admonished and discredited as "soon to disappear"....are their other interests here or just opinions? How much would you say a decent, used motor would cost to run the above series? Probably 9 to 15K? The kid could get a decent, used Focus Car - already set up for the tracks he will be running, turn key for probably 15 to 17K...

You used to be able to get a brand new engine for 10k and have it rebuilt for 2k

I hope this is still the case

In the Carilinas they are the only choice for non-wing open wheel so that is why they have a healty car count.
In California Ventura runs them and a Jr Fidget almost every Saturday night so that is the reason for their boom out there

However expantions into the Heartland, NorthEast, Northwest, ect, ect, ect have failed.

In Indiana where this guy would run mostly the only place for them on a steady basis is Wednesdays at Mt. Lawn.........if they are even going to do that series again.

I see the fidgets a couple times a year in the and it is always the same cars year after year until some one moves on or quits then the car count drops from 9-8-7.....

The split between a Midwest dirt Championship and a Pavement Championship plus scheduling races in Iowa and Wisconson killed the fidgets in the Midwest.

Racing in Indiana there are smarter moves you can make when you want to move up

[JEFFSTOY]

Can a fidget be changed into another car: i e mini sprint,or once a fidget always a fidget.

[smbpreformance]

Originally Posted by JEFFSTOY Can a fidget be changed into another car: i e mini sprint,or once a fidget always a fidget.

A fidget uses the same chassis, parts and pieces of a regular midget

The initial interest was once a driver got experance in a fidget all they had to do was switch engines and they could run a full midget

However tire bills, parts costs, maintance(non-engine), pit passes, travel, ect, ect, ect still cost the same amount

[SUPERDUKE]

Originally Posted by pgray The advice being given here is not surprising as the transition from karts to mini-sprints is a logical step for a youngster and perhaps the best one , too. It is a shame that the only person who would encourage your going to Focus would be the guy that is still trying to sell his Focus inventory.:wink :rolleyes:

HELL NO! GO RIGHT TO THE IRL!!!!!!!!!!!! :applaud: JUST ASK THE REAL RACERS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SUPERDUKE]

Originally Posted by sprintr31 Looking to get into the ford focus racing can someone tell me were is the best place to start ? I live in IN. We are coming from karts.:usac:

TRY A DIRT MOD! OR A TQ! AND HAVE A LOT OF MONEY TO WASTE!:checkered:

[thebus79h]

Since nobody has asked, where are you located at in Indiana? Lets be real honest, you don't want to travel 5 hours to go race every weekend. If you're around the Indy area, or north of I-70 basically, micro sprints are the best way to go. You've got 3 tracks north of I-70, and then Linton which is over by Terre Haute. All of them are bullrings, and will TEACH you how to race in traffic. I've seen fidget races before, and if I drove one, I wouldn't learn a damn thing. I could eat lunch while running one. I couldn't imagine running one of those slow cars that don't react on a big track. Great in theory, terrible in execution.

Micro sprints really are the way to go, especially if you're wanting to stick with non-wing racing, you can run both usually at all the tracks, and learn much more than you would going to anything else at this point.

[TQ29m]

The wing issue, and where you'd like to race, pavement/dirt, are some of the questions I had. All the Tq's around here, are non-wing, and have a full midget suspension, ie, no chain drive, non spec motor or tires, other than cc's on the motor, which means you can bore it, stroke it, do what you want to,as long as it meets the cc rule, and they are motorcycle engines, which are abundant, you can buy from whomever you want, wherever you want, no muss, no fuss, no nitro, alcohol only, no limit on rev's, and not a whole lot of traveling, depending on your location. Give it some thought! Bob