Should have cashed in your 401k about 9 months ago.

:idea:

If your young man is very talented. I would contact Kevin Briscoe for advice. He just went through a season with his son and I was impressed by what they accomplished his first year driving a Sprint car. I think putting a kid directly in USAC against tough competition might be a mistake. It's going to be tougher to make a feature, more expensive and a young persons confidence might suffer. Young drivers are more likely to tear up equipment. Give him a year in Sprints at a local track. Thankfully fuel costs have come down but may only be temporary.

pgray, that was a great reply. Interesting perspective

We just completed a 23 race season. All Pavement. 6 of those were National USAC.
Our tire bill was close to $20,000.00.
We just returned from the West Coast swing. Las Vegas [USAC Western] Phoenix and Turkey Night. Our travel expenses were over $5,000.00 and that was staying with a friend in CA.
At the beginning of the year we were going to run for the USAC Regional Title, but after our first trip to Anderson IN we determined it would cost close to $1,800.00 per race which included tires and all travel expenses, so we abandoned that idea and run all but 1 of the UMARA races and 8 WOMS Races in Michigan. Of course we are from Wisconsin and would have more travel expeses than some one closer to the tracks in Indiana.
You guys are right in that running with the USAC National guys is a totally different ballgame. Our driver was an excellent Go-Kart driver with numerous championships in both Oval and Sprint karts. It's a steep learning curve from Karts to Midgets. We would have been pretty frustrated and probably quit by now if we would have tried to go straight to USAC Nationals on our own. Of course we are a family team that started in 2000 with not a lot of resourses and have built upon them every year. As for P Grays comment on his tire bill, I disagree. If you don't buy 3 tires per race [Regional Series] you won't be competitive and that alone is $450,00 per race.
I'd be glad to give you more advise privately on our quest from Karts to Midgets if you would like. Just let me know!! Good Luck and Merry Christmas to all.
Steve

Talk to Scooter Ellis. He has been through this Kart to Midget deal already with Cole Whitt and I think everyone will agree that Cole has done pretty well. (Esp in his own stuff this year.)

Scooter knows in detail what you can expect to spend for what level you want ro run at.

You should try to contact the Whitt's, they could tell you everything you need to know, they've done it.