Originally Posted by sw1911:
Where were all the midgets that should have been at Eldora?
To put this thread back to it's original question, I too was surprised to see only 20 cars participate. And it caused me to do what I do in the off season (we may race 1 more time, weather permitting, but it's pretty much "off season" for us...), and that is to over analyze data, looking for some meaningless answer.
Of the dirt events on the USAC Midget National schedule prior to the 4-Crown Nationals, 21 drivers and 19 cars have made at least half the shows, and 13 cars and drivers have made almost every show. Of those 13, only 1 didn't participate at The Big E.
Of the USAC top 25 National Midget points drivers, 9 didn't participate.
2 of the participants appear to be in "one off" deals for Eldora only.
Only one other USAC National Midget show had as low a car count (20). Curiously it was the Kokomo GP over the April 30th - May 1st weekend. No national show has had fewer than 20 cars take time.
POWRi did not have a national event scheduled against the show, and in fact, of the POWRi top 25 points drivers, the points leader along with 7 other drivers participated.
What you didn't see was the multitude of local, regional, and part time drivers & cars that come out for Indiana Midget Week or the BC39. Again, maybe it's the track size, or maybe it's the payout? At $40k for a "fresh", used, national engine, can everyone with a midget afford to chew it up running Eldora? Apparently not, but I would have thought that SOME of these cars would have been willing to be field fillers, if for nothing more than to say "I raced the 4-Crown". 70 cars came to The Dirt Track for the BC39.
That said, was the racing worse because there were 50 fewer participants than at the BC39? Not likely. But at some point, the Midget Crown of the 4-Crown could find itself in the same jeopardy as the Belleville Nationals and Hut 100 if something isn't done to boost car count, at least a little...