Of the 18 USAC National midget races held so far, only one of them has been won with an engine other than a Toyota, Esslinger or Fontana ( yes, that's the engine advertised in NSSN for $37,500 which states you need it to win and apparently they are correct according to the statistics). Two of the 18 races were won with Toyota power. That makes 15 of 18 races have been won with the Esslinger and Fontana big cube engines that were allowed a few years ago by the United States Auto Club. So that move was in effect a death blow and boat anchor for all the other engine companies and it's also one of the main reasons why everybody is running for the hills. ARDC had the fortitude to outlaw these engines and I see that 20 some cars showed up for their recent race in North Carolina.

Now onto POWRi which is basically a clone of the USAC rule book. Of the 15 races solely sanctioned by POWRi so far, 14 of them have been won with Esslingers and Fontanas. One has been won with a Toyota. I am not sure about the Hatton car.. I think it is powered with a Fontana. Regardless, the overwelming majority of their races have been won with these big engines. Now go to the POWRi web site and look at the sponsors on the home page to the right. It appears to me that they are listed according to the support $$$$$$ they are receiving from these companies. You will find that the Hoosier Tire Company, Esslinger and Fontana are at the top of the list of the midget component companies. Are you reading between the lines here, guys?

The bottomline here, folks, is that these midget orgs are so deep in bed with these companies, it would take a couple days to find daylight from underneath the covers. It's all about the money guys and that's why things are the way they are today.

When we ran the VW, Midget Racing was "Dying" because it was a "Kraut Wagon" and not "American Made". Now it's dying because of all of these American car manufactures being involved. Tomorrow it will be dying because it's a spec series and not an open motor series.

The last new VW we bought in 1989 was $10,000. I believe they got to the $15,000-$18,000 range. Absolute nightmares in their best day, but easy to work on. There have been huge car counts at the Hut since the VW heyday so that doesn't wash.

To say that Powri is a clone of USAC is a little unfair and undeserving. If they have series sponsors, so what? You can buy those motors and parts the same as everyone else. Why is it wrong to list their sponsors? If you sponsored them and gave out sheet music to the highest finishing person that qualified for it, they would list your name too.(I realize there are no free motors)

Lets say USAC goes ahead and puts limits back on these motors, which could be done because most of the USAC regular teams do motors and parts often......Would that really bring more cars to the track? I don't think so. The problem is more of one with USAC itself than the motor platform. The teams that own a 12 headed Gearte or a Sesco are no more likely to run their races because they don't feel like they are welcomed or they belong their. There are a ton of other teams running right now that have MoPars and big Fontanas and Big Esslingers that won't run because that isn't where they feel comfortable being.

USAC has a perplexing problem....... The Midget teams will run the pavement but not the dirt and the Sprint teams will run the Dirt and not the Pavement.

Although with the amount of Pavement sprint cars sitting, I think they could solve that problem by placing limits on on tires for a night of competition.

You've been breathing too many fumes lately. You totally missed the point on this one. Your conclusions that you've highlighted have nothing to do with what I posted.

For example: Last time I checked, POWRi had the same technical rule book as USAC. If I'm in error, what are the differences between the USAC technical rule book and POWRi/BMARA rule book?