Thats funny right there Going up and down the highway them rigs, T shirt trailers safety vehicles are sure to spark some interest. At the track? Im not sure their needed but who am I to say? Good old fashioned promoting like flyers on windshields at the Indy 500, Brickyard, Heck they don't even have to leave the property, Just put in a couple hours race morning and Qualifying and practice days. Pay some kid 50 bucks to do it.

I don't have a view good or bad of the new guy, Hopefully he can grow the sport.

I did say More midget racing is needed. I don't believe a weekly series would work but I could see about three weekends a year plus Midget week where three or four tracks could hook up and run a series or a Midget Kiss Series. The problem isn't *ARE MIDGETS EXCITING?* anymore its, *WE DON"T KNOW ANYBODY RUNNING THEM!* The typical fan has no idea who Davey Ray, Mike Hess, ect are in Indiana. Sure they'll recognize Tracy Hines or Levi but they are generally in Indiana not associated with Midgets no matter if they are champions or not and thats a shame.

Raise the price 5 bucks, Run em with your regular show and get people to know them for a couple years, Then maybe it can grow, both in participants and fanbase.

Chuck, again, I may be wrong but doing nothing is just moving towards extinction.

You should ask the guys from the (now defunct) X2RA midget series about that. They had great ideas and got little car owner support for their efforts. :thumbsdown:
David.

1 major problem is there is no where to run a midget on friday, saturday, or sunday In Indiana. Sprints are always good here because most tracks run them weekly or are close enough to drawl in cars from other tracks. Some will say there is the DK thing, but the adverage person can not run that series. A guy can not get out of work at 4 Pm then travel to race. Several on this board will not like this idea, but with Anderson's low car count, they could easily add a series like this. On the other hand, move that DK series to saturday nights, and I bet it would grow fast!

I think the problem with X2RA was perception. No one could get a handle on what they where trying to do. On top of that, many people thought they were involved with the x-plex and many peoples B.S. meter was going off the charts because they felt that project was pie in the sky.

Bottom line I guess is that no one trusted the product they where selling.

16th street had great car counts, but the USAC regional series didn't. On both counts it seemed like there where communication break downs.

This subject has been beat to death so many times I've lost count. Midget racing is not on the upswing. Don't blame the economy, That's not the problem. Until all the midget orgs, tire company(s?), engine builders get together and start over with a clean sheet of paper, nothing is going to change. The national midget forum that meets once a year in Oklahoma is a complete failure and a total waste of time. The hand writing is on the wall when one of the oldest orgs in the country that used to draw 35-40 cars weekly has a car count now in the teens. The only ray of sunshine that I have seen recently is the rumored Emmett Hahn proposal that maybe could get things back into prospective. Just as soon as I post this though, someone is going to get on here and rave about 48 cars showing up for midget week. That doesn't mean $%^t. That's like saying the same for the 300+ cars show up for the Chili Bowl. Five midgets races in Indiana for a week. That's about it for 1/4 and 1/3, 3/8 tracks where midget racing belongs. Why do 70-80 mini sprints show up for a POWRi race and only 25-30 midgets? Well.. one is affordable and one is not. Plain and simple or you would see 70-80 midgets there also.

HEY DAVE did someone say something about X-PLEX. I thought you bought that place at least that is what I thought I herd.So when are you going to get the hotels built. I need a place to stay .

good idea then you can haul it to the chilli bowl when you go to watch:wink

I personally don't want to see 75-80 midgets every night.(Even though it would help my business). A good car count is 25-30 cars. That way everyone has a chance to make the shows. Less hurt feelings.

I have to claim ignorance to the way the PowerI micro series is run, but most micro series have many different classes that make up a nights racing. Maybe Poweri is the best paying series. I don't know, but I do know that Micro's, while not as expensive as a midget, are expensive to run. Micro's also tend to be owned by parents(Not unlike other series) and as the kids get older or go to school they move to other things. It appears to me that they do effectively get guys to move from the 600 series to the midgets.

I haven't studied the situation and I don't know why Badger is struggling with cars. The costs today for the equipment is not really any more than 3 years ago. The costs for everything else is though. If we do a study of the last 5 years at Sun Prarie, I would bet that the cars would most likely come from an average of 2.5 -3 hour one way trip and now the cost of gas has people not wanting to travel. I could be wrong. They have also had many of the long time members move on for one reason or another that may not have been caused by the cost of the cars. I can't speek for Don, but I am guessing he hasn't made the trips he has in the past because fuel costs make a trip that may have broke even at best now become a big money loser. I would also say as well, I DO beleive the economy is hurting in the Northern states as there have been massive job losses in that area and all around the Midwest for that matter.

As far as the Emmet Hahn deal goes, I have respect for his series and all that he has done, but I don't see how the spec motor program will work unless it is a case where someone can buy the parts and have it assembled or assemble it themselves. If you have to send off your motor and wait to have it rebuilt, then you just have the same problems as the Focus. At that point, why not just get an Esslinger ST? They cost around $17,000-$18,000 new and they run very well and are reliable.

Sprint cars here in Indiana do rule the open wheel scene and that is in my opinion because there aren't many rules and you can find used motors and cars at cheap prices. Even though there are 25-30 cars at most tracks each night, that doesn't mean everyone is running 40 nights a year. MANY of the locals only run 10-12 races a year. They just aren't missed as much because there are so many cars.

I have to be honest in saying that I too think there are many things out of control in not only racing, but this country. I have to say though that I am tired of trying to solve problems that no one has asked my opinion on.

Life is short and all of us have been blessed with living in the age of Rock N Roll, Fast Cars, and cheap energy. We have to be concerned for the future, but not if it costs us the day we are currently living. I for one am ready to start living for today and let tommorrow fall where it may.

I would like to see Gas City and Bloomington run midgets every other week with the Sprinters. I just can not fathom why this can not work. Cut the fenders cars back to every other week and we could have some really good Opeen wheel weekends like Manzy used to do. even with 20 or 25 midgets would be a nice show with the Sprinters. Plus it gives a Open Wheel guy a chance to double up on the pay out.

That would work for me.