[BHB]

With 32 cars and the biggest purse in years, what did you think of the Midget Nationals this year? It felt like the it used to again for me, hard racing in the B to make the show, tension on the front stretch before the A, and all of the best midget teams in the country. Any thoughts?

[Tim Clauson]

While maybe not completely back it was huge step in the right direction. Listening to the locals talking about trying to get cars back on the square so the drivers and teams could interact with the fans was great to hear. There was a lot of buzz around town and hopefully it will only grow ...

The autograph party on Wednesday while only attended by a few drivers and teams had a lot of fans looking to meet the drivers and it was interesting to see there reaction when they got to meet previous winners. It had that big event feel and I hope they continue to grow the events around the race and help it become that destination event it deserves to be.

Tim Clauson

[Traditional Fan]

Thank you to all those involved in promoting Belleville. I enjoyed this year's edition very much. I would prefer the event go without support classes, especially the cruisers, but I understand the economics of having them. If you are going to have winged sprint cars on Saturday, can we shorten their feature from 25 laps to 15 or 20 to save the track a little for the midgets? Either way, I'll be making the trip again from Minnesota next year. Thanks again.

Pat Doyscher

[ISF]

This year was our 3rd straight year of making the 9 hour trip one way to The Belleville Nationals, and although the Saturday night racing for the win wasn't as spectacular as it was in 2013 between Christopher and Rico the racing back in the field this year was breathtaking at times. A couple of the heat races were really exciting, as well.

It may be a good idea that any support class racing be done on the small track. I think maybe the Saturday evening A-main may have suffered a bit due to the laps the winged sprints made in the course of their show. This is too big of an event to risk wearing out the racetrack. The winged 305's may put on a better show on the little track, anyway. I understand the need for the support classes and since the small track is available it may be a good idea to use it and save the big track, especially for the Saturday night finale'.

I was told by a few of the guys who have been coming to Belleville for many years about the days past when there were activities at the courthouse square in conjunction with the Nationals. Whether or not there would be enough interest to support that program may be questionable, but it would be worth a try to see how it would go.

All in all it was another great weekend of racing and we have yet to regret making the trip and the monetary commitment to go to Belleville. This year, however, showed for the first time signs of a renaissance in the making. I really hope they can build on that momentum in moving forward.

In regards to the Silver Crown division at Belleville I honestly believe those cars are more than capable of staging a tremendous race. Hopefully they can build on the car count improvement we saw this year in the coming years because the Crown cars seem to like the place and we certainly like watching them race at Belleville.

[Jonr]

If they can consistently field 30+ midgets on Saturday night, I would be good with not having a support class. If you are strategic with your breaks and you have some planned activities, it is very possible to have one class put on a great show. I remember going to some great Badger shows at Angell Park when they only had 20 cars with no support classes.

[Dooling63]

Team 63 would like to say thanks to all that supports this Historic race! Which includes All the hard work that the Fairboard executes to make this happen, and the promotional work that the Belleville High Banks Hall of Fame does thru out year with their travel to different tracks around the country! Thanks to everyone in Town! The city of Belleville and it residents are the Greatest! Been coming here since 1978 and their attitude has never changed! Let's keep up the hard work and support and this tradition will never die!

Belleville Is Simply The Best!
Joe Dooling

[John P Huss]

Thanks to the Doolings for the great
post. I've been attending Belleville
since 1984. Let's keep this great
tradition going. Congrats to Clauson
for being a 3 time champ.
Best Regards,
John