Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

MAV TV had midget races from Bloomington last week and they had some of the best coverage with lots of action .I have spent many nights watching winged sprints but the wingless 350/400H.P midgets on a short track are more intertaining.It seems odd that the Chili Bowl paying $10K to win can attract close to 300 entries and the rest of the year you dont hear much about them.I know the engines are expensive and purses are low and USAC has been involved.600 micros are really neat but people seem to want to pay to see the fastest and biggest.The days of low cost fun racing are gone along with $.30 gas.I got to race a few midgets that were powered by a 4 cyl Chevy,one had an aluminum Buick or Olds and one was a V.W.and they were a blast and if I remember right the fast cars started towards the back but that was close to 45 years ago and the thrill is still in my memory.I beleive it paid $200 to win and the best motors probably had 200 or less H.P. and were built by the owners.

Midgets put on phenominal shows, much better than sprints in my opinion. They are just so damn expensive and they don't pay anywhere near enough to correct any of the expense to run them. I am sure that has a lot to do with why the car count is dropping. You are correct Shortie12, the days of feilding competitve equipment at a reasonable price while doing all of the work yourself are pretty much over. I see Sprint Cars in this same situation down the road. The costs are no where near reasonable and eventually it will catch up with Sprinters as well. Even the largest clubs are having to cut back the purses. Eventually teams will fall by the wayside.  Fortuantely for Sprint Car racing there is still a fairly large support base, so it will take longer for them to seriously see the pain, and hopefully they never will. I miss the days of heading to a Midget show and seeing more than 20 cars there. It is not as much fun when everyone makes the A. Why run heats then? Out here average car count weekly is around 12, and that sucks ass. 

Never hit stationary objects!

Saw my first midget show last summer.  (PowrI )  It was 1 hr from home.  Loved it so much I drove 2 1/2 hrs the next night to see them again.  Ended up seeing them 4 times in 2013.  Planning on many more this summer.  Absolutely can't wait for  the race at Lucas oil  , midgets, nonwing and Ascs!  I thought wing sprints were my favorite until I saw midgets. 

If your not hearing much about them after the Chili Bowl, it's only because your not looking for it. There's plenty going on, follow some racears through their tweets and follow their Facebook pages, also many media outlets have plenty of race info. the sanctioning bodies usually have a link also. It's all about looking for it. 

I absolutely love midget racing...Do yourself a favor and go ahead and block all three night of the Gold Crown Midget Nationals, they are incredible at Tri-City Speedway.

Member of this message board since 1997

Speaking of midgets,POWRi just released their 2014 schedule yesterday.

For the traveling fan that likes to see a lot of racing in a short time frame,my vote is for POWRi speedweek in early June. 4 races,4 days in a row,not much travel between venues and fantastic midget racing each night!

POWRi National Midgets schedule all-time high 41 events

MILLSTADT, Ill. (Jan. 11, 2014)-The POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series has scheduled an all-time high of 41 events for the 2014 season including the $10,000-to-win Great Clips Jason Leffler Memorial at Wayne County (Ill.) Speedway on Aug. 27.

The season begins on March 21 at I-44 Speedway in Oklahoma City and concludes Oct. 11 at Jacksonville (Ill.) Speedway. It includes the final eight events of the inaugural POWRi Lucas Oil Midget World Championship, the four-event Illinois Speed Week Championship and the three-event Ford Eco-Boost Challenge. There are also POWRi's traditional events honoring those who have contributed to the rich history of midget racing, including the Arnie Knepper Memorial on Aug. 10 at Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Ill.

"We've put together a very exciting schedule that combines the new elements of the world championship, Illinois Speed Week and tracks in Indiana and Missouri with our established venues in Illinois and our recent additions in Wisconsin, Missouri and Oklahoma," POWRi co-founder Kenny Brown said. "We're a grass roots series with world class midget racing."

POWRi's world championship began in New Zealand and continues in Australia later in January. After a hiatus, it returns on May 24 at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wis., and runs through June 8 at Belle-Clair. Illinois Speed Weeks at Jacksonville on June 5, Lincoln Speedway on June 6, Macon Speedway on June 7 and June 8 at Belle-Clair race concurrently with the world championship.

Indiana tracks host the Ford Eco-Boost Challenge at Bloomington Speedway on May 30, Brownstown Speedway on May 31 and Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt on June 28.

POWRi will co-sanction six events with the United States Auto Club's Honda National Midgets, starting with the Kokomo (Ind.) Grand Prix on April 11-12. POWRi and USAC will also co-sanction the Belleville Bash on May 10, the Pepsi Nationals at Angell Park on July 5-6 and Cornfest on Aug. 17 at Angell Park. Badger Midgets will also co-sanction the July 5-6 and Aug. 17 events at Angell Park.

POWRi and Badger Midgets will co-sanction 10 (including the three at Angell Park) events: April 4 at Lincoln, April 25 at Jacksonville, April 26 at Macon, May 24-25 at Angell Park, July 11 at Lincoln and July 12 at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway.

POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series 2014 schedule:

March 21-+I-44 Speedway, Oklahoma City; 
March 22-+I-44 Speedway, Oklahoma City; 
March 23-+Port City Speedway, Tulsa; 
April 4-*Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway;
April 5-Wayne County Speedway, Wayne City, Ill.;
April 11--@Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway; 
April 12--@Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway; 
April 25--@Jacksonville (Ill.) Speedway; 
April 26--*Macon (Ill.) Speedway; 
May 2--+Valley Speedway, Grain Valley, Mo.;
May 3--+Lucas Oil Speedway, Wheatland, Mo.; 
May 10--@Belle-Clair Speedway, Belleville, Ill; 
May 16-Fayette County Speedway, Brownstown, Ill.; 
May 17-Macon (Ill.) Speedway; 
May 24--*Angell Park Speedway, Sun Prairie, Wis.; 
May 25--*Angell Park Speedway, Sun Prairie, Wis.; 
May 30-Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway; 
May 31-Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway; 
June 5-Jacksonville (Ill.) Speedway; 
June 6-Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway; 
June 7-Macon (Ill.) Speedway; 
June 8-Belle-Clair Speedway, Belleville, Ill.; 
June 27-Wayne County Speedway, Wayne City, Ill; 
June 28-Tri-State Speedway, Haubstadt, Ind.; 
July 5--*@Angell Park Speedway, Sun Prairie, Wis.; 
July 6--*@Angell Park Speedway, Sun Prairie, Wis.; 
July 11--*Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway; 
July 12--*Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway; 
July 18-Belle-Clair Speedway, Belleville, Ill.; 
July 19-St. Francois County Raceway, Farmington, Mo.; 
Aug. 10-Belle-Clair Speedway, Belleville, Ill.; 
Aug. 15-Lincoln (lll.) Speedway; 
Aug. 16-Macon (Ill.) Speedway; 
Aug. 17--*@Angell Park Speedway, Sun Prairie, Wis.;
Aug. 27-Wayne County Speedway, Wayne City, Ill.; 
Sept. 6-Macon (Ill.) Speedway; 
Sept. 7-Belle-Clair Speedway, Belleville, Ill; 
Sept. 12-Jacksonville (Ill.) Speedway; 
Sept. 13-Spoon River Speedway, Canton, Ill; 
Oct. 10-Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway; 
Oct. 11-Jacksonville (Ill.) Speedway.

Co-sanctioned by @United States Auto Club, *Badger Midgets, +POWRi Lucas Oil West.

POWRi Racing Sponsors
Auto Meter - "The Official Instrumentation" of POWRi Racing
Afco - "The Official Shock" of POWRi Racing
Ford - "The Official EcoBoost Challenge" of POWRi Racing
Hoosier Tire - "The Official Race Tire" of POWRi Racing
Impact Racing - "The Official Motorsports Safety Equipment" of POWRi Racing
Lucas Oil Products - "The Official Oil" of POWRi Racing
Speedway Motors - "The Official Performance Parts Store" of POWRi Racing

Team POWRi Racing
Advanced Racing Suspensions, Aggressive Graphics, Bell Helmets, BT Machine Inc., Butler Built Seats, Competition Suspension Inc., Edward Jones, Engler Machine & Tool Inc., Esslinger Engineering, Factor 1 Racing, Fontana Automotive, Hyper Racing, Kitchen Cooked, Leading Edge Composites, Millennium Components, MPD Racing, MoMo's Racing Engines, OSR Bikes & Motors, Purpose Wreckers, Race Bumpers.com, Racers for Christ, Rod End Supply, Schoenfeld Headers, Spike Chassis, Stanton Race Engines, SuperShox, The Engine Heater, Ti64, Total Power, TOYOTA, 600 Scene.com

For more information, go to www.POWRi.com.

Midget racing is flat out awesome.

Will there ever be a dirt midget race in Michigan?  I've seen one on pavement at Berlin years ago, but that was before I even knew what a midget was.  I'm planning to go to Kokomo for the 2 day show to see my first ever dirt midget race.

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I still consider the old ESPN Thunder telecasts from Ventura to be the best racing I've ever seen on the tube. Action packed swapfests. Ventura is an awesome track for midgets. Ventura will host its first ever winged sprint car event in September (King of the West 410s). Wish I could be there to check that out. A very cool, unique venue that should be on every short track racing fan's bucket list. 

some of the best midget racing i have ever seen is the ardc midgets at grandview speedway in pa. its a perfect track for midgets . its a 1/3 mile hi banked track . and im happy ardc opened up the rule book this year . its the same as powi and usac . trust me if you can ever make it to grandview for a midget race you will love this place . i never miss a ardc race at this track its 3 wide racing baby.