Save midget racing in Denver

[webby]

The midget's are one of the most exciting divisions in all of motorsports. On pavement they are rocket fast and dart and dice like no other division. On dirt they have enough power to broadslide and spit dirt second only to their larger brother (the sprint car).

Midget's have the richest history of any division in Colorado.

Yet times are tough. Midget divisions around the country are dropping like flies. Even clubs that have been around for years and years are closing their doors. Our own Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association RMMRA appears to be at the very brink of extinction.

I REFUSE TO LET THE MIDGETS DIE!!!!

Let this thread be a POSITIVE discussion about options and ideas that might help save midget auto racing. I am not here to bash the midgets, instead I offer my heart felt support and would like to help in any way possible to keep this division alive.

When we struggle to get 10 cars to show up for a race event clearly there is a problem. So lets work together to fix it. I think the very worst thing we can do is fail to admit there is a problem and continue on as if nothing is wrong.

Recently the BCRA (another historic yet struggling midget club) announced some major changes in an effort to save their club. One of the interesting things that they are adopting is the new ASCS Eco-Tec midgets developed in association with Emmett Hahn and the ASCS.

The new midget engine offers state-of-the-art technology... plus... More Power, More Features, More Reliability… YET FOR LESS MONEY!

Now let's get something straight here... I have NOTHING to do with Revolution Racing, I don't represent them in any way whatsoever. So I'm not trying to sell anything.

But this is a great idea they have come up with, these sealed motors offer near identical horsepower to current midget engines but cost only $9,995 BRAND NEW!!! That's less than a third what most midget engines cost. Not only that but they are built to be reliable and inexpensive to have rebuilt at the end of a season (or two seasons).

It's time that we got rid of all the high priced cock-pit adjusters and ridiculously expensive motors and re-adjusted the sport so that folks who are looking to get involved in auto racing might be compelled to pick midgets as an option. These Eco-Tec midgets aren't slow, heck these babies are fast! They have more horespower than the engines we ran in the mid-1980's. One really interesting thing about these new Eco-Tec engines is they have a computer that you can alter so you can run at full horsepower with regular midgets or you can run them in "sportsman" mode and compete with Ford Focus midgets.

I say....
Lets adopt this new format and go racing! If we could get the cost of midget racing under control we would likely increase car counts. With car counts up... I have no doubt that we once again make the midgets a feature division and possibly start running more regularly in front of larger crowds and for more money. But it's going to take rebuilding to get there. It's going to take making MAJOR changes and MAJOR concessions from the current way of doing things. But concessions seem a whole lot more palatable than extinction if you ask me.

Lets talk about this, and other possible changes, and strategies that might help revitalize the midget division in this region.

[webby]

The Eco-Tec is clean looking isn't it?

[IRL13fan]

Open wheel racing in general has been pricing itself out of the realm of many people's budgets. It's time to kick all of the high priced stuff to the curb.

[webby]

Originally Posted by IRL13fan

Open wheel racing in general has been pricing itself out of the realm of many people's budgets. It's time to kick all of the high priced stuff to the curb.

Amen, amen!

But to get there...... we need a path.

Ford Focus is a tad too slow in my opinion.

You can go the Eco-Tec route or you can create a really tight rule package and get the old cars back out like these guys do in Illinois.

One thing I like so much about the Eco-Tec option is the options! You can run with almost any club you want simply by adjusting the on-board computer.

[webby]

Attracting new participants is going to take.....

- Making your club accommodating (works well with track owners and promoters)
- Making the racing a reasonable level of expense
- Racing in places where you are in the public eye
- Racing on a regular basis (the CARC has built there club back up because they run regularly at CNS)
- Entice guys to run the older cars in their garage (again the CARC has done a good job in this area)
- Cutting down and tightening the rules so that ultra expensive garbage doesn't ruin it for the up-and-comer.
- Get out of the mind-set that midget racing is for rocket scientists. (learn from the sprint car guys, make it easy to buy equipment that is competitive and easy to maintain)

Also, I would suggest getting rid of all the body panels that hide the driver from the audience. Whatever happened to open cockpit racing???

[webby]

Here's a biggy......

FORGET ABOUT BEING A MINI-USAC.

Let those guys do their thing. Let them spend $90,000 on a new setup. We don't need to be a mini-USAC. Local clubs don't need to mimic national organizations to be successful.

The CNS late model club has tight rules, they don't run COT's or even Nationwide series cars yet they are kicking but! They get 24-30 cars every weekend and run super competitive shows. They have strict tire rules to curb costs as well as other rules that make it reasonable for new competitors to get involved.

[webby]

I am not suggesting that we turn the midgets into an entry level division.

Far from it!

But we need to dramatically change things and get the costs to a reasonable level so that folks who are looking to get into auto racing might be compelled to go midget racing.

[mag]

Few,(if any) short tracks in America get 8,000 fans a week, this is an amazing thing that is happening at Colorado National Speedway. A Denver based racing club, the Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association, has the chance to race in front of this many people. Any club in America would give anything to race in front of a fan base like this. Yet the RMMRA will maybe have 9, 10, 14 cars if they are lucky, and what if 10 start the feature, and 7 finish, the guy that wins, wins a "long heat race". There are a million reasons midget racing is suffering, volumes could be written on the in fighting, back stabbing, double crossing, and downright self destructive behavior in midget clubs for years, and years. Now is the time to "right the ship", come on you guys, even Knoxville, Iowa doesn't get 8,000 fans for a weekly winged sprint show, and Knoxville is considered one of the more successful weekly tracks! Here's my suggestions, and this is my opinion only, on how to help, if not save the midget's in Denver. First ban all carbon fiber and titanium. Ban all cockpit adjustments, go with a simple less expensive shock package rule. Raise the minimum weight of the car without the driver, to 975 pounds, and run a minimum weight rule, car must go to scales and weigh 1,175 with driver after a race,(or something like that). Allow the Eco-tech to run with the club (eventually become a ASCS type midget club), ban the new Hemi-head Mopar before it gets a foot hold.
I'm not familiar with tires these days, see if Hoosier or another tire maker has a harder compound than what RMMRA is using now. Try to find a way to open the cockpit area of the car, especially on pavement, get rid of the side boards, and enclosures, the fans would go nuts to see the driver actually working behind the wheel! Put some sort of restrictor plate on the high dollar engines for a year until more Eco-tech's come on board. Give air cooled engines a weight break, say 985 pounds with driver after a race. Go back to only a Jacobs ladder on the right rear, and a ground clearance minimum, 3 inch's or so? Find a muffler that's as close to the Dba allowance as possible, the louder the better. People will pour out of the stands, into the pits wild for the midgets if they see 20 to 24 cars, darting, dicing, wheel to wheel action. The future midget owner/driver will be excited to hear it's only 15 grand to be competitive, instead of 40 grand or more. Come on RMMRA, wake up, 8,000 screaming fans at your home track in town??? What an opportunity for greatness!
Again, just my opinion, good luck.
Mitch Guttormson

[dick m]

I agree we have no midgets in NM so the 2 teams we have
had here raced in AZ or with the Denver club. It was expen-
sive just to go watch let alone field a car This motor seems
to be AN answer as there is nothing like 24 midgets dicing
and pitching it sideways all on the same lap

[Kyle McCartney]

hey webbie, nothing against you or any of the other midget drivers, but i think the ford focus midgets are the way to go. Earlier in the year in vegas, there were 24 midgets in a race at the bullring. i got to take a look at a lot of the cars, and yes they have less power, but the motors can run 3 to 4 years before needing rebuilt. also the cost compared to a normall midget are extremly less. they have a good rules package and look like a lot of fun. not only that a lot of west coast tracks run the focus midgets leaving many to be able to race where they choose.

[webby]

Originally Posted by Kyle McCartney

hey webbie, nothing against you or any of the other midget drivers, but i think the ford focus midgets are the way to go. Earlier in the year in vegas, there were 24 midgets in a race at the bullring. i got to take a look at a lot of the cars, and yes they have less power, but the motors can run 3 to 4 years before needing rebuilt. also the cost compared to a normall midget are extremly less. they have a good rules package and look like a lot of fun. not only that a lot of west coast tracks run the focus midgets leaving many to be able to race where they choose.

Kyle I agree with you except you got to give the EcoTec thing a second look.

They are just as cheap and reliable as the Focus deal except they have more horsepower. The problem with the Focus deal is that everybody would need to convert the first year. With EcoTec you can turn off the "sportsman" setting and run near as fast as a current state-of-the-art midget setup. That allows for an easier transition (you can run them and be competitive with current midgets). I am guessing that's why the BCRA is going that route.

Anyway, I just think the Eco-Tec offers more flexibility than the Focus thing although I would settle for either option.

Great post.

[webby]

mag do you know off-hand what that Illinois Midget Club does as far as their rules are concerned? Their rules aren't posted on the website (well they are in PDF format but that's more work than I want to do right now)

I know that older, cheaper chassis and engines are very competitive in that club.

[scottympt6]

Cory mallo is driving an eco-tech/beast midget and may be done for saturday at CNS.
im also building an Ellis chassis that may very well go eco-tech so i think myself and the mallo's are doing our part to SAVE MIDGETS!

my car is going to have Sam Sauers "lulu' paint scheme and carry the number 5 for a nod to randy, eddie, and leo. i just hope i can honor the number that these great men carried.

[mag]

Midget racing deserves being saved in Denver, the first midget race was held in 1935, a very early track was built at Lakeside Amusement park for midgets, after an exhibition had been held at DuPont speedway in 1933! Midgets had regular schedules by 1937, and the RMMRA has been operating since 1941, the 3rd oldest midget club in the U.S. Eddie Jackson, Dave Strickland Sr., Johnny Tolan, are a few Denver midget drivers who've passed their rookie test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Tolan was the 1952 National Midget Champion and raced in several Indy 500's, with a 8th place finish his best. No other racing division has the history in Denver and Colorado, as the midget's do. Bobby Unser Sr., Al Unser Sr., Billy Vukovich Jr., Mel Kenyon, Rich Vogler, Johnny Parsons Jr., Pancho Carter, Stan Fox, Jimmy Caruthers, are just a few Indy 500 veterans, and national champions who have raced midgets in Denver over the years, a rich heritage to be sure and a division worth continuing and improving.

[mag]

There are a couple of midget clubs in the midwest that have strict tire rules. I think the Illini series runs a Mickey Thompson "I" tread pattern DOT tire, hard and used on dirt and pavement. Their champion the last 2 seasons was running a 10 year old Hawk Chassis with a 15 year old "auto-craft" VW race engine. I'm not familiar with all their rules either, but they have a pretty well supported club with decent car counts, and full USAC national midgets can run with them, all they do is put the four tires on (oh yeah, they run the MT's on all four corners) and go, they may make the high dollar motors run a restrictor plate in the injectors, I'm not sure though.