USAC Racing Forum

Thank you to everyone who participated in a wonderful weekend of USAC Racing!  Over 110 USAC .25 Midget cars invaded the Columbus Motor Speedway's newly finished Buckeye Quarter Midget Club's track.

BQMRA members did a great job to make the facility in tip top shape for the Jegs Crown Midget Supernationals.  All of us at USAC appreciate your hard work!

Congrats to all participants in a fine weekend of racing!  The results and pics (thanks to Motion X images) can now be found on our .25 Midget News page.

We look forward to returning in September...

Spectacular event. The most professional children’s motorsports event we’ve attended – well done.

Things we appreciated:
•   The atmosphere of professionalism from the time we arrived until we departed
•   The pace of the event – no downtime waiting on volunteers to get in place and judging calls
•   Cowboy’s calling every race was beautiful – WOW!
•   The USAC Midget drivers walking around talking to the children – giving out driving tips and signing autographs
•   RACEceiver for all drivers at no charge – great for safety and huge time saver
•   Making of membership badges on site at the event
•   USAC’s safety director and team went trailer to trailer to safety cars Friday night!
•   Flagman – consistent and treated the children with respect, as if they were NASCAR stars!
•   Live Web cast – friends, relatives and a sponsor called to congratulated my driver as if he were on live television! Some have never seen my son race do to locations across the country
•   Winner’s ceremony – Medallion, Trophy, Hoosier Headband, Jegs Hat along with the Crown, Robe and Throne – big time and priceless
•   New racing surface - fast and smooth
•   Safer Barriers – There were some wicked hits on that wall without a single injury
•   Professional Safety workers from Eldora Speedway
•   Racing apparel for sale at the track – too cool
•   The facility looked and felt like a big time race track – well done Buckeye Members and Columbus Motor Speedway!

Thank You USAC, BQMRA and Columbus Motor Speedway for a super event. You have raised the bar and our family looks forward to attending many more of these events.

live strong Thanks for your post.That club went through so much this winter we needed to hear that.When I was pres. of the club last year the one thing I wanted to do was pave that track not for my kid but other kids the kids that aren't even racing yet.I had some people that didn't wanted it done but after getting it to go though(thanks to the bod/members) it was made possible.I worried about the track after it was done, is there bumps is it slow or rough?After seeing the first cars prac. on it two weeks ago I felt alot better.After seeing the races today and peoples thumbs up I'm happy.We were unable to race yesterday due to other things and from the time I got out of the car I had people coming up to me complemting the racing facilitie.Today was the first time my driver got on the track and she came off for the fuel stop she said Dad this track is fast.We are glad that you had a good time and come back soon.
     USAC, nice job couldn't have went better.P.s. Who were those people that we're pit stewarding and scaling the cars?Nice people.LOve you MOM and DAD:)

Very well put live strong, I second that 100%!!!

My mom (grandma) in Florida got to see the boy’s race for the first time via live stream on usacracing.com and thought it was just too cool to see the boy’s race and to see Cameron win his first race ever.  Thanks for allowing her that opportunity!  Just all around an Awesome Show!!!

What a fun weekend. Great show Columbus.

Will USAC be showing the live feed as a tape delay as was done for the Tampa event?

What about offering a DVD, I know a few that would purchase it...

Very well put live strong, that was the best kid event i have ever been apart of. We have been doing this for a year in a half and that was the most fun we have ever had, Thank You USAC.

Scott, good idea reference the DVD; however, might be better financially to do a complete DVD with all the  Next Generation Races and make it available at the end of the season.

By the way Motion X did a great job with the pictures also - I saw many families happy with the photos and making many purchases.  Great Job to those people also.

Great job USAC and Buckeye Club. I was going to do your post Live Strong but you beat me to it. Great weekend for everybody. Great facility. Fast track.
Russ Knepp
Team Cuda

the kids walking around over the weekend wasnt just .25 racer,they were superstars who just won the kings royal!! that was the first time in .25 racing i have ever seen the racing focus on the kids so much. even if they were running bad or getting tangled up they were on the loud speaker. excellent job USAC and thank you to all who worked so hard to make the show go so smoothly. i think the best part was the announcer talking about racing and playing music rather that calling for judges and corner workers.

Thanks for the compliments on the announcing...much appreciated!

I wanted to say 'thanks' to the Buckeye club members for their help this weekend, and for letting an outside guy like me come in to announce the event.  I saw a lot of smiling faces this weekend as well...I think it's important to remember that above all else, racing is supposed to be FUN for everyone involved, and I saw a lot of that this weekend.

Thanks again!
'Cowboy' Paul Szmal
Announcer

I have been in quarter midgets for quite a few years now and i haven't had that much fun on a race weekend since novice hats off to mr spink,cowboy and all the rest of the usac staff.as for the buckeye club what else would you expect nothing but the best that club knows how to get things done!!!!!!!!!!!  and the pit steward and the man working the scales LLR you are a very lucky person

You said it I am very lucky and so are my kids.

just my thoughts from this weekend.
1. usac did a fantastic job with the whole show
2. the announcing was great
3. the live feed allowed our family who could not be there to watch
4. the safety crew thanks for everything
5. my wife was really impressed with the usac reps who gave her there personal phone numbers and told her to call them with updates on tyler and to all that came over to check on him after we got back from the hospital.
6. to the buckeye club great job

Great post Live Strong, just a couple things I would like to add.

     By not letting drivers pick up the pace untill the cone out of 4 instead of the norm we have been used to, greatly sped up the day and made for better racing, especially on single file starts.

     The Hoosier tires are great!

As a whole, BEST QUARTER MIDGET RACE I HAVE EVER ATTENDED!!!

   Phil     

NEAT DEAL!! Agree with Live Strong one thousand percent.

I do have one negative thing… I gained five pounds from the dozen Cheese Coney Dogs I ate with my new found free time and great racing over the two days. What a relief not to have to work the whole time you’re there. If Buckeye’s not famous for those Cheese Coney Dogs they should and will be!!

Big Gap between the Fall Regional and this event, improvement top-to-bottom… This deal was operated like a little Bristol Race. I really wondered if USAC could change QM Racing, THEY HAVE. If you missed this one, don’t miss the next one!!.. It’s not perfect but the little things that need worked out are so small in comparison to the improvements they’re not on the chart.

USAC, Great vision and execution!
Buckeye Club, Marvelous!
All that helped, Congratulations!

As my driver said on the way home; “That was so cool and so fun, can we do it every weekend?”

Your right grace i had that bristol feeling all weekend. people will have to think really hard to find something that went wrong over the weekend, like it was a little chilly out or the grass wasnt green enough!! lol  i also had several coneys over the weekend, the coney sauce is a 100 year old recipe from a columbus based restraunt (phillips coney island) if im not mistaken. I think usac can maybe look into a two lap grace period under caution to try and keep as many cars on the track as possible, since time is not going to be such an issue. on a scale of 1 to 10 i give usac and the bqmra a 12. EXELLENT JOB

Another item that handlers need to be aware of is that if you have a driver transferring into the next race please notify the pit steward as soon as possible so they can notify the tower.  If you have ever worked the tower it is one busy place.  Driver sheets need to be made out for transfers and the complete line up, scoring, keeping track of pit area etc.  So it is not always possible to note that there are drivers moving into the next class.

The other item I saw was people not realizing that corner workers are needed for all the races so if you notice that there needs to be one step up otherwise the driver's handlers need to take on the responsiblity and that ties them up during cautions when they might need to be signaling to their driver.

All in all everyone was very cooperative thus racing progressed without a lot of delays remember everyone the hot summer is coming and we need to get these drivers on the track as soon as possible.  Very hot in those suits with that sun beating down.  Kids dehydrate very quickly!

Good luck to all this racing season!

Will USAC be bringing the same show to Miami Valley May 16-17 that was just in Columbus? Will it be the same format?

The Point Standings for the "Generation Next Tour" Rd 1 are now posted on the News page.

The kids have been talking about this coming weekend's Miami Valley race since the Columbus event, just can't wait for the weekend to get here!

We'll be missing the weekly races at Mini Indy, driver says he would rather go to the GNT Regional but wished they wouldn’t have scheduled the two events on the same two days.