Midget cars , also Speedcars in Australia , is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines . They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on most continents. There is a worldwide tour and national midget tours in the United States, Australia, Argentina and New Zealand .
19-599: Typically, these four-cylinder-engine cars have 300 horsepower (220 kW) to 400 horsepower (300 kW) and weigh 900 pounds (410 kg). The high power and small size of the cars combine to make midget racing quite dangerous; for this reason, modern midget cars are fully equipped with roll cages and other safety features. Some early major midget car manufacturers include Kurtis Kraft (1930s to 1950s) and Solar (1944–46). Midgets are intended to be driven for races of relatively short distances, usually 2.5 to 25 miles (4 to 40 km). Some events are staged inside arenas, like
38-716: A "World Speedcar Championship" or "World Speedcar Derby". During this time Speedcars were arguably the most popular category in Australian speedway with crowds of up to 30,000 attending meetings at the Sydney Showground and over 10,000 in Adelaide and Brisbane. Speedcars continue to race across Australia, with the major events being the annual Australian Speedcar Championship , state championships (held in QLD, NSW, VIC, TAS, SA, WA, and ACT), and blue ribbon events including
57-438: A famous Formula Libre race, where Rodger Ward shocked the expensive and exotic sports cars by beating them on the road course in an Offenhauser powered midget car , usually used on oval tracks. Ward used an advantageous power-to-weight ratio and dirt-track cornering abilities to steal the win. Roll cage A roll cage is a specially engineered and constructed frame built in (or sometimes around, in which case it
76-481: A strong windscreen frame acting as a roll bar. Also, a roll hoop may be placed behind both headrests (usually one on older cars), which is essentially a roll bar spanning the width of a passenger's shoulders. A newer form of rollover protection, pioneered on the Mercedes-Benz R129 in 1989, is deployable roll hoops that are usually hidden within the body of a car. When sensors detect an imminent rollover,
95-407: Is known as an exo cage) the passenger compartment of a vehicle to protect its occupants from being injured or killed in an accident, particularly in the event of a rollover . There are many different roll cage designs depending on the application. Hence, various racing organizations have differing specifications and regulations, although most of these organizations harmonize their rules with those of
114-515: The AAA / USAC National Championship . Schindler participated in three World Drivers' Championship races at Indianapolis. His best finish was 13th place, and he scored no World Drivers' Championship points. Schindler died in a sprint car racing crash in Allentown, Pennsylvania , in 1952. Schindler was leading the race on the third lap when a car driven by Paul Becker lost a wheel and skidded into
133-879: The Australian Speedcar Grand Prix (first held in 1938), the $ 20k to win Australasian 50 Lap Speedcar Championship (first held in 1946)(SA), the Sydney 50 Lapper (NSW), Ultimate Speedcar Championship (QLD), the John Day Speedcar Classic (WA), the Beasley Family Memorial (VIC) and more. In December 2013, POWRi Midget Racing began a 16-event Lucas Oil POWRi Midget World Championship that ran until June 2014. Drivers competed in New Zealand and Australia at
152-638: The Chili Bowl held in early January at the Tulsa Expo Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma . There are midget races in dirt track racing and in asphalt (paved tracks). There are three-quarter (TQ) midgets which developed from "midget midget" cars of the late 1940s. Quarter midgets are one-quarter the size of a full midget car. The first organized Midget car race happened on June 4, 1933. The sports' first regular weekly program began on August 10, 1933 at
171-477: The FIA . Roll cages help to stiffen the chassis , which is desirable in racing applications. Racing cages are typically either bolt-in or welded-in, with the former being more straightforward and cheaper to fit while the latter is stronger and more substantial. A roll bar is a single bar behind the driver that provides moderate rollover protection. Due to the lack of a protective top, some modern convertibles utilize
190-635: The Loyola High School Stadium in Los Angeles under the control of the first official governing body, the Midget Auto Racing Association (MARA). After spreading across the country, the sport traveled around the world; first to Australia in 1934 at Melbourne's Olympic Park on December 15, and to New Zealand in 1937. Early midget races were held on board tracks previously used for bicycle racing . When
209-723: The Northeastern United States. Schindler rejoined the AAA so he could race in the Indianapolis 500 in 1950 , 1951 , and 1952 . The AAA / USAC -sanctioned Indianapolis 500 was included in the FIA World Drivers' Championship from 1950 through 1960. Drivers competing at Indianapolis during those years were credited with World Drivers' Championship participation, and were eligible to score WDC points alongside those which they may have scored towards
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#1732780768246228-893: The beginning of the 2013–14 season and ended in the United States. Midget car racing also grew in popularity in the Northeast of the United States, in part due to racers like Bill Schindler and events at tracks like that at Hinchcliffe Stadium . Many IndyCar and NASCAR drivers use midget car racing as an intermediate stepping stone on their way to more high-profile divisions, including Tony Stewart , Sarah Fisher , Rodger Ward , A. J. Foyt , Mario Andretti , Johnnie Parsons , Ryan Newman , Kyle Larson , Jeff Gordon , Christopher Bell , Bill Vukovich , and others. Events are sometimes held on weeknights so that popular and famous drivers from other, higher-profiled types of motor racing (who race in those higher-profiled types of racing on
247-655: The country's "golden era" of the 1950s and 1960s. Australian promoters such as Adelaide 's Kym Bonython who ran the Rowley Park Speedway , and Empire Speedways who ran the Brisbane Exhibition Ground and the famous Sydney Showground Speedway , often imported drivers from the US, such as the popular Jimmy Davies . Promoters in Australia during this period often staged races billed as either
266-657: The country, facing opposition from independent drivers and racetracks. After the AAA withdrew from sanctioning races in 1955, the United States Auto Club took over as the major sanctioning body of midget car racing in the United States. NASCAR had a midget division from 1952 to 1968. Soon after in Australia , Speedcar racing became popular with the first Australian Speedcar Championship being contested in Melbourne in 1935, its popularity running through
285-463: The purpose-built speedway at Gilmore Stadium was completed, racing ended at the school stadium, and hundreds of tracks began to spring up across the United States. Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (near Madison ) is another major track in the United States operating since the first half of the twentieth century. The AAA Contest Board soon started sanctioning midget races across
304-590: The roll hoops quickly extend and lock in place. Cars that have a deployable rollover protection system include the Peugeot 307 CC, Volvo C70 , Mercedes-Benz SL 500 , Jaguar XK , and the Lamborghini Reventón Roadster . Roll bars are also used historically on row crop tractors, and roll cages are incorporated as part of the cab on modern tractors. Bill Schindler William Lawrence Schindler (March 6, 1909 – September 20, 1952)
323-567: The weekends) will be available to compete, and so that it does not conflict with drivers' home tracks. Australia 's Triple Formula One World Drivers' Champion Sir Jack Brabham got his motor racing start in Speedcars on the dirt track ovals in his home town of Sydney . Before going on to become the 1959 , 1960 and 1966 World Champion, Brabham was a multiple Australian national and state title winner from 1948 until he turned full time to road racing in 1953. In 1959, Lime Rock Park held
342-574: Was an American racing driver . Schindler began racing in 1931 in a sprint car . He was racing midget cars on the East Coast of the United States at their introduction in 1934. Schindler lost his left leg from above the knee while racing in a Champ car race in 1936 at Mineola , Long Island. He is one of three drivers to have participated in the Indianapolis 500 with a prosthetic leg , along with Al Miller and Cal Niday . Schindler
361-655: Was part of a group determined to keep the AAA out of the East Coast in 1937. He was elected president of the "outlaw" group. Schindler briefly switched to the AAA in 1940, and won the Bronx Coliseum Indoor championship. He returned to his "outlaw" past when he was named the president of the newly formed American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC). He served as president for the club's first six years. Schindler won ARDC championships in 1940, 1945, 1946 and 1948. In both 1947 and 1948 he won 53 midget car feature races, which helped bring popularity to midget car racing in
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