Quarter midget racing is a form of

automobile racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organi ...

. The cars are approximately one-quarter (1/4) the size of a full-size

midget car 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 ...

. The adult-size midget being raced during the start of quarter midget racing used an oval track of one-fifth of a mile in length. The child's quarter midget track is one quarter that length, or 1/20 mile (264 feet). An adult-size midget in the 1940s and 1980s could reach 120 miles per hour, while the single-cylinder 7-cubic-inch quarter midget engine could make available a speed of 30 miles per hour in a rookie class (called novices), or one-quarter the speed of the adult car. Most of the competitive classes run speeds near 45 miles per hour. Current upper-class quarter midgets can exceed 45 miles per hour, but remain safe due to the limited size of the track.Introduction to Quarter Midget Racing
Retrieved January 3, 2007
Todd Golden, "Sunday special: Terre Haute Quarter Midget Association is a Terre Haute fixture", September 17, 2006, ''

Tribune-Star The ''Tribune-Star'' is a seven-day morning daily newspaper based in Terre Haute, Indiana, covering the Wabash Valley area of Indiana and Illinois. It is owned by Community Newspaper Holdings. Counties within the newspaper's coverage areas includ ...

'', Terre Haute, Ind. Retrieved January 4, 2007 Quarter midget racecars have four-wheel

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspend ...

, unlike

go-kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performance Kart rac ...

s. The drivers are typically restricted to ages 5 to 16. Tracks are typically banked ovals one-twentieth of a mile long, and have surfaces of dirt, concrete, or asphalt.

Statistics

Quarter midgets have been around in one form or another since before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, There are three sanctioning bodies for quarter midgets, Quarter Midgets of America (QMA), the PowRi Quarter Midget Racing League and the

United States Auto Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the List of USAC Championship Car seasons, United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the ...

(USAC), with the USAC quarter-midget series now known as the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Youth Series. There were over 4,000 quarter midget drivers in the United States in 2007.
Jessica Raynor, "Quarter-midget racers rev up", December 29, 2006,

Florida Today ''Florida Today'' is the major daily newspaper serving Brevard County, Florida. Al Neuharth of the Gannett corporation started the paper in 1966, and some of the things he did with this newspaper presaged what he would later do at USA Today. I ...

, Retrieved January 4, 2007 Many of today's most recognizable names in racing got their start in quarter midgets, including

A. J. Foyt Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. (born January 16, 1935) is an American retired auto racing driver who has raced in numerous genres of motorsports. His open wheel racing includes United States Automobile Club Champ cars, sprint cars, and midget cars. H ...

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

Sarah Fisher Sarah Marie Fisher (born October 4, 1980) is an American retired professional race car driver who competed in the IndyCar Series, Indy Racing League (IRL, now IndyCar Series) and the Indianapolis 500 intermittently from 1999 to 2010. She also ...

Jimmy Vasser James Vasser Jr. (born November 20, 1965) is an American former racing driver. Vasser won the 1996 CART IndyCar championship with Chip Ganassi Racing, and scored ten victories in the series. Vasser was the last American to win the CART champio ...

Joey Logano Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990), is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Seri ...

Brad Keselowski Bradley Aaron Keselowski (; born February 12, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and entrepreneur. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing, a team he also ...

Terry Labonte Terrance Lee Labonte (born November 16, 1956), nicknamed Texas Terry or The Iceman, is an American former stock car driver who raced from 1978 to 2014 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup and Sprint Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series). A two ...

, and

Bobby Labonte Robert Allen Labonte (born May 8, 1964) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and current analyst for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He also currently competes full-time in the Superstar Racing Experience, driving the No. 18 car. ...

. The oldest continually run dirt quarter midget track east of the Mississippi is the Hulman Mini Speedway, operated since 1958 by the Terre Haute Quarter Midget Association (THQMA) located in

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

. On the west coast, the Capitol Quarter Midget Association has operated a dirt track for quarter midgets since 1954. Jeff Gordon raced in the Capitol Quarter Midget Association Quarter midget cars can be reasonably affordable or can cost nearly as much as some full-sized racing cars. Engines can cost from $400 to $8,000. Car chassis can cost from $1,500 (used) up to $6,000 (new). Tires start at $50 each. There are many brands of cars as well as custom cars made by individuals. Some of the common brands are Stanley Racing, N/C chassis (Nervo/Coggin), Talon Chassis, Bullrider Racecars, Tad Fiser Race Cars, Rice Cars, Ashley Chassis, Cobra Race Cars, Storm Chassis, GT American, and Afco race cars. Cars are covered by body panels which are made of fiberglass, aluminum, or occasionally carbon fiber. Engine costs have driven a number of changes over the years. As the cost of the Deco engine platform continued to rise, Honda engines were adopted. The move from Deco to Honda was first highlighted by an exhibition race at the 1988 Western Grands in

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. Attempts to put the Deco/Continental engines back into production failed. Later problems with Honda engine revisions and parts tolerances led to the adoption of

Briggs & Stratton Briggs & Stratton Corporation is an American manufacturer of gasoline engines with headquarters in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Engine production averages 10 million units per year as of April 2015. The company reports that it has 13 large facilit ...

engines as a cost-effective engine platform. This adoption has come in the form of both the World Formula and Briggs Animal engines. USAC started using Animal engines in 2010. QMA planned to introduce the Animal engine platform beginning in 2012 and begin phasing out the Honda platform altogether in 2013 but has not moved away from the Honda engine platform. USAC includes the Animal and Honda platforms. USAC has recently discarded all of the Deco platform and introduced the light and heavy modified World Formula for 2017.

Engines and classes

*Red & Blue Rookie (USAC), Jr. Novice & Adv. Novice (QMA) - Honda 120 (stock, restricted) *Jr. Animal & Sr. Animal - Briggs & Stratton Animal engine (stock, restricted) *Hvy. Animal - Briggs & Stratton Animal engine (stock) *Jr. Honda - Honda 120 (stock, restricted) *Sr. Honda - Honda 120 (stock) *Hvy. Honda - Honda 120 (stock with Honda GX 160 carburetor) *Jr. Super Stock & Sr. Super Stock (QMA) - Deco (stock, restricted) *Mod (QMA) - Deco (modified) *Jr. 160 - Honda 160 (QMA) (stock with Honda GX 120 carburetor) *Lt. 160 - Honda 160 (stock) *Hvy. 160 - Honda 160 (stock with Honda GX 200 carburetor) *B (QMA) - Deco (modified) *Modified World Formula (USAC) - Briggs and Stratton World Formula (modified, methanol) *AA/Modified World Formula (QMA) - Deco (modified, methanol), or Briggs and Stratton World Formula (modified, methanol) *Lt. & Hvy. World Formula - Briggs and Stratton World Formula (stock) Junior classes are for drivers 5-8 years old, while senior classes are for drivers 9-16. Light classes are for drivers up to 100 lbs in normal street clothes. For heavy classes, drivers must be a minimum of 100 lbs.

Half midgets (QMA)

*Half Class – any single cylinder, 4-cycle, air-cooled, naturally aspirated, under 253 cc engine, drivers aged 11 to 18

QMA Grands champions

2017 Western Grands— Jr. Animal: Caleb Johnson Sr. Animal: Cam Fiser Hvy Animal: Tyler Conley Jr. Honda: Jayson Elf Sr. Honda: Matthew Roberts Hvy. Honda: Daytona Spicola Jr. Stock: Destry Miller Mod: Chase Spicola Lt. 160: Cam Fiser Hvy 160: Zack Medynski B: Victoria Wolf AA: Tyler Conley Light World Formula: Cam Fiser Heavy World Formula: Tyler Conley Jr. Half: Andrew Link 2017 Eastern Grands— Jr. Honda: Caleb Johnson Sr. Honda: Bradley Erickson Hvy. Honda: Alex French Jr. Animal: Collin Mitchell Sr. Animal: Colby Sokol Hvy. Animal: Kaylee Esgar Mod: Chase Spicola Lt. 160: Chase Spicola Hvy 160: Alex French AA: Bryce Lucius Light World Formula: Chase Spicoloa Heavy World Formula: Kaylee Esgar Jr. Half: Taylor Nibert Jr. Novice: Keegan Gasseling Sr. Novice: Laken Hall 2016 Western Grands— Jr. Animal: Justis Sokol Sr. Animal: Cam Fiser Hvy Animal: Tyler Conley Jr. Honda: Caleb Johnson Sr. Honda: Matthew Roberts Hvy. Honda: Krystal Faulkingham Jr. Stock: Elvis Rankin Mod: Bret Degand Lt. 160: Matthew Roberts Hvy 160: Kaylee Esgar B: Victoria Wolf AA: Tyler Conley Light World Formula: Cam Fiser Heavy World Formula: Tyler Conley Jr. Novice: Mackenzie Rust Sr. Novice: Anelen McMains 2016 Eastern Grands— Sr. Animal: Famous Rhodes II Jr. Honda: Thomas Schwarz Sr. Honda: Ryan Boyd Jr. Animal: Jackson White Hvy. Honda: Holt Halder Lt. 160: Ryan Boyd Hvy 160: Holt Halder Light World Formula: Samantha Osborn Heavy World Formula: Holt Halder Jr. Half: Joshua Kunstbeck Jr. Novice: Nicholas Leonard Sr. Novice: Faith Reep 2005 Eastern Grands— Sr. Honda: Tyler Edwards Jr. Honda: Blaze Gerenda Hvy. Honda: David Swearinger Jr. Stock: Max McGhee Sr. Stock: Jeremy Doll Lt. Mod: Kyle Reinhardt Hvy. Mod: D.J. Wykes Lt. 160: Jamie Murray Hvy 160: Matthew McGillivray Light B: Austin Kochenash Heavy B: Jessie Harper Light A: Domenic Melair Hvy. A: D.J. Wykes Half A: Andy Nock

USAC National Championships

Jr. Honda:case james Sr. Honda: Dylan Zampa Hvy. Honda: Canon Cochran Lt. 160: Emerson Axsom Hvy 160: Levi Rifle Jr. Animal: Gavin Boschele Sr. Animal: Nick Loden Unrestricted Animal: Scotty Milan Light Mod: Chase Burda Light World Formula: Connor Gross Heavy World Formula: Canon Cochran Light AA: Connor Gross Modified World Formula: Emerson Axsom

References

External links