July 2005 - Inside Line Column - by Floyd Busby

Eleven down and nine to go for the BCRA midget division. At this writing we are only days away from round two and three of the Pacific Northwest Midget Championship Series, a two-day affair at the Meridian Speedway in Meridian, Idaho. Pre-race estimates put the Washington Midget Racing Association on top in the expected car-count, although it is a BCRA driver who leads the standings after the initial series race last May in Eureka. That's Thomas Meseraull, who won that event from 12th. John Sarale is second, followed by Brian Gard, Michael Hubert III and Greg Dennett before WMRA's Scott Walker appears on the point ledger.

Meseraull also sits on top of the overall point scoring. His 130 point lead has dwindled to 21 at this point. Meseaull missed the Lakeport race on July 2 in favor of running on the mile at the Pikes Peak International Raceway. The next week at Antioch, he climbed the right rear wheel of Jimmy Christian during a heat race and flipped, crippling the car for the night, allowing Sarale to close the lead gap. Sarale placed second behind Michael Hubert III at Lakeport.

Meseraull was doing very well in Colorado. He had qualified ninth out of the stellar national midget field and passed two cars before a brake rotor broke and he DNF'd. Among the other BCRA regulars who drove on the mile were Scott Pierovich and Ryan Kaplan. It was the first time on a mile paved oval for the seventeen-year-old Pierovich.

He qualified, then ran his own race, learning the tricks of the trade to finish 17th out of the 30-plus field.
The midget lites heralded in a new member of the main event winner's club. Rick Holbrook did a yeoman job to win at Antioch on June 18. But, it's 2003 champion Doug Hunting who has been seriously hunting for his second title. Hunting has scored two firsts and two seconds over the past four races and sits atop the point roster by

104 points over Chad Compton. Tyler Franklin is coming on strong and should be giving Compton a run for second.

During the July 2nd Lakeport Speedway race a memorial lap was presented in memory of Dave Stickland who passed away on June 14. It was fitting that the lap was made in a midget owned by Bob Rosen, whom Dave had driven for in 1967, awarding Rosen the car owner championship that year.

The current #4 Rosen car was driven by Tony Hunt for the memorial lap. Rosen still owns the Offenhuser midget that Dave drove to the car championship. Dave had won four main events and his highest season point finish was in 1967 when he placed second. The following season he was third. Dave then moved back to his native Colorado and joined the USAC national championship trail, scoring 25 feature wins, a tie to this day with Parnelli Jones. Last year Dave was inducted into the BCRA Hall of Fame. Although quite ill, he and his wife Jean drove from Colorado to attend. It was an emotional presentation. He is also a member of the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

American Racer Tires, TCR Performance and Outback Restaurants gave contingency awards at the Santa Maria midget race on June 11.

John Sarale and Jimmy Christian both won American Racer tires, Sarale for the longest tow and Christian in a draw for those finishing below tenth. Greg Dennett walked away with an assortment of suspension hardware from TCR and car owners Dave and Wendy Thurston won the draw for a $50 gift certificate to the Outback restaurant chain.

There had been much concern in the midget lite and midget pits when learned that Gary Dennett was facing the ravages of cancer.

He has undergone treatment, and while still weak, attended the lite race at Antioch on June 18. Gary operates a hardwood floor installation company in Fremont and owns the midget driven by son Greg and the lite driven by defending champion Scott Kinney.

This season, for the first time, separate dirt and pavement point standings are being calculated. At season's end the winning driver and car owner of each category will receive awards. In the driver department, it's Meseraull who leads both venues. The same in the car owner ranks where Bill Ferrari, Meseraull's ride, leads in both categories. This will not replace the usual monetary and trophy awards to the top ten drivers and car owners, also utilized with the midget lite division.

At this point in the season 32 drivers and 38 midget car owners have received points. This does not include visiting cars and drivers who are not members of BCRA. In the lite division 31 drivers and 34 owners have attained points.

BCRA's vintage division has been busy, demonstrating their classic midgets at different midget and midget lite venues. On July 16 nine of the vintage midgets took part in the 50-year celebration aof the All American Speedway in Roseville. More than 300 people attended the picnic with about 25 vintage race cars, so BCRA was well represented. During the evening's race appreciation night, fans were allowed into the infield for 45-minutes where the vintage cars were displayed. The cars were allowed on-track for a short exhibition.

BCRA vintage board member Stu Donaldson gave away quantities of the BCRA schedule card. Stu stated that he had never signed his name so many times during the fans visit to the infield.

The midget lites will receive a double paycheck at the Silver Dollar Speedway on Wednesday, September 7. As part of the opening night of the four-night World of Outlaws agenda, the lites will run for a double their normal purse!

When the midgets run at the Madera Speedway on August 20, they will be sharing the program with the Super Modified Racing League. The SRL has just been sold to the operators of the Madera facility by Davey Hamilton and his group.

Terry Tarditi made his first appearance of the season at the Antioch Speedway on July 9. The former three-time BCRA midget champion has been applying his recreation time to flying his P51 Mustang WWII fighter plane instead of running his midgets or sprint car. He had received a call from car owner Jack Walker inviting him to drive. Also making their season debut was driver Glenn Carson and car owner Doug Bock. Unfortunately, both Tarditi and Carson were involved in main event crashes that eliminated them.