Team Mopar Midget contenders prepare to tackle famed high banks for Belleville Midget Nationals
Team Mopar drivers will be among the heavy favorites when the finest teams in Midget racing storm into tiny Belleville, Kan. for the 31st annual "Speedway Motors Belleville Midget Nationals" on August 1-2. Two-time defending race champion, Jerry Coons Jr., and Kasey Kahne Racing drivers Brady Bacon and Brad Sweet are among the dirt-tracking stars relying on Mopar horsepower to speed them around the daunting Belleville High Banks.
Recently, Mopar has become synonymous with success at Belleville. There was the Josh Wise win in 2006. Coons will be back with the same Wilke-Pak team that surrounded him in victory lane last year. Since its inception in 1978, the "Belleville Midget Nationals" has lured America's top open-wheel talent. Past participants include current NASCAR stars Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Ken Schrader, as well as Indianapolis 500 veterans Billy Boat, Stan Fox, Jack Hewitt and Donnie Beechler. The event is recognized by several of the sport's premier organizations, with the United States Auto Club (USAC) serving as official sanctioning body. The "Belleville Midget Nationals" is part of USAC's Mopar Midget National Championship.
NASCAR superstar (and Mopar Midget team owner) Kasey Kahne cut his teeth on the dirt tracks of his native Washington State then built a national reputation racing Sprint Cars and Midgets on speedways across America. Kahne was the 2000 USAC National Midget Champion, and was also the "Belleville Midget Nationals" winner in both 2000 and 2001 [the only two years in which he competed in the event].
"You run right up against the wall there," Kahne said. "One of the Belleville races I won, I had my [right-rear] tire about a foot off the wall for the entire race. In the other one, I was actually touching the wall through [turns] three and four, every lap, all night, wide open. Those races might have been the most focused I've ever felt."
The 2008 Mopar Midget National Championship features a 30-event schedule at tracks across the country. The series visits 10 states, stopping at such famed tracks as Ohio's Eldora Speedway, Iowa's Knoxville Raceway, O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis and the Belleville High Banks in Kansas. The 2008 Mopar Midget National Champion will be crowned at the season-ending "Turkey Night" event in November at Southern California's Irwindale Speedway. For more info on the USAC Mopar Midget National Championship, visit usacracing.com.