Time again for the superbowl of midget racing. Qualifying races start Tuesday Jan 12 and run through Friday, all in preparation
for Saturday's big show. Since I'm not a regular follower of midget racing, and since I can't cover all 266 racers, each year I
pick some random criteria for who to report on. Last year I covered all the variations of the number 7. This year's rules are:
Drivers from Bakersfield Ca - I recently spent some time in a Bakersfield Orange grove and enjoyed myself thoroughly.
Drivers from Rockford IL - One of my favorite comedians lives there.
Drivers with funny/interesting names
I chose 5 drivers from each qualifying night. Last year there were few 7's still in the running on Saturday.
This years picks:
Tuesday
N0#
Name
Hometown
Reason
4
Bobby East
Brownsburg, IN
Condensed name = BEast (cool)
Heat #6: 5th Place (Jumps straight to A Qualifier)
A Qualifier #4: Winner! (Qualifies for A Main)
A Main: 4th Place (Qualifies for Saturday B Main)
SAT: B Main #2: 6th Place (Transfers to A Main)
SAT: A Main: 17th Place
7s
Shannon McQueen
Bakersfield, CA
Hometown
Heat #6: 4th Place (Jumps straight to A Qualifier)
A Qualifier #3: 8th Place (Transfers to B Main)
B Main #2: 8th Place (Qualifies for Saturday F Main)
SAT: F Main #2: 7th Place
9d
Sean-Mikael Dodenhoff
Bakersfield, CA
Hometown
Heat #8: 6th Place (Transfers to C Main)
C Main #1: 3rd Place (Transfers to B Main)
B Main #1: 14th Place (Qualifies for Saturday H Main)
SAT: H Main #1: 3rd Place (Transfers to G Main)
SAT: G Main #1: 7th Place
82
Eric Johnson
Rockford, IL
Howmetown
Heat #5: 6th Place (Transfers to C Main)
C Main #1: 10th Place (Qualifies for Saturday J Main)
SAT: J Main #1: 7th Place
99
Brady Bacon
Broken Arrow, OK
Bacon! Gimme Bacon!
Heat #1: 5th Place (Jumps straight to A Qualifier)
A Qualifier #2: 4th Place (Qualifies for A Main)
A Main: 7th Place (Qualifies for Saturday B Main)
SAT: B Main #2: 8th Place
Wednesday
N0#
Name
Hometown
Reason
2
Davey Ray
Rockford, IL
Hometown
Heat #7: Winner (Jumps straight to A Qualifier)
A Qualifier #3: 5th Place (Transfers to B Main)
B Main #1: 2nd Place (Transfers to A Main)
A Main: 24th Place (Qualifies for Saturday D Main)
SAT: D Main #2: 16th Place
2a
J.C. Bland
Springfield, IL
Too many jokes to pass up
Heat #7: 4th Place (Jumps straight to A Qualifier)
A Qualifier #3: 4th Place (Transfers to B Main)
B Main #2: 15th Place (Qualifies for Saturday H Main)
SAT: H Main #1: 7th Place
9e
Tyler Edwards
Bakersfield, CA
Hometown
Heat #6: 2nd Place (Jumps straight to A Qualifier)
A Qualifier #1: 4th Place (Transfers to A Main)
A Main: 23rd Place (Qualifies for Saturday D Main)
SAT: D Main #1: 10th Place
60s
Wink Schweitzer
Bakersfield, CA
Hometown
Heat #4: 2nd Place (Jumps straight to A Qualifier)
A Qualifier #3: 9th Place (Transfers to B Main)
B Main #2: 12th Place (Qualifies for Saturday G Main)
SAT: G Main #1: 11th Place
71xx
Kellen Love
Lincoln, NE
Ya gotta love it
DNS
Thursday
N0#
Name
Hometown
Reason
4
Cap Henry
Bellevue, OH
My favorite kind of hat
Heat #7: 6th Place (Transfers to C Main)
C Main #7: 7th Place (Qualifies for Saturday I Main)
SAT: I Main #2: 9th Place
5k
Jimmy Light
Indianapolis, IN
An unfair weight advantage?
Heat #2: 4th Place (Transfers to C Main)
C Main #1: 4th Place (Transfers to B Main)
B Main #1: 3rd Place (Transfers to A Main)
A Main: 12th Place (Qualifies for Saturday C Main)
SAT: C Main #2: 12th Place
7e
Caleb Armstrong
New Castle, IN
An Amish racer?
Heat #3: 4th Place (Jumps straight to A Qualifier)
A Qualifier #4: 6th Place (Transfers to B Main)
B Main #2: 3rd Place (Transfers to A Main)
A Main: DNS (Qualifies for Saturday D Main)
SAT: D Main #1: 11th
12
Nathan High
Goodyear, AZ
I went to school there
Heat #8: 7th Place (Transfers to C Main)
C Main #2: 2nd Place (Transfers to B Main)
B Main #2: 11th Place (Qualifies for Saturday G Main)
SAT: G Main #2: 6th Place
23T
Tanner Swanson
Kingsburg, CA
My favorite frozen dinner
Heat #1: 3rd Place (Jumps straight to A Qualifier)
A Qualifier #1: 7th Place (Transfers to B Main)
B Main #2: 7th Place (Qualifies for Saturday E Main)
SAT: E Main #2: 9th Place
Friday
N0#
Name
Hometown
Reason
2b
Levi Jones
Olney, IL
My favorite pants
Heat #7: 4th Place (Jumps straight to A Qualifier)
A Qualifier #4: Winner (Transfers to A Main)
A Main: 7th Place (Qualifies for Saturday B Main)
SAT: B Main #1: 7th Place
17w
Josh Wise
Riverside, CA
My favorite potato chips
Heat #5: 3rd Place (Jumps straight to A Qualifier)
A Qualifier #3: 5th Place (Transfers to A Main)
A Main: 18th Place (Qualifies for Saturday D Main)
SAT: D Main #2: Winner (Transfers to C Main)
SAT: C Main #2: 17th Place
30
Chad Boat
Phoenix, AZ
Chad? The man's name is chad?
Heat #7: 5th Place (Jumps straight to A Qualifier)
A Qualifier #1: 2nd Place (Transfers to A Main)
A Main: 5th Place (Qualifies for Saturday B Main)
SAT: B Main #1: 4th Place (Transfers to A Main)
SAT: A Main: 25th Place
51c
Brent Camarillo
Camarillo, CA
Was he named for the town or vice-versa?
Heat #3: 4th Place (Jumps straight to A Qualifier)
A Qualifier #1: 9th Place (Transfers to B Main)
B Main #1: 7th Place (Qualifies for Saturday E Main)
SAT: E Main #2: 5th Place
88d
Rusty Dukes
Fair Grove, MO
An aging iron boxer?
Heat #5: 5th Place (Transfers to C Main)
C Main #1: 4th Place (Transfers to B Main)
B Main #1: 16th Place (Qualifies for Saturday H Main)
SAT: H Main #1: 15th Place
Summary
Out of my twenty picks only two made it to Saturday's A main, and they finished 17th and 25th. I need to develop a better system.
