Welcome to the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame Website
This Page was last Updated: 01/19/2008 10:31 AM
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Congratulations to the new Hall of Fame Members
Tulsa Inductions Draw Large Crowd for
National Midget Hall of Fame Ceremony
Les Kimbrell age 82 passed away on Tuesday 9-11-07 in Lafayette, Indiana. He served in the Army during WWII and was in Japan when the war ended. Les graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1953 and operated Kimball's Garage in Lafayette, Indiana for 36 years until he retired. Les began his long association with motor-sports when he began scoring for the racing division of AAA in 1950. He was a Charter Member of the United States Auto Club that was formed in 1956 and scored their historical first event at Ft. Wayne, Indiana. He continued a long relationship with USAC that included scoring the Indianapolis 500 for many years until his retirement. He was also a long-time member of the Indianapolis 500 Old-timers Association. Les was one of the original officers of the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame where he served as the Director of Finance. He also served for many years as a Board of Director until recent years when his health began to fail. The Board then honored his long and valuable service by appointing him "Director Emeritus". Les is survived by his wife Kay, a son Bud and three daughters Susie, Sarah and Debra. The family has asked that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the Indianapolis 500 Old-timers, Inc. P.O. Box 24404 Speedway, Indiana 46224 or to the American Diabetes Association P.O. Box 11454 Alexandria, VA 22312. Funeral Services will be held at the Soller-Baker Funeral Home 400 Twyckenham Blvd. Lafayette, Indiana 47909 (800 292-0673) with visitation at 3 pm until 7 pm on Friday and a memorial service beginning at 7 pm.
The Hall of Fame Classic Weekend Sunday August 26th Michael Pickens wins the second night of the Hall of Fame Classic
Fifty cars, representing the best of Badger and USAC crammed the makeshift outfield pit area for the second night of racing in the Hall of Fame Classic. Brad Loyet started the night by circling the track the fastest in qualifying with a time of 14.99, almost a half a second slower than the quick time the previous night. Chris Windom started the night out by winning the last chance race. Heat victories went to Ryan Durst, Joe Wipperfurth, Bubba Altig and Mike Hess. For the second night in a row Danny Stratton found himself in the semi. This time he came away with the win by about three lengths over Levi Jones. The track was very different for night two, as the cushion was almost to the wall and there was actually a bit of dust flying by the end of the night. But if the track was slower, the action from it did not let on. Handicappers had to be concerned as picking a winner would not be easy. Last night’s winner, Jerry Coons Jr. was slated to start in the ninth position with previous Angell Park winners Michael Pickens, Danny Stratton, Brad Kuhn and Scott Hatton all ahead of him. Pickens, in the black Hans Lien car, took the early lead running the high groove as were most of the racers. Chasing him were fellow Kiwi Brad Mosen, Stratton and Doug Schenck. Coons was on the prowl as he was in sixth by lap three, running the low line. Meanwhile Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was the hard charger of the race the night before, was wallowing in twelfth spot, having started thirteenth. "They just wouldn’t let me do what I wanted," he noted of his fellow competitors. By lap ten of the 30 lapper, Pickens had a comfortable lead of about a half straightaway over Monsen. At lap 15 Pickens found the back of the field and worked the lappers easily. Two circuits later the field was bunched for a yellow and two laps after that, it was stopped for a large crash in turn three. The restart saw Pickens ahead of Mosen, Startton, Coons and Kuhn. From hear Pickens sailed to his first USAC win followed by Mosen, Coons, Kuhn and Loyet. Coons won the overall points championship for the weekend. For their efforts, Pickens and Coons were awarded special plaques by the Hall of Fame complete with the hall’s logo and a vintage midget pictured on it.
Saturday August 25th Jerry Coons Jr Wins the first night of the Hall of Fame Classic It was like days of old at Angell Park Speedway last weekend as 50 midgets graced the makeshift pit area for the Hall of Fame weekend doubleheader. The Badger/USAC co-sanctioned event drew most of the best midget pilots in the world. Dane county suffered record rainfall for the month of August with the bulk of that precipitation starting the previous weekend. That basically washed out the famed Sun Prairie Sweet Corn Festival including the races and the rain didn’t completely stop until the eve of the Hall of Fame race. In between that time, there was little sun to help dry the facility and large puddles nearing pond status were observed on the grounds. While the track, to many fans’ surprise was fairly dry, the infield was saturated and pitting would have to occur outside the track. While this offers some logistical issues and disrupts the flow of a normal race program at the speedway, staff, drivers, crew members and officials alike adapted and helped to make both nights smooth running and entertaining shows. Saturday night started with Kevin Swindell besting 49 other takers in qualifying, in his Kasey Kahne Mopar. Brad Moson won the qualifying race. The top eight from this go were tacked onto the back of a heat. Those not making the cut were done for the night. The 8 lap heats were won by Dan Mecum, Brian Ramstack, Brad Kuhn and AJ Fike. Of note, each winner started on the outside pole and lead wire to wire. In the first heat, Badger rookies Mecum and second place Tim Noble beat a field that included open wheel ace Dave Darland who was running a midget owned by Hall of Famer Steve Lewis. Brian Ramstack set the track record for an 8 lap event. The semi saw Swindell on the pole, after failing to transfer out of his heat. At the start, Matt Sherrill charged into turn one from the outside pole and bicycled, fought hard to save it, but lost in the end flipping his mount. Swindell went on to win the race. Darland on the inside with Danny Stratton (in the Terry Klatt car) on the outside, lead the field to the green for the start of the 30 lap feature. Darland got the jump on the field, while Chuck Gurney Jr. subbing for Levi Jones in one of Hall of Fame inductee Tony Stewart’s cars, snuck by Stratton for second. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., in the other Stewart car, brought out a lap two caution and was sent to the back of the pack after enjoying a starting spot of seventh. On the restart Darland took command. Running the high groove, (which for Angell Park was not all that high) he smoothly sailed around the oval. By the fourteenth circuit Darland met lapped traffic and lost the five car lead he had over fifth place starter Jerry Coons Jr. The half-way point saw Coons overtake Darland at the line. As they charged into turn one and through the entire lap the two traded slide jobs where Darland got the lead, but gave it up again at the line. He tried again for slider in turn one but it didn’t work and Coons, in the Wilke Pak car maintained the lead. The action stopped for a red flag flew due to a flip in turn four. In assessing the field, of major note was Stenhouse’s charge from the back of the pack to eighth place. The restart saw a running order of Coons, Darland, Gruney, Stratton, Mike Hess and Fike. From here Coons survived another restart and never looked back as he took the win over Darland. Stenhouse thrilled the crowd with a third place finish that included a bicycle ride in turn one where he never seemed to miss a beat as he kept his foot on the gas and maintained his position. Stratton was fourth and Gurney rounded out the top five. Both of those drivers transferred to this race from the semi. Hall of Fame member Bob Higman was on hand to present the winning trophy to Coons.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WATSON, HOUGH, MILLS & BRENN LATEST INDUCTEES INTO NATIONAL MIDGET AUTO RACING HALL OF FAME
Jack “Curley” Mills, Roscoe “Pappy” Hough, Kenny Brenn and Ed Watson will be honored as the new inductees, although the date and site of the inductions are still being finalized. These four individuals received the most votes cast by a panel of Midget racing experts from across the country who comprise the induction committee. Ten additional 2006 candidates received sufficient votes to be listed as “carry-overs” on the 2007 ballot.
Jack "Curley" Mills was one of the
true pioneers of midget auto racing. His career
was brief and started in 1934. He won the
inaugural event at the famed Gilmore Stadium and
later won four events in a row there when it was
one of the most highly competitive racing venues
in the nation. He would win many events in
Roscoe "Pappy" Hough started driving
"big cars" in the late1920's. He switched to the
midget cars in the middle 1930's racing
primarily in the
Ken Brenn Sr. remains one of the
most respected car owners in midget auto racing.
His incredible victory as the winning car owner
at Lime Rock, Connecticut on July 25, 1959 with
Indy 500 winner Rodger Ward driving, remains one
of midget auto racing’s greatest stories. With
his Offy midget they raced against and beat some
of the top cars and drivers from the Formula 1
and
One of midget auto racing's greatest
fans, promoters and workers, Ed Watson spent
five decades immersed in the sport. Born not far
from legendary
Would you like to nominate someone for the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame? View or download our Nomination form. Adobe Acrobat required to view nomination form.
2006 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony NATIONAL MIDGET HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONIES INCLUDE PRESENTATION OF RICH VOGLER’S “GOLDEN DRILLER” Five new members of the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame were formally inducted into the shrine during Sunday afternoon’s ceremonies in Sun Prairie, Wis. The proceedings also included a special presentation to the Hall by inductees Lanny Edwards and Emmett Hahn. Edwards, Hahn, Foster Campbell, Jack Fox and Ron Hoettels joined the list of inductees which now number 119 as the inductions were held in the upstairs pavilion outside turn one at Angell Park Speedway. The track hosted the annual “Hall of Fame Midget Classic” weekend, featuring Saturday night’s USAC race won by Ryan Durst and Sunday night’s Badger race won by Jerry Coons Jr. Scott Hatton won the overall “Hall of Fame” Midget title for the second straight year.
Following their inductions, Edwards
and Hahn, who traveled from Orchestrated by emcee Dick Jordan and co-emcee Bill Hill of Little Rock, Ar., the inductions followed a luncheon and display of vintage race cars, plus a productive morning Hall of Fame Board Meeting.
Hoettels, Campbell, Edwards and Hahn
were all present for their inductions, while
longtime photographer Jim Chini of
Hill conducted a special
long-distance telephone interview with Hall of
Famer and Hall of Fame President Les McBurney unveiled a brand-new Founders Plaque bearing the likenesses of John Stiles, Donald Davidson, Ed Watson and Larry Wright, whose immense contributions were responsible for laying the foundation for the Hall of Fame. Davidson, the Historian for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, accepted the honors on behalf of the four founders and explained to the audience the early organization of the Hall of Fame. - NMARHoF - Congratulations to Ron Hoettels
(Left to Right ) Dick Jordan, Bill Engelhart, Ron Hoettels, Les McBurney
Congratulations to Emmett Hahn and Lanny Edwards
(Left to Right ) Bill Hill, Bill Engelhart, Emmett Hahn, Lanny Edwards, Dick Jordan, Les Mcburney
Congratulations to Jack Fox
(Left to Right ) Dick Jordan, Bill Hill, Jim Chini (accepting for Jack Fox) Les McBurney
Congratulations to Foster Campbell
(Left to Right ) Foster's Grandson, Foster Campbell, Foster's Son, Bill Hill, Les McBurney, Dick Jordan Crocky Wright was in attendance. Wearing a shirt with a picture of Tony Stewart inducting him into the Hall of Fame.
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