A resident of Oakland, California, Ken Brenneman is considered
the man most responsible for bringing the sport of midget auto
racing to the world’s racing fans.
On June 4, 1933, Brenneman and nine of his friends
staged the first professional sanctioned midget race at
Sacramento, California’s Junior College Stadium.
The homemade
creations were a varied collection of motorcycle and
automobile engines assembled into smaller versions of the
existing “Big Cars”. The Sacramento stands were filled with
over 5,000 fans who paid fifty cents each to see Dave Oliver
qualify on the 1/5-mile oval in a time of 24.2 seconds. Oliver
went on to win the feature event.
The contractual agreement with the stadium required
that Brenneman form the first midget racing sanctioning body,
the Midget Auto Racing Association (MARA), and he became its
first President.
Brenneman won his own club’s Championship in 1933 and
continued to race in both northern and southern California for
the next four years. In 1936 he sold his racer and retired
from the sport that had engulfed the country and grown way
beyond his wildest dreams.
He truly was the “Father” of midget auto racing.
