Ron "Sleepy" Tripp

Inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1986, Sleepy got his nickname and his start in auto racing as a youngster in quarter-midgets. Often he would fall asleep while seated in the cockpit of his racer waiting for his next race to begin.

He took the midget racing world by storm in winning the USAC National Midget Championship in 1975 and again in 1976.
After several years on the national tour, he concentrated his efforts mainly on the Western States series, where he has placed 1st or 2nd every year but one. In 1986, the year of his induction into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame, he was 5th. At that time he had won 50 National midget features and was 5th in the all-time midget feature wins list.
He won the Western States Championship in 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991 and 1992. By the end of the 1993 season, he had scored 59 National career feature wins which places him 10th in USAC’s all-time feature win grouping. He has also won 97 Western States Midget Series features which are not included in the National points total.