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Watch the 31st Annual Speedway Motors Belleville Midget Nationals live on www.usacracing.com

Today's pre-race show will begin airing at 5pm eastern with host Rob Klepper who will be joined with USAC President Kevin Miller, last nights winner Bobby East, Davey Ray, Brad Loyet and whoever else we can find.

Live Race Coverage set to begin around 7:30pm eastern of the final night of competition here in Belleville, KS. Catch hotlaps, heat races, semi-features, and the 40 lap A Main Event all live online at www.usacracing.com. The USAC Racing forum is also up and running for your thoughts and comments as well as live Timing and Scoring.

Click on National Midgets then on the right side of the Midget home page click on Pit Pass.

Got back from Belleville at 5:30 this morning. We thought we weren't going to be able to go and then at 2:00 PM Saturday, we loaded up and made the 5 hr drive up. We got parked and walked to the grandstands and bought our tickets while the National Anthem was being sung, PERFECT TIMING!

This was our first trip to Belleville and if you've never been, you must go for the Nationals. The county fair atmosphere is such a throwback to the early days of fairground racing. The "high banks" are no joke and this track is truly deserving of being called a "bowl". The place is practically round for 1/2 a mile (5/8 around the fence!) It is so, so, so, so, so refreshing to see a community WELCOME racing instead of being embarrassed by it. Belleville knows how to treat race fans.

Brad Sweet's Mopar wasn't to be touched but he was challenged. If Kevin Swindell had been able to manage his tire wear running the bottom, he would have no doubt won. Swindell started back in 18 or 19th and moved to the front in less than 1/2 the 40 laps, then the right rear exploded and they didn't get to put the car back on the track. It's a shame because he'd already come from the back to the front in less than 20 laps, so he could have done it again. Bobby East, Brady Bacon and Cole Whitt tried to make runs at Sweet, but the longer the race stayed green, the more he stretched the lead.

Great atmosphere, $12,500 to win, wide open speed, why are there only 30 cars in the pits? Speedy Bill Smith and Speedway Motors have taken on sponsorship of the event for the next 3 years. Hopefully that will help draw more cars.

That a tri-fecta for us in attendance: the Chili Bowl, Indy 500 and now Belleville. Our goal at the beginning of the season was to make these three AND Knoxville. I don't know how that's going to work out, but don't be surprised if we aren't burning up the highway on Friday/Saturday to make the feature.

There were several years in the early '90s that I managed your quadruple header. Belleville is awesome. Haven't been in a long time but I love the atmosphere. The NCK Free Fair is really cool and the track is amazing. My favorite Belleville memory is watching Jeff Gordon lap up to second place driving Rollie Helmling's car in '90. That's still the greatest drive I've ever seen.

hopefully they dont run the same weekend as Knoxville next year. but i think i heard a fella - man i cant remember his name - but he said they just run last weekend in july and once every 4 years it falls on this weekend. i guess we'll see if that is the case next year - i'd like to see the midgets up there. but if knoxville has any sense - and i think they do - the 360 nat's will be just as good or better next year - the stands were loaded - bet they raise the purse...........

did they get a lot of passing for the midgets? i heard the 410's were nothin to brag about....

How much would could a wouldchuck chuck if a 
wouldchuck could chuck would

Belleville is in a bad spot, coming after a week of hard racing for the midgets. There were $40k engines scattered all over Nebraska, and a couple of chassis bit the big one, too, so that thinned the herd a bit. USAC's rules also keep some away, with things like elbow guard height enough to keep you from racing if they want to be silly about it, and sometimes, they do. Probably the biggest thing about B'ville, though, is it's an engine eater (think four blew this weekend, at least) and who wants to spend the money to get there and to race when you're just gonna get spanked by the big money teams with ties to MoPar and Toyota? This year was easy on tires, but even the $700 or so you'll get for starting money leaves you in a pretty deep hole. There's also the fact that that track can and will end your career, and that may be a factor for some hobby racers. Everything considered, it's remarkable that there were about 30 cars there, but racing doesn't have to make sense, does it? Good thing.

Kevin Swindell cut that tire....looked like it had been sliced, but where he was running, there was all kinds of trash that had been thrown off the track. He was LOW. No doubt he would have won IF......but that's the magic word, isn't it? Sammy had supposedly been barred from USAC for life, but I guess they were talking fruit fly life times.

I wasn't expecting much from the All Stars Thursday night, and I was pleasantly surprised. They actually ran three wide at times, with the third usually being Shaeffer or Lasoski cutting through traffic. 30 continous laps after a lap 1 yellow brought traffic into play big time, and it was exciting watching those two race through at 15 second lap times.

Belleville is still definitely worth the trip. Just don't ride the rides on the midway at the fair....saw them welding on one of the rides near the pit gates, and it just don't seem healthy. If you want to hurt yourself, do it with a fork at the Methodist ladies lunch counter on the midway. Talk about a flashback to my childhood days at the Flemington Fair! Great stuff!