RMMRA  HISTORY and  HERITAGE        

boysen loesch, sec, RMMRA

RMMRA in the 70’s:

Although there were other highly talented stars competing, drivers like Eddie Jackson, Sam Sauer, Leo Tucker, Frank Mantello, Jim Beckley, Buddy Taylor, Steve Troxell, Spyder Anderson, and future Champions Randy Roberts, Dave Strickland Jr, and Gary Staggers, plus others, the 1970’s, when this writer joined RMMRA, were largely dominated by two superstars, Dave Strickland, and Mike Greg.  The two had remarkably similar careers, gaining rides and becoming Rookies-of-the Year in USAC early, then catching on in Denver with highly respected and resourceful owners Roger Mauro and Hank Hersch, respectively, then winning multiple RMMRA Championships.

Both won on dirt and pavement, and they showed USAC the door when the national circuit visited Denver tracks like Lakeside, Englewood, Ft Morgan, and Colorado National Speedway. Both were well-liked by those competitors and by fans alike, retired as winners, and are missed still today. The rich RMMRA tradition developed by these and other racers continues; join with RMMRA in support of the sport... now in our 68^th year, and on the 75^th Anniversary of Midget Auto Racing!   shown in photos from the Joe Star collection: Dave Sr at Englewood in the Mauro Edmunds/Autocraft prepared by Jimmy LaManna and Mike at PIR in the Hersch Truckers Schleiger/Cosworth of Scott Hersch     

 Champion Car Owners Harry and Louise Conklin take Center Stage for 16th time and Bow Out! After 60 years and 27 total Denver Championships, Harry and wife Louise announced their retirement from racing. It was a bitter- sweet moment at the RMMRA Awards Banquet in Nov, 2006, when the Conklins receved a standing ovation, and in the words of their long-time friend and former Driver, Wayne Arner, "Harry just won his last Championship". From Jim LaManna to Gary Taylor, shown here with them and Champion Mechanic, Mark Matejka, Harry and Louise have furnished the best equipment for the best drivers in Midget Racing, 16 RMMRA Championship winners. 

Jim LaManna winning one of 39 RMMRA Features

-Reynolds/GT Miller photos

Dennis Hall spins at Lakeside and John Hollansworth, Eddie Jackson, Bob Hartman, and Grier Manning are elbows-up to miss him. Dennis would later be the Hall in Halarr chassis design and building with Duane and Bobby Harr. Eddie would go on to  championship stardom, Bob Hartman is a great current day supporter and sponsor of RMMRA.     

 Bob Hartman, circa 1962, getting ready at Lakeside Speedway, can be found in the pits at most RMMRA events today

 Dennis Hall at Lakeside. Dennis passed away in Sept, 2007, and will be missed by RMMRA and his many friends.

 The late great Eddie Jackson

Six times RMMRA Champion, 82 Main Event wins; the epitome of a focused racer. Midget racing was literally Eddie's life purpose.

 John Hollansworth in the Glenn Scott Kurtis/Offy.

With nine main event wins, John was one of many Colorado Springs drivers over the years, and is the father of John Hollansworth, Jr, a recent IRL competitor.

Grier Manning, 1969 Champion at Lakeside. Manning won 32 RMMRA Main Events in his career, and it might have been more if not for his devotion to wife Donna. It seems she was somewhat traumatized when he was injured in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, especially since she didn't even know he was competing, and Manning retired.  Donna died in 2006. We'll save a spot in qualifying, Grier.   

RMMRA CELEBRATES  70^th ANNIVERSARY of  FIRST MIDGET AUTO RACE

Boysen Loesch, President, RMMRA

On May 09, 1937, an historic sporting event took place at Merchants Park in Denver, the first organized Midget Auto Race in the Rocky Mountain West. Smaller than the “big cars” which were raced on major fair grounds and other facilities like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, hence the name “midgets”, they were commonly raced on neighborhood facilities like baseball diamonds and football fields everywhere. Midgets were often home-built, using Ford Model-A parts by enthusiast “gear heads” of the time, and this local flavor and accessibility combined to make Midget Racing wildly popular during the depression of the 1930’s.

After a demonstration race or two a few years earlier, that first race was organized by Tom Holden and the midget auto racing craze had come to Denver. The event was won by Buzz Bussard, who soon retired from driving but became a leading car owner, with two Championships and sixty-one Feature Wins. Subsequent events were very successful, with up to 6000 fans in attendance, and led to a full season of Midget Racing at Merchants Park on south Broadway Avenue in 1938. Continued successes led quickly to a rival track at Lakeside Amusement Park under the promotion of park owner Ben Krasner, and in 1940, to the founding of the Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association, which you see in competition today.

After the racing moratorium during WWII, Midget Racing returned to entertainment hungry America and was even more popular and successful, with many drivers earning their living racing Midgets almost nightly. The purpose built, mass produced Kurtis Kraft midget and the Offenhauser midget engine were developed in response to the lucrative, fast growing pastime, and Midget Drivers became national sports heroes. The Rocky Mountain region was a leader in this phenomenon, with race tracks like Lakeside, Pike’s Peak Speedway in Colorado Springs, Pueblo’s State Fair track, and Albuquerque’s Speedway Park. Drivers like Keith Andrews, Johnny Tolan, Albuquerque’s Unser brothers and Buddy Taylor, Johnny Mauro, Jim Malloy, Duane Carter, Ed Jackson, and others have used the Rocky Mountain Midgets as a help to get to Indy and to a professional racing career.

Midget Car popularity has ebbed and flowed over the last decades, but the formula has remained constant, with the cars you see today very similar to those first ones of seventy years ago. Weight-to-power ratio now approaches 2.3 lb per horsepower for these 70-inch cars, making them extremely serious racers, nearly on par with Indy and F1. This explains why NASCAR draws many young drivers from the Midget Car ranks (Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Ken Schraeder, Kasey Kahne, JJ Yeley, John Andretti have all raced in RMMRA sanctioned events).

RMMRA salutes the stars, cars, owners, tracks, and promoters of the past on this 70^th anniversary. Even more, we salute the millions of race fans who have supported Midget Auto Racing in that time period, including you who join us here and now for possibly the purest form of oval track motorsport. It takes hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to prepare for these races; we love it, and we truly hope that you will enjoy our program! 

Lloyd Axel, RMMRA's first Champion, and first President, 1940  -photo from the Gary Martelon collection