(August 23, 2024) — With one race down during this two night pavement swing located 30 minutes on either side of my home in Dorr, Michigan, here are my takeaways after the 500 Sprint Car Tour and USSA Kenyon Midget program at Kalamazoo Speedway.
- Tyler Roahrig and his race team are typically locked in on any given race night. From the moment I saw them on Friday walking into the pit area at Kalamazoo Speedway they found another level of focus.
Non-Wing sprint car races are few and far between at Kalamazoo, a track where Roahrig’s family is well known and Tyler himself has achieved a lot of success at. Even with all the success at Kalamazoo, the Little 500, and other venues around the Midwest it was clear not having a sprint car win at Kalamazoo was a box Roahrig wanted to check off on his racing resume.
Friday’s non-stop feature for the 500 Sprint Car tour was a textbook performance by Roahrig, putting an exclamation point on his highly decorated career at the 3/8-mile oval just off D-Avenue in Kalamazoo.
After biding his time for the first 10 laps, Roahrig picked up the pace and before lap 20 it was clear that unless something dramatic happened it was time to start the bus and head north to Berlin on Saturday. It’s a performance like other great drivers I’ve seen throughout the years at Kalamazoo.
Thile Roahrig is very well known in the tri-state area, it’s hard to believe someone that has multiple Little 500 victories, major late model event wins, and even a UMP modified feature for good measure doesn’t get more attention nationally.
Add in the fact Roahrig is from family of racers that march to the beat of their own drum and knows not only how to drive but build fast race cars as well. I’ll never understand how the spotlight on them is not brighter.
- Winged or non-winged, Kalamazoo Speedway still puts on the best pavement sprint car racing I’ve seen on a consistent basis. While Roahrig did run off with the feature win, some of two, three, and even four wide action with drivers racing for position through slower traffic was hair raising throughout the non-stop feature event.
I don’t know if it’s because of the shape of the track, the worn out pavement that gets slick, or just the gravitational pull in the area but I can’t recall ever seeing bad open wheel race at Kalamazoo.
While Friday night’s crowd was lighter than I had hoped to see for the sprint car/Kenyon midget double header, hopefully it was enough to give this another try in 2025. Pairing up Kalamazoo and Berlin makes sense for both divisions and gives incentive for a team like Matt Seymour’s to make the trip knowing they can get two races in.
- They United States Speed Association Kenyon Midgets may have stolen the show Friday night at Kalamazoo Speedway. In their first appearance they Kenyon Midgets produced the same sort of action that got me hooked on pavement midget races when I was younger after seeing them at Kalamazoo.
Not only was the on-track action great, but the storylines were incredible as well. Point leader Ryan Huggler earned his first feature win in six years holding off multiple challengers. To put the icing on the cake, Huggler’s car was wrenched by the legendary Mel and Don Kenyon.
The appearance of the Kenyon Midgets is also a reminder of how far behind the racing ladder system in Michigan is compared to other states.
While Michigan boasts three very good ¼-midget clubs, beyond that the options kids have to race are light years behind other states. With Jackson Speedway closing there is no longer a micro sprint track, outlaw karts are just getting started and are far from stable in the area, and instead of something more like an actual race car, tracks are pushing mini-wedges that are essentially a rental go-kart with a metal body on it.
The closest thing we have in the area right now to an actual development division is the Great Lakes Lightning Sprints, but they are not paired up enough with the Great Lakes Super Sprints to give that platform more visibility.
When you look at other states that have Outlaw Karts, vibrant Micro Sprint scenes, Slingshots, and other quality youth divisions it is not a surprise when you see young up and coming drivers from Michigan looking to race in other states because there are not the high level divisions available here for them to compete in.
I hope the Kenyon Midgets can find a more shows in Michigan next season. The Kenyon Midgets have produced countless racers that are spread throughout multiple divisions of racing. Instead of being a glorified toy it’s an actual race car that puts on an entertaining program
.