From ALL Star Midgets
May 15, 2026 – The All-Star National Pavement Midget Series is set to debut in less than two weeks and hopefully ring in a new era of pavement midget racing. The focus of the new series will be competitive racing with cost effective engines. The series will kick off May 22 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
What started as an exhibition at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in 2024, has now led to a full race series featuring four pavement tracks ranging in size from 1/5 to .686 miles in length.
David Ward, a Kankakee, Illinois car owner car owner, and Kasey Coler, the former GM of Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, discussed having an exhibition rave at the far Westside Indianapolis facility in 2024. The event would be comprised of national pavement midgets using GM Ecotec 2.4L and Ford Zetec 2.0L engines. The experiment was a hit and led to a four-race series at the track last season.
After a successful 2025 season, Ward decided the time was right to put a series together, with his own funding, involving four pavement tracks that are all within a 2-hour radius of Indianapolis, where most of the cars originate from.
“If it wasn’t for Kasey Coler none of this would be possible” explained Ward. “It was partly his vision in the beginning. We supported Kasey and IRP last year to help prove the worth of the engine rules. The engines rules are what ultimately drew the cars and took us to the next step of creating a traveling series.
“This all ties into Kasey’s core drive of restoring the ladder to Indy. A guy starts in a Kart, then progresses to Midgets, Sprint Cars, Silver Crown cars, and eventually NASCAR or IndyCar. The problem is if we’re just running IRP, it’s probably not the first step for every driver. Going to places like Anderson, Plymouth, and the Indianapolis Speedrome gives you the opportunity to get your feet wet at a place where you’re not averaging 110 MPH. That was the other factor in creating this series”.
The series will utilize true national pavement midgets, emphasizing cost control, featuring a $11,000 long block claim rule.
So far the schedule includes eight events at Anderson, Plymouth, IRP, and the Indianapolis Speedrome. The crown jewel on the schedule will be the May 22 event at IRP as part of the annual Carb Night Classic.
Ward has hired an all-star crew to manage and operate the new series. Greg Wilke will be the Series Director, Jonathan Byrd II will be the Race Director, Gale Nungesser will be the Pit Steward, Mike Fedorcak will be the Technical Lead, and Alfred Galedridge will be the Technical Director.
Wilke may be the most interesting of the staff. He comes from a family lineage involved deep in open wheel racing, and most recently midget racing. The family owns 6 USAC National Entrant Championships and over 200 wins.
“I’ve known David (Ward) for quite a while. I stopped campaigning race cars probably ten years ago now. I’ve done it my whole life and after a while, it gets to be a lot of work” laughs Wilke. “I’m not a participant anymore. The last couple of years I’ve been going to some of David’s All-Star races at IRP. Between him and Kasey Coler, who is now the CEO at USAC, they come up with a great formula to keep engine costs down. As a result of their motor program, the amount of participation they had grew quickly.
“At the last race of the season last year, when it came up that the position would be available, I jokingly commented “What’s it pay” remembers Wilke. “I don’t have any background in this area. He convinced me, and I convinced myself I would be good in this role. David contacted me a little bit later and told me I’d be a great candidate for a Series Director position, which I had no idea what that was. I liked what they were doing. He talked me into taking the position. I’m looking forward to this opportunity.”.
Interest is quickly building for the new series. Several drivers with impressive credentials have already indicated that they will compete in select events this season including Kody Swanson, Sammy Swindell, Bobby Santos III, Jake Trainor, Ryan Newman, and Christopher Bell among others.
Can the new era of pavement midget racing flourish under the cost-effective engine rules that the All-Star National Pavement Midget Series is employing? It remains to be seen, but with the crew David Ward assembled, we believe it will do just that.