wolverine midget racing, wolverine midgets, WOMS

Dietsch Wins Championship, Byrne Wins Feature
At Auto City Speedway Saturday, Doug Dietsch kept his closest competitor in site all night to ensure that the 2008 WOMS championship would not slip from his grasp. Dietsch ended up a scant 10 point winner over Phil Rutledge to claim the title.

The race itself looked to be a good one with David Byrne, Dallas Melby, Tom Fedorczyk and Pat Wilda all looking very fast in practice and the heats. Wilda ended up having mechanical problems and dropped out early. The remaining three battled closely the first half of the race but Byrne and Melby eventually pulled away to make it a two car race. The lead changed hands a few times as the laps counted down but Byrne was able to hold Melby off at the end.
This was Byrne's fourth WOMS feature win this year. Fedorczyk and Byrne won the heats with Melby fast qualifer. Unofficial 2008 point results - Dietsch, Rutledge, Fedorczyk, Shroad, Byrne,
Hughes, VanderMolen, Osborn, D. Troyer, Barnett

Auto City 10/4
Looks like a beautiful day for Saturday. Looks like a very tight points race. Looks like the last chance to run your midget this year. Looks like the increased point fund money will be at stake for everyone. Looks like the last time to to get together with your fellow drivers and their families at the track this year. Looks like about $700 to win. There are a lot of good reasons to be at Auto City this Saturday and this is just a few of them.

Auto City Will Decide Tight Point Race !
This Saturday 10/4 at Auto City the 2008 WOMS championship will be decided. Doug Dietsch holds a slim 7 point lead over Phil Rutledge entering our last race of the season. Even Aaron Shroad and Tom Fedorczyk are still in the hunt as they trail by 47 and 48 points respectively. With a possible 125 points available on race day, anything could happen. The rest of the top ten currently are fifth place David Byrne followed by Haley Barnett, Kim Hughes, Dan VanderMolen, Dick Osborn and Dave Troyer. We will be paying $700 to win and $170 to start at this event. If you would like to join us for our last race of 2008 , your invited.

Auto City 10/4
WOMS members your registrations for this race must be postmarked today (Monday) to get bonus points for the championship. I do not have a schedule for this race yet but I do know racing starts at 6:30 on race day.

Marietta the Best of 33 Midgets at Berlin
From Berlin: Marne, MI-- Berlin Raceway held the third annual Open Wheel Extravaganza and a packed house of over 5,200 fans were witness to some great open wheel racing. Taking home the trophies were Mario Marietta (USAC/UMARA/WOMS), Ryan Litt (Auto Value Super Sprints) and Chris Perley (ISMA Supermodified)

The triple-sanctioned USAC/UMARA/WOMS was the first feature to hit the track for a 25-lap feature; #28 Joe Lagauri and #4 Allison McLeod were on the front row.

This class had trouble getting the race started as two cautions, the second of which turned in to red-flag conditions. The cars of #33 Pat Wilda, #19 Chris O'Connell and #5 Zach Schiff piled up in the turn 1 wall while #01 Jon Laski barrel-rolled; all drivers were OK. Once the race got a clean start, McLeod took off with the lead and started lapping cars on lap 8, but chopping in to her lead was the #85 of Mario Marietta. Caution was out again on lap 10 for the spinning cars of #21 Tom Fedorczyk and #2 Adam Kramer.

After the restart, the top three cars broke away from the pack, but their progress was halted when caution was out again on lap 14 for a wreck in turn 3 involving #21 Mark Overpeck and #11 Dan VanderMolen. Marietta had been challenging McLeod for the lead and after battling on restarts, Marietta got around McLeod on lap 19. Marietta went on to win and the rest of the top ten were McLeod, #51 Dallas Melby, #26 Alfred Galdridge, #77 Brian Olson, #28 Joe Lagauri, #11 David Gough, #5 Zach Schiff, #36 Jim Anderson and #54 Danielle Dickson. from mudclodbobbob of TJ Slideway

Auto City Confirmed for October 4
Our Auto City date has been confirmed for October 4th. Remember if you will need tires for this race to call Gary Barnett before going to Berlin. Gary will not be at Auto City so you must call and reserve your tires now. Your order will be delivered to Berlin where you must pay and take delivery on them . Gary's Cell 269-209-0680

WOMS 2008 Banquet 11/22
The Wolverine Outlaw Midget Series will celebrate it's 2008 season and crown it's champion on 11/22 at Schuler's Restaurant in Marshall, Michigan. Tentative time will be from 4pm to 8pm. More information to follow.

Byrne Wins Third WOMS Feature
David Byrne won his third Wolverine Outlaw Midget Series feature presented by Arvron Inc. on Friday night at Spartan Speedway. It didn't come easy. Byrne had to track down a determined Tom Fedorczyk to get the win. Fedorczyk held Byrne off for most of the race but while getting through lapped traffic he was able to squeeze by to secure his third feature win. Bynre was followed by Fedorczyk, Doug Dietsch, Haley Barnett and Phil Rutledge. Rounding out the top ten were Chad Atkinson, Dick Osborn, Dave Troyer, Kim Hughes and Dave Fuhrman.

The Van's Pattern fast qualifier was Dallas Melby with a time of 12.857 seconds. Fedorczyk won the Corrigan Oil first heat and Rutledge won the Mercantile Bank second heat. Chad Atkinson was the Race Depot hard charger.

The Wolverine Outlaw Midget Series will host the next two events at two of the largest tracks we will run this year. Auto City and Berlin are both very big, fast 7/16 mile tracks. Our 9/20 event at Auto City will be our first visit in two years and we looking forward to visiting once again. We are hoping to attract some USAC and UMARA midgets along with our WOMS cars.

The big end of year Berlin open wheel special on 9/27 will be a tri-sanctioned event with USAC, UMARA and WOMS. The Wolverine Outlaw Midget Series presented by Arvron Inc. will be the host sanctioning body for this event. We expect a large turn out of cars and the track has agreed to a starting field of up to 28 cars if necessary.This is a showcase event for open wheel racing with cars from Michigan,Indiana, Ohio and Illinois attending. Also on the all open wheel program will be the AutoValue Super Sprints and the ISMA super modified.

Kramer Wins at Springport 8/16

Adam Kramer methodically moved up from his 8th place starting position to take the lead by lap number 10 and was never seriously challenged again last night at Springport Motor Speedway. This was Kramer's first WOMS feature win this season. Kramer, known as a clean racer, showed a lot of patience as he moved through the field. Behind him there were tight side by side races all over the track. Especially noteworthy was a strong performance by rookie Kim Hughes who finished second. Following Kramer and Hughes were Dave Troyer, Aaron Shroad and Haley Barnett. With two of the top five positions going to women, Hughes and Barnett signaled they will be serious challengers the rest of the way. Rounding out the top ten were Phil Rutledge, Chris O"Connell, Doug Dietsch, Chad Atkinson and Jack Troyer. WOMS will be in action next at Spartan Speedway on 8/29.

WOMS New Feature Winner at Springport?
The Wolverine Outlaw Midget Series is expected to see a new first time winner this Saturday at Springport Motor Speedway. With all the previous 2008 winners honoring prior commitments this Saturday, it means a new first time feature winner will take home the number one prize. I think it would be difficult to eliminate any of our regular drivers from contention for this win. It should be very interesting. Gates open at 2pm, hot laps at 3:45pm, qualifying at 5:30pm and racing is at 7pm. See you there.

WOMS at Springport on 8/16
The Wolverine Outlaw Midget Series will visit Springport Motor Speedway this Saturday for their only appearance of 2008. We look forward to the challenge this 3/8th mile banked oval has to offer. Springport is a great midget venue and has delivered some great racing over the last couple of years. Please remember to have your registrations postmarked no later than Monday to receive bonus points.

WOMS/UMARA Kalamazoo, Schiff Wins
It was a beautiful night for racing at Kalamazoo Speedway last night. A stellar field of 21 midgets from WOMS and UMARA put on a spectacular show. The night started with Zach Schiff taking the Van's Pattern top qualifier award with a blistering lap of 12.852 seconds. The Corrigan Oil 1st heat race was next and it was a barn burner. Steve Thinnes took the lead at midpoint of the race and held it until Zach Shiff came from the last starting position and nipped Thinnes at the line by .015 seconds.
Tom Devette Photograaphy

Wow what a race! That would be hard to duplicate. In the following Mercantile Bank 2nd heat it basically happened again. Pat Wilda took the lead and held it while Jimmy Anderson moved up through traffic and pulled along side Wilda on the last corner of the last lap.It was a drag race to the flag with Anderson squeezing out a .018 win over Wilda.
The Arvron Inc. feature began with an invert of the top eight qualifiers. On this day Shiff had the field covered and earned a hard fought victory over Anderson ,Byrne, Clouser and Thinnes. Shiff consistently ran laps in the feature below his qualifying time. He was really hooked up. The race only had one caution and featured alot of great passing. This was a great night of midget racing. This WOMS/UMARA show really highlighted why midget racing is such an exciting sport.

Byrne Captures 2nd WOMS Win
David Byrne and Adam Kramer put on quite a show last night at Angola Speedway. Byrne and Kramer were clearly the class of the field as they dueled through traffic before Byrne captured his second WOMS feature win followed closely by Kramer.Phil Rutledge jumped out to an early lead as he was hooked up early while Kramer and Byrne had to work their way through traffic.They eventually tracked down Rutledge and continually battled each other the rest of the way.Rutledge ended up third followed by Doug Dietsch. Chris O' Connell ran a very strong race to garner the fifth spot. The next five were Tom Fedorczyk, Aaron Shroad, Chad Atkinson,Dan Vander Molen and Jon Watson. The heat race winners were Kramer and Byrne. Kramer was fast qualifier . Aaron Shroad earned The Race Depot hard charger award. WOMS next race is July 26 at Kalamazoo Speedway.

Photo by Rick Kimball Photography Photo by Randy Ellen Photography

On what turned out to be a beautiful night for racing, close to 5000 fans turned out and saw Dallas Melby record his first feature win of the Wolverine Outlaw Midget Series season. He was followed closely to the checkered by Adam Kramer. Rounding out the top five were strong performances by Phil Rutledge, Doug Dietsch and Dick Osborn. The second five were Tom Fedorczyk, Aaron Shroad, Haley Barnett, Jack Troyer and Dan Vander Molen. Doug Dietsch was fast qualifier. Melby and Kramer each won a heat race. WOMS will visit Angola Speedway next on July 5th as part of an open wheel special.

Brian Olson Wins Grundy 5/31
Brain Olson added another victory to his list Saturday, winning the UMARA opener at Grundy followed by Zach Shiff and Jim Anderson. WOMS competitors David Byrne was fourth and Pat Wilda fifth. Dave Troyer and Aaron Shroad finished 10th and 11th respectively. Doug Dietsch and Dan Vander Molen experienced mechanical problems.

Brian Olson Wins National Race at Rockford
Brian Olson who last week was second at our race at Kalamazoo, won the National USAC Midget race today at Rockford Illinois. He led all 50 laps beating Bobby East for his first National Midget victory. Congratulations Brian.

Byrne Takes First WOMS Win
On a better then expected night for racing, 18 midgets showed

up to do battle at Kalamazoo Speedway last night. When the smoke cleared new WOMS member David Byrne had secured his first ever WOMS feature win. It was not easy, as he had some very tough competition before hitting the winner's circle. The night started out with Brian Olson setting fast time with a lap of 12.950 at the 3/8th mile oval. As the weather threatened rain, the heat races were canceled and only the feature was run. In the main event the competition looked to be very competitive. Besides Olson, also qualifying well were, Byrne,Pat Wilda, Dan VanderMolen, Tom Fedorczyk, Kim Hughes and two midget drivers from the state of Washington, Evan Margeson and Mark Atkinson.

The feature was run caution free. At the flag, Byrne had won a hard fought victory. He was followed by Brian Olson, Evan Margeson, Tom Fedorczyk, Doug Dietsch, Matt Maners,Haley Barnett, Phil Rutledge, Kim Hughes and Aaron Shroad.

Other noteworthy happenings were a scary crash in practice as Jon Watson's throttle appeared to stick as he hit the water filled barrels on the second turn exit. The barrels really did their job as they absorbed the force of the impact. Great job Kalamazoo. During the parade lap before the feature Bobby Jackson's car caught on fire but was also extinguished quickly by the Kalamazoo safety personnel. Ultimately no one was hurt in either case.

The Wolverine Outlaw Midget Series, presented by Arvron Inc., is poised to begin it's 5th year of operation on May 10th at Kalamazoo Speedway. This looks to be a very competitive season as there is no clear cut favorite for the 2008 championship. Besides the returning veterans of last season , it is expected there may be several regional USAC midget teams also challenging for a WOMS season championship this year.

WOMS is committed to running a ten race schedule each year concentrating on the quality of the races instead of the quantity. Our racing schedule includes Berlin, Kalamazoo, Spartan, Springport, Auto City and Angola. We will also participate in several co-sanction races with USAC and UMARA but the schedule is still tentative. We have one more race yet to add to our regular schedule.

Having secured a title sponsorship from Arvron Inc. has allowed WOMS to offer an improved purse for 2008. Our first two races this season at Kalamazoo and Berlin will pay $700 to win and $150 to start. This looks to be an exciting season with a wide open field. Please keep us in mind as you put together your midget schedule this season. Race with us when you can and I'm sure you will be back.

News Update !!
  - I encourage everyone to get their membership applications turned in
   for 2008 as soon as possible. Please do not wait till the last minute.
- We will have a greatly improved points fund for 2008. We will announce
   the dollar amount and the pay out before the season opener.
- We will have confirmation on testing times in the next two weeks.
- Please check all your safety equipment before testing. Check your
   belt dates.
- If you do not have one, you must purchase a raceceiver radio system.
- Actively looking for additional sponsors for our series, if you know
   someone that may be interested please contact WOMS.

WOMS Secures Title Sponsor
Arvron Inc. and the Wolverine Outlaw Midget Series are proud to announce the signing of Arvron Inc as the title sponsor for our series for 2008. We appreciate their commitment to our series and are honored to be associated with such an outstanding company. Arvron is a world class producer of laminate grade EPS in the Midwest. Founded in 1978 and located in Grand Rapids Michigan, Arvron provides services for the RV, automotive, construction and packing industries.. With the help of Arvron Inc. we look to see continued growth in our series as we strive to become one of the premiere midget series in the Midwest. This is a very exciting time for our series as we work hard to continue to grow and improve.

Gaerte Engines - Official Engine Builder
The Wolverine Outlaw Midget Series is proud to announce Gaerte Engines as it's official builder and re-builder of engines. A sterling reputation for quality work has made Gaerte Engines a household name in midget racing. We could not be prouder then to have the legendary name of Gaerte associated with our series. Gaerte Engines has agreed to give WOMS special discounted pricing on any rebuild from a WOMS member. Please contact me for further details.

2008 Rule Change
For 2008 horizontally opposed VW powered midgets will join Focus and Kenyon cars in having no minimum weight rule at WOMS hosted events. It's hopeful that this will encourage more participation by owners of these cars. Please watch this space for more announcements regarding 2008.

WOMS Adds Dirt for 2008
The Wolverine Outlaw Midget Series has announced today that they will be hosting several dirt shows in 2008. Although their primary focus will be pavement, WOMS is testing the waters regarding a possible dirt midget division for 2009. Dan VanderMolen, owner of the Wolverine Midget Series envisions possible pavement and dirt divisions in the future under the WOMS umbrella. "Our primary focus will continue to be on pavement which is the root of our series but there is a large void out there and a demand for dirt midget racing in Michigan." For 2008 WOMS will be running a full pavement schedule with a couple of dirt shows added to the mix. What, if any, points will be awarded, has not yet been determined. Depending on participation and feedback from the tracks, drivers, owners and fans a decision will be made concerning the expansion of our series into full pavement and dirt divisions at the end of 2008.