The Harr family has been an essential component of RMMRA for over fifty years, with  Duane Harr beginning his Midget racing career in 1959. Shown here at Lakeside in his Kurtis Chevy at about the time that son, Bobby, was born, he was also one of the original incorporating leaders of the club, served as President in 1969 as well as a Board member multiple times, and was voted a Life Member in 1987. Bobby would parallel Duane both in racing and as a professional engineer. Bob really is a “rocket scientist” currently working as an executive in the aerospace industry, was President in 1997 and in 2000, and is a superb designer and fabricator of racing chassis and components. Together, they lay claim to five Main Event Wins on dirt and pavement, and collaborate on their own Midget innovations.

                                                                                                                                Annabel is the family matriarch and historian, and possibly the most enthusiastic racer of them all, rarely missing an RMMRA event. Shown here:  Mom, proudly, with husband and son as they prepare to race at I-76, and continue the RMMRA family tradition with their Halarr/ Musser in 2009.

....boysen loesch...photos by Frank Reynolds via      GT Miller and Boysen 

  However, there’s more to Randy’s story than his amazing racing stats. This writer once had a brief conversation with Randy at a RMMRA Board meeting on the subject of safety equipment. Randy casually commented that safety equipment wasn’t too important to him, as he’d “rather be killed than survive a bad crash with serious injury”. I replied that we usually don’t get a choice in such matters. Years later, he would prove both me and himself to be wrong in that exchange. Shortly after retiring from racing, Randy and wife, Cindy, were hit head-on by a drunk driver at highway speed while returning from a race on their motorcycle. While it’s said that Randy’s skills probably saved them, Cindy and particularly Randy, did, I’m sure, have a choice as they lay near death on the pavement that night. A choice to let go, or stay and fight. They stayed. And they fought, and fought, and fought through an induced coma, multiple surgeries, and lengthy physical therapies. They stayed, and they recovered, to finish raising their family, to see Randy Jr. graduate from Harvard Law School, and they continue today to share and enjoy life.

With 86 career Midget Main Event wins, Randy is RMMRA’s greatest driver ever, but for more reasons than the best racing records ever, in a club full of great records.

    --Roberts shown above in the Poor Old Harry and Louise Conklin car on CNS pavement in 1993, and with Cindy and son Randy winning their most recent RMMRA Championship, 1999 on RMNS dirt ---by Boysen Loesch, Pres, RMMRA, with photos by Joe Starr and stats by Gary Martelon.  

March 17, 2009: the RMMRA lost one of it nicest drivers in club history with the passing of 79 year old Ray Flanagan, Ray raced from 1956 to 1979 in the Midgets, he was also a BCRA Sprint Car driver. He was known to most as a man that never had an enemy, and loved his Midget racing. After Ray retired from racing he was still at the races every week. Ray and his lovely Wife, Virginia (Ginger), were two of the biggest supporters of the Midgets. Ray’s   career lasted 25 years with Ray driving for Marty Weiland, Howard Pettit, Bill LoSasso, Curt Stockwell, Willie Hardman, and Harold Gardner. He is survived by his wife and four lovely daughters.

-Gary Martelon RMMRA Historian,  and Ray’s biggest fan.

Chuck Mauro, longtime RMMRA car owner, was the last of the Mauros (eleven brothers and sisters) of Denver, and larger, motorsports renown. Roger was a multiple RMMRA car Owner Champion and President, and Johnny was a Indy 500 competitor and pro sports road racer. Chuck won the 1963 BCRA Sprint Car Championship with Ed Jackson, won 2 RMMRA features as Owner, plus USAC and other events with luminary drivers including Larry Rice, Larry Patton, Kevin Olson, Robby Flock, Dave Stickland Jr and Dave Strickland Sr, Jackson, and Jim Beckley.  Chuck was 91 at his passing in Dec, 2008, and still actively restoring his and other vintage race cars, including a favorite which he called "Esmeralda".  

Foster Campbell, Four Times RMMRA Champion, won his Driving Championships in 1956 through 1959. He was also Champion Mechanic a total of 10 times, and perhaps is best known for his expertise on tuning, and later restoring, Offenhauser engines. He won a total of 24 RMMRA features, plus others with AAA and CARC, and holds a well-deserved place in both the Colorado Motorsports and the Belleville High Banks Hall of Fame. Foss died suddenly in December, 2008, and is missed but well remembered as a RMMRA great.  

 Sonny Coleman, RMMRA Champion in 1950,  the era when Midget Racing was probably at its most competitive and popular level. Sonny returned to RMMRA as a car Owner in the mid 1970’s, with his son, Eddie, as driver, and fielded an innovative car with a rotary engine. It was very fast, but also very noisy, a distraction Coleman dealt with by fitting a large muffler. The muffler worked, but back pressure apparently caused it to blow off the car and over the fence at Englewood Speedway, never to be found. Sonny was so concerned that spectators could have been hurt that he soon retired the Mazda rotary effort and returned himself to his current status as a much respected Lifetime Member. Sonny remains a good friend of RMMRA, most recently making the 2008 Awards Party an entertaining success   .. photo from Martelon collection taken at Lakeside Speedway 

Jack Peachey was a Midget driver from 1957 through 1965.  He was one of the first drivers in Denver to change over from a Ford V/8-60, to the new Chevy II engine in 1962. He won his only A-Feature on June 16, 1962 at Lakeside. Jack’s two sons went on to have Midget careers, Steve as a car owner, and Rory as a RMMRA driver. Steve Peachey won the 1993 RMMRA Owner Championship with Keith Rauch as his driver. Jack died in November, 2008, and will always be remembered for his purple #1 midget, and his determination to be at his best, both on and off  the speedway. 

RMMRA Historian, Gary Martelon 

Kenny Merrill in his extremely potent AutoCraft powered Edmunds, the incomparable Randy Roberts, Mike Greg in Terry Klatt’s Beast, and ’91 Champion Jim Beckley pour the power on at an early 90’s RMMRA pavement race at CNS. The RMMRA midgets returned to a pavement and dirt combined schedule in 2005 with their dirt chassis cars, and we continue this challenging and entertaining mix ;...check the schedule, and Be There!

what a great shot; thank-you Joe Starr (303-452-6333) 

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