Topless TQ’s Going Down on Inner Oval at Wall
History will be made when the ATQMRA hits Wall Stadium for its next sanctioned race on Saturday July 18th. For the first time in the ATQMRA’s sixty years of racing the Lightening fast TQ midgets will not be racing on the high banks of Wall Stadium. The TQ’s will be returning to their short track roots and race on the flat inner oval that is used for the Sunday Series of races that feature Go Karts and Legends cars. ATQMRA Teams tested the inner oval earlier this year and in conjunction with track management the decision was made to make the transition to the inner flat oval and do some wingless racing much like the popular indoor races Promoted by Len Sammons.
A litany of racing legends has graced the ranks of the TQ midgets on the high banks at Wall. Winners include names like the Coys and Tony Romit, Tony Bonadies and Len Duncan, Noki and Drew Fornoro, Lenny Boyd and Jack Bertling to name a few. All of the wins at Wall by those drivers came on the high banks. History will be made on July 18th when the TQ midgets run their first sanctioned race on Wall’s inner oval. One driver will have their name etched into the record books as the First to win on the inner oval.
The TQ midgets began their existence on the short tracks in their infancy by racing on indoor ovals like the Teaneck Armory and later to the historic Pinebrook Speedway. After the closing of Pinebrook in 1989 the TQ’s transitioned from a short track division to running on the larger ovals like Wall and at Oswego NY in addition to other high speed tracks. Racing on the shorter flatter oval at Wall will give the TQ midgets the opportunity to reconnect with its roots that began on the smaller flat ovals.
The decision was made to run wingless to help take down one of the barriers that keep many of the indoor teams from competing which is the additional expense of the wings that the TQ midgets have been using since they became legal for the 1987 season. Many teams have expressed an interest in racing on the inner oval at Wall and this should provide an opportunity for them to join the ranks of the ATQMRA. The remaining races at Wall will be run on the inner oval.
With the 600 Micro sprints eligible to compete and the removal of the wings the ATQMRA hopes to attract a handful of the indoor teams to dust off their indoor cars and come out and race. The flat track will test the drivers and crew chiefs skills to figure out how to get hold of the track. It should level the playing field because nobody has raced on that particular track with a TQ midget. Everyone will be starting out from scratch without a notebook of history to rely upon.
ATQMRA News and Notes: This past Wednesday the ATQMRA’s own racing Matt’s were in competition at Kutztown Speedway. Janisch and Roselli were again in competition in their SpeedSTR and 600 micro sprints. Both posted their best finishes of the season with Janisch finishing seventh and Roselli tenth. 2014 ATQMRA Rookie of the year Geoffrey Sutton will try his hand in an Xcel Modified on the pavement at Mahoning Valley Speedway on This Saturday June 6th with the hope that his TQ midget experience will pay dividends.
Sources: Blu Metz/ATQMRA PR