Midget racing? Offensive to some...kick a$$ to others.

My wife and I were out having dinner with a friend and his wife recently, and the topic arose about what types of cool collectibles had come in recently here at GoMotorBids. I responded that we had purchased a private stash of midget racing collectibles.  My friend's wife mouth dropped open, and she was complete aghast. "What!?" she exclaimed. "They make collectibles of midgets?! It's bad enough that people pay them to run around for their entertainment, but to make tiny versions of them - inexcusable!"

Photo courtesy of antiqueautoracing.com

I stopped chewing my chicken spedini for a second, gave her a confused look and responded "What the heck are you talking about?"  She said, "Well, I've heard of dwarf tossing, so I assume you're talking about dwarf racing."

At that point I had to laugh -  her intentions were good. I then proceeded to explain that the terms "midget" and "dwarf" are highly offensive, and that the type of racing I was talking about had nothing to do with the exploitation of little people. 

It does however exploit tiny little cars. Many of the top racers throughout history have piloted these micro-machines, from A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, and Rodger Ward back in the 60s, to Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, J.J. Yeley, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and many of the current "hot-shoes" of racing. And while they cut their teeth early in their careers behind the wheel of a USAC midget, they still continue to race them today for the sheer fun and excitement that midget racing provides. All you have to do is check out the entry list of the annual Chili Bowl in Tulsa, and you know that these little cars provide big time racing action.

Diecast collectibles for the midget racers are few and far between. There were a few years from the late 90s to the early 2000s where Action cranked out a dozen or so each year. And during that same time, GMP made a beautifully detailed series in both 1/43 and 1/18th scale for many of the vintage midget racers. But in the past five years or so, production of these cars has been limited to only a few releases. All the while, midget racing continues to gain popularity, and the fans and collectors are left clamoring for diecast replicas. This has caused the values of older versions, which dropped for a few years when supply was plentiful, to start the steady climb upward.

But back to the conversation that I started this blog post with - the fact that GoMotorBids recently purchased a collection of these previously released midgets. It's a decent sized collection, and they started hitting our virtual auction block this week. If you're a collector who might be missing a particular piece, then click here to see what's currently up for bid, and check out our Sprint Car section frequently in the coming weeks.

Cheers!

Russ Dickey