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Badger Announces Engine Platform for 2016

McFarland, WI - The Badger Midget Auto Racing Association Car Owner's voted on Tuesday, October 13, 2015 to move forward with their plan to fully implement their new engine platform designed to bring affordability to Midget racing engines while maintaining ingenuity, creativity but most importantly performance.

The BMARA voted to disallow purpose built race engines designed specifically for Midget racing. The new engine platform is based on the use of production engines from passenger car vehicle manufacturers. Engines are required to utilize an OEM cylinder head, OEM engine block and an OEM crankshaft from manufacturers such as Chevrolet, Honda, Ford, Toyota and many others. The maximum cubic inch limit is 146.457 CID which means that most engines will be 2.3 to 2.4 liters according to manufacturer standards. These engines can be found in vehicles such as the Chevrolet Colbalt, Honda Accord, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry as well as many other vehicles found on the road today.

Chevrolet, Honda, Ford, Toyota manufacture hundreds of thousands of these engines every year making OEM components readily available for extremely low prices from your local car dealerships or salvage yards. The OEM cylinder head, OEM engine block and OEM crankshaft are not allowed to be significantly modified in order to maintain parity between manufacturers and to keep the cost of these components to a bare minimum.

Race teams or engine shops are then able to utilize aftermarket performance parts from suppliers who are already manufacturing parts for these engines, many of whom make the specialty parts for traditional Midget Car engines as well. This reduces cost due to the increased volume of parts being manufactured and the increase in suppliers.

The result of the change in the BMARA engine platform has been a 60 percent reduction in cost from the purpose built race engines, and only a 15 percent reduction in horsepower. The 2015 season saw an increase in participation from car owners, drivers, and fans bringing with it a fresh new outlook on Midget racing in Wisconsin. The 2016 season is set to see an even bigger increase in participation and competition bringing action packed Midget racing back to the levels that made fans fall in love with the sport.

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