Milwaukee Midget

[wisdonm]

Hi Chris. Any chance you're in Bonneville?

[fordboy628]

In keeping with the semi-historic nature of this thread, with respect to chasing Land Speed records any way, I submit the following for your perusal:

https://monochrome-watches.com/the-petrolhead-corner-renault-filante-record-2025-40-cv-des-records-nervasport-etoile-filante/?mc_cid=69fc294f2e&mc_eid=e0fa646e85

Unfortunately, doesn't seem to be "petrol powered" . . . . .  Oh well, we're way past 1984 anyway, and the future seems ready to smack us "in the face".


Happy New Year and "New Era" to all my LSR friends.


Retiredboy

[PorkPie]

Mr Retired,

as you used Midget's thread....

his FB is down....

I can't reach him via PM...meant...he didn't send a reply...

did you have an update on Chris, how he is doing...I saw him at the salt, last year...

and no activity from him in the last months on LR...

If you know something, please...and thanks

[WOODY@DDLLC]

What Herr PP said! 

[fordboy628]

Mr Retired,

as you used Midget's thread....

his FB is down....

I can't reach him via PM...meant...he didn't send a reply...

did you have an update on Chris, how he is doing...I saw him at the salt, last year...

and no activity from him in the last months on LR...

If you know something, please...and thanks

Hi Porkpie,

I speak to Chris approximately once a month.   He says his health is in good order.
He has purposedfully avoided FaceBook recently.  His reasons are his own.   I am of a similar mindset.   Mr. Zuckerberg can take his AI and  . . . . . . .  use his imagination with it.

Chris is spending much of his time on music, gigging with a least one Milwaukee based band.
And he realized a lifelong dream last year on his taxes:  Listed his job as a musician!

I do not wish to speak on his behalf with regard to main subject of this thread.   I know there are future plans to run the Midget again, but when ?? ??

And that's all I know.   I'll send a message to him to check in here.   No idea if or when he might get around to it.

Again, best wishes to all.   Just trying to kick back and not have my eighth decade "kick MY ass" . . . . .      

Retiredboy
So many beers, so little time left . . . . .
   

[PorkPie]

Mr. Retired  ....I'm retired, too, so I can say....

Thanks for the update on Chris,

when you call him, say hello from my side

by the way, his music is great, Chris gave me one of his CD's...just the right stuff for a glass water of life....

[jacksoni]

And my good wishes as well. Do hope he gets the MM to the salt some day. I love odd ball projects which this is sort of, kinda like mine.

[Milwaukee Midget]

I have been chastised for not keeping up with ya'll. My head's been elsewhere . . .

Our designated driver, Nick Martin, as you may recall, was not able to run last time we were at Bonneville. The car had numerous issues, and I'm still trying to sort out the compression issue on the #1 hole. But that hasn't stopped Nick from being involved in racing.

Last year saw Nick's son, James, motocrossing at a national level. Kate and I went down to the Loretta Lynn event in Tennesee to watch him race. It's essentially speedweek for dirt bikes. Of the 43 class invitees, six-year-old James Martin finished smack dab in the middle of the pack, running 3 events during the week. Had he not been involved in a minor crash that broke a spark plug, it's likely he'd have finihed in the top 10.

Personally, I have been playing and recording more than at any time in my life. Last year, we put out "Paw Paw Lawton and his Jigsaw Band" with about a dozen members rotating in and out, and I can say that despite being involved in better than 200 recordings, this is the very first time anything I've done was put out on vinyl. As to the name of the band, anybody who has traveled west of Kalamazoo on I-94 will likely get the tongue-in-cheek reference.

My main gig, though, has shifted to "Bruce Humphries and the Rockabilly Rebels", where I'm on bass. We just put down bed tracks for his new album last week, and we'll be piece-mealing the rest of the recording as spring continues. Here's a quick snippet from a show we did at the Milwaukee County Zoo last August -

https://youtu.be/OCtaAgm3qqI?feature=shared

Band is booked over Speedweek, and Nick and James will likely be at the Loretta again this year, which makes for a tight turn-around to Speedweek, but we blocked out WOS, so that's the plan. Memberships are paid.

Now to figure out WTF's going on with the #1 hole . . .

[Stan Back]

By the look of the audience, glad to see you back.

[Milwaukee Midget]

It's time to either shit or get off the pot.

I have come to the conclusion that the K is beyond my ability to repair. It's been ten years trying to make a destroked Rover K a viable engine for LSR, and despite gracious input from so many of you, I'm simply stumped. The deck is flat and square - as is the head - there are no cracks ANYWHERE, the valves seal when pressure checked, and while the leakage in the #2 piston has gone away, the #1 piston continues to spew back through the intake port.

11 years ago, through dumbfounding mistakes, brilliant engineering, laughable documentation and a bit of a tailwind, Fordboy, Nick and I put the Milwaukee Midget into the record books. That was the goal, and we held the I/GT record for seven years. There are no flies on that, and anybody who says there are, I welcome them to put up the time, money and sweat to show me through their own efforts where we fell short.

Since then, I've documented here on this thread the rather cool completion of Terry Mourer's 215 Buick Powered Bugeye - which was a car that, had I kept it, would likely have cost me my license - and the aforementioned adaptation and incomplete development of the 1k Rover K.

After talking with both Fordboy (officially retired) and Nick Martin, who is now helping his own son pursue a racing career in motocross - and who I got to see compete at the Loretta Lynn national event in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee last year - Today I'm making the official announcement that the Milwaukee Midget is now a retired race car.

My ambitions regarding Bonneville are now set on possibly crewing for another Midwest team, provided I can find one, and if time permits, possibly doing some volunteer work for the USFRA.

I intend to have the Midget either sold (fat chance of that) or parted out and pensioned off by Christmas. But I won't be without a project. I did pick up a spare MGB front crossmember, and there's a shop in the Chicago 'burbs that sets them up for a small block Ford. Once the Midget's garage space is cleared out, the modifications to my daily summer driver will begin.

But to ALL OF YOU who have chimed in, mocked, guided, supported, and both laughed AT and WITH us, inspired us, warned us, and in so many ways, supported us, Kate, Mark, Nick and I offer our heartfelt thanks.

And in particular, A MILLION THANKS TO JON WENNERBERG. This tome would have gone unscripted if not for your maintaining of this site. It was through Landracing.com that I have made some of the most enduring friendships I will likely ever know, and I will ALWAYS be grateful for that.

See you on the salt.

 

[PorkPie]

Chris,

it was my pleasure to frame your BAIL IN TEST...and many other moments of your racing career at the salt...

if you find not a team in your area....

I think Stainless will find you a job in the Bockscar Team....sometimes we need tall Midgets.....

...to dream is only worth, when you turn the dream finally in reality.....

[fordboy628]

midget,

Just perused by the thread this weekend.   Imagine my surprise to find 681 guests viewing this topic @ 9:18 this am!  Was also up to 4.126 MILLION views???

What the heck?

Any explanations?   Or have I gone into the Twilight Zone?

Fordboy

[Elmo Rodge]

Mark, I don't know about all that other stuff, but never mind.
Wayno

[fordboy628]

Wayno, midget, et all,

I think I know what's happening . . . .

After a BMC 1310cc Spridget dyno session @ T&T Racing Engines on Thursday, 3/26/2026, the client, a Kiwi expat living in Wisconsin, asked for the link to the midget's Build Diary.   He is a neophyte Vintage road racer who finds Weber carbs . . . .COMPLICATED.  He wanted the link to the pages on Weber carbs and their modifications.  He asked if it was OK to share the link with his MG car club buddies in NZ and OZ.

I said "Sure, it's a public page."

'cause how many of those guys could there be?  Right?

And since the Universe runs on chaos, this is why there is a LAW of unintended consequences . . . . .

Go figure.


Mea culpa,
Dynoboy

[fordboy628]

midget, et all,

I spent an hour perusing the thread a bit.   Sort of a walk down memory lane, such as it is . . . .

I had forgotten (blocked out!) how much good information is contained here for BMC A series racers.   Especially the first half of the Build Diary.

So my message to anyone who might be searching for something specific is:

While in any specific Build Diary, engage the search box in the upper RH corner of the page.
Type in your search, and related results appear.   Refine your search if needed.

Explorerboy

P.S. Sadly the link to photos of Teri Garr as Inga in "Young Franenstein" still works, but the site is deleted.   The link to Frau Blucher, however, remains.  Go figure.