By Bob Gates Speed Sport News
USAC's new Point 25 program was featured in this week's National Speed Sport News.
 
When Kevin Miller took the reins at USAC less than a year ago, he
stated that change would occur with a new focus and a new approach.
Not straying from that concept, on Sept. 19 a somewhat surprising
announcement was made.
 
USAC will be sanctioning quarter-midget racing in 2009. While perhaps
not a racing-world shaking proclamation, it was somewhat unique. It
would be akin to the World of Outlaws announcing that it's adding
go-karts to its sanctioning efforts or NASCAR adding Thunder Cars to
develop talent.
 
It's an established fact that quarter-midget racing is an excellent
way for children to acquire racing skills. Accomplished drivers such
as Pancho Carter, Johnny Parsons, Jr., Jeff Gordon, Robbie Stanley,
Ryan Newman, and Bobby and Terry Labonte to name only a few, got their
start in the diminutive open-wheel cars.
 
USAC, however, is the first major sanctioning body to officially
recognize this potential and to make them an integral part of its
organization. This decision emphasizes how the USAC leadership has
made a determined commitment to tap into and grow its fan base with
the youth movement that is currently permeating all of auto racing.
Never in the history of the sport have there been so many young people
involved in the upper echelons of racing. USAC, NASCAR, Indy Car ̢