MIKE STREICHER MEMORIAL BRINGS USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGETS BACK TO LIMALAND

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Lima, Ohio (May 10, 2021)………The USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midgets return to action for the first points-paying race of the 2021 season this Friday night, May 14, at Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima, Ohio, for the Mike Streicher Memorial presented by Post Printing.

The event honors Streicher, the 1991 USAC National Midget driving champion and 2018 National Midget Hall of Fame inductee, who passed away unexpectedly in November of 2019 at the age of 62.

The USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midgets have made just four previous appearances at Limaland, all of which came back when the series was under the “Ford Focus” banner.  Winners include Jordan Noblitt (2003), Robbie Ray (2004), Ryan Smith (2005) and Chett Gehrke (2007).

Limaland’s reemergence on the series’ schedule arrives this weekend to honor the Ohioan who made his mark in several aspects of the sport and had an enormous impact on generations of individuals who have occupied the sport in the past and the present with a legacy in auto racing that will carry on well into the future.

The event also brings awareness to the scholarship fund created by the Streicher family and the University of Northwestern Ohio following his death.  More information on the scholarship fund can be found at www.unoh.edu/streichermemorial/streicher-memorial-form.pdf.

Streicher was a success in nearly all facets of midget racing.  The Findlay, Ohio native captured USAC National Midget championships on both the driver and team side as a mechanic and car builder.

In 1983, Streicher, with his father Jim, captured their first USAC National Midget owner title as mechanic for driver Rich Vogler.  In 1988, at Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway, Mike won the first of his seven (six points-paying) career USAC National Midget features.

Mike was victorious once again in 1989 in home state of Ohio at Barberton Speedway in Norton, Ohio, winding up 4th in the final standings.  He then scored three more wins in 1990 with a major victory at the Hoosier Dome Invitational in Indianapolis, Ind., at Indiana’s Lawrenceburg Speedway and Kentucky’s Florence Speedway, finishing 3rd in the series’ driver points while the team notched its second owner title.

The following season, in 1991, Streicher had his breakout year, racing to victory at Kentucky’s Richmond Raceway en route to the USAC National Midget driving title and the family’s third owner championship.  By doing so, he remains the most recent USAC National champion from the state of Ohio.

He won once more in 1992, fittingly, in the Buckeye state at Portsmouth Raceway Park.

Mike constructed the Hawk Chassis, which raced to countless Midget feature wins in USAC, NAMARS, ARCA, NEMA, ARDC, and other series.  Streicher also served as a professor at University of Northwestern Ohio’s motorsports program to educate future racers and mechanics and was instrumental in the development of the USAC .25 Midget program.

Tickets for Friday’s Mike Streicher Memorial are $12 for adults, $6 for kids aged 11-15 and children aged 10 and under are free.  Pit passes are $30 apiece.

Pits open at 4:30pm ET, grandstands open at 5pm, hot laps at 6:30pm and racing at 7:30pm.