Tommy Astone

1950- 2020

2018 inductee

Growing up in Fresno, California, Tommy Astone’s father, Tom Senior, was a race car owner and by the age of ten Tommy knew he wanted to be a race car driver. Astone started racing super modifieds at the age of 17 before he moved in the ranks of midget racing in 1969 with the Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA).

During his breakout 1970 BCRA season, Tommy swept a twin 50-lap program at San Jose Speedway and the 50-lap Western States midget championship race at Tahoe-Carson (T-CAR) Speedway. In August at West Capitol Raceway, while he challenged for his consecutive straight BCRA feature win, Tommy tangled with another car. His midget flipped eight times and Tommy suffered a broken collarbone and broken ribs and missed five weeks. 

In the 1970 season’s final BCRA race at Roseville Speedway, Tommy entered with a 12-point lead and only had to finish the feature to be crowned the champion. The youngster was black-flagged during the feature by BCRA officials and Gary Arnold finished in third place and won the championship over Astone by 14 points.

By December 1970, Tommy now 21 years old and able to race with the United States Auto Club (USAC) made a clean sweep at the ½-mile Irwindale Speedway, as he set fast time, won his 20-lap preliminary race and then captured the 100-mile feature. 

During the 1971 season, Tommy raced with USAC, the BCRA, and the Southern California-based USRC and URA midget clubs. In 1972, Astone made his first full-season foray with USAC, finished seventh in points and was named the rookie of the year.

Astone claimed his inaugural USAC win on June 20, 1973 at the 3/8-mile clay ‘34 Speedway’ in   Burlington Iowa. The 1973 USAC midget championship was settled on the final day of the season at a twin 50-lap program at Phoenix International Raceway, and Larry Rice emerged as the champion over Astone.

In 1974, Astone spent much of the USAC season in second place in points as he won the prestigious ‘Night Before the 500’ race at Indianapolis Raceway Park.  Tommy missed the final two races of the season due to injuries he suffered in a violent crash at Clovis Speedway but had amassed enough points to again finish second in the USAC midget championship.  

In 1976, Astone finished in third place in USAC midget points before he returned to racing on the West Coast primarily with the BCRA.  Tommy’s USAC midget career includes seven USAC national wins and five USAC Western States midget wins. Tommy Astone was inducted into the Bay Cities Racing Association Hall of Fame in 2009, he was welcomed him into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame as member of the class of 2018.

Tommy Astone Junior passed away April 14 2020 RIP

Boots Archer

Born in 1913 in Oakland California, in 1931 David J. Archer Junior, known as  "Boots" started to work for a Bay Area well drilling company. He worked in the well drilling, pump installing and repairing field for other for ten years until he decided to start his own business in San Francisco in May of 1941 named Pump Repair Service Company. As the business grew, his wife Helen joined the company and managed the office.

In 1955, Boots’ son, David “Dave” Archer III joined the family business. Over the years, Dave learned the business and eventually in 1980 took over ownership of the company when “Boots” retired.  The company is still family owned by Dave Archer and his sons Wayne and Steve.

‘Boots’ first entered the “racing game” as a mechanic and partner in a Ford touring stock car with his friend Lynn Deister in the mid 1930’s. Sadly, Deister died in a midget racing crash at Bayshore Stadium in South San Francisco on Labor Day 1947.

After World War Two, ‘Boots’ served as the Business Manager for the Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) from 1945 to 1948, when he was forced to resign due to the growing demands of his pump business. While he was the Business Manager of BCRA, “Boots” made a strong effort to unite the BCRA (Northern California) and United Racing Association (URA) of Southern California but his efforts fell short.  

Less than a year after he resigned, ‘Boots’ returned to the BCRA Business Manager’s role on an interim basis after 1945 BCRA champion Bob Barkheimer who quit his race driving career to take over as BCRA business manager, resigned to take over management of the San Jose Speedway. “Boots” managed the BCRA operation for nearly two months until Ab Allen was hired as a permanent replacement. 

‘Boots’ served throughout the 1950’s and  1960’s as the referee at BCRA racing events, including the legendary winter time Pacific Coast Indoor Auto Racing Championship midget auto racing events held indoors at the Oakland Exposition Building.  For most of those years, ‘Boots’ was assisted by Northern California auto racing legend Jerry Piper, while Mel Fernandez served as the flamboyant starter.

Boots’ racing efforts were not confined just to midget auto racing, as due to knowledge of racing rules he also served as the referee for many major west coast stock car races promoted by Bob Barkheimer, such as the 1953 National 500-lap Stock Car Race held at Oakland Speedway. 

‘Boots’ also served as the chairman of California Auto Racing Fan Club (CARF) and for many years hosted that club’s annual Indianapolis 500-mile breakfast and remote viewing party. In September 1970, ‘Boots’ served as the referee of the inaugural ‘California 500’ USAC (United States Auto Club) championship car race at Ontario Motor Speedway, working alongside stewards Richard King and J. Gordon Betz and starter Shim Malone.

Boots became a member of the BCRA Hall of Fame in 1987 and passed away at age 83 in 1996.

Hall of Fame spotlight 

Johnnny Mantz

John Robert "Johnny" Mantz was born in 1918 in Hebron Indiana but grew up in Southern California and worked on his family’s farm before he started racing motorcycles. In 1940 he switched to racing midgets with the United Midget Association as a teammate to his car owner, Gib Lilly, before he joined the military in April 1942.

With the war over,  Mantz resumed action with the United Racing Association (URA) and posted three feature wins during 1946. In 1947,  Mantz finished second in the standings on the URA ‘Blue’ circuit for Offenhauser powered machines with eleven wins and placed eleventh in the URA ‘Red’ or non-Offenhauser circuit points with nine wins. 

During early June 1947, Johnny won five races in a three-week stretch and in September he won three races over a six-day period. “Joltin’ Johnny’s” 1947 season wins came at tracks in Bakersfield, Culver City, Carpinteria, the Rose Bowl and Balboa Stadiums and the Orange Show Speedway where Mantz won four features and scored six trophy dash wins.

After 1947 Mantz raced a ‘big car’ and championship car for JC Agajanian, won two American Automobile Association (AAA) championship car races, and was crowned the 1949 AAA Pacific Coast ‘big car’ champion. 

While he retired from racing open-wheel cars in early 1950, Mantz continued to race stock cars – he ran four of the five Mexican road races and scored a best finish of second in class in 1952. On Labor Day 1950, Mantz drove a 1950 Plymouth coupe to victory in the first 500-mile ‘Strictly Stock Car” race at Darlington South Carolina and he was crowned the inaugural 1956 USAC stock car champion.

Johnny lost his left arm after a horrific winter 1962 highway accident, and he died on October 25 1972 in another highway crash near his home in Ojai California. 

Mantz was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2004, and since 2009, the NASCAR ‘Southern 500’ has awarded the Darlington race winner the “Johnny Mantz Trophy.” We are proud to have midget racing pioneer Johnny Mantz as a member of the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame.

Hall of Fame highlights
Sim Clark 

2017 Hall of Fame inductee 

Sim Clark, born in 1908, drove and won races with the American Race Drivers Club (ARDC) and the American Automobile Association (AAA) before and after World War Two until a serious accident in Pennsylvania ended his driving career. 

In 1950 Sim was the owner of the car driven by Stan Disbrow of Poughkeepsie that won the Reynolds Motors Cup, emblematic of the New York State midget championship. The team of Clark and Disbrow won four straight features in a row at Brewerton Speedway on April 30, May 7, May 14, and May 21 and then capped off the season with a win on June 11 1950.

Later that year, Clark moved west and opened a garage and service station in Santa Clara California.  On February 17 1951 Sim and driver Ed Normi were crowned the  Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) Pacific Coast Indoor Auto Racing champions after seven hectic weeks of midget racing on Tuesday and Saturday nights inside the Oakland Exposition Center. 1951 proved to be just the beginning, as Clark fielded V8-60 powered cars for Tommy Copp that captured the BCRA Indoor Championship in 1959 and 1961.

Clark was a pioneer in the racing development of the 155-cubic inch four-cylinder inline engine used in the Chevrolet Chevy II passenger car. Sim Clark Chevy II powered midget cars won four outdoor BCRA titles, first with Oakland’s Dick Atkins in 1964, and then Sim teamed with Fremont’s Bob DeJong to win the BCRA title in 1969.  In 1971 and 1972, Hall of Fame driver Hank Butcher won his first two of his four BCRA championships behind the wheel of Clark’s Chevy II-powered midget.  

As a testament to his patience and skills as a mentor, many of the drivers who drove for Clark through the years including Butcher, Chuck Booth and Billy Vukovich built Hall of Fame careers. Sim who passed away in August 1974 was inducted into the BCRA Hall of Fame in 1985 and in 2017 into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame. 

NMARHoF member spotlight 

Mitch Miller

Robert Mitchell “Mitch” Miller saw his first midget race at age 10 and it seemed inevitable that he would become a renowned midget racing promoter. Mitch’s career began in 1965 when he assumed the public relations and advertising roles for the Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association (RMMRA).  One night in Casper Wyoming he filled in for Hall of Famer Bill Hill as the announcer which soon led to Mitch becoming the announcer at Lakeside Speedway in Denver as well as for the RMMRA races.

 In 1970, Miller took the reins as President of the RMMRA an office he held until 1978. While he was the RMMA President Mitch helped to promote a “challenge race” between the RMMRA and St. Louis Auto Racing Association (SLARA) held on the famed Belleville High Banks in Belleville Kansas. In 1978, with the cooperation of North Central Kansas Free Fair Board, Miller presented the first Belleville Midget Nationals in 1978 and he promoted the Nationals through 1995.

From that first event won by RMMRA’s Eddie Jackson, the race on the Belleville High Banks quickly grew and became one of midget auto racing’s crown jewels. After seven terms as RMMRA President, Mitch Miller founded the Southwest Independent Midget Series (SWIMS) Tour in 1981 with five-year run of races throughout the Texas and Arkansas area. In 1983, Miller founded the American Independent Midget Series (AIMS) that promoted races for many years throughout the Midwest and Southwest United States.


In 1987, Miller helped Emmett Hahn and Lanny Edwards organize the first Chili Bowl Nationals midget race and served as the race’s first announcer. Mitch Miller has been honored many times for his lifetime of achievements. He was the second recipient of the Les Ward Memorial plaque which recognized his good sportsmanship in the sport of midget auto racing. 


In 1999 Miller was inducted into the Belleville High Banks Motorsports Hall of Fame and in 2010 the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame. We are proud to have Robert “Mitch” Miller as a member of the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame.  

2019 Class of National Midget

 Auto Racing Hall of Fame revealed 

The Board of Director of the the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame has released the names of the class of 2019 inductees:

Nick "Nokie" Fornoro Jr.

Chuck Stevenson

Bill Homeier

Dick Wallen

Mack McClellan 

Greg Wilke

The induction ceremony will be  held in Tulsa Okalhoma January 17 2020. 

Bob Marshman

2018 NMARHoF inductee

George Robert “Bobby” Marshman was born on September 24, 1936 in Pottstown Pennsylvania into a racing family, as the son of George Marshman who reigned as the 1949 American Automobile Association (AAA) East Coast Midget series champion and later became the promoter of Hatfield Speedway.

At age 19 Bobby started his racing career with the United Racing Club in a sprint car and was the club’s 1955 Rookie of the Year then the following season he was eighth in URC points in the Ellis Brothers Dodge.  After he finished second in URC points in 1957 though with no wins, in 1958 Bobby began his midget racing career with the American Race Drivers Club (ARDC). 

At just 23 years of age, Bobby drove for the powerful Harry Hespell 4-car team with multi-time ARDC champions Ed “Dutch” Schaffer and Len Duncan and Wayne Doerstler and wound up third in 1958 points in that very competitive series. Bobby started his record of success at the big Trenton New Jersey one-mile track as he won a 25-mile ARDC feature on August 3, 1958.  Marshman branched out into USAC (United States Auto Club) competition in the 1959 season still with the Hespell team teamed with Duncan, Al Herman, and Don Allison. 

Bobby started his 1960 season with a win in a 35 lap three quarter midget race on the 1/10 track inside the Island Garden on January 3, then at the end of February he scored a stock car win inside the Teaneck New Jersey Armory. Marshman drove for Bruce Homeyer’s ‘Konstant Hot’ team in 1960 and won the 300-mile ARDC midget race held at Trenton on July 24, 1960.  Bobby led the final 109 laps and finished in 3 hours 8 minutes, yet he finished only 25 seconds ahead of Chuck Arnold.

At the 1961 Indianapolis ‘500,’ Marshman was the youngest driver in the field as he started last in Eph Hoover’s ‘Hoover Motor Express Special.’ With just five days of practice, he finished the race in seventh place and shared the Rookie of the Year award with Parnelli Jones.

Bobby’s career record includes eight ARDC feature wins and four USAC feature wins, and he excelled in long-distance midget races, particularly, as he won the 250-mile USAC/ARDC at Trenton on July 2, 1961.  Due to the sweltering heat Bob gave way to relief driver Jimmie Davis after 186 laps but the pair still finished at an average speed of over 93 miles per hour (MPH). 

Marshman’s midget schedule slowed down in 1962 onward as he became a regular on the USAC championship car circuit – in 1962 he was the third fastest qualifier at Indianapolis and finished fifth in championship points. On September 16, 1962 Marshman won the USAC sanctioned 100-mile midget in a record time of one hour and 1.48 seconds. 

As Bob’s fame began to spread he got more opportunities to display his skills – he won the shortened 1962 Bobby Ball Memorial race for dirt championship cars at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in Lindsay Hopkins’ Kuzma Offenhauser,  a victory in USAC Sprint Car competition 1963 at the Terre Haute Action Track for Wally Meskowski,  and in 1964 driving Don White’s Zecol-Lubaid Ford stock car, Bobby won the   Allen Crowe Memorial raceat the Illinois state fairgrounds without a pit stop.

In 1964, his tenth season of racing Bobby qualified second at the Indianapolis ‘500’ and led 33 laps, but sadly one of racing’s brightest stars passed away on December 5. 1964, just a week after a fiery crash during a tire test at the Phoenix International Raceway at just 28 years old.