The west coast of the USA has produced some of finest race car drivers over the years and there is fast, young speedway talent coming out of the California sunshine more than ever these days.

2005 Four Crown Midget Champion Danny Stratton is no exception. The California native moved east to Indianapolis into the hotbed of USAC midget racing and was immediately on the pace winning the King Doodlebug, Knoxville midget race.

He has been racing for Wisconsin based midget owner Hans Lein for the last two seasons and has been one of the quickest BMARA drivers at Sun Prairie and this year was the 2006 Belleville Midget Nationals runner up on both Friday and Saturday night main events.

Stratton arrived in New Zealand last summer as a last minute addition to Team USA and drove well for the whole of the International series, including an outstanding drive in the Western Springs 50 lapper which saw him beat defending 2005 50 lap winner Scott Hatton across the line to take the $10,000 winners cheque.

Stratton returns to Western Springs this summer to defend his 50 lapper title. This time he will bring his car owner Hans Lein and the Spike Chassis, Esslinger powered Lein Acres car that he has been campaigning so successfully in the USA this season.

“I had such an unreal trip out to NZ last summer and winning the 50 lapper at Western Springs is one of the highlights of my career, said Stratton, I want to put in a real effort this trip and I know the competition will be as tough as it gets but I’m ready to stand on the gas.”

Danny is the second member of the US Midget team to confirm his entry for this summer's International Midget World Series starting at Western Springs on January the 18th 2007. Dave Darland has already confirmed his entry for the series and will be hard to beat on the Auckland track he knows well.

Check out Danny's website www.dannystratton.com

Back to News