7/28/2025
Eric Blumer
Blumer has Solid Weekend at Beaver Dam with Badger Midgets and Legends 10K
Until this weekend, it had been a frustrating year in the midget for Eric Blumer. It’s his third season of campaigning his own car in the AFS Badger Midget Series. The first six starts in 2025 resulted in four nights ending with DNF’s due to mechanical issues including the throttle cable snapping on two of those occasions.
On the positive side, he’d been pretty solid in the Legends Direct INEX Legend house car opening the season with a win in Vinton, IA and standing on the podium three other times in seven starts.
This weekend would be an arduous one with his employer Legends Direct, sponsoring two-day weekend of Legend racing with a purse of over $17,000. The Badger Midgets were also on the card for the race hosted by Beaver Dam Raceway in what many believe will be their final year of operation. So, along with double duty behind the wheel, he had work obligations in the days before and during the weekend, beyond the normal workload, with some 60 Legends in town.
NIGHT-ONE BLUMER LEADS THE PITS IN LAPS RUN
With hot and humid conditions, it was a badge of honor but not how Blumer would have preferred it, as he raced more laps than anyone else to start the weekend. On Friday he had to race his way into both A-Mains via the B-Features. He was one of only two drivers doing double duty. Parker Jones made the A through the heats in both classes, avoiding the B’s. So, at the end of the night Blumer ran a total of 85 laps, not including hot laps/qualifying, on Beaver Dam’s high banks.
To make it more hectic his Legend/midget races at the end of the night were back to back. He went right from the Legend B to the Badger A to the Legend A, all three races right in a row without a break. Was it mentioned that it was hot and humid?
HOW HE GOT THERE
He just missed the transfer spot from his Legend heat where he finished third. Only the top-two got to go right to the A. In the B he did finish second and would start deep in the A for the Legends.
The Badger heat saw a disappointing sixth-place run. Again, he was runner-up in the B.
In the Lyco Manufacturing Badger A-Main he gained three spots finishing 15th.
For the “Prelude to the 10K” Legend A he started 20th and ended up with a solid 9th versus a very stout field.
Along with rolling both cars back in the trailer, it was just a really positive night for the folks responsible for putting the show on. The Legends had some 60 cars and eight heats. Then they had six last chance races before their A, on top of the Badger program. The track was great all night and the races were over before 10 p.m. The next night would be different in that respect.
BEAVER DAM A GOOD NIGHT-TWO
Some strong showers just south and maybe a couple north had people on edge leading up to night-two at BDR. As someone suggested, the cornfields surrounding the track made a force field and the grounds stayed dry.
In qualifying for both classes Blumer was a solid 7th of 20 in the midget and 2nd of 60 in the Legend. In Badger he took the last transfer spot with a 5th in the heat. He won his Legends heat. No B’s tonight for him.
For both A-Mains he started on the pole thanks to the draws and inverts.
In the Legend he ended up a disappointing 7th amid a very strong field. While this race was billed as a 10K to win, the other two podium checks were enough to make any Legend driver drool. Second spot received $5,000 with third taking home $2,500. That last check is pretty well unheard of in Legend ranks anywhere, much less the total purse.
In the Badger A Blumer took off from the pole and was nipped at the line by Derek Doerr for the lead. He fought back and took to the point for the next several laps, the first A-Main he’s led this year.
He was smooth and fast on the bottom. The track was different this night as winged sprint cars were an addition to the card. Beaver Dam did a great job on the racing surface and while Blumer was strong on the bottom, others were still good on the topside. In the end he finished 5th and got/had to go to tech. The bad part of this was Justin and Kaden would have to tend to that car and missed most of the Legend race.
It was a scramble to get out of the midget and into the Legend (Logan helped with that) but despite how late it was getting with the extra class, the facility was patient and understanding.
For Blumer’s part the Legend race was pretty anti-climatic and he ended up 7th. His teammate Michael Weber ran fourth but with a DQ in tech for the third-place car, Weber was awarded the spot after he passed tech. Michael's dad, John Weber, was the Car Chief for at least four Legends Direct cars, making sure things were tight, the cars were fueled and other logistics were dealt with on this fast-paced night. This allowed all three LD drivers/employees to help customers.
At the end of night-two, the lap count for Blumer was 158 not including hot laps/qualifying on the weekend.
The races were not over until 11:45 and Blumer didn’t get out of the pits until after 1 a.m. It was up and at ‘em a few hours later to get the #68 ready for the Salute to Bryan Gapinski and first-ever Dash for Dean at Angell Park Speedway. The Legends had the night off. We’ll cover the Sunday race tomorrow.
SO MANY THANKS
Thanks to all of our sponsors including but not limited to Legends Direct; Club LaMark; Matt’s Pizza of Tulsa, OK and the Dave Batterman Family; McCallum Electric; The Hill Tavern; Owen Leatherberry USN; Chances Pub; Hypersports; Storage & Handling Systems, Inc; BRS; Advanced Building Supply; Jim and Mary Schulenburg; Northern Air Systems, Inc; Fanaktive; Ryder Geist Racing; Fowler Heating & Air Conditioning, LLC; Bradley Farms; Olson Vacuum Cleaner Sales and Service, Inc.; (second cousin) Kenzie Dunn; BDG; Spankins Motorsports; Grandpa Blumer; Mom and Dad.
Thanks so much to the crew: Justin Hoium, Greg Leatherberry, Logan Stevens and Kaden Krueger!
Article and photo by Bill Blumer Jr.
Submitted By: William Blumer