Photo by Phil Rider

Mario Clouser, who was leading the UMARA points champion ship mid-way through the year looked asthough he would easily be able to hand on to the lead and capture the Championship. After winning three UMARA features in a row, things were looking very good for the Mario Clouser Motorsports number 06. Following Mario's three victories a race at Illiana Motor Speedway would end up being the turning point for Clousers point championship hopes.

Starting on the front row, next to Jimmy Anderson, Mario took the lead coming out of turn two. After leading the first five laps of the feature Clousers Motor broke a valve spring just as the caution flag came out. Mario now knew the best he could do was hold on in attempt to salvage as many points as possible. When the green flag flew again, it wasn't long before Clouser was challenged for the lead, with only three cylinder firing Mario was easily over taken and running in second, a lap later third places Kyle Hamilton made a late decision to pass and spun Mario in the process. Clouser hit the wall extremely hard on the left side. By the end of the incident a enormous amount of damage had been done to the car, and he received lasts place points.

Mario Clouser Motorsports worked day and night to get the car ready for the following Saturdays event at Grundy County Speedway. The team did an amazing job and was able to get to the track on time after having an extensive amount of work to accomplish in a very short amount of time. After the first set of practice it was apparent to Mario that something still wasn't quite right with the car, the team quickly went to work, trying to diagnose the problem, checking everything from the wheels to the square of the rear end they were unable to come up with where the vibration was coming from. Mario then went out for final practice and qualifying only to continue trying to find something wrong. Clouser was forced to drop out of the feature on the very first lap due to a broken rear brake caliper. It was later found that vibrations from a bent lower shaft in the rear end had caused the rear brakes mounting bolts to fail.

Clousers lead had now dwindled down dramatically from what it had been just two races before the following weekend would result in a respectable fourth place finish directly behind the second place point’s contender. The point lead by the final race of the season was down to 32 points, Clouser would have to win his heat race as well as run directly behind second in points at the least. Starting 8th in the feature directly next to his points competitor Mario immediately fell in behind him and started following him through the pack. Then on lap 13 running in 6th place a accident in the front of the field caused the pack to bunch up, barely bumping into the car in front of him, Mario's radiator was punctured and coolant began to leak form the car, two laps later the caution flew and Clouser was forced to retire from the race due to the coolant loss.

The team’s championship dream was gone, they had done the best they could to overcome the problems they were presented with but at the end of the day things just didn’t fall their way. If they could have finished just one more race they would have been able to clinch the championship. Clouser finished second in the UMARA Points Championship but Mario Clouser Motorsports was able to clinch the Car Owner Points Championship Thanks to the hard work of the team and making sure that no matter what the car was able to make it back to the track.

When asked about how he felt Mario said, "Ya know, coming here this weekend I knew we had our work cut out for us. With the point gap so small it was not going to be easy to get this done. It’s just a real bummer to lose it over a silly mechanical issue; it always feels worse when it’s something you have no control over. This year really showed me what our team is capable of though, we had to overcome some big hurdles to even make it this point and it’s really nice to know you have some people behind you that will be there no matter what. I also want to thank all my sponsors that helped us out his year, for without them we would not even be here. The Illinois Corn Marketing board, RTS Farms, Brandts Consolidated, Rockies and Stanton Mopar."

Mario Clouser Motorsports has a hand-full of USAC shows to run before their season will come to a close for this year. We will keep you updated on how they do at those events as well as what is planned for next year.

After struggling all season long to finally get this years new car figured out Mario has been able to win the last three events held at Grundy County Speedway.  "We have been struggling for so long it seems this

Photo by Phil Rider

year, and after last years great success it feels good to have finally gotten things back to where we left off.  I only hope that we can continue this success for the remainder of the season.", Mario said after picking up the third victory last Saturday.

Mario Clouser (06) dives under Aaron Andruskevitch (5) on his way to winning the Lockard Memorial Saturday night. (Phil Rider Photo)

UMARA National Midget Rookie driver Mario Clouser not only won his 4th feature race this season, he takes home the honor of winning the 28th annual Bob Lockhard Memorial Race presented by D’Arcy Motors, Bell Racing, Ty Inc., Budweiser and Ken Woody Sports.  This prestigious race capped off an exciting day at the Grundy County Speedway.

Mario Clouser joined an elite group when he won the 28th Bob Lockard Memorial Saturday night. (Phil Rider Photo)

Clouser, of Auburn Illinois started outside row three and worked his way through the field to take the lead on lap 16.  Jimmy Anderson led the field at the start of this 30-lap feature followed by Channahon native Billy Hulbert, Aaron Andruskeuvitch, Clouser and Zack Schiff rounding out the top five drivers.  This event was not without incident though as the red flag was brought out on lap 5 when Billy Hulbert lost his brakes slamming hard into the turn two wall and flipping over the top of Reed Ceponis.  Hulbert was taken to Morris hospital where he was checked and released the same evening in good condition.  On the restart it was still Jimmy Anderson in the lead with Clouser close behind. Anderson and Clouser battled nose to tail for 10 more laps when finally Clouser got by Anderson and took the lead.  Clouser, driving his E-85 Ethanol, Illinois Corn Marketing Board, Beast/Mopar, sponsored midget car never looked back after that as he dominated the last half of the race.  Following Clouser and Anderson to the line were Zach Schiff, David Byrne and Aaron Andruskevitch.  Heat race winners were Patrick Wilda and Jimmy Anderson, while Clouser was fast qualifier.

Mario's first National Midget win of the 2008 Season

Mario Clouser was able to put together an amazing night at Grundy County Speedway in Morris, IL on Saturday. Mario won his first ever National Midget Feature after beating out Jimmy Anderson, Bryan Olson, David Byrne and others.  The night was stress free though, while running in the heat race passing for the lead Mario was run down the track and made contact with a tire that was lying off the inside of the track.  Some damage was done on the car but the crew was able to get it ready to go to for the feature.

Starting on the outside of the front row Mario wasted no time in getting to the front and lead every lap of the 30 lap feature.  "After all the mechanical problems we have had this year it feels really good to finally run up front.  I feel like we would have been here a lot sooner in the year had we not had as many problems but that is part of racing and that's what makes it feel so good to get a win", said, Mario.

It was two wide into turn one with Mario Clouser in his E-85 Ethanol, Illinois Corn Marketing Board, RTS Farms Beast/Mopar sponsored car and Tom Schnabel in the Kendall County Concrete car, battling for the number one spot with Byrne behind them. Clouser took the lead and at the completion of lap one, it was Clouser followed by Schnabel and Byrne with current points leader Jimmy Anderson and Zach Schiff rounding out the top five spots.  Byrne wasted no time moving into second getting by Schnabel and Anderson by lap four.

After a frustrating practice and heat race due to mechanical difficulties the Clouser race team was able to get all the problems fixed and put together a winning race car on Saturday. Starting in the 5 row Mario had his work cut out for him in the 25 lap feature event and after patiently making his way through the field took the lead on lap 16 and never looked back.

Clouser now holds a 47 point lead over Mark Wachter in the USAC/UMARA points series and will be headed back to Morris, IL this weekend to defend his winning streak.

Mario Clouser of Auburn , Ill. not only topped the USAC/UMARA Ford Focus field at Grundy County Speedway Saturday night, he topped the entire field of USAC/UMARA Focus and UMARA Sportsman Midgets to win the first round of he 2007 USAC/UMARA Focus championship!

In the 25-lap UMARA Sportsman/Ford Focus feature Plainfield's Tony Devea had his lead taken by Fred Teer in a Sportsman midget and would move out to a comfortable lead.  By the half-way mark Ford Focus midget pilot Mario Clouser of Auburn, Illinois had closed the gap between him and Teer and on lap 17 Clouser took the lead. Clouser will go down in the record books as the first ever USAC/UMARA Ford Focus feature winner.

2008
USAC National Midget Car Series 
Schedule & Race Results

2007
USAC/UMARA Ford Focus Midget Car Series 
Schedule & Race Results

2006
USAC Ford Focus
Midwest Pavement Series
Schedule & Race Results