Michael Pickens (born 7 January 1983) is a racecar driver from Auckland, New Zealand. He races midgets and sprint cars in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. Michael is a 7 time New Zealand Midget Car champion and was the 2021 Speedcar champion. [1] He was also the 2016 Australian Speedcar Champion. [2] He has won races and championships in New Zealand, Australia, and United States in Quarter Midgets, 3/4 Midgets, Midgets, Sprint Cars and Karts.
In 2005, Pickens competed at the Chili Bowl midget car race at Tulsa, Oklahoma. He won Rookie of the Year honors with an outstanding drive from 19th starting position to a race ending 6th-place finish. He was noticed by some key people at NASCAR NEXTEL Cup's Roush Racing. While not having prior experience on pavement, as there are no pavement ovals in New Zealand, Pickens did compete in the Roush's Driver Development Competition Program in 2005. He made it to the final round of competition and was the last driver be cut. [3]
In 2005, Pickens won the 55th running of the Australian Speedcar Grand Prix held at the Avalon Raceway in Victoria. That year he also finished second in the Australian Speedcar Championship at the Perth Motorplex. He would later finish 3rd in the 2011 Australian Championship in Lismore, New South Wales. In 2016 Michael won the Australian Speedcar title at Paramatta Raceway.
Michael's regular rides in New Zealand are his own #1NZ Midget and the Pipeline Industries #3NZ Sprint car. Michael's regular Australian drive is with Brett Morris, competing in the Australian Speedcar Championship and the World Midget Series. Michael also drives in the USA, competing at Midget Week, the Turkey Night Grand Prix and Chili Bowl Nationals.
In the middle of the 2007 U.S. season, he raced for Ken Hendricks' American Speed Association Late Model Team, Urban Force Racing, mainly at Madison International Speedway. [4] He left the team in July (being replaced by Dan Lensing) near the middle of the season, and began running a mixture of midget and pavement car races for various owners.
In the 2008 U.S. racing season, he raced a midget car weekly at Angell Park Speedway and the #30 car in ASA Late Model Series events.
2016 Australian Speedcar Champion (and first ever New Zealander to win this title)
2015/16 International Midget Series Overall Winner (and winner of World 30 Lap Derby and 50 Lap Classic)
10 times New Zealand Midget Champion
1 time New Zealand Sprint Car Champion
Multiple winged sprint car feature wins
Multiple track and lap records
Multiple National Series Championship wins
Multiple A-main wins including 9 consecutive A-main wins in a row
6 times New Zealand midget Grand Prix win
2 times North Island champion
5 times Barry Butterworth 40 lap winner
Multiple International Series wins over 30, 40 and 50 laps
Multiple seasons as International Test Team Captain
Multiple Herman Tros shield wins
Multiple USAC/POWRi/Badger feature wins
6 times Chili Bowl A-main qualifier
3rd 2011 Chili Bowl A-main
UMRA TQ feature winner (on debut)
2 times Australian Super Series speedcar Championship winner (midgets)
Australian Grand Prix winner (midgets)
ASA Pavement Late Model Series feature and pole winner
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Driver X finalist
Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. is an American former racing driver who competed in numerous disciplines of motorsport. He is best known for his open wheel racing career, and for becoming the first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. He holds the most American National Championship titles in history, winning seven.
Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on most continents. There is a worldwide tour and national midget tours in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.
James Richard Davies was an American racecar driver in Champ cars and midgets. He was the second man to win three USAC National Midget Championships. When Davies won the 100-mile (160 km) AAA Championship race at Del Mar, California on November 6, 1949 – aged 20 years, 2 months, 29 days, he became the youngest driver to win a race in a major U.S. open wheel series, a record not broken until Marco Andretti won the IRL race at Sonoma, California in 2006. Davies raced AAA on a false birth certificate showing him older, and was racing illegally.
Avalon Raceway is a dirt track racing venue located in Lara, Victoria, Australia. The track is based on a clay sand mix, is oval shaped and is 390 metres in length.
Liverpool Speedway was located in Green Valley, Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Liverpool was officially opened by Frank Oliveri and the Oliveri Family, alongside Ald. E. Smith, the mayor of Liverpool at the time, and ran until its sudden and unexpected closure in 1989. Frank Oliveri would later share track management with track announcer and promoter, Channel 7 television sports presenter Mike Raymond.
Dennis Steven Kinser, nicknamed "The King", is a former professional sprint car racing driver. He has won 20 championships in the World of Outlaws (WoO) series. Kinser left the World of Outlaws in 2006 to compete with the National Sprint Tour series, but returned to the World of Outlaws for the 2007 season. ESPN named him 25th on their top drivers of all-time in 2008. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2017.
Richard Frank Vogler was an American champion sprint car and midget car driver. He was nicknamed "Rapid Rich". He competed in the Indianapolis 500 five times, and his best finish was eighth in 1989.
Cory Kruseman is an American racing driver. A two-time Chili Bowl champion in midget car racing, he has also competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the Firestone Indy Racing League.
Bryan Timothy Clauson was an American professional auto racing driver, best known for his achievements in dirt track open-wheel racing, such as USAC Silver Crown, Midget and Sprint cars. Clauson was increasingly seen competing with the World of Outlaws (WoO) sprint cars in his last couple of years. Clauson also competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Indy Lights, and IndyCar Series and was a development driver for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Ron "Sleepy" Tripp is an American Hall of Fame midget car driver. Tripp got his nickname as a youth when he would fall asleep in his quarter midget car while waiting for his next race to start.
The Automotive Racing Products Turkey Night Grand Prix is an annual race of midget cars. It is the third oldest race in the United States behind the Indianapolis 500 and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. It has been held on Thanksgiving night most years since 1934, where it was founded by Earl Gilmore at his Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles. It stayed at this location until 1950. Since that time it has been held at various southern California race tracks. Since 1955, the race has been promoted by J. C. Agajanian and later his descendants, currently by son Cary. Traditionally a dirt track event, it has sometimes been on asphalt during the turn of the 21st century, although it returned to dirt in 2012. The feature race was held over 98 laps in the modern era, the same number that Agajanian used for his racecars.
Lealand McSpadden is a former dirt track racing driver who competed mostly in sprint and midget cars. He was nicknamed "The Tempe Tornado".
The Chili Bowl Midget Nationals is an indoor midget car race that takes place in January on a 1/5 mile dirt oval track at the Tulsa Expo Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. NASCAR calls it the "biggest Midget race of the year". It is nicknamed the "Super Bowl of midget racing".
The Australian Speedcar Championship is a dirt track motor racing championship held in Australia each year to determine the Australian national champion in midget car racing. The single championship meeting, run over two nights in either late January or early February, has been held each year since first being run at the Tracey's Speedway in Melbourne in 1935.
The Australian Speedcar Grand Prix is an annual dirt track racing meeting held in Australia for Speedcars. The meeting has traditionally been held in Sydney, but on occasions has been held on tracks in Victoria and in 2000 the race was held at Perth's Claremont Speedway, not long before the 1/3-mile Showground track closed.
Kevin Swindell is an American former racing driver and entrepreneur, who has competed in USAC and NASCAR competition. He has won 77 races in various dirt racing series including the Chili Bowl Nationals. Swindell is the son of three time World of Outlaws Sprint Car champion Sammy Swindell. Swindell owns and operates Swindell Speedlab, a clothing brand as well as Victory Fuel, a brand of flavored water.
Rico Emanuel Abreu is an American professional dirt track and sprint car racing driver. Abreu won the 2014 USAC National Midget Series championship, and previously competed in the K&N Pro Series East in 2015 scoring one win.
Giovanni Scelzi is an American racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the World of Outlaws Nos Energy Drink Sprint Car series driving the #18 sprint car for KCP Racing.
Shane M. Golobic is an American professional dirt track racing driver. He competes in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and United States Auto Club (USAC) National Midget Series for Matt Wood Racing. Prior to racing nationally, much of his dirt racing participation came in his home state of California, which included winning track championships and the California Sprint Car Civil War Series in 2014.
Michael "Buddy" Kofoid is an American professional dirt track and stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the USAC National Midget Series and POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series, driving for Keith Kunz Motorsports. He is the 2021 and 2022 USAC National Midget Series champion. He also competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 51 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports, and part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 15 Toyota Camry for Venturini Motorsports. He also has competed with the NOS Energy Drink World of Outlaws Sprint car Series. He collected his first Win at Husets Speedway on June 23, 2022.
