The first organised midget car race took place on 4 June 1933. The sport's first regular weekly programme began on 10 August 1933 at Loyola High School Stadium in Los Angeles under the control of the Midget Auto Racing Association (MARA), the first official governing body. The category spread rapidly across the United States and then internationally: Australia hosted its first midget race at Melbourne's Olympic Park on 15 December 1934, New Zealand followed in 1937, and by August 1937 midget cars were racing at Hastings Park in Vancouver, Canada.
Early races were held on board tracks previously used for bicycle racing before purpose-built speedways such as Gilmore Stadium became the standard venue. Hundreds of tracks subsequently appeared across the United States, and the AAA Contest Board began sanctioning events nationally. After the AAA withdrew from racing in 1955, the United States Auto Club took over as the principal sanctioning body. NASCAR operated a midget division from 1952 to 1968.
Midget cars are far smaller than a full sprint car. Powered by four-cylinder engines producing 300 to 400 horsepower (220 to 300 kW), the cars weigh approximately 900 pounds (410 kg). The combination of low weight and substantial power makes midget racing an intense discipline, and modern cars are fully equipped with roll cages and comprehensive safety structures. Events are relatively short by road-racing standards, typically covering 2.5 to 25 miles (4 to 40 km).
The category also has smaller variants: three-quarter (TQ) midgets developed from "midget midget" cars of the late 1940s, and quarter midgets, which are one-quarter the size of a full midget car and used primarily as a junior development class.
Notable early manufacturers include Kurtis Kraft, active from the 1930s through the 1950s, and Solar, which built cars from 1944 to 1946.
Several events hold particular significance within midget car racing. The Chili Bowl Nationals, held each January at the Tulsa Expo Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is among the most prestigious indoor midget events in the world and draws top professional drivers. Other historic events include the Turkey Night Grand Prix — run at various California venues including Ventura Raceway and Irwindale Speedway — and the Belleville Midget Nationals at Belleville High Banks in Kansas (last held 2017). The Four Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway in Ohio combines midgets with other short-track disciplines on a single night. In New Zealand, the World 50-lap Classic at Western Springs Stadium in Auckland is the premier event.
In December 2013, POWRi Midget Racing launched a 16-event Lucas Oil POWRi Midget World Championship that ran until June 2014, spanning events in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.
In Australia the category is known as Speedcar racing and has its own deep history. The first Australian Speedcar Championship was contested in Melbourne in 1935, and the discipline flourished through a golden era in the 1950s and 1960s. Major promoters including Adelaide's Kym Bonython at Rowley Park Speedway and Empire Speedways at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground and Sydney Showground Speedway regularly imported American drivers to headline events billed as "World Speedcar Championships." Crowds of up to 30,000 attended meetings at the Sydney Showground during this period.
Contemporary Speedcar racing in Australia is governed by Speedcars Australia Inc. Major events include the annual Australian Speedcar Championship, state championships across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, and the ACT, and prestigious blue-ribbon events such as the Australian Speedcar Grand Prix (first held 1938) and the Australasian 50 Lap Speedcar Championship.
Midget car racing has long served as an intermediate development category for drivers bound for IndyCar and NASCAR. Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Johnnie Parsons, Sarah Fisher, Rodger Ward, and Bill Vukovich are among the prominent names who used midget racing as part of their ascent to top-level competition. Events are sometimes scheduled on weeknights to allow drivers from higher-profile weekend series to compete without schedule conflicts.
Triple Formula One World Champion Jack Brabham began his racing career in Speedcars on Sydney dirt ovals. Between 1948 and his move to full-time road racing in 1953, Brabham won multiple Australian national and state titles before going on to claim the 1959, 1960, and 1966 Formula One World Championships.