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| RACING SCENE Column – (TULSA CHILI BOWL & MORE) – By Tim Kennedy |
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Los Angeles, CA. -- The 23rd annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl National Midget Classic presented by General Tire was held January 13-17 at the Tulsa (OK) Expo Raceway at the block-long Quik-Trip Center. Chili Bowl management in 2007 added Tuesday to the former four night event in the past and had to do so again this year before the usual full house. The Tulsa World daily newspaper reported the attendance was 15,751 Saturday. With a record 293 midgets entered, only 11 cars were entered with the driver TBA for the vacant seats. In the final rundown there were 281cars in competition because circumstances caused some entered midgets to be absent. Last year the Chili Bowl entry list showed 286 cars pre-entered and 274 cars actually raced on at least one of the five nights. The Chili Bowl again paid $10,000 to the winner of Saturday's 50-lap A-feature. Chili Bowl co-grand marshalls this year were four-time Indy 500 winner Johnny Rutherford and "Humpy" Wheeler, former Lowe's Motor Speedway executive. Eight past Chili Bowl champions were entered this year. They were: Damion Gardner (2008), Tim McCreadie (06), Tracy Hines (05), Jay Drake (01), Cory Kruseman (00 & 04), Jon Heydenreich (90), Sammy Swindell (89, 92, 96 & 98) and Scott Hatton (88). Two-time Chili Bowl winner Tony Stewart was present in the pits, but only in his capacity as owner of a three-car midget team. Billy Boat, the 1997 winner, was present helping his son Chad with their No. 30 Spike/Esslinger. Six female drivers were entered, down from eight female drivers at the 2008 Chili Bowl. Teammates Shannon McQueen and Michelle Decker, Jennifer Greenberg, a 2008 NASCAR Auto Club Late Model driver at Irwindale, Randi Pankratz, daughter of USAC 2000 Western Midget Champion Wally Pankratz, Jessica Zemken and Samantha Taylor were the females pre-entered for the 2009 CB. The 2009 Chili Bowl entry roster showed that assigned drivers came from 31 different states and one from Canada. The 2008 CB showed that drivers came from 29 states and two foreign countries. This year the top ten states by driver representation were: CA-61, IN-39, OK-32, IL-23, MO-19, AZ-12, KS-11, PA-10, AR-7, (tie) OH and TX-6 each. The oldest drivers were French Grimes and Floyd Alvis, both 74. The youngest drivers were 16-year olds, including Chad Boat. CHASSIS: The 293 midgets included 38 different chassis. Five car owners did not specify a chassis. The top ten builders (with total cars in parenthesis) were: Spike-105, Stealth-63, Ellis-16, Beast-13, Bullet-11, F5-8, TCR and Zero-6 each, Twister and Maxim-5 each, and DRC, FSC and Triple X-4 each. Last year Spike led with 97 cars at the Chili Bowl. Stealth was second with 71 cars, so clearly the top two marques have solidified their position as favorites of midget car owners. ENGINES: There were 35 engines/builder combinations and there were 14 entries without an engine choice listed. Leading engines (with total engines for each in parenthesis) were: Esslinger-84, Fontana-43, Gaerte-40, Chevy-21, Ford-17, Toyota-13, Mopar-9, Stanton Mopar-8, Pontiac-6, Ed Pink and LRP-5 each, plus Kistler Chevy-4. Four owners did not specify the type of engine. Last year Esslinger led with 78 engines and Fontana was second in popularity with 42. Both engine builders are based in Southern California near Los Angeles. Amazing Sammy Swindell, 53, won his fifth Tulsa Chili Bowl National. That's 22% of all Chili Bowl Saturday "A"features ever run with top open-wheel drivers from around the nation entered each year. No other driver has won more than two of the CB winter-time classics that lure drivers from nearly all disciplines of motor sports. This year Sammy won every race he entered ( five). That included the added 20-lap Chili Bowl Race of Champions on Tuesday, January 13. He won all three of his races Thursday and the Saturday finale. That feat amazed even Sammy and he said after his Saturday victory that it might be impossible for anyone, even himself, to ever do that again at the CB. Sammy won everything at the CB this year in his own Spike/Esslinger, a unique boxy-tail car that he designed himself. Hopefully, that snub-tailed super-modified-like tail will not displace the sleek, traditional look of 99.9% of the midgets on our race tracks. The late 1940s Frank Kurtis designed Kurtis Kraft midget tails have been in force for six decades and still look great. Last year the five final races of the Chili Bowl Saturday night were televised live on HBO pay per view with Lucas Oil sponsorship. Unfortunately, there was no such live telecast this year. The highlights of 2009 Chili Bowl will be shown on SPEED Channel some time in February according to latest information available at this time (possibly February 14). Some Internet users were able to hear the live broadcast of Tuesday through Saturday CB races on www.RacinBoys.com and some of us were not able to do so. The position points and passing points for positions gained from starting to finishing positions was in place as usual. Something new this year was the loss of points for any positions lost from starting to finishing positions. For the first time in CB history, Saturday racing started with a pair of "L" mains at 11:45 am. The alphabet soup of racing progressed during the afternoon and evening with a pair of K through B mains to the big money single "A" main of 50-laps. Duplicate car numbers at Tulsa's Chili Bowl have been the norm for all 23 years of its existence. Letters after or before the car number individualized each midget for scoring purposes and for photo identification. Most popular car numbers at the 2009 Chili Bowl were No. 1-15 cars, 7-14 cars, 5 and 11-13 cars each, 2-9 cars, 6, 10, 17 and 31-8 cars each, 8, 14 and 21-7 cars each, and 71 with 6 cars. Last year the leading Chili Bowl car numbers were: 5-18 cars, 7-16, 1-13, 11-10 and numbers 6, 10 and 71-7 cars each. It was interesting to see a new major trucking company sponsor on the hood of Chad Boat's No. 30 midget. Swift Transportation, of Phoenix, has a large fleet of 18-wheelers that are seen on highways and in cities throughout the West. The white and blue Swift trucks have been among the most prevalent on the road for many years. It is good to see new sponsors come into midget racing and Swift did so by sponsoring a fast-rising, talented hometown native of Phoenix. The top three finishers in the Tuesday through Friday "A" mains received guaranteed berths in Saturday's 50-lap "A" feature. That is a major advantage because all but two Chili Bowl winners have started from positions 1-12 and did so again this year. The four preliminary feature winners earned the first four starting berths and drew for their actual Saturday starting positions. The four preliminary runners-up earned positions five through eight. The four third place drivers occupied ninth through 12th. The top six finishers in Saturday's "A" main started third, first, fourth, second, sixth and seventh. Seventh place finisher Chris Windom was the highest finisher who started outside the top 12 starting positions. Eighth place Cole Whitt, the 17-year old 2008 USAC National Midget driving champion, was the next highest finisher from beyond row six of the starting grid. Damion Gardner, the Chili Bowl 2008 champion driving Jason Leffler's No. 71, dropped out of a "C" main Saturday. He took advantage of the defending champion provisional berth to start 25th in Saturday's 25-car field. He finished in position 19 driving Daryl Saucier's No. 2s Beast/Ilmor Mopar. . Rookie of the year honors at the 2009 Chili Bowl most likely went to NASCAR stock car veteran Shane Hmiel, who finished seventh in one of Saturday's two "B" mains to just miss a berth in the 50-lap "A" feature. He was a first-time Chili Bowl driver. Brad Loyet, a USAC veteran in his third Chili Bowl attempt, made Saturday's "A" main for the first time. Hard luck award recipient had to be Tim McCreadie, 34-year old 2006 Chili Bowl champion and WoO dirt late model champion. He flipped his No. 11w Wilke Racers Spike/Toyota over the first turn wall while leading a race. He reportedly fractured his T-3 vertebra and also had bone fragments. The accident occurred according to eye-witnesses after the rear-end broke just as he set up to navigate the first turn. After treatment in Tulsa, Tim and a friend were flown to Indianapolis on Tony Stewart's personal jet for examination by Dr. Terry Trammel, the renowned doctor of injured racing drivers. McCreadie's web site reported the results of that visit in mid-week. Dr. Trammel advised wearing a back brace but staying somewhat active. He also gave him some exercises to do to speed his complete recovery. CB 2009 entered drivers included USAC-CRA 410 sprint car drivers Henry Clarke, Josh Ford, Garrett Hansen, Cory Kruseman, Austin Mero, Blake Miller, Danny Sheridan, and Mike Spencer. CAL. MIDGET DRIVERS included Steve and Victor Davis, Tom and Tony Everhart, Nic Faas, (CRA too), Joey Fabozzi, Rick Hendrix, Robby Josett, Shannon McQueen, Bobby Michnowicz, Matt Mitchell, Randi Pankratz, Jerome Rodela, Johnny Rodriguez, C. J. Sarna and Austin Smith. VENTURA 360 SPRINT DRIVERS entered for Tulsa were Brian and Brent Camarillo, Bruce Douglass, Rob Kershaw, Kevin Kierce, Richard McCormick and Dennis Rodriguez. NOR CAL MIDGET DRIVERS were Floyd Alvis, Travis Berryhill, Glenn Carson, Danny Faria, Jr., Shane Golobic, Justin Grant, Johnathon Henry, Ryan Kaplan, Scott Nail, Scott Pierovich, David Prickett and Tim Spurgeon. RELOCATED CALIFORNIA DRIVERS who raced in Tulsa this year were Damion Gardner, Ryan Pace and Josh Wise. WORLD of OUTLAW sprint car regulars in action at Tulsa this year were Danny Lasoski, Terry McCarl, Jason Meyers and Paul McMahan. NASCAR TOYOTA ALL-STAR SHOWDOWN: The first in-person race of 2009 for most of us is here. Following a January So Cal record ten days of 80+ degrees through January 20, the sixth $500,000 NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown (TASS) for Camping World Grand National Touring Series (East vs West) is scheduled for Friday-Saturday January 23-24 on the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale half-mile. There is a chance of rain currently. The 2003-2007 TASS races occurred at Irwindale during October, but early last year the event was moved to the third weekend of January. There was no TASS race during 2008. There are 62 GN cars entered for the 40 available positions in the 250-lap feature Saturday. Thirteen drivers have earned guaranteed berths in the Saturday feature based upon their 2008 championships or races won. They included East champion Matt Kobyluck and West champion Eric Holmes, plus the NASCAR Mexican and Canadian Series champions. In addition to the GN drivers racing both nights, NASCAR Whelen All-American Series super late model drivers will race Friday and NASCAR late model drivers will race Saturday. SPEED Channel will televise live all Friday races from 7:00-10:00 pm (Pacific Time) Friday, and from 7:00-11:00 pm (Pacific Time) Saturday. Knowledgeable Mike Joy and Dr. Dick Berggren have anchored the telecast in the past. Among the entries are the last TASS winner, Joey Logano, 18, who won the last TASS feature in October, 2007 driving the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Chevy. He will return in the Joe Gibbs No. 08 Toyota for his second race at Irwindale. He will try to go two for two in So Cal before he begins his quest for NASCAR Sprint Cup rookie of the year honors on February 15 at Daytona driving Joe Gibbs' No. 20 Home Depot Toyota vacated by Tony Stewart. That is a tall order, but one the talented teen is capable of realizing. He is fast, confident and the real deal. Gibbs' second development driver, Marc Davis, is entered again for the TASS in No. 18. He and teammate Logano made their Irwindale debuts in October 2007 and both qualified in the top four. Other NASCAR drivers of note who will be racing at Irwindale January 23-24 are three-time NASCAR truck series champion Ron Hornaday, Jr. truck series veteran Matt Crafton, and two year NASCAR Sprint Cup driver David Gilliland, a past NASCAR GN West and Elite Division SW Series star. Many-time motocross and super-cross AMA motorcycle champion Ricky Carmichael, driving a Ken Schrader Racing No. 4 Chevy, is entered. Eastern San Diego County resident Cole Whitt, 17-year old 2008 USAC National Midget champion, will make his stock car debut in the SLM support race driving Dan Moore's second car. Whitt became the youngest USAC National Series champion in 52 years of USAC racing when he won his 2008 USAC championship by one point over Tracy Hines at Irwindale during the 11/27/08 Thanksgiving Midget GP. Whitt had one day of practice at Irwindale on Thursday, January 8. Rip Michels praised his rapid learning ability and speed in the heavier car than he is used to in USAC. Michels, the all-time TS@I feature winning driver and multiple champion, is entered in the SLM race also and is a major contender. Other GN entrants to watch are Jerit Johnson, brother of NASCAR Sprint Cup three-time champion Jimmie Johnson, Cup veteran Steve Park, Phillip Morris, Austin Dillon Auggie Vidovich, Greg Pursley, Peyton Sellers. Mexican champion Antonia Perez, and Canadian champion Scott Steckly. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and permit the two days of outstanding racing to be completed. Fans in chilly climates in points east will see the always competitive racing on the graduated 6, 9 and 12 degree banking of the Irwindale half-mile. The new third weekend of January TASS race date reminds some of the televised former NASCAR Winter Heat races at the Tucson, AZ short track where the late, great TV racing analyst Benny Parsons discovered current NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Greg Biffle. The hope is that many more short track stock car drivers will be discovered for national circuits in coming years during TASS racing in January at Irwindale. |
