What You Need to Know about the 32nd Chili Bowl Midget Nationals
The Chili Bowl Midget Nationals is an indoor midget car racing event. It takes place at the Tulsa Expo Center in January, just two weeks after Christmas. It has been described as the "biggest Midget race of the year".
The 1987 inaugural "Super Bowl of Midget Racing" event consisted of just fifty-two midgets competing in the 2-day event. This year there are three hundred and thirty-seven (137) drivers per-registered to participate.
Christopher Bell
The 2018 Entry List Includes Past Winners:
Christopher Bell (2017)
Rico Abreu (2016 & 2015)
Sammy Swindell (2009)
Damion Gardner (2008)
Tracy Hines (2005)
Cory Kruseman (2004)
Other Recognizable Names:
A.J. Fike
Chase Briscoe
J.J. Yeley
Justin Allgaier
Kasey Kahne
Kyle Larson
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Christopher Bell will be rolling into Tulsa Expo Center on a high note – a Tulsa ShootOut Win!
Got to ✔️ another one of my childhood dreams tonight. What a special year! 🏁 https://t.co/s5znDiKTyR
2014 Chili Bowl Midget Nationals Winner Bryan Clauson was involved in a midget car crash at Belleville High-Banks Speedway on August 6, 2017 in Belleville, Kansas. He died the following night.
2018 Event Information
What: 32nd annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl presented by General Tire
Where: Tulsa Expo Raceway – quarter - mile clay oval inside the River Spirit Expo Center at Tulsa's Expo Square
When: January 9-13, 2018
Tuesday, January 9 – Warren CAT Qualifying Night plus 9th annual VIROC Wednesday, January 10 – Hard Rock Casino Qualifying Night Thursday, January 11 – John Christner Trucking Qualifying Night Friday, January 12 – Vacuworx Global Qualifying Night Saturday, January 13 – Lucas Oil Championship Feature Events
Bell Becomes Second Native Oklahoma to Win in Race’s 31 Year History
Starting from the outside of the front row, Bell stayed near the front of the field for much of the fifty-five laps to capture the prestigious Golden Driller trophy.
“You know, I’ve been in this position before,” Bell said. “I think this is the third time I’ve started on the front row and I would run into trouble because I was pushing too hard.
Pole sitter Justin Grant led the first 25 laps in the Clauson-Marshal No. 39BC (in memory of 2014 Chili Bowl champion, the late Bryan Clauson). But from that point on, it was Bell’s race.
“I’m speechless right now,” Bell told ChiliBowl.com. “I’ve been coming to this building for so long trying to win one of these things, and I thought I was really close to one at the Shootout a couple weeks ago, but we had a lot of bad luck but I’ll trade all that bad luck in for this Driller right here. This means the world to me.”
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, Okla.
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Lucas Oil/General Tire Championship Night
Event Count: 365 (New Record)
Although there were six NASCAR drivers entered in the record 365-driver overall Chili Bowl field, only two made the championship race: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who finished 16th, and K&N Pro Series driver Chase Briscoe, who finished 22nd (DNF).
Other NASCAR drivers Kyle Larson, J.J. Yeley and Justin Allgaier fell short in their efforts to reach the main event.
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals Claims a New Event High Driver Count
Can Rico Abreau become the Winner for the Third Year In a Row?
The final day of qualifying for the 31st annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire was one filled with emotion as California's Justin Grant found Victory Lane for the first time in Preliminary Night competition; and did it in a Clauson-Marshall mount one year after Bryan Clauson took his final checkered flag atop the clay of the Tulsa Expo Raceway.
"No, I can't even try," said Grant of putting the win into words. "But I'm not going to say I'm carrying on (Bryan Clauson's) legacy at all. That would be not even a chance. He was incredible. He was such a big deal. I guess we didn't really appreciate how big of a deal he was until we lost him. It's incredible to see how many people are behind him and behind that. It is a lot pressure."
Making three first time winners in four nights of racing, Grant was the class of the field with all 25 laps of the Vacuworx Night feature credited to his torrid pace.
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire Tulsa Expo Raceway - Tulsa, Okla. Saturday, January 14, 2017 Lucas Oil/General Tire Championship Night
Event Count: 365 (New Record)
A-Feature:
A Feature: Lineup
55 laps
Start-Driver-Car
1-Justin Grant-39BC
2-Christopher Bell-71W
3-Tyler Courtney-7BC
4-Travis Berryhill-31
5-Jake Swanson-68W
6-Danny Stratton-47
7-Larry Wight-99W
8-Daryn Pittman-21
9-Ronnie Gardner-68
10-C.J. Leary-25C
11-Zach Daum-5D
12-Colby Copeland-51X
B-Features: Top 6 advance to the A-Feature
B Feature 1: Lineup
20 laps
Start-Driver-Car
1-Shane Golobic-17W
2-Gary Taylor-05T
3-Michael Faccinto-35F
4-Jonathan Beason-8J
5-Tracy Hines-24
6-Ryan Robinson-71
7-D.J. Netto-3C
8-Tom Harris-4H
9-Jerry Coons Jr-5
10-Donny Schatz-15
11-Tim McCreadie-47X
12-Matt Sherrell-35
13-Gage Walker-7XX
14-Brent Beauchamp-2A
B Feature 2: Lineup
20 laps
Start-Driver-Car
1-Ricky Stenhouse Jr-17BC
2-Alex Bright-77
3-Andrew Deal-15D
4-Tyler Thomas-91T
5-Damion Gardner-71G
6-Chase Briscoe-5CB
7-Jason Johnson-41
8-Sammy Swindell-1
9-Dave Darland-11AG
10-Steven Shebester-82M
11-Justin Peck-5X
12-Casey Shuman-32
13-Cody Lampe-2J
14-Joey Saldana-17
C-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding B-Feature
C Feature 1: Lineup
15 laps
Start-Driver-Car
1-Ryan Smith-55X
2-Parker Price-Miller-9P
3-Jac Haudenschild-73X
4-Aaron Reutzel-5H
5-Robby Josett-2
6-Paul McMahan-4P
7-Chad Boat-84X
8-R.J. Johnson-51J
9-Tanner Berryhill-17B
10-Brenden Bright-92
11-Chris Cochran-14K
12-Kevin Thomas Jr-66
13-Justin Allgaier-7A
14-Trey Marcham-32T
C Feature 2: Lineup
15 laps
Start-Driver-Car
1-Cory Kruseman-21K
2-Michael Pickens-25MP
3-Cory Elliott-11E
4-Dylan Westbrook-47W
5-Tanner Thorson-67
6-Brad Loyet-5
7-Bricen James-45X
8-David Gravel-5E
9-Alex Schutte-17R
10-Spencer Bayston-97K
11-Coleman Gulick-14C
12-Danny Sheridan-51S
13-Anton Hernandez-25H
14-Ryan Greth-4R
D-Features: Top 6 advance to the corresponding C-Feature
D Feature 1: Lineup
15 laps
Start-Driver-Car
1-Thomas Meseraull-1R
2-Colten Cottle-5C
3-Nick Knepper-37
4-Mike Hess-3H
5-Hunter Schuerenberg-51F
6-A.J. Fike-69
7-Ace McCarthy-28A
8-Kyle Larson-71K
9-Davey Ray-2T
10-Kevin Bayer-91K
11-J.J. Yeley-1ST
12-Tony Bruce Jr-18
13-Grady Chandler-00C
14-Andrew Felker-11A
D Feature 2: Lineup
15 laps
Start-Driver-Car
1-Holly Shelton-67K
2-Wesley Smith-44X
3-Sam Hafertepe Jr-15H
4-Danny Faria Jr-11D
5-Steve Buckwalter-05B
6-Nick Wean-78
7-Josh Most-92M
8-Daniel Adler-50
9-Brody Roa-51R
10-Matt Westfall-14W
11-Brady Bacon-76M
12-Blake Hahn-52
13-Tucker Klaasmeyer-27
14-Blake Edwards-17E
E-Features: Top 4 advance to the corresponding D-Feature
Popular Rookie Is “Very Close To First Win,” Could Happen At Gateway Motorsports Park
Popular NASCAR Camping World Truck Series rookie Rico Abreu made a pit stop in the St. Louis area earlier this month to help promote the June 25 Drivin’ For Linemen 200 at Gateway Motorsports Park.
Abreu, driver of the No. 98 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota, appeared on three St. Louis-area television stations before departing to compete in his Sprint Car tonight at Gas City, Indiana.
Abreu never has raced on the 1.25-mile superspeedway but has won at many short tracks in the area. He is looking forward to competing at Gateway in a little more than three weeks.
“I’m excited. I feel Gateway has a lot of similarities to Phoenix. I raced there at the end of last year in my debut for the Truck Series,” said Abreu. “We had a lot of speed there so we’re going to bring that here. I’m getting a lot of input from my (ThorSport Racing) teammate Matt Crafton. He’s had a lot of success at Gateway and was really fast here last year. I’ll pick his brain during practice. It’s hard to say until you get out onto the track. That’s what we’re waiting for.”
Abreu, just 24 years old, already has established a winning reputation for himself. He’s won the coveted Lucas Oil Chili Bowl in Tulsa, Oklahoma, twice (2015, 2016) — not to mention 45 World of Outlaws Sprint Car and USAC Midget Series races between 2015 and 2016.
Abreu told the local media he felt he was very close to winning his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and that it could come at Gateway.
“Yes, it definitely could come here. The restarts at pit stops at the end of the race get really exciting. You just have to have one big play in your favor and you could put yourself in a position to win the race.”
Four foot four driver, Rico Abreu had plenty to smile about Saturday night after earning his second straight Chili Bowl Nationals victory in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo: Rainier Ehrhardt)
Taking the checkered flag, Abreu celebrated the victory win an impressive series of donuts on the dirt racing surface before climbing from the car.
Rico Abreu, a NASCAR Next member, won a hard-fought battle with midget car ace Bryan Clauson and Zach Daum for the win. When a caution flew with 12 laps remaining, Abreu got the opportunity he was looking for. Running around the high side of the track, Abreu took the lead with 10 laps to go and never looked back.
With a packed house of nearly 20,000 in attendance at the River Spirit Expo Center, the chant of “Rico, Rico” soon followed a series of wicked celebratory doughnuts.
RICO!!!!!!(via Dave J Biro III)
Posted by NASCAR on NBC on Sunday, 17 January 2016
“So I think this is one of the toughest tracks to be a leader at and set the pace," said Rico. "Just because with how much the track changes in a feature or in a race, you can run second or third, and have the advantage of moving around on the surface rather than being the leader and running the line that you started running where you got the lead at.”
Abreu will be racing a full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with ThorSport Racing in 2016. I guess NASCAR Race Mom will be watching more Truck Races!
The 2017 dates have already been announced with racing action at the 31st annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals taking place January 10-14, 2017. Tickets go on sale the first Wednesday of March, 2016.
Results:
Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire
Tulsa Expo Raceway - Tulsa, Okla.
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Lucas Oil Championship Night
Born in 1957 in Belgium, it was after a trip at the age of seven that my love for NASCAR caught hold of me! It was the 1964 World 600 in Charlotte. Since NASCAR it's my life! A large collection of objects and papers make up my personal little NASCAR museum.
Passionate about the history and statistics of NASCAR, I have contributed to numerous magazines and websites mainly in French language (Europe and Canada). One of my greatest pride is my full-time collaboration at racing-reference.info from 2003 to 2021.
Today I continue to write for fun and it's with joy that I join nascarracemom.com as contributor. .
