What is your dream racing event to attend?

Originally Posted on Foxsports on September 8, 2007.


After spending most of the week at the Boone Speedway watching the IMCA SuperNationals, I'm pondering what is my dream racing event to attend. 
I've been to the Knoxville Nationals, the Daytona 500, and the All-Star Challenge & Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.  The Brickyard 400 is in the books, I've Rumbled in Fort Wayne, and I plan on going to the Chili Bowl next year.  So what is left?
I think the Monaco Grand Prix is on the short list.  LeMans.  Maybe a race at Leguna Seca.


I really should get to the Indy 500 at the Brickyard, and I'd think that the Little 500 should be on the short list too.  Indiana Sprint week sounds fun, as do the Oval Nationals.


On the Nascar side, I think going to Bristol would be an experience, as would Martinsville.  I'd love to see a road race, probably at Watkins Glen.
So, if time or money were not an issue - what racing event would you go to?

I'm Going Chili Bowling

Originally Posted on Foxsports.com on July 19, 2007.

Two weeks ago I received the best news of the summer - my tickets for the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals arrived in the mail.

The Chili Bowl is racing's answer to the Super Bowl. Legendary promotors Emmet Hahn and Lanny Edwards have spent the last 21 years building the annual event into a spectacle. Held each January in Tulsa, the Chili Bowl draws all sorts of drivers (known and unknown) including Tony Stewart, JJ Yeley, Kasey Kahne, Sammy Swindall, Brady Bacon, Josh Wise, Danny Lasoski, and Tim McCreadie.

Preliminary wins earn a driver's way into the Mains run on Saturday, with the Golden Driller trophy awarded at the end of the A Main Saturday night. Last year, Tony Stewart won his second Golden Driller.

So, I'm excited to spend a week in Tulsa this January watching great drivers try to master an indoor 1/4 mile track.

After all, by that point football will be over, and I'll be two months into racing withdrawal and the Daytona 500 will still be a month away. Bring on the fumes!

Pass the Chili Bowl, Please

Originally Posted on January 12, 2007 on Foxsports.com

Last year, I decided I wouldn't be a fair weather fan. I was willing to gamble on rain, thunderstorms (even with a couple tent camping excursions), snow, sleet, and ice. However, the weather forecast for this weekend tested my resolve.  Mother Nature went all in with a huge ice storm forecasted to cover the entire road trip from here to Tulsa, Oklahoma with between 0.5 inch and 1.5 inches of ice.  I folded, even though I had waited for tickets to the Chili Bowl since last February.

Why wait a year for tickets?  Because the Chili Bowl is an indoor midget race run each January.  The drivers list reads like a who's who of racing.  Entered in the event are sprint car drivers like Steve Kinser, Danny Lasoski, Terry McCarl, and Daryn Pittman; Late Model drivers Tim McCreadie (last year's surprise Chili Bowl winner), Josh Richards, and Brian Birkhofer; Nascar stars Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, JJ Yeley, and Justin Allgaiter; IRL driver A.J. Foyt IV (his first Chili Bowl); USAC stars Josh Wise, Dave Darland, Levi Jones, Tracy Hines; and Knoxville locals Billy Alley and Wayne Johnson. 

In all, there are over 280 entries.  Emmett Hahn and Lanny Edwards are the legendary promoters of the annual event.  This year, the 21st Chili Bowl will feature A.J. Foyt as the grand marshall on Saturday night.

The Chili Bowl added a pre-qualifying night on Tuesday for those drivers who had not competed in a Chili Bowl previously, or had limited experience.  Then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights were qualifying nights for the A Main on Saturday night.  Starting Saturday at around noon will be a L Main.  Following the alphabet backwards, the A Main should push off sometime around 9:30 - 10:30 p.m.

Instead of seeing the races in person this year, I'll have to listen on an internet radio.  Hopefully, next year, I'll get my chance to see it in person.  That is, if Mother Nature cooperates.

 

Chili Bowl: It's Not a BCS Sanctioned Event

Originally Posted on Foxsports.com on January 11, 2006. 

The Chili Bowl started tonight.  Sorry, it's not the last gasp of the BCS series.  It's a midget race on an indoor clay track in Tulsa, Oklahoma.    It's only football connection is that promoters bill it as the Super Bowl of winter racing.  Technically, it's billed as the Midget Nationals.

For those of you who missed the previous post about midget racing, a midget is a smaller open wheeled car with  a wheelbase of 66-76 inches.  The car weighs approximately 900 pounds (a Nascar Cup car is around 3400 lbs). 

Over 250 entries were received to run the event.  Why all the excitement about this event?  Where else will you get to see the assembled talent of World Of Outlaw Champions (Steve Kinser, Danny Lasoski), Nascar gladiators (Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Jason Leffler, JJ Yeley), USAC competitors (Levi Jones, Dave Darland, Josh Wise, Jay Drake), and  NHRA drivers (Cruz & Frank Pedregon).

The first three nights' racing (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) ultimately set the field for Saturday's finale.   The top four drivers from each night automatically transfer into Saturday's 24 car finale.  The remaining places are filled based on points accrued during the event.

In other words, if you don't run well, you go home. 

Just think, the current Nascar Nextel Champion could race the current World of Outlaws Champion, and both could get beat by the 13 year old son of an IRL driver (Chad Boat and Billy Boat). 

Wouldn't that alone be worth the price of admission?