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Chili Bowl Nationals Wiki Information

The Chili Bowl Midget Nationals is an indoor midget car racing event. It takes place in January, two weeks after Christmas. NASCAR calls it the "biggest Midget race of the year". ^[1] It is nicknamed the "Super Bowl of midget racing". ^[2]

CHILI BOWL NATIONALS TICKETS

EVENT	DATE	AVAILABILITY
Chili Bowl Nationals - Cummins Qualifying Night Tickets 1/13	Jan 13, 2025 Mon, 8:00 AM
Chili Bowl Nationals - Warren CAT Qualifying Night Tickets 1/14	Jan 14, 2025 Tue, 8:00 AM
Chili Bowl Nationals - York Plumbing Qualifying Night Tickets 1/15	Jan 15, 2025 Wed, 8:00 AM
Chili Bowl Nationals - 4 Day Pass Tickets 1/15	Jan 15, 2025 Wednesday
Chili Bowl Nationals - Victory Fuel Qualifying Night Tickets 1/16	Jan 16, 2025 Thu, 8:00 AM

History

The inaugural Chili Bowl is organized by Emmett Hahn and Lanny Edwards. It was named after a local company who sponsored the first event. ^[3] from nearby Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

Event

The inaugural 1987 event consisted of 52 midgets competing in the 2 day event. ^[4] The event now consists of three days of qualifiers for the Saturday night A-main event. One third of the drivers compete in each qualifying night's event, attempting to qualify for the A-main. Each qualifying night has heat races, dash-type events, and a 25 lap feature. ^[5] Drivers who finish poorly in their heat event in their qualifying night start deep in final night qualifying events and have to finish high in many events to make the A-main field. A driver who started in the lowest "J" event would have to finish high in I, H, G, F, E, D, C, and B events to reach the A-main. The Top 4 finishers in the qualifying night's feature event plus the top 4 finishers the two Saturday night B-main events progress into the 24 car feature field.

The cable channel Speed Channel has televised the event in the United States. ^[6] The 2008 Saturday night main event was televised on HBO On Demand. It featured a record 286 entries. ^[7] The National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame uses the event to induct its next class of members.

Facility

thumb The event is held at the Tulsa Expo Center, the home of The Golden Driller. It accommodates hundreds of race cars, bleachers for 15,000 fans, and a trade show.

The clay which once covered the adjacent fairgrounds is used for the event. The quarter mile indoor track is not affected by adverse weather or drying from the wind or sun.

Drivers

Drivers in other series who come from a midget car background frequently race in the event. The 2007 competitors included NASCAR drivers Tony Stewart, Justin Allgaier, J. J. Yeley, A. J. Fike, Josh Wise, Kasey Kahne, and Jason Leffler, World of Outlaws sprint car drivers Terry McCarl, Tim McCreadie, Danny Lasoski, and Sammy Swindell, NHRA drag racing champions Cruz Pedregon and Gary Scelzi, ^[8] Drivers in 2008 came from 29 American states, Canada, and Australia. ^[10]

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, a two-time winner of the event, said,

This is the only place that you can take the best Midget drivers from USAC and Badger [Midget Auto Racing Association, and guys in the Rocky Mountain Midget Association, guys from USAC Sprint Cars and Silver Crown Cars and the World of Outlaws, all the best in dirt open-wheel racing. Those drivers are all at one place for the weekend, and when you've got [all those] guys competing for just the 24 starting spots in the A-Main, you have some of the best racing that you're going see all year all in one week at the Chili Bowl.

USAC Triple Crown winner Dave Darland said, "You've got guys from all over the world. New Zealand, Australia, NASCAR, NHRA, Indy Cars -- you know, there's just all sorts of different competition there, all sots of different levels of drivers."

List of A-Main Winners

The A-Main feature is a 50 lap event. Drivers with multiple wins include five-time winner Sammy Swindell, and two-time winners Tony Stewart and Cory Kruseman. ^[11] The winning driver wins a trophy dubbed the "Golden Driller" after the 76-foot statue outside the building.