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Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla. (January 5, 2008) – Roam around the spacious building on the Tulsa State Fairgrounds affectionately known as the Tulsa Expo Center (now dubbed the QuikTrip Center) over the next week and you'll inevitably rub elbows with some of the most talented race car drivers in the country.
After all, 285 entries from throughout the nation and beyond have descended upon Tulsa, or will in the next few days if not hours, for the 22nd running of the Dodge Chili Bowl Nationals, which takes place January 8-12.
Talent abounds. And it comes from all forms of motorsports. NASCAR, Sprint Cars, Midgets, Late Models, DIRT Modifieds, NHRA, etc. You name it, you'll find it at the Chili Bowl.
Among those 285 entries are over 30 track or series champions from 2007. While the list of talent goes well beyond the following list, those earning championship hardware in 2007 in preparation for the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals include the following:
0b-Glenn Styres (Ohsweken, ONT) – Southern Ontario Sprints (SOS)
1st-Shane Cottle (Kokomo, IN) – Kokomo Speedway non-wing Sprint Cars
5c-Joey Montgomery (Fredericktown, MO) – St. Francois County Raceway (Farmington, MO) Sprint Cars
5F-Mike Goodman (Tulsa, OK) – Oil Capital Racing Series (OCRS) Sprint Cars
5*-Gary Taylor (Sapulpa, OK by way of Wheat Ridge, CO, by way of Snohomish, WA) – Southern Midget Racing Series (SMRS)
05-Brad Loyet (Sunset Hills, MO) – POWRi Midgets
05s-Jon Stanbrough (Avon, IN) – King of Indiana Sprint Series (KISS) non-wing Sprint Cars and National Non-Wing Sprint Car Driver of the year
07-Gary Wright (Hooks, TX) – American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) National Tour and National 360-ci Sprint Car Driver of the Year
8x-Bud Kaeding (Campbell, CA) – USAC Silver Crown
9m-Doug McCune (Fort Worth, TX) – Southern States Midget Association (SSMA)
10-George White (Fort Worth, TX) – Cowtown Speedway Sprint Cars
11-Jerry Coons, Jr. (Tucson, AZ) – Among the favorites to capture his first Golden Driller, Coons was the 2007 USAC National Midget champion and National Midget Driver of the Year. He also won the Belleville Midget Nationals and claimed the Indiana Midget Week championship.
12JR-Nathan High (Goodyear, AZ) – Arizona Midget Racing Association (AMRA)
13au-Stewart Friesen (Niagara-on-the-Lake, ONT) – Utica-Rome (NY) Speedway DIRT Modifieds
14s-Chris Sheil (Lakewood, CO) – Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association (RMMRA)
17T-Justin Grant (Ione, CA) – Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) Midgets
20J-Levi Jones (Olney, IL) – USAC National Sprint Cars (Non-Wing)
21k-Ryan Kaplan (Chico, CA) – USAC Western States Sprint Cars (Non-Wing)
21m-Andy Martin (New Holland, PA) – American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) Midgets
22s-Shane Stewart (Bixby, OK) – All-Star Speedweek and NSCS Speedweek (Sprint Cars)
25m-Austin Mero (Kingsburg, CA) – Ventura Junior Ford Focus Midgets
27c-Doug Nunes (Kingsburg, CA) – Bay Cities Racing Association Midget Lites
29L-Jesse Hockett (Warsaw, MO) – Sprint Bandits Tour 'N Topless
31L-Lee Grosz (Harwood, ND) – American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) Northern Plains Region
37J-Joe Walker (Harrisonville, MO) – Central Missouri Speedway (Warrensburg, MO) Modifieds
43-Jeff Bland, Jr. (Springville, IN) – Bloomington Speedway non-wing Sprint Cars and National Non-Wing Sprint Car Rookie of the Year
71x-Brad Kuhn (Avon, IN) – Badger Midget Auto Racing Association (BMARA)
73s-Garry Lee Maier (Cimarron, KS) – National Championship Racing Association (NCRA) Sprint Cars
75d-Andrew Deal (Caney, KS) – Will Rogers Raceway (Claremore, OK) Non-Wing micros
75x-David Gough (Machesney Park, IL) – United Midget Auto Racing Association (UMARA)
87-Johnny Rodriguez (Elk Grove, CA) – USAC Western States Midgets
87d-Brent Rees (Arvada, CO) – Rocky Mountain Mini Sprint Association
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