Dirt-Track Legends Once Again Storm Chili Bowl
Saturday, January 12 from Tulsa, Okla.
Live on HBO Pay-Per-View
from Motorsports Management, TULSA, OKLAHOMA (January 9, 2008) – Don't blame regular attendees of the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals for feeling a bit spoiled. After all, each January they have come to expect the very best dirt-track drivers in America taking to the tight quarter-mile oval inside the Tulsa QuikTrip Center for one of the most-talked-about events of every motorsports season.
This year's Chili Bowl, with qualifications running all this week culminating with a climactic Saturday night final televised live via pay-per-view, will be no different. What two-time winner and NASCAR champion Tony Stewart calls a racing "all-star game" has again drawn the cream of the dirt-track crop to Oklahoma with a record 286 posted entries.
Stewart himself professes to being amazed by the depth of talent he faces when he competes at the Chili Bowl. "This 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," Stewart marvels. "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."
Stewart isn't exaggerating about the talent level. Following last night's pre-qualifying feature, the entry list is essentially broken into thirds for three nights of "qualifying" programs, each featuring a series of heat races, dash-type events and preliminary features. As is customary at the Chili Bowl, each of these preliminary nights will contain a cluster of names which at any other event would have promoters smiling and race fans grinning in delight.
Drivers scheduled to compete on Wednesday evening include two-time defending USAC Midget Jerry Coons Jr., former World of Outlaws (WoO) Sprint Car champion Danny "The Dude" Lasoski, 2007 USAC Sprint Car champion Levi Jones, former USAC Sprint Car and Midget champ Josh Wise, 2007 USAC Sprint and Midget Rookie of the Year Ricky Stenhouse, 2007 WoO points runner-up Joey Saldana, legendary Midget veteran Kevin Olson, USAC graduate and NASCAR up-and-comer Bryan Clauson, and surprise 2006 Chili Bowl winner Tim McCreadie, one of America's top dirt-track stock car pilots.
Thursday night's entry list is topped by Tony Stewart and four-time Chili Bowl winner Sammy Swindell, National Non-Wing Sprint Car Driver of the Year Jon Stanbrough, 2007 Badger champion Brad Kuhn, USAC Sprint and Silver Crown contender Shane Cottle, USAC Silver Crown champion Bud Kaeding, '07 Chili Bowl podium finisher Justin Allgaier, Oklahoma favorite and USAC speedster Brady Bacon, teenaged Bay Cities Racing Association champion Justin Grant, Chili Bowl veteran Johnny Heydenreich, and NASCAR Cup regular J.J. Yeley, always one of the most thrilling drivers inside the Tulsa Expo Center.
Kasey Kahne is scheduled to headline the Friday field, joined by 2005 Chili Bowl winner Tracy Hines, USAC multi-division champion Dave Darland, Indianapolis 500 veteran P.J. Jones, Busch Series contender and former USAC champ Jason Leffler, winged Sprint Car star Terry McCarl, California Sprint Car hero Damion Gardner, WoO winner Jason Myers, former USAC Midget champ and current NASCAR shoe Bobby East, and one of the Chili Bowl's most popular drivers each January, two-time winner Cory Kruseman.
Come the final night, Saturday, Jan. 12, the best of that bunch will be slugging it out in the prestigious A-Main, and one very lucky racer will be standing tall as a Chili Bowl champion.
ABOUT CHILI BOWL TELECAST:
Don't miss a minute! HBO Pay-Per-View presents the live, with no commercials, television broadcast of the 2008 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals on Saturday, Jan. 12, at 8:00 pm ET (5:00 pm PT). The HBO Pay-Per-View telecast has a suggested retail price of $24.95, and will be available to all cable and satellite homes throughout the US and Canada. Order directly from your digital cable or satellite TV system or contact your provider's customer service for details. A subscription to HBO is not required. Visit http://www.hbo.com./events/chili.
On Friday, January 11 at 10:30 pm ET (7:30 pm PT), racing fans can log on to NASCAR.com and Foxsports.com to watch a free live video webcast of the final night of qualifications.
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