Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Chili Bowl Midget Nationals

The Chili Bowl Midget Nationals is a race held indoors in Tulsa every January, two weeks after Christmas.  For racers and fans, Chili Bowl is like a late gift from Santa.  It's racing's winter Super Bowl.  For many younger racers, Chili Bowl is an opportunity to be noticed by the owners of NASCAR teams and sponsors, with the hope and possibility of being signed to a development contract leading to a ride in the big game.

The drivers are young and old.  Some are as young as 16, others like Sammy Swindell are in their 60s, having raced all of their lives.   Faces in the pits include current NASCAR drivers who own racing teams that run at the Chili Bowl.  You'll see glimpses of Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne in the race video.  They love this form of racing and invest money and time supporting it.

More than 200 racers compete.  The racing covers five nights, with the main feature on Saturday night in which winners of the other night's races compete for the top prize money and trophy.

The cars are called Midgets because of their small size and very light weight.  They have a 72 inch wheelbase and a highly modified four cylinder engine producing 350-450 horsepower in a 1200 pound car.  The cars are very unstable and need a full roll cage with side protection and a secondary cage around the driver.  There are no unnecessary pieces on the car. No clutch, no starter, no battery. The cars are push started.  The transmission is a one-gear affair, and the car is either in gear or not in gear. The driver sits in a custom fitted seat, strapped in by a seat belt harness and shoulder belts.  The drive also wears leg and arm belts to control the travel of legs and arms in the event of a rollover.

The cars are designed to turn left, as fast as the run down the straightaways. The rear tire diameters are staggered to make the cars turn left.  There is no left front brake for the same reason.  The cars are steered as much with the throttle as with the steering wheel.  And they are powerful - the front wheels lift off the track under hard acceleration.

Here's a very well done video of this year's race.  I hope you enjoy it.  Tickets for next year's race go on sale in March and will sell out quickly.



Chili Bowl 2014 from Tim Truex on Vimeo.

16 comments:

Chip Ahoy said...

Chili con carne
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/01/29/jim-cantori-knees-man/5017553/

Red bean chili with banana

http://thingsimadethenate.blogspot.com/2012/02/red-bean-chili-with-banana.html

Green chili (it's red)
http://thingsimadethenate.blogspot.com/2011/12/green-chili.html

Green pork chile (this is the real deal. Very easy to do, a million variations tinned ingredients to fresh. It's all good)

http://thingsimadethenate.blogspot.com/2011/02/pork-chile.html

john said...

Is this like velcro midget tossing?

If so, that's just racist.

Methadras said...

Used to watch the midget races at Antioch Speedway in Antioch in the East Bay of NorCal. Those were fun to watch. At least no one called for them to be rename The Little People Races.

Michael Haz said...

Chip - no instructions on how to make a bowl?

The Dude said...

Full reverse lock is a heck of a way to go through life. I can think of worse ways, that's for sure.

Icepick said...

Chip - no instructions on how to make a bowl?

I thought that was Sixty's provenance?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I think I saw Tony Stewart.

deborah said...

Thanks, Chip, when I first saw the title I got hungry for chile.

Have yet to see ol' Sixty's bowls...can't I just see one?

ndspinelli said...

Sun Prairie Wi. has one of these tracks. It's sun by the volunteer Fire Dept. and the proceeds help run the dept. all year.

Michael Haz said...

Angel Park in Sun Prairie is an historical old track. Midget racing was pretty much invented there.

I was at a car show there two years ago. A pretty 16 year old girl was standing next to a midget, so I struck up a conversation. She knew every detail about that car and it's engine. I finally figured it out - it was her car. She raced it.

I could hardly change a tire when I was 16.

virgil xenophon said...

Man how midget racing has changed. In the 50s midget racers looked exactly like their 50s Indy counterparts, only smaller. My rural town in E. Cent Illinois had one just outside the town on the way to the lake. There was a big small-town mid-western circuit in those days that has largely disappeared even beginning in the late 60s...don't know the gestation period of this totally different configuration..

virgil xenophon said...

For pics of the old 50s Indy-style midgets go to http://www.facebook.com/VintageSprintCarRacecarDriverPhotos

Third Coast said...

Back when the drivers started using roll cages and seat belts I lost interest. Pussies.

The Dude said...

deborah - the information was sent to our beloved, mutually trusted friend as previously discussed. Contact her and all will become evident.

Michael Haz said...

Virgil - I have a cousin whose late husband raced the older midgets in the 50s and 60s. One of his sons has the two card his father raced and is slowly restoring them.

He showed them to me, and while we were marveling who they were built, we were also discussing how the drivers lived through that era of racing.

No seat belts, no fuel safety, no roll bars or cages. Front tires from farm tractors, rear tires from semi trucks, rudimentary steering, wheel bearings from who-knows-where.

deborah said...

Thanks, Sixty, will do.