Chili Bowl Nationals Diary: Night 2

Photo Credit: Speedway Motors

Chili Bowl Diary, Night 2: Earlier this week I choose the three drivers that I thought would lock themselves in on every night. Last night,  I got three out of three and tonight I got two out of three. I really thought that Bobby East would lock in tonight but an ill handling car kept him from coming through the field. “We made some changes there at the end and we went a little too far. But we have a great car. I think we will be okay in the end,” said East.

The three that did advance are legends in the dirt world. They have all made their mark and built their reputations through skills and determination on the track.

Sammy Swindell is one of the smartest racers in any genre of motorsports. His expertise with shocks and engines is legendary and Swindell uses it to his best advantage as well he should. With a wing or without, no matter how far down or how unlikely it seems that he can win - NEVER underestimate Sammy Swindell. More importantly NEVER count him out. He is one of the "Master Magicians of Speed" and he proved it tonight without a shadow of a doubt. "We were able to get a feel for the car and come out and run as hard as we needed too," said Swindell during post race interviews. Never short on humor when asked if he had a preference for a line around the track he quipped, “As long as I am faster than everyone else it doesn’t matter where we run."

Runner up Damion Gardner’s nickname is "The Demon." Partly because of the way his name is spelled and partly because of the way he drives. Whether he is leading or trying to slice his way through a pack, Gardner drives like a man possessed. His forte is USAC Midgets but he is equally prolific in non-wing sprint cars and has even run a few Silver Crown races. However, Gardner is a midget virtuoso and past Chili Bowl champion having won the Golden Driller in 2008. "The Demon" is always a threat to win from deep in the pack to starting on the pole his skills more often than not lead him to top of the podium. “Our car started to go away about half way. I knew I didn’t have anything for Sammy. I was just trying to hold off Jac.”

Third place finisher was legend Jac Haudenschild. "The Wild Child" as he is known in his home series - The World of Outlaws. He can slice his way through a stacked field in very few laps and has no issues with banging a few wheels if necessary. Another of the "Master Magicians of Speed," Haudenschild is always exciting to watch because his car control is second to none and he has virtually no fear. Although his expertise lies in Winged Sprints, he has been victorious in Non-Wing Sprints and Midgets throughout his career. When asked about his final pass of the night "The Wild Child" chuckled and replied, "We banged a little bit getting around the orange car but that is how you have to do it here."

Rounding out the top five tonight were Gary Taylor and Shane Golobic. Golobic waged an all out war for 25 laps with Darren Hagen. Hagen, who is the former USAC Midget Champion, was fast and steady but Golobic would make his move when Hagen bobbled avoiding a lap car in traffic. With only two laps remaining and in heavy traffic, Hagen would have to settle for sixth place.

Overall the racing tonight was exciting and fast paced. There were thrills and spills of every kind. In the first C Main, Wayne Johnson crashed into the fence causing lots of damage to it. His car was hung up on top of the fence causing a delay allowing time to get the car down and the fence to be fixed. Johnson would walk away uninjured.

There were also disappointments and unfortunately NASCAR Cup driver Kasey Kahne's night turned out to be one of those. Breaking a drive line early in the B Main, he would have to run the alphabet soup to get into the big show. Kahne stated that he would not be returning to fight his way through the soup saying, “We broke a driveline. I am off to Daytona. See you next year.”

Kahne’s car was never fast and he had to lay a bumper to Wayne Johnson in the C Main to take that victory into the B Main. As a former open wheel champion, he rarely uses his dirt skills these days driving the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in NASCAR and is limited in outside races by his contract there.

The second night at the Chili Bowl has come to an end and there are still two to go. Two more sets of drivers, two more sets of cars and six more spots to be filled for the A Main on Saturday. Who will they be? We will have to wait to see. But one thing we do know, the excitement will be unforgettable.

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 1-Sammy Swindell[1]; 2. 47-Damion Gardner[3]; 3. 71X-Jac Haudenschild[4]; 4. 05T-Gary Taylor[2]; 5. 11-Shane Golobic[6]; 6. 3-Darren Hagen[7]; 7. 39B-Bryan Clauson[13]; 8. 51S-Mike Spencer[5]; 9. 93-Dustin Morgan[8]; 10. 10-Brad Kuhn[14]; 11. 4E-Bobby East[17]; 12. 67W-Christopher Bell[12]; 13. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[11]; 14. 75H-Johnny Herrera[19]; 15. 57-Thomas Meseraull[16]; 16. 77B-Alex Bright[10]; 17. 72-Tyler Edwards[22]; 18. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[18]; 19. 91K-Dereck King[15]; 20. 015-David Prickett[24]; 21. 83-Kurt Blackaby[23]; 22. 51W-Brandon Waelti[21]; DNF 14JR-Matt Streeter[9]; DNF 2S-Danny Stratton[20]

B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 4E-Bobby East[1]; 2. 75H-Johnny Herrera[5]; 3. 51W-Brandon Waelti[4]; 4. 83-Kurt Blackaby[6]; 5. 5CC-Colten Cottle[11]; 6. 7X-Critter Malone[15]; 7. 16-Robert Ballou[7]; 8. 7S-Hunter Schuerenberg[10]; 9. 27R-Kyle O'Gara[8]; 10. 8K-Blake Hahn[9]; 11. 11J-Travis Berryhill[16]; DNF 89-Kasey Kahne[13]; DNF 1AZ-Steve Sussex Jr[2]; DNF 35T-Tyler Robbins[12]; DNF 3B-Jayme Barnes[3]; DNF 22X-Wayne Johnson[14]

B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[1]; 2. 2S-Danny Stratton[6]; 3. 72-Tyler Edwards[2]; 4. 015-David Prickett[5]; 5. 57A-Hannah Adair[4]; 6. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[12]; 7. 2A-Jason Howell[7]; 8. 24L-C.J. Leary[10]; 9. 1W-Paul White[15]; 10. 1T-Tony Roney[3]; 11. 12JR-Josh Pelkey[8]; 12. 9P-Wes McIntyre[13]; 13. 44-Don Droud Jr[14]; DNF 44S-Clint Schubert[16]; DNF 0X-Johnny Murdock[11]; DNS 7JR-J.D. Black

C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 89-Kasey Kahne[2]; 2. 22X-Wayne Johnson[1]; 3. 7X-Critter Malone[13]; 4. 11J-Travis Berryhill[6]; 5. 67K-Riley Emmel[8]; 6. 37T-Harli White[7]; 7. 25P-Dylan Peterson[5]; DNF 20X-Jimmy Harris[11]; DNF 4F-Chad Frewaldt[9]; DNF 7T-Trey Marcham[12]; DNF 12M-Kyle McCutcheon[3]; DNF 94-Layne Himebaugh[10]; DNF 10C-Dalton Camfield[4]

C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 9P-Wes McIntyre[1]; 2. 44-Don Droud Jr[5]; 3. 1W-Paul White[3]; 4. 44S-Clint Schubert[8]; 5. 98GB-Gavin Galbraith[9]; 6. 2DD-Josh Hawkins[4]; 7. 11B-Andee Beierle[2]; 8. 91-Jeff Stasa[11]; 9. 5M-Ned Fry[10]; DNF 85J-Matt Johnson[6]; DNF 82-Eric Johnson[12]; DNF 5$-Danny Smith[7]; DNS 9F-Jared Carpenter

A-Feature Qualifier #1 (10 Laps): 1. 05T-Gary Taylor[4]; 2. 77B-Alex Bright[2]; 3. 14JR-Matt Streeter[7]; 4. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[5]; 5. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[9]; 6. 72-Tyler Edwards[3]; 7. 2A-Jason Howell[1]; 8. 12JR-Josh Pelkey[8]; 9. 1AZ-Steve Sussex Jr[6]; 10. 35T-Tyler Robbins[10]

A-Feature Qualifier #2 (10 Laps): 1. 3-Darren Hagen[2]; 2. 11-Shane Golobic[4]; 3. 4E-Bobby East[1]; 4. 67W-Christopher Bell[5]; 5. 39B-Bryan Clauson[6]; 6. 1T-Tony Roney[8]; 7. 015-David Prickett[3]; 8. 8K-Blake Hahn[9]; 9. 5CC-Colten Cottle[10]; DNS 0X-Johnny Murdock

A-Feature Qualifier #3 (10 Laps): 1. 71X-Jac Haudenschild[3]; 2. 47-Damion Gardner[5]; 3. 51S-Mike Spencer[6]; 4. 91K-Dereck King[10]; 5. 51W-Brandon Waelti[1]; 6. 57A-Hannah Adair[9]; 7. 83-Kurt Blackaby[8]; 8. 27R-Kyle O'Gara[2]; 9. 7S-Hunter Schuerenberg[7]; DNF 7JR-J.D. Black[4]

A-Feature Qualifier #4 (10 Laps): 1. 1-Sammy Swindell[6]; 2. 10-Brad Kuhn[1]; 3. 93-Dustin Morgan[5]; 4. 57-Thomas Meseraull[3]; 5. 3B-Jayme Barnes[2]; 6. 75H-Johnny Herrera[10]; 7. 16-Robert Ballou[8]; 8. 2S-Danny Stratton[4]; 9. 24L-C.J. Leary[7]; 10. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 93-Dustin Morgan[2]; 2. 51W-Brandon Waelti[1]; 3. 12JR-Josh Pelkey[3]; 4. 16-Robert Ballou[5]; 5. 5CC-Colten Cottle[4]; 6. 24H-Bryan Sebetto[9]; 7. 44-Don Droud Jr[7]; 8. 94-Layne Himebaugh[8]; DNS 9F-Jared Carpenter

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1AZ-Steve Sussex Jr[6]; 2. 7JR-J.D. Black[4]; 3. 1T-Tony Roney[3]; 4. 35T-Tyler Robbins[1]; 5. 0X-Johnny Murdock[8]; 6. 1W-Paul White[2]; DNF 11J-Travis Berryhill[7]; DNF 91-Jeff Stasa[9]; DNF 20X-Jimmy Harris[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 05T-Gary Taylor[2]; 2. 51S-Mike Spencer[5]; 3. 67W-Christopher Bell[7]; 4. 8K-Blake Hahn[3]; 5. 7S-Hunter Schuerenberg[8]; 6. 89-Kasey Kahne[6]; 7. 67K-Riley Emmel[4]; 8. 7X-Critter Malone[1]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 71X-Jac Haudenschild[1]; 2. 2S-Danny Stratton[4]; 3. 015-David Prickett[6]; 4. 3B-Jayme Barnes[7]; 5. 24L-C.J. Leary[8]; 6. 10C-Dalton Camfield[2]; 7. 37T-Harli White[5]; 8. 7T-Trey Marcham[3]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Shane Golobic[2]; 2. 10-Brad Kuhn[1]; 3. 27R-Kyle O'Gara[5]; 4. 2A-Jason Howell[7]; 5. 57A-Hannah Adair[6]; 6. 12M-Kyle McCutcheon[3]; 7. 44S-Clint Schubert[4]; DNF 4F-Chad Frewaldt[8]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Thomas Meseraull[1]; 2. 1-Sammy Swindell[5]; 3. 83-Kurt Blackaby[3]; 4. 4E-Bobby East[7]; 5. 91K-Dereck King[4]; 6. 2DD-Josh Hawkins[2]; 7. 11B-Andee Beierle[8]; 8. 5M-Ned Fry[6]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 77B-Alex Bright[1]; 2. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[5]; 3. 47-Damion Gardner[7]; 4. 8V-Jace VanderWeerd[4]; 5. 22X-Wayne Johnson[3]; 6. 25P-Dylan Peterson[2]; 7. 85J-Matt Johnson[6]; DNF 98GB-Gavin Galbraith[8]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Darren Hagen[1]; 2. 72-Tyler Edwards[4]; 3. 39B-Bryan Clauson[8]; 4. 14JR-Matt Streeter[6]; 5. 9P-Wes McIntyre[3]; 6. 75H-Johnny Herrera[7]; 7. 5$-Danny Smith[5]; 8. 82-Eric Johnson[2]