Chili Bowl Nationals Diary: Night 4

Credit: Chad Boat Racing

Chili Bowl Diary Night 4: Anytime you have a multiple night show like the Chili Bowl there is going to be one night that isn’t as exciting as the rest. There is going to be that one night when things are just a little bit off. Whether that is because the competitors are tired or whether it’s those of us that are covering it are tired, or whether it’s because the surface has taken a beating. There is that one night when things are just a bit off. Tonight was that night in Tulsa.

The track is made with a clay dirt surface that is stored from year to year and every few years they add new clay to the mix to keep it alive. Yes it is a living surface. Just like most outdoor tracks are mulched and left to sit under the snow and rain of winter and early spring and then the mulch, usually leaves and compost, is worked into the surface and it is over watered and allowed to sit and then worked again to prepare for the new season,the chili bowl surface is stored under cover and treated the same way during the year.

This surface was used for the Tulsa Shootout last week and it ran 214 races. It was worked and grated and it has now hosted The Chili Bowl a week later. The surface is tired. There were some ruts in turns 1 and 2 early on in the evening that they tried to work out. The cushion or the loose dirt became very heavy up at the wall and had to be scraped back down. As fantastic as she is and as exciting as she can be she is simply tired. She needs a lot of love and work tonight to get ready for tomorrow when she will start with K Mains and work her way up to the big race the A Main. She will be ready. She always is. But tonight she was tired. “The track tonight was as hard to pass on as any I have been on,” said Dave Darland who came home third tonight. Darland is a multiple time champion on dirt and asphalt and is well versed in tricky surfaces.

“We had a really good car early on and toward the end it just went away on us,” said Darland, “But we are in the show, that is what matters.” Darland showed steady and consistent will bring you to the podium. He ran second through the A Main until the last lap in the last corner when he lost the spot to Cory Kruseman with a big slide job that he joking called a “dirty slide.”

Second place Cory Kruseman is a master in a midget and a former winner at the Chili Bowl Nationals. But Kruseman had troubles all night. "I just kept trying to tear the shit out of this car and the guys just kept fixing it,” stated Kruseman after his second place finish. “A lot of guys don’t understand, you can't win the thing if you aren't in it. You always want to win but here second or third is enough to get there Then you work on winning it,” said Kruseman,“we are in it so now we can fix all the stuff I tore up and work on winning the feature tomorrow.”

The winner tonight was a second generation winner at the Chili Bowl. Chad Boat’s dad, Billy Boat won the Golden Driller in 1997. Tonight Chad took the first step to following in those footsteps. “I’ve been coming here for seven years and only made the A once. So it's definitely the biggest win of my career." Said the young Boat who dominated flag to flag in tonight’s A Main.

Tonight had disappointments. Perhaps the biggest belonged to six time USAC Sprint Car Champion Levi Jones. Jones, who had a strong night staying just in contention, came out of the box in the A with a strong start. Running second, he had to stop to avoid hitting a car that was upside on the track on the backstretch. Coming to stop he was put to the rear of the field and could never come further back up than 13th which will relegate him to the B or C Main tomorrow.

The night was long. Longer than the two preceding nights of the event; it was peppered with wrecks flips, rolls, and just flat pieces that broke on the degrading surface. Richard Petty once said, “I’d rather be lucky than good.” At the Chili Bowl you have to be lucky and good. Coming through the soup can be done. It has been done. But it’s no easy task. Every trip to the track brings a new set of risks and obstacles. Coming through the soup, starting from mid pack back in the A takes iron will and a set of skills that never waivers and most of all a car that will stay under you every step of the way. Even with all those things in your favor, you still have two huge obstacles, Sammy and Kevin Swindell.

Will this be the year for a new winner or a repeat from the past? Will Tony Stewart come from the 12th starting spot to claim his third Golden Driller? Will Cory Kruseman work his way through to take home his second? Will Dave Darland show the prowess that made him the people’s champion and take home his second? Only tomorrow knows. It’s a 16 hour day of racing. Pick your driver. Then hold on tight. Cause the Chili Bowl Nationals will be won by someone tomorrow night.


A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 15X-Chad Boat[1]; 2. 21K-Cory Kruseman[8]; 3. 3DD-Dave Darland[4]; 4. 38-Billy Wease[2]; 5. 49-Trevor Kobylarz[6]; 6. 71K-Jason Meyers[9]; 7. 21-Daryn Pittman[11]; 8. 31-Justin Allgaier[15]; 9. 7B-Austin Brown[14]; 10. 73-Ryan Bernal[21]; 11. 9E-Alex Schutte[17]; 12. 4-Jon Stanbrough[5]; 13. 56A-Levi Jones[3]; 14. 3T-Tim Barber[18]; 15. 25M-Derrick Myers[20]; 16. 37X-Gary (Bubba) Altig[10]; 17. 91T-Tyler Thomas[13]; 18. 57D-Daniel Robinson[19]; 19. 91B-Kevin Bayer[24]; DNF 68-Ronnie Gardner[7]; DNF 29-Brandon Hahn[23]; DNF 05-Brad Loyet[16]; DNF 20-Tadd Holliman[12]; DNF 35D-Brett Felkins[22]

B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 9E-Alex Schutte[3]; 2. 57D-Daniel Robinson[5]; 3. 73-Ryan Bernal[15]; 4. 29-Brandon Hahn[1]; 5. 5C-Chris Coker[4]; 6. 151-Jesse Frazier[11]; 7. 191-Chase Barber[13]; 8. 17R-Kyle Steffens[8]; 9. 11W-Chase Stockton[7]; 10. 84-Joey Fabozzi[2]; 11. 0-Glenn Styres[14]; 12. 77-Mike Boesel[16]; 13. 6B-Bill Balog[6]; 14. 94C-Brad Cox[10]; DNF 23F-Josh Most[9]; DNF 15-Danny Burke[12]

B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 3T-Tim Barber[1]; 2. 25M-Derrick Myers[16]; 3. 35D-Brett Felkins[2]; 4. 91B-Kevin Bayer[15]; 5. 62S-Taylor Simas[6]; 6. 38K-Rick Hendrix[9]; 7. 2R-Levi Roberts[3]; 8. 17-Michael Koontz[12]; 9. 32A-Garrett Aitken[8]; 10. 6R-Joe Ramaker[5]; 11. 7CS-Pat Schudy[14]; 12. 24E-Cody Darrah[13]; 13. 32-Danny Jennings[10]; DNF 4K-Kevin Thomas Jr[7]; DNF 59E-Dex Eaton[4]; DNF 71XX-Davey Ray[11]

C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 191-Chase Barber[1]; 2. 0-Glenn Styres[4]; 3. 73-Ryan Bernal[10]; 4. 77-Mike Boesel[2]; 5. 59-Billy Lawhead[5]; 6. 82H-Mike Hess[13]; 7. 27B-Johnny Scott[11]; 8. 14C-Shane Cockrum[9]; 9. 14X-Scott Petersen[12]; 10. 63D-Nick Knepper[14]; 11. 5L-Mike Larrison[15]; 12. 85-Jonathan Hendrick[8]; 13. 57H-Davey Heskin[7]; 14. 4X-Shawn Petersen[6]; DNF 1R-Robby Larson[3]

C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 24E-Cody Darrah[6]; 2. 7CS-Pat Schudy[2]; 3. 91B-Kevin Bayer[11]; 4. 25M-Derrick Myers[3]; 5. 14E-Eric Fenton[8]; 6. 7-Shannon McQueen[1]; 7. 27-Ryan Smith[12]; 8. 87C-Coby Hughes[5]; 9. 7RS-Scott Crystal[10]; 10. 88-Dustin Weland[15]; 11. 55S-Trey Starks[7]; 12. 83B-Eldon Blackaby[14]; DNF 3G-Matt Harms[4]; DNF 16C-Rich Camfield[13]; DNF 11XC-Steve Newman[9]

A-Feature Qualifier #1 (10 Laps): 1. 68-Ronnie Gardner[2]; 2. 3DD-Dave Darland[4]; 3. 38-Billy Wease[6]; 4. 71K-Jason Meyers[5]; 5. 2R-Levi Roberts[1]; 6. 9E-Alex Schutte[8]; 7. 5C-Chris Coker[3]; 8. 32A-Garrett Aitken[10]; 9. 151-Jesse Frazier[9]; 10. 71XX-Davey Ray[7]

A-Feature Qualifier #2 (10 Laps): 1. 37X-Gary (Bubba) Altig[1]; 2. 4-Jon Stanbrough[10]; 3. 7B-Austin Brown[2]; 4. 49-Trevor Kobylarz[6]; 5. 3T-Tim Barber[8]; 6. 35D-Brett Felkins[3]; 7. 6B-Bill Balog[9]; 8. 57D-Daniel Robinson[5]; 9. 94C-Brad Cox[7]; DNF 38K-Rick Hendrix[4]

A-Feature Qualifier #3 (10 Laps): 1. 15X-Chad Boat[6]; 2. 21-Daryn Pittman[2]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[1]; 4. 91T-Tyler Thomas[4]; 5. 31-Justin Allgaier[5]; 6. 59E-Dex Eaton[7]; 7. 4K-Kevin Thomas Jr[9]; 8. 62S-Taylor Simas[3]; 9. 32-Danny Jennings[8]; 10. 17-Michael Koontz[10]

A-Feature Qualifier #4 (10 Laps): 1. 56A-Levi Jones[4]; 2. 21K-Cory Kruseman[3]; 3. 29-Brandon Hahn[1]; 4. 20-Tadd Holliman[5]; 5. 84-Joey Fabozzi[8]; 6. 6R-Joe Ramaker[2]; DNF 17R-Kyle Steffens[9]; DNF 23F-Josh Most[7]; DNF 11W-Chase Stockton[6]; DNF 15-Danny Burke[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 71K-Jason Meyers[3]; 2. 35D-Brett Felkins[4]; 3. 6R-Joe Ramaker[5]; 4. 94C-Brad Cox[6]; 5. 32-Danny Jennings[7]; 6. 151-Jesse Frazier[9]; 7. 3G-Matt Harms[8]; 8. 27B-Johnny Scott[2]; 9. 83B-Eldon Blackaby[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 56A-Levi Jones[2]; 2. 29-Brandon Hahn[1]; 3. 68-Ronnie Gardner[6]; 4. 6B-Bill Balog[4]; 5. 05-Brad Loyet[9]; 6. 4X-Shawn Petersen[3]; 7. 59-Billy Lawhead[8]; 8. 14C-Shane Cockrum[7]; 9. 82H-Mike Hess[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11W-Chase Stockton[4]; 2. 20-Tadd Holliman[7]; 3. 23F-Josh Most[5]; 4. 2R-Levi Roberts[9]; 5. 59E-Dex Eaton[8]; 6. 1R-Robby Larson[6]; DNF 73-Ryan Bernal[1]; DNF 91B-Kevin Bayer[2]; DNF 88-Dustin Weland[3]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 7B-Austin Brown[1]; 2. 3DD-Dave Darland[5]; 3. 9E-Alex Schutte[3]; 4. 21-Daryn Pittman[8]; 5. 84-Joey Fabozzi[7]; 6. 25M-Derrick Myers[6]; 7. 77-Mike Boesel[9]; 8. 14X-Scott Petersen[2]; 9. 16C-Rich Camfield[4]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Trevor Kobylarz[5]; 2. 62S-Taylor Simas[4]; 3. 15X-Chad Boat[9]; 4. 4-Jon Stanbrough[2]; 5. 4K-Kevin Thomas Jr[6]; 6. 24E-Cody Darrah[3]; 7. 57H-Davey Heskin[7]; 8. 14E-Eric Fenton[8]; 9. 5L-Mike Larrison[1]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 57D-Daniel Robinson[3]; 2. 38-Billy Wease[8]; 3. 38K-Rick Hendrix[7]; 4. 15-Danny Burke[1]; 5. 17R-Kyle Steffens[6]; 6. 0-Glenn Styres[5]; 7. 7CS-Pat Schudy[9]; DNF 27-Ryan Smith[2]; DNF 63D-Nick Knepper[4]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 5C-Chris Coker[2]; 2. 21K-Cory Kruseman[4]; 3. 91T-Tyler Thomas[7]; 4. 191-Chase Barber[1]; 5. 7-Shannon McQueen[5]; 6. 17-Michael Koontz[8]; 7. 85-Jonathan Hendrick[3]; 8. 7RS-Scott Crystal[6]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Justin Allgaier[3]; 2. 37X-Gary (Bubba) Altig[2]; 3. 71XX-Davey Ray[4]; 4. 3T-Tim Barber[5]; 5. 32A-Garrett Aitken[6]; 6. 55S-Trey Starks[1]; 7. 87C-Coby Hughes[8]; 8. 11XC-Steve Newman[7]