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  • January 29...Schedules for the USAC National, USAC Western, POWRi, BCRA, Badger, NEMA and the VRA series have been posted on the Schedules page bringing the season total to 121 races.
     
    January 14...It took a quarter of a century to crown the first back-to-back winner in Chili Bowl Nationals history.  After crowning that champion last January, it only took one more year for a three-peat champion as 22-year-old Kevin Swindell of Germantown, TN, captured his third Golden Driller in a row by wiring the field in Saturday night’s 26th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals championship finale at the QuikTrip Center’s Tulsa Expo Raceway.
           And, for the second year in a row, it was Kevin taking Roger Slack’s checkered flag ahead of his father and five-time Chili Bowl king Sammy Swindell, though this time the younger Swindell needed no last corner heroics to take the top step on the podium in the feature event that was extended from 50 to 55 laps in tribute to popular Broken Arrow, OK, native and Chili Bowl competitor Donnie Ray Crawford, who lost his life in a tragic Saturday morning incident that cast a pall over the capacity crowd that numbered in excess of 17,000. Completing the top five were: Kyle Larson, Danny Stratton and Bryan Clauson.
    January 13...Two-time Chili Bowl champion Cory Kruseman made his way back to the QuikTrip Center’s Tulsa Expo Raceway victory lane by topping Friday night’s 25-lap Vacuworx International qualifying feature at the 26th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals.  Kruseman battled past  Bryan Clauson for the lead on the high side en route to a Chili Bowl record seventh career preliminary feature win aboard his Esslinger-powered MavTV/Lucas Oil No. 21k Esslinger, with runner-up Levi Jones and third-place Clauson also locking into Saturday night’s 50-lap Chili Bowl championship finale.

    January 12...On Thursday night, Kevin Swindell, put himself in a prime position for a three-peat by winning the 25-lap Suburban Chevrolet qualifying feature event atop the ¼-mile clay oval on the third night of action at the 26th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals. Swindell took the checkered flag with a 1.705-second advantage over Indiana’s Shane Cottle and Brad Sweet, who also locked into Saturday night’s 50-lap Chili Bowl championship finale.

    January 11...Sammy Swindell kept up his winning ways at the QuikTrip Center’s Tulsa Expo Raceway by topping Wednesday night’s 25-lap River Spirit Casino Qualifier “A” Main event at the 26th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals. The five-time Chili Bowl champion battled ahead of Danny Stratton after a handful of circuits and raced on to his seventh preliminary Chili Bowl main event win in front of Stratton and reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart, who also locked into Saturday night’s 50-lap championship finale by virtue of earning podium finishes.

    January 10...Coming off a remarkable breakthrough season in 2011, Kyle Larson added yet another notch to the win column by topping Tuesday night’s 25-lap Warren CAT Qualifying feature event to kick off the 26th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals at the QuikTrip Center’s Tulsa Expo Raceway.  The 19-year-old from Elk Grove, CA, raced by Kevin Ramey for the lead on the high side on the fifth round and worked traffic flawlessly over the final ten circuits to post the victory in front of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and New Zealand’s Michael Pickens, with each of the podium finishers locked into Saturday’s 50-lap Chili Bowl championship feature event.

    January 8...After a full day of parking over 260 teams from throughout the nation and beyond, the QuikTrip Center is Chili Bowl ready. And, all appearances are that the City of Tulsa is Chili Bowl ready as well. With all the teams in place inside the QuikTrip Center, all that remains between Tuesday’s kickoff of the 26th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals is Monday’s practice session atop the ¼-mile Tulsa Expo Raceway clay oval from 9:00 a.m. until approximately 6:00 p.m.
            With another couple of entries filed on Sunday, the current count for the prestigious event is at 264 from 32 different states as well as Australia, Canada, Finland and New Zealand. Among the additions to the entry list on Sunday is past New Zealand Midget champion Shaun Insley, who takes the seat of the second Andy Bondio entry and teams with fellow Kiwi Brad Mosen.
            Monday’s practice session will be followed by four full nights of qualifying action on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, which will set the stage for Saturday’s slate of championship feature events.Tuesday’s Warren CAT Qualifier will also include the Fourth Annual Vacuworx International Race of Champions (VIROC IV), which will include NASCAR champions Tony Stewart and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., along with a host of other Chili Bowl stars    .

     

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