For the first time ever, race fans can watch the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals featuring a who’s who of racing stars, including NASCAR’s Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne, who’ll battle aboard 800-hp midgets for one of the most coveted trophies in motorsport. Broadcasted live worldwide by HBO Pay-Per-View, the star-studded dirt track race takes place on Saturday, January 12, 2008 from Tulsa, Okla. Since its 1987 inception, the annual Chili Bowl has built a reputation as one of the premier and most unique motorsports events in America. Champions from various racing circuits travel to Tulsa’s QuikTrip Center during auto racing’s winter break for the opportunity to compete on the indoor, quarter mile-banked dirt oval in front of a sold-out crowd lucky enough to secure tickets the summer before. Motorsports Media Entertainment is promoting the broadcast in conjunction with HBO Pay-Per-View and title sponsor Lucas Oil. NeWave TV Productions of Tinley Park, Ill. is handling the event TV production. General Tire and Dodge are presenting sponsors. The live broadcast on Saturday, January 12 begins at 8:00pm/et, with an immediate pay-per-view replay and additional replays on Sunday. The HBO Pay-Per-View racing telecast has a suggested retail price $24.95 and will be available to more than 61 million pay-per-view homes in the United States and Canada and millions more worldwide. Ordering information is available at www.hbo.com.(HBO PR)(12-7-2007)
Thursday RESULTS: Brad Kuhn won Thursday’s Warren CAT Qualifier, Tony Stewart was 5th. Cole Whitt made a lap 20 pass of defending Chili Bowl champion Tony Stewart to snare the fourth and final lock-in position to Saturday night’s 50-lap Chili Bowl championship main event. Stewart rounded out the top five and will start from the front row of one of Saturday night’s “B” Main events as he tries to become the first back-to-back winner in Chili Bowl history, see Chilibowl.com for the story and all the results.(1-11-2008)
Friday RESULTS: Just when it looked as though Jason Leffler was going to win Friday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Qualifying event at Tulsa Expo Raceway’s Dodge Chili Bowl Nationals, his hired gun foiled his victory plans. California native Damion Gardner, piloting Leffler’s Pace Electronics/Team ASE #71g, made the top side of the ¼-mile clay oval inside the QuikTrip Center work over the latter stages of the 25-lap feature and swept into the lead on the 22nd lap to snare the win. Working his way from deep in the field, USAC ace Dave Darland slipped around Leffler on the final round to take second, with Leffler settling for the show position. Kasey Kahne batted past Ron Shuman on the 24th circuit to take the fourth and final lock-in position to Saturday night’s 50-lap Chili Bowl championship main event. Gardner, Darland, Leffler and Kahne join Wednesday night’s top four (Josh Ford, Aaron Fiscus, Jerry Coons, Jr., and Bryan Clauson) and Thursday’s top four (Brad Kuhn, Jon Stanbrough, Shane Cottle and Cole Whitt) as the dozen drivers locked into Saturday night’s main event, which will be televised live on HBO Pay-Per-View. The balance of the record 274 competitors will battle it out for the remaining dozen starting positions through Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops slate of Chili Bowl championship feature events, which get under way at 1:00 p.m., see Chilibowl.com for the story and all the results.(1-12-2008)
Saturday results: Damion Gardner went from outside looking in to looking back at everyone as he scored a dominating victory in Saturday nights 22nd annual Chili Bowl. Gardner was a last-minute entry for the biggest midget race of the year but he wound up being the class of the record 284 entries in front of a standing-room only crowd of 13,000. Starting on the outside of the front row, Gardner took command in Turn 1 and led all 50 laps despite 10 caution flags and a couple of challenges from Dave Darland. Darland, the USAC veteran from Kokomo, had to settle for second after starting fourth while Shane Cottle came home third. Defending champ Tony Stewart started 13th and ran eighth in the main event after capturing one of the B features while fellow NASCAR ace Kasey Kahne dropped out early with mechanical trouble.(more at SPEEDtv.com and at chilibowl.com)(1-13-2008)