Chilli Bowl

Revman

Denny beat your favorite driver....again!
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I am not a dirt guy, but I watched....trying to get the idea for Bristol. Somebody who is....rate that race. Additionally, it fascinates me that Larson doesn't mention TRD (I don't think he can), and Toyota Racing claims the win in social media, but not the driver. Why doesn't Chevy just make this easier for everybody?
 
To my knowledge, Chevrolet does not have a factory midget team. For what it’s worth, Larson always drives Toyota’s midgets.

Fernando Alonso signed with Chevrolet to race last year’s Indy 500. Unrelated series, unrelated sponsor obligations. I don’t think it’s that complicated.
 
I've attended several back in the day, and watched every one since they've been televised / streamed.

Honestly, that A-Main was below average for the event. They spent a lot of time reworking the track, but they missed it and the groove was too narrow. A lot of great racing throughout the week, and the B features were the best racing of Saturday.

I don't rate races, but that's my opinion. NASCAR Bristol is a totally different animal because they are going to aim for an extremely hard packed surface to withstand 500 laps. It will inevitably take rubber (which is what they're trying to avoid at Chili Bowl), and more resemble pavement.
 
To my knowledge, Chevrolet does not have a factory midget team. For what it’s worth, Larson always drives Toyota’s midgets.

Fernando Alonso signed with Chevrolet to race last year’s Indy 500. Unrelated series, unrelated sponsor obligations. I don’t think it’s that complicated.

Wonder why they don't? Yeah, I know it is pretty straightforward from driver to media, but I thought it was interesting that from OEM to media the same agreement apparently holds. Don't mention me, and I won't mention you. Given this, WTF is the point?
 
I've attended several back in the day, and watched every one since they've been televised / streamed.

Honestly, that A-Main was below average for the event. They spent a lot of time reworking the track, but they missed it and the groove was too narrow. A lot of great racing throughout the week, and the B features were the best racing of Saturday.

I don't rate races, but that's my opinion. NASCAR Bristol is a totally different animal because they are going to aim for an extremely hard packed surface to withstand 500 laps. It will inevitably take rubber (which is what they're trying to avoid at Chili Bowl), and more resemble pavement.
I couldn't help but think that if this had been a Cup event, people would have been ****ting themselves. I am not an aficionado of what a "great race" is, but IMO that sucked.
 
I couldn't help but think that if this had been a Cup event, people would have been ****ting themselves. I am not an aficionado of what a "great race" is, but IMO that sucked.

It definitely didn't suck and was quite intense, but most main events there are better.

TRD engines have won every Chili Bowl since 2015. Some of that is because that's what Bell, Larson, and Abreu run, but the best talent and best equipment tend to find each other. Larson isn't going there to bring a new manufacturer up to speed.
 
It definitely didn't suck and was quite intense, but most main events there are better.

TRD has won every Chili Bowl since 2015. Some of that is because that's what Bell, Larson, and Abreu run, but the best talent and the best equipment tend to find each other. Neither Bell or Larson are going there to bring a new manufacturer up to speed.
A lot of teams run Toyota motors, but they aren't the "factory" team. That's KKM (Keith Kuntz Motorsports) with I think it was 7 cars this year. Larson and Bell used to race for them. KKM didn't have a podium finish in the feature this year and that is unusual. Larson and Bell are privateers.

 
It definitely didn't suck and was quite intense, but most main events there are better.

Then the metric for suckiness is different in grassroots than it is in the big time. I will do more research.

Along the lines of the OEM conversation....I just found it fascinating....and perhaps a bit unfortunate.
 
A lot of teams run Toyota motors, but they aren't the "factory" team. That's KKM (Keith Kuntz Motorsports) with I think it was 7 cars this year. Larson and Bell used to race for them. KKM didn't have a podium finish in the feature this year and that is unusual. Larson and Bell are privateers.



All true, I didn't mean to imply it was all Toyota factory teams. I guess what I'm saying is there is a simple reason why Boat / Bell and Silva / Larson are still using the Toyota motors for midgets, and that is that they are the best available option currently, whether they get factory support or not.
 
There were some Esslinger 4 banger motors in the field that are modified Ford motors, I don't know how many but Sammy ran one, and this year there were a couple of Honda motors in the field. I don't think either get much factory backing
 
Sammy still holds the overall lead in wins but Bell and Larson have a good chance to break the record if they keep going.
Sammy Swindell 5 wins
Kevin Swindell 4 wins
Christopher Bell 3 wins
Kyle Larson 2 wins
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Hopefully Chase Elliot keeps coming back and maybe Kyle Busch will see how much fun everyone is having and give it a shot at some time in the future. One of the things I like about the Chili Bowl is that because it is in the off season it attracts a lot of drivers from different racing organizations.
 
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Outdoor cars are quite a bit heavier and sturdier to handle more abuse for those that don't know. Paul Silva doing a bit of rubbing their noses in it builds Kyle Larson's cars, and they have had a hell of a last year.

 
Of interest @Revman From what I hear, the Toyota midget pushrod motors were designed from the ground up to run menthol instead of converted gasoline car motors. To my knowledge no other OEM has gone to all of the effort and the expense to do that.
 
You aren't going to tell much about a 3400 lb stock car on dirt from a 750 to 1000 lb midget
For sure. I think we can tell that Larson and Bell are going to be real fast in both on the dirt. They run for organizations that will build a custom dirt car and bend all of the rules that they can get away with. I'm excited about it myself if nothing else but Nascar's and the Smith's attempts to provide something different and fun in the racing world. Will we see INDYCars on dirt soon? Years ago they would change to dirt tires and go USAC racing.
 
I normally don't pay much attention to spelling but I knew we had a rookie Chili Bowl fan when he misspelled the thread name. :)
I didn't mini mod him either. Rookie posting a dirt midget race in the Nascar section..but hey it's Revman didn't want to run him off. Maybe when he sees all of the yoter motors they use in the series he will become an instant dirt midget fan. :idunno:
 
maybe Kyle Busch will see how much fun everyone is having and give it a shot at some time in the future.
I’d imagine theres insurance clauses in the way for some drivers. Bell took a wild ride with 2 to go and I’m positive his insurance company tightened their sphincters.
 
I’d imagine theres insurance clauses in the way for some drivers. Bell took a wild ride with 2 to go and I’m positive his insurance company tightened their sphincters.
I guarantee you there is and also with some of the team contracts that the drivers are employed with.
 
The Hendrick Motorsports bunch showed up strong. Team big wig Gordon was there along with William Byron and then there were the participants. Larson wins it, Bowman brought two cars with his team, and Cup winner Elliott ran his second midget race there.
 
The Hendrick Motorsports bunch showed up strong. Team big wig Gordon was there along with William Byron and then there were the participants. Larson wins it, Bowman brought two cars with his team, and Cup winner Elliott ran his second midget race there.
Yep, I like that Mr. H gives them the leeway to still race in other series in their off time. Not every team owner allows that and it will be in the contract.
 
The first time I watched. The free Facebook live feed was my way to watch and I was blown away. I went and bought with my brother a subscription to FloRacing ( he likes snowmobile racing) and I am going to try to get DirtVision to watch more Outlaws racing. Iam officially hooked, my wife even watched the whole event with me last night, she loved it.
 
I’d imagine theres insurance clauses in the way for some drivers. Bell took a wild ride with 2 to go and I’m positive his insurance company tightened their sphincters.
"they" whoever "they" are pulled Bell last year after a wreck in New Zealand. Larson had two black eyes but he kept after it.
 
"they" whoever "they" are pulled Bell last year after a wreck in New Zealand. Larson had two black eyes but he kept after it.
Edit: he had one black eye...but it was a beaut.

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Of interest @Revman From what I hear, the Toyota midget pushrod motors were designed from the ground up to run menthol instead of converted gasoline car motors. To my knowledge no other OEM has gone to all of the effort and the expense to do that.

...but with dirt, this is about the driver, right? Are you suggesting that TRD has out motored everybody for the last 7 years?
 
...but with dirt, this is about the driver, right? Are you suggesting that TRD has out motored everybody for the last 7 years?

Come on. We don't need to have these infantile over-simplifications. Toyota has the best midget engine available, especially for the small track at the Chili Bowl. Before that, Esslinger did. Before that, Gaerte did.

Equipment matters, setup knowledge and experience matters a lot, and driver matters a lot. Nobody can win an event that is contested as heavily as the Chili Bowl without the best of all three.
 
I know this is in jest, but he's won two out of 14. On a racier track surface, he wasn't the quickest car last night. I think it was actually his newfound maturity that won him the race, as he didn't wildly overdrive it.
I disagree, they had his setup dialed in for the closing laps and he gaped them all by a large margin. Bell's desperation moves toward the end of the race were admirable but he was way over his head over driving the car. I don't think Larson's 30 wins in a sprint car last year had anything to do with a racier surface
 
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sucked.really,he only beat 319 cars this week.;)
Probably a good idea to consider the source. The Rev isn't much of a fan to put it mildly of Larson. :idunno: The Chili bowl is one of the top races in the world and Larson said the race was bigger than the Daytona 500 or something like that and it bent the noses of some Nascar fans. I'd say in the U.S. for the big races, It's the Indy 500, the Daytona 500, and the Chili Bowl because they represent three different forms of racing.
 
I disagree, they had his setup dialed in for the closing laps and he gaped them all by a large margin. Bell's desperation moves toward the end of the race were admirable but he was way over his head over driving the car. I don't think Larson's 30 wins in a sprint car last year had anything to do with a racier surface

I respect your opinion. I don't even know if we disagree that fundamentally. Larson drove a smart race, but the quality of the field of cars and drivers he is fighting is not to be minimized. Neither is how well he and Silva have clicked.
 
And I yours. I'm just not much of a track guy unless there are deep holes or ruts in the wrong places that are airborneing cars. Setups are the science of the dirt instead of Aero and HP. Got to have a shoe in the car and get the setup right for what ever the changing track surface is going to do IMO. If the setup is a good one, people like Daryn Pitman go from 20th to 5th against the best in the world.
 
it fascinates me that Larson doesn't mention TRD
I wanna come back to this. Why do we think that drivers have to absolutely name every sponsor they can? It makes the interviews inorganic and forced. Just let them say whatever they want in the moment, it brings out unique personality that is needed so much.

Besides, TRD has their logo everywhere around that track and in victory lane. That is the ad space they paid for, it should suffice. Nobody is purchasing a Toyota street car because a dirt midget won a race.
 
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