Chili Bowl Draws Top Young Racing Talent

Saturday, January 12 from Tulsa, Okla.

Live on HBO Pay-Per-View

from Motorsports Management, TULSA, OKLAHOMA (January 10, 2008) – The thousands of spectators who fill the Tulsa QuikTrip Center from Jan. 8-12 for the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals – not to mention those countless more race fans who will see Saturday evening’s finale televised live on pay-per-view – won’t just witness some fabulous racing. They’ll also be watching many of the future stars of racing.

Perhaps more than any other short-track event in recent times, the Chili Bowl has become a sneak-preview kind of race, one at which attentive viewers can get an early look at some of America’s emerging motorsports talent.

The list of drivers whose career ladders have included a Chili Bowl rung – or several – is impressive, indeed, starting with two-time NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion Tony Stewart, who has also twice hoisted the “Golden Driller” trophy for winning this Tulsa classic.

Others who have made the jump from Midgets in Tulsa to NASCAR’s “big three” touring circuits include Sprint Cup stars Kasey Kahne and J.J. Yeley, Busch Series contender Jason Leffler and Bobby East, and Busch and Truck Series veteran Tracy Hines.

Stewart is clear in his belief that Chili Bowl experience can do wonders for a young driver’s confidence, not to mention his career. “Coming up and just getting the chance to race with some of these drivers is an experience of a lifetime,” Tony declares, “yet alone having the possibility of winning the whole thing.”

This year’s Chili Bowl will feature several young drivers who have already forged links to major NASCAR teams. Among them are former USAC Midget and Sprint Car champion Josh Wise (a development driver for Michael Waltrip Racing), Bryan Clauson and Brady Bacon (Chip Ganassi Racing), Billy Wease (Penske Racing), Kevin Swindell (Gillett Evernham Motorsports), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Roush Fenway Racing) and 2005 Chili Bowl winner Tim McCreadie (Richard Childress Racing).

And hot on the heels of those young men is another group of “25 and under” racers who have Chili Bowl glory as a short-term plan, and a major-league opportunity as their ultimate goal. Sharp-eyed fans will no doubt be marking many of them down as drivers to watch. Among them: two-time USAC Sprint Car champion Levi Jones; Kasey Kahne Racing driver Brad Sweet; USAC Western Sprint and Midget star Ryan Kaplan; World of Outlaws Late Model winner Josh Richards; Darren Hagen, a threat to win in both USAC Sprints and Midgets; Missouri star Brad Loyet; Badger Midget Auto Racing Association (BMARA) champion Brad Kuhn; Jessica Zemken, a popular winged Sprint Car winner in the Northeast; young USAC contenders Chris Windom, Hunter Schuerenberg, Dakoda Armstrong, Cole Whitt and Brett Beauchamp; ARCA stock car sensation (and third-place finisher in last year’s Chili Bowl) Justin Allgaier; teenaged POWRi Midget contender Zach Daum of Illinois; California’s Justin Grant, a Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) champion at 17; New Yorker Coleman Gulick, to young to drive on America’s highways but already a winged Sprint Car winner; Indiana Sprint Car winner Shane Hollingsworth; and home-state favorites Dustin Morgan of Collinsville and Donnie Ray Crawford of Broken Arrow.

All of these drivers, plus more than 200 of their closest friends and fiercest rivals, will endure a rugged series of “qualifying nights” on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, hoping above all to make the 24-car starting field for Saturday night’s prestigious A-Main on January 12.

ABOUT CHILI BOWL TELECAST:

Don’t miss a minute! HBO Pay-Per-View presents the live, with no commercials, television broadcast of the 2008 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals on Saturday, Jan. 12, at 8:00 pm ET (5:00 pm PT). The HBO Pay-Per-View telecast has a suggested retail price of $24.95, and will be available to all cable and satellite homes throughout the US and Canada. Order directly from your digital cable or satellite TV system or contact your provider's customer service for details. A subscription to HBO is not required. Visit http://www.hbo.com./events/chili.

On Friday, January 11 at 10:30 pm ET (7:30 pm PT), racing fans can log on to NASCAR.com and Foxsports.com to watch a free live video webcast of the final night of qualifications.

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