#9x - Dave Darland (Walton, IN)

11th Chili Bowl Appearance

Chili Bowl Main Event Starts: 9

Chili Bowl Main Event Finishes:  13th (1998), 20th (2000), 24th (2001), 5th (2002), 16th (2003), 10th (2004), 3rd (2005), 10th (2006), 16th (2007)

2007 Chili Bowl Results:

Friday: 1st in Heat 9; 2nd in Qualifier 2; 1st in A Main

Saturday: 16th in A Main

The wingless open wheel ace added ten feature wins in 2007 to run his career total to 179 triumphs.  Four victories came in Midget action (including a Chili Bowl qualifying night feature, an Australian score and a pair of USAC wins including Turkey Night honors at Irwindale) with a half-dozen Sprint Car triumphs (with two of three USAC wins coming during Indiana Sprint Week along with an O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT win at Nebraska Raceway Park's I-80 Speedway).  

A past champion in all three of USAC's National divisions, Dave piled up 48 top-fives and 78 top-ten in 103 overall feature starts in 2007 and ranked third in USAC Sprint Car points and fourth in USAC Midget points.

Making the cut for Saturday night's Chili Bowl championship main event over each of the past eight years, Darland teams with car owner Steve Lewis, who makes a return to the Chili Bowl. 

Car Owner:  Steve Lewis

Chassis:  Spike

Engine:  Ed Pink Toyota

Sponsors:  Team ASE, Oakley, Performance Racing Industry, Toyota

Photo: Dave Darland shows off 2,000 $2 bills after topping the O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT feature at Nebraska Raceway Park's I-80 Speedway on August 14. (TWC photo)