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The Chili Bowl is great, incredible, amazing... But it could be better | Daily 1-16-2023

The 2023 Chili Bowl is in the books, we had a first time winner, a four time champion was back on the victory stage, and there is plenty to unpack from the week of racing. So let's get into it.

It's Monday, January 16th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

From 2009 to 2013, a Swindell took home the Golden Driller five straight years, with Sammy winning in 2009, and Kevin going four straight from 2010 to 2013. Since then though, a new generation of racers have taken over the Chili Bowl, and the Swindells have been much less of a factor. That is due in large part obviously, to Kevin Swindell becoming a car owner and crew chief following his devastating incident at Knoxville in 2015 that ended his driving career. They've continued to fight the fight though inside the expo, and everything just seemed to fall in place this year. A new partnership with Bertrand, the launch of a new beverage business in Victory Fuel, and driver Logan Seavey at the peak of his powers. When you look over the prelim night winners, three of the five led every lap in their feature, and those three drivers are who the Chili Bowl battle came down to; Seavey, Tanner Thorson, and Cannon McIntosh. Only Seavey and McIntosh ended up leading laps in the main event, but over the final stretch of the race, Thorson was very much in the mix, and maybe even a little better than Seavey. But the red and white 39 machine was able to defend the top spot thanks to decisions made at the right time, and a track that took rubber late. Thorson had chances to move Seavey up out of the groove, but instead chose not to, and eventually settled for second. The victory was the first for Seavey inside the building, and the Swindell name was back on the winner's stage for the first time in ten years. Behind the top two, McIntosh grabbed the final podium spot, with Shane Golobic fourth, and Emerson Axsom in fifth. Tim Buckwalter was the hard charger with a 23rd to ninth run, and Jade Avedisian was named Chili Bowl rookie of the year for her feature appearance and 18th place result. The celebration afterwards for the SpeedLab group and Seavey was obviously emotional and electric, and exactly what we watch the Chili Bowl for. A comeback story basically ten years in the making.

There were plenty of other stories during championship Saturday, including Kris Carroll's history making alphabet run that started with an eighth place start in an N-Main, and finally concluded with a seventh place finish in an H-Main. It was seven mains advanced, and 61 positions gained, which was a record for the event. Not bad for the micro racer making his Chili Bowl debut. We had two women in the feature for the first time ever, with Kaylee Bryson returning and Jade in during her first appearance. Hat tip to Tim McCreadie for a 13th to seventh run in the B, followed by a 24th to 11th run in the main event. Our guy Tanner Holmes finished the day with a 16th place result in a C-Main. Very strong first trip to Tulsa and first real event behind the wheel of a midget. And the driver who I thought was the heavy favorite in Buddy Kofoid again had crap luck on Saturday after that wall ride on his prelim night. He was involved in a crash in that second D-Main trying to get into a transfer spot and his day was complete. The most dominant driver in a midget all of 2022 never had a chance to shine.

As for the reaction to the event on Saturday, there were plenty of track prep complaints and the noise about the pace of the Saturday night program was again plenty loud. The Friday night prelim feature took rubber, and even with a complete track rework after the B's, Gravel and the boys couldn't avoid the rubber late in the 55 lapper either. Tanner Thorson was pretty vocal after the feature about his disappointment with the track conditions. Even with the issues though, I thought the racing was entertaining. A couple of lead changes, and even with the rubber late, the track widened out quicker than I thought it would. I have much less of a problem with the track conditions than I do with the run of show following the Saturday D-Mains.

And before we even dive into this topic, I want it noted that we are very much allowed to complain about and not be super stoked about the show runs from the C-Mains on. You don't need to have promoted dirt racing events, or worked in event management to call a spade a spade. The tweets I saw from people who say we shouldn't complain are just flat wrong. We are allowed to both love an event like the Chili Bowl, and appreciate it for all it's greatness, while at the same time offering critical feedback and wanting it to be better. This issue with the pacing of the final mains becomes such a glaring issue because of how good the Chili Bowl runs the program the rest of the week. It's a stark change because every single prelim night and the Saturday show up to the D's runs with an insane level of precision and organization. So when all of a sudden the action grinds to a halt because of pageantry and the TV show, it's jarring. And regardless of what some want you to think, the massive slow down sucks for both the at-home viewers and those in the building. I experienced it in both 2017 and 2018 when I was at the event. What other major sporting events consistently end at 1 or 1:30 in the morning and it's normal? Zero. There is a reason for that. The amount of people, including big media folks, who tweeted out that they fell asleep and watched the feature on Sunday morning is too large. The feature needs to be wrapped before midnight, and that is very doable, even with the need for added track work. And it wouldn't take a complete rework of the week long format to get it done. I wouldn't expect much to change in this department going forward though, because the organizers don't think it's a problem. Until it moves from being noise on social media, to actually affecting their business, it will continue to go on. Feel free to drop a comment and let me know what your thoughts were about the 2023 Chili Bowl.

Before we get into the Wild West Shootout, I do have an update today on the sprint car drivers who were having troubles getting visas to go to Australia. We know that Aaron Reutzel's trip ended up getting sacked, but Sheldon Haudenschild and Brad Sweet now have the green light. And I believe that Sheldon is already there. I think a saw an Instagram story of his travels. I was told that Motorsport Australia got involved in the process, and both drivers were approved to travel into the country. So we will see them at the Classic at Premier here in a few weeks. Hopefully this won't be a problem going forward for other racers that want to compete down under in the offseason.

Alright, at Vado over the weekend we got the final three nights of the Wild West Shootout, and after winning the first three, Jonathan Davenport ended up going Ofer and not making me eat my words from before the event. Friday and Sunday wins went to Bobby Pierce, with Mike Marlar victorious on Saturday. Davenport was very much in the mix though, sitting on poles and leading a bunch of laps. So none of the bonus money ended up getting paid out, but Superman did win the week long mini championship. The racing was really damn good all weekend, including tons of passing, battles for the lead, big charges, and plenty of slidejobs. The Sunday night feature turned into a three way battle between Marlar, Kyle Larson, and Pierce, and it might have been the most frantic 50 lapper I've ever watched. It felt like the front runners ran the entire feature like there was ten laps to go. So with Pierce adding $25,000 to his bank account last night, we get a few days off this week from late model racing. But don't fret fendered friends, the World of Outlaws season begins on Thursday at Volusia and that will take us right into the Lucas season beginning the next week at Golden Isles.

And even though we didn't see a Kyle Larson win all week, it sounds like we shouldn't expect him back at the Chili Bowl in 2024. He was in the broadcast booth with Flo over the weekend and basically said he'll run the Wild West Shootout again next year. He seemed to have had a good time all week racing, and mentioned how good the track was and how efficient the programs were.

Four shows on today's streaming schedule. FloRacing has super saloons from Greenstone Park and Flo 24/7. DIRTVision has the iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Cars and DIRTVision Now. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

Alright, that's it for the show today. Have a good Monday. Thanks everyone for tuning in. We'll be back here tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily.