MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Cole Whitt, putting the finishing touches on a buffalo chicken salad at a popular eatery around town, bumped into fellow open-wheel-turned-NASCAR-driver Jason Leffler. The lunchtime banter immediately shifted to the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, the annual extravaganza both are preparing for.
Whitt got up to go. Leffler needed a seat.
“You can sit here,” Whitt offered. “Left some speed on there for ya.”
Ahh … the Chili Bowl. Midget racing’s Super Bowl even gets the usually mild-mannered Whitt going, so much so that the playful jab thrown at Leffler he most likely, deep down, meant. The Chili Bowl is that big of a deal to Whitt, who made his first midget start there in 2006 after graduating from karting.
A tiny, quarter-mile track. Some 260 cars. Young drivers. Old drivers. NASCAR drivers. Drivers from Down Under. Dust. Fumes. The hiss of the engines. Hooters girls. And grassroots fans from all corners of the country. Somehow, they’ll all shoehorn their way into the QuikTrip Center’s Tulsa Expo Raceway for the Jan. 11-15 event.
“It’s good racing. Outlaw racing,” said Whitt, last year’s runner-up. “Guys would crash their mom to win that race. Being there, where I got my first start, it feels like a special place.”
Kasey Kahne agrees. Though not entered in this year’s running, the driver of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota has seen his share of Chili Bowls. He finished sixth in 2002 and 18th last year.
“The competition is as tough as anywhere,” he said.
The Chili Bowl, in its 25th year, still carries the name of a now-defunct local beef-and-bean outfit and always presents a unique challenge. Whitt, in Keith Kunz’s No. 71 Red Bull Bullet, will begin his ascent to Saturday night’s 24-car A main on Wednesday. Good news for him — he’ll get racing early.
“You always watch everyone else run,” he said. “That’s how many cars are there. It takes a whole week to run through everybody. I’ve sat there until the last qualifying night, the whole week just watching. Just about losing my mind. I get so pumped up to race.”
Only 19 years old, Whitt will make his sixth Chili Bowl start and has climbed to the main event in three consecutive years. The former USAC National Midget champion finished 13th overall in 2008, eighth in 2009 and second last year, splitting the son-and-father tandem of Kevin and Sammy Swindell and just missing the Golden Driller trophy.
This year’s Chili Bowl marks Whitt’s first time back on dirt after a season spent learning the ropes of stock car racing in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series and K&N Pro Series East. He did compete in the November’s Turkey Night Grand Prix, but that race came on Irwindale Speedway’s asphalt.
“I can’t wait to race again,” Whitt said.
Whitt is part of a five-car stable at Keith Kunz Motorsports. He’ll team up with Brady Bacon (67), Dalton Armstrong (67k), Casey Riggs (67w) and Alex Bowman (71k). Kasey Kahne Racing will field entries for Brad Sweet (49x) and Leffler (91x).
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