Knoxville Regulars Amongst 270 Chili Bowl Entries
Monday, January 9, 2006
by Bill Wright – The 20th running of the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals kicks off Wednesday in Tulsa, and four Knoxville regulars will be vying for the “Golden Driller” trophy on Saturday night. Getting to Saturday night’s championship is hard enough with 270 extremely talented midgeteers in the field, but winning is yet another thing.
Don Droud Jr. (pictured) is a Chili Bowl veteran as he has entered for the fourth time. Don finished an impressive 7th in 2003 and will drive the #44d for the Pace Brothers. Billy Alley will take the wheel of the Pete Davis #0x in his second appearance. His will try to improve his 6th place C Main finish in 2004.
The other two regulars are rookies. Wayne Johnson, second in 410 points last season, will pilot Knoxville native Wayne Simmons’ #F5. Justin Henderson, who will hit the World of Outlaws trail in 2006, will get his elbows up in the #31h as a teammate to veteran driver/owner Donnie Lehmann of Springfield, IL.
Droud, Alley and Johnson will qualify on Wednesday, Henderson will run on Thursday.
Defending champion Tracy Hines heads a star-studded field this year. Teamed with Dave Darland in the Wilke-Pak Motorsports machines, he hopes to dominate as he did in 2005. Andy Bondio will again bring together his team of two-time winner Cory Kruseman and JJ Yeley, who will take a break from the stock cars to run his 10th Chili Bowl.
None other than 2005 NASCAR champ, Tony Stewart, will seek his second Chili Bowl win (his previous was in 2002). Joining him from the NASCAR ranks will be Kasey Kahne and Jason Leffler.
Danny Lasoski (15th appearance) and Steve Kinser (7th appearance) have won a lot of big ones, but the “Golden Driller” has eluded them up until now. Sammy Swindell may be the most accomplished Chili Bowl contestant in this field. He has taken home the big prize four times, a feat unduplicated. Joining him this year as a rookie of the race will be his son, Kevin.
Throw in other former champs like Scott Hatton, Dan Boorse and Jay Drake and there’s no telling what might happen. Mix in Gary Wright, Darren Stewart, Jesse Hockett, Jimmy Sills, USAC champ Levi Jones, National Sprint Car Hall of Famers Leroy Van Conett and Tom Bigelow, and youngsters like Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bryan Clauson and you’ve got a recipe hot enough for the race’s name.
All three Knoxville Midget Nationals winners are entered. Mike Hess (2002), Chad DeSelle (2003) and Jerry Coons Jr. (2004) will all be contenders, as will “King Doodlebug” winners Craig Carey (2003) and Danny Stratton (2005). A cast of literally hundreds of others awaits.
Stay tuned to www.knoxvilleraceway.com throughout the week to keep updated on our regulars and their progress.
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