There are 35 different postseason bowl games on the schedule for college football from December to early January, but if your game is racing rather than pigskin, you’re still blessed, because the biggest event in midget car racing is back and also in a bowl.
The Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals zips back to Expo Square in the newly named Muscogee Creek Nation Center for five days of small engines and big dreams.
Running Jan. 8-12, the Chili Bowl welcomes back hundreds of amateur and professional drivers across all engine-racing formats from karts to sprint cars.
Founded in 1987 by Emmett Hahn and Lanny Edwards, the racing event attracts competitors from all around the world earnestly pursuing the trophy. They’ll have to make it a steal from Kevin Swindell, who completed a triple sweep of the title last year. Swindell is the son of Sammy Swindell, a three-time National Sprint Car Champion who competed in and won the Chili Bowl in 2009, a year before Kevin displaced him. This is the kind of competition drivers will be up against, and that makes it all the more exciting for spectators who expect big things to happen at one of the largest indoor racing bonanzas in the world.
In addition to the race, visitors can visit with vendors at the Chili Bowl tradeshow running throughout the event. Also look for the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame Induction on Jan. 11. Tickets to the 27th annual run are available now at www.chilibowl.com, and they’re going fast.
If you can’t keep up with all the bowl games of the NCAA, you’ll definitely remember the stir and excitement of the Chili Bowl.
