That was my only complaint, the 2 favorites start front row. I didn't see it but I'll bet the people's champ was a distant 3rd if the race ran clean. And it's really not a complaint, just saying

they drew numbers. The others should have pick those numbers first. Rico was last and didn't even pick. They left it for him.

It is January, it was a Tuesday night, all seats were sold (yes, as a package), there were over 100 cars competing in front of a sold out house in January (did I mention it was a Tuesday night!). How many fans wanted to see DS run a midget besides me? Is there another midget race that sells out? Is there a reason that 375 cars are entered and the event sells out (in January on a Tuesday night) ? Very few understand that racing is an entertainment event. You figure in cost of tickets, hotels, travel, and you are knocking on the door of an average of $2000 per person to attend the week. Hell yes add the winning-est open wheel driver to a non points paying event. I only spent $100 on pay per view, but that was my $100 and if I am not entertained I will spend my $ on something else. There is a reason that the Chili Bowl sell out every year on a Tuesday night in January!

$2k? You must be dropping half that at cloud 9.

Okay I admit to reading this and having a bored at work moment so I was curious what it would actually cost to attend and here is what I came up with using my good friend google to find averages for prices:

Multi day pit pass: $220

Average American spends $33 per day on food while traveling: $231

Average hotel room cost $141 per night according to hotels.com. Figuring arriving Monday and departing Sunday: $987

23.6 miles per gallon is current average of all cars and trucks in the US and since this is Indiana Open Wheel, I used Indy as the start point for the drive. 635 miles from Indy to Tulsa 635 x 2 for round trip = 1,270 miles and 53.8 gallons of gas. Average gas price in Oklahoma (second lowest in the nation currently, so gas cost will be more in reality) $2.14 x 53.8 = $115.13

Total cost based on 'averages' is $1,553 which is just gas, hotel, food and event tickets. It would be very easy to push it up to over 2k and yes it is also easy to cut into the cost as well. But the 2k number truly doesn't seem to be far off.

Anyway, I had better get back to work now that I have my morning distraction over.

Nice compilation of numbers........Welcome aboard!

Of course, almost no one goes to the Chili Bowl solo, so even taking one friend along will cut the bulk of all costs in half.

Although, if you're taking your family, that's a whole different story.

Last night was the first time in ages that I have thought that a midget or sprint car was a truly beautiful piece of work:


Man, isn't that JJ Yeley ride badass?! Love it!

Anyone have any insight concerning the car itself? What kind of chassis, ect.? I'm sure the bodywork isn't USAC legal with a bit of it going outside the frame rails, right?

You forgot BEER!

Here's what the chili bowl site says- "McKinnie - Triple J Motorsports / Boss / Speedway Toyota". So i guess it's a custom Boss chassis? I'm going to do some digging on twitter and see what i can find out.