Esslinger Ford Dominates the 2011 Chili Bowl Nationals
Esslinger Ford has scored their fourth consecutive Chili Bowl National Championship with Kevin Swindell piloting his Spike, Esslinger Ford EST to the winner circle. The 2011 Chili Bowl was another spectacular event for midget racing bringing over two hundred sixty entries to the Tulsa, Oklahoma Expo Center. With having the best drivers that the sport offers, it makes this race the premier open wheel event of the year.
One of the new key elements to Kevin Swindell’s race program is the Esslinger Ford EST midget engine. The Esslinger EST midget engine is a 161 cubic inch electronically controlled, sealed engine. The fuel and ignition are managed using Electromotive TECS system. This engine was tested throughout the 2010 season at various race tracks and approved by all major sanctioning bodies for competition in 2011. This is the first win for the EST engine in 2011 and the new platform is paving the way for an affordable and exceptionally drivable alternative to standard protocol of midget engines.
Esslinger Engineering made their presence known at the 2011 Chili Bowl Nationals with eighty-six of the two hundred sixty entries running Esslinger engines. Tuesday was the first night of racing and Esslinger Ford immediately set the pace with Sammy Swindell winning the Race of Champions and locking into Saturdays A main event. Following the Race of Champions was the first A main of the week where Esslinger Engineering had a one, two, three finish with Bryan Clauson winning, Michael Pickens second and Jon Stanbrough third. On Wednesday night it seemed Esslinger was going to have another one, two finish until an extremely exciting last lap. Coming out of turn four Cole Whitt tried making a risky pass diving under Damion Gardner and made contact sending Gardner flipping across the finish line. Because of this unfortunate mishap, Esslinger Engineering finished second and third with Damion Gardner and Thomas Meseraull. Thursday night once again Esslinger Ford lined the podium with Sammy Swindell on top bettering his starting position for Saturdays main event and Nick Knepper running third. Friday night, although not scoring a win Esslinger had three of the top five finishers with Kevin Swindell running third. Finishing four nights of preliminary racing, Esslinger Ford had locked in eight of the twelve eligible transfer spots. Eight more Esslinger Fords raced up through the final transfers on Saturday to the A main making a total of sixteen in the twenty-four car field. When the final checkered flag was thrown Saturday night Esslinger Ford had the complete top five finishers and nine of the top ten finishers.
Esslinger Engineering would like to thank their customers who made it to Tulsa for all their hard work and dedication to midget racing. “We are truly fortunate to have such great teams running our engines.” Dan Esslinger