[JessicaJ]

Gage Walker’s Strong Chili Bowl Week Comes to a Slow End
By Jessica Jenkins

Gage Walker showed up for his third showing at Tulsa’s River Spirit Expo Center with a new car and high expectations. Eager and ready to go for his third appearance at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, the kid from Indianapolis took to the 1/4-mile track in his Spike/Esslinger/Impact/Wilwood/Business Art Designs/Walker & Sons #7xx.

On his Thursday qualifying night, it certainly looked like he would far surpass his modest goals of making it to the C or D mains on Saturday. Instead of just making the goal, it appeared the dream of making the big race on Saturday could become a reality. He made quick work of the competitors in the first heat race of the night, racing all the way from eighth place to second. That placed him right in the same conversation as the highest passing points earners heading into the first Qualifier where he lined up on the outside of the second row. It didn’t take long for the 18 year old to take over the lead and begin to stretch it out over the rest of the field. Right before the second caution, the lead was yanked away from him and he finished the race in second, gaining even more in the points standings. It was enough to place him in the fourth starting position at the start of the A main, skipping entirely over any need to run the B. Facing the strongest cars of the evening, Walker held his own and hit his stride between sixth and seventh as he primarily worked the high side of the racetrack. Unfortunately under the second yellow, the power shut off on his red and black car, forcing him to the back of the field for the restart. From that position he got bogged down in traffic and eventually lapped by the blistering fast pace of leader Christopher Bell. The night finished for Walker with a disappointing 23rd place and he was left to wonder what could have been had the car not coasted to a stop on lap ten.

When the calendar turned to Saturday, Walker was placed in the first of two D Mains on the inside of the sixth row. His confidence still intact and the issue from Thursday fixed, he was ready to get back on track and show what he and his new equipment could do. He quickly fired off and moved to the high side as he picked off a couple positions. And then the bad luck (that bit several prominent drivers over the week) struck again when two cars collided and essentially stopped ahead of him. Being right on their back bumpers and with no place to go, Walker smacked into the back of them, launching the nose of his car off the ground before slamming back down. He managed to keep it going and restarted ninth once the green flag flew again. It quickly became evident that something was massively wrong with the car as he could not keep pace with the front runners like he had been. Though he held on until lap 7, he pulled off the track as the race continued under green and was credited with a 15th place finish.

It wasn’t the finish Walker and his family-owned team were looking for, but it was a far better showing than his result a year earlier thanks to starting off so strong on his qualifying night. Walker addressed his week, concluding, “I had a great car all week long. I made a few mistakes in some of my races, mainly overdriving the car. On Saturday in the D main I started 11th, and had already passed about 3 cars in 1 lap. Going into turn one on the second lap, a car about stopped in front of me and I ramped his left rear with my right front, and it broke one of the steering arms. Another car came up the inside and slid into my left front and ripped the brake line off. I kept going a few more laps, but not only would the car not steer, I had no brakes either, so I just went ahead and pulled in. We were pretty happy with how the week went, especially compared to last year. If it wasn't for our issue in the feature on Thursday night, I was confident we would've at least been in the B main on Saturday night.” He also wants to thank RAYPRO Engines for all of their help.

The next time Walker will take his midget to the track will be in DuQuoin, IL on March 19th at the Southern Illinois Center’s indoor dirt surface. In the meantime, be sure to keep up with what is going on with this talented star on his Facebook fan page at Facebook.com/GageWalkerRacing, GageWalkerRacing.com or on Twitter @GageWalker7.