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[/media-credit]Night two of the Chili Bowl has come to an end. It was an awesome night of racing. Some real hard core old school dirt flying hard charging never say die racing. I have to say that I said last night that it just doesn’t get better than this and I was wrong. Tonight was better. The three top dogs of the night met both expectations and surprise with Sammy Swindell winning the A main. The surprise of the night was young Danny Stratton who came home in 2nd. And another expectation Tony Stewart sealing his spot in Saturday’s big show with a third in the A main.
I know there are a lot of folks out there that don’t like Sammy Swindell but let me tell you he is like watching a master magician. He not only has incredible car control it seems he almost anticipates the moves of others on the track. He is personable. He is honest. He doesn’t beat around the bush. He will tell you what he thinks. “I got it a little messed up there for a few laps and Danny got out in the front there but I got it straightened out and ran him down. But anything can happen here I hope you are asking me questions from the winners circle on Saturday.” There is very little doubt in my mind that I will indeed be talking to Sammy Swindell on the podium on Saturday. The man has won the Chili Bowl 4 times and whether he comes home first or whether he comes home 3rd, this man is a champion and hall of famer and he showed how and why tonight.
Then you have Danny Stratton, young, brash and committed to one thing and one thing only winning. “We came here to get in the show. We did that. But I think we lost a little bit from the qualifier to the feature and that I am not happy about.” He cut his way through the field with an energy that only youth and invincibility could provide. If he noticed his near misses you wouldn’t know it. He pointed the nose to the front and he never looked back. He has a bright future ahead of him. We will see young Mr. Stratton in the years to come in higher ranking series.
Then there was the man that seemingly everyone came to see, Tony Stewart. The Midget hall of famer didn’t disappoint the crowd or his fans. Finishing second in the heat and first in the qualifying race and third in the A main he secured his spot in the big show on Saturday. To watch him work on the car honestly you would think he was a surgeon working on a patient. Watching him drive you were watching a defying feat over gravity and physics. You would have seen no fear and no worry. “You have to be on your marks every single lap out there. It’s not like a Sprint Cup car where you have 500 laps so if you mess up on one you have 499 to get it back. Most of these races are under 25 laps. You don’t have time. You have to be on the mark.” To watch him with fans you would have seen a curious exchange of energy, emotion and affection. No matter the age, no matter the sex. This was the man they call Smoke and he was a crowd favorite.
When you add these three names to the 3 outstanding competitors from last night, Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Michael Pickens, the A main on Saturday is already a must see event. There are two more nights of qualifying races yet to go. During those two nights we will see Kevin Swindell, Bryan Clauson, J.J. Yeley, and Joey Saldana. There is no way the racing is going to cool off regardless of how much snow falls in Tulsa.
It’s time to finish my job here for the night. But to be honest I feel guilty calling it a job. It was one of the most fun nights of racing I have had in a long time. It ranks close to the very best night of racing I have ever had and the Chili Bowl is not over yet.
A note of interest during the intermission this evening it was announced that Levi Jones of TSR had been named North American Non Winged Sprint Car Driver of the year. Congratulations to Levi and all of his team at TSR.
See you all tomorrow at 5:30 PM CST tomorrow for the third day of the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals
