(El Cajon, CA, January 11, 2022) Two weeks after contesting the Tulsa Shootout in the massive SageNet Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Southern California teenage racer Braden Chiaramonte will return this week to compete in the biggest midget race in the world, the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals. For the highly anticipated race, he will be wheeling the Pete Davis-owned #00B Hot Head Engine Heaters/Esslinger Engineering/RTL Traffic/AM Ortega/Spike Chassis/Esslinger midget.
The accomplished racer was one of 370 pre-entered competitors who practiced on Sunday for the 37th running of the famed event. Chiaramonte will be back on the track to race in his preliminary night on Friday, January 13th. He will then come back for the finale 24 hours later. In the yearly January race, the 15-year-old will be battling against drivers from every discipline in American motorsports including NASCAR, Indy Cars, NHRA, and everything in between. The tight quarter-mile track has seating for 15,000 fans and draws approximately 80,000 attendees over six nights. In addition to the fans at the track, the race draws attention to the drivers and sponsors from viewers around the world on the Flo Racing Network.
One year ago this month, Chiaramonte had not only never raced in the Chili Bowl, but he had also never raced a midget! However, things rapidly changed. By year’s end, six of the 39 races he started were in midgets. His first race in the powerful lightweight cars came on April 16th when he made his midget debut in one of Matt Streeter’s #14s in a USAC Western Midget race at the Bakersfield Speedway. The unflappable driver shocked everyone in sight when he established a nearly full-straightaway lead in his heat race before succumbing to the defending series champion on the next to last lap and finishing second. Later that night he came home ninth in his first-ever midget main event.
One month later he was back in Streeter’s car at the beachside Ventura Raceway. On that night he placed seventh in the main event. He competed in one more Western States Midget race on June 18th at the Merced Speedway. Once again, Chiaramonte impressed race watchers when he came home in 10th place giving him three top-10 finishes in the first three times he sat in a midget.
After his three midget races in California, Chiaramonte stepped up his game to the USAC National Midget Series with two races in July and another in August. The July dates were at the Jefferson County Speedway in Fairbury, Nebraska. Competing in the number one midget series in the world, Chiaramonte, who was driving the famous “Trench Shoring” #25, made the A main each night. He placed 18th in the opener. Twenty-four hours later he finished 16th.
Three weeks after competing in the “Cornhusker State,” Chiaramonte journeyed to the “Mecca” of racetracks in the world, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, for the BC39. Located inside turn four, mere feet away from where the Indianapolis 500 has taken place since 1911, the young driver came home with a fifth-place finish in the D main.
In addition to his midget races, the El Cajon, California-based competitor also competed in micros, lightning sprints, and winged 360 sprint cars in 2022. He took a pair of wins in the POWRi Southwest Lightning Sprint Car Series. He shocked the racing public by quickly adapting to a full-size winged 360 sprint car. In addition to showing impressive speed in the powerful machine, he came from the back to place eighth in the final of the “Fall Winged 360 Nationals” at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California.
Fans can see every lap that Chiaramonte contests at the Chili Bowl live on Flo Racing. For details on how to see the accomplished teen in action at Tulsa, please use the following link https://www.floracing.com/.
As the full 2023 season is just around the corner, Chiaramonte and his team are making plans for a busy year. If you are interested in becoming a marketing partner with one of the most talented and personable young drivers in the sport, please feel free to call or e-mail Daniel Chiaramonte mailto:dchiaramonte@rtltraffic.com or (619) 988 7563.
Chiaramonte would like to thank the following marketing partners for making his 2022 racing season possible. RTL Traffic Control and Equipment Rentals, AM Ortega, Impact Racing, and AIM Sports Data.
Braden Chiaramonte 2022 Results
January 1 Tulsa Shootout Stock Non Wings 9th A Main
March 5 Imperial Valley Raceway POWRi Southwest Lightning Sprints 2nd A Main
March 6 Imperial Valley Raceway POWRi Southwest Lightning Sprints 8th A Main
March 25 Bakersfield Speedway California Lightning Sprints 6th A Main
April 16 Bakersfield Speedway USAC Western States Midgets 9th A Main
April 23 Imperial Valley Raceway POWRi Southwest Lightning Sprints 1st A Main
April 30 Barona Speedway POWRi Southwest Lightning Sprints 2nd A Main
May 12 US 24 Raceway All In Transportation A Wingless Clash 13th A Main
May 13 US 24 Raceway All In Transportation A Wingless Clash 16th A Main
May 14 US 24 Raceway All In Transportation A Wingless Clash 5th L.C.Q.
May 21 Ventura Raceway USAC Western State Midgets 7th A Main
June 2 US 24 Raceway Performance Electronics Big Dance 12th A Main
June 3 US 24 Raceway Performance Electronics Big Dance 14th A Main
June 4 US 24 Raceway Performance Electronics Big Dance 8th Qualifier
June 11 Lemoore Jet Bowl Non-Wing Outlaw Micro 4th A Main
June 18 Merced Speedway USAC Western Midgets 10th A Main
July 15 Jefferson County Speedway USAC National Midgets 18th A Main
July 16 Jefferson County Speedway USAC National Midgets 16th A Main
August 4 Indianapolis Motor Speedway USAC National Midgets 5th D Main
August 26 Silver Dollar Speedway Winged 360 Sprint Cars 18th A Main
August 27 Placerville Speedway Winged 360 Sprint Cars 12th B Main
September 17 Perris Auto Speedway POWRi Southwest Lightning Sprint 1st A Main
September 23 Lil Texas Motor Speedway C. Bell’s Micro Mania 8th C Main
September 24 Lil Texas Motor Speedway C. Bell’s Micro Mania 22nd B Main
September 30 Silver Dollar Speedway Winged 360 Fall Nationals 7th D Main
October 1 Silver Dollar Speedway Winged 360 Fall Nationals 8th A Main
October 13 Lemoore Speedway Non-Wing Outlaw Cal Cup 7th B Main
October 13 Lemoore Speedway Winged Outlaw Cal Cup 14th A Main
October 14 Lemoore Speedway Non-Wing Outlaw Cal Cup 16th A Main
October 14 Lemoore Speedway Winged Outlaw Cal Cup 16th B Main
October 15 Lemoore Speedway Non-Wing Outlaw Cal Cup 9th A Main
October 15 Lemoore Speedway Winged Outlaw Cal Cup 7th B Main
October 21 Port City Raceway Keith Kunz Motorsports Giveback 8th A Main
October 22 Port City Raceway Keith Kunz Motorsports Giveback 15th A Main
November 11 Adobe Mountain Speedway Non-Wing Outlaw Tribute to Billy Shuman 2nd A Main
November 12 Adobe Mountain Speedway Non-Wing Outlaw Tribute to Billy Shuman 17th A Main
December 31 Tulsa Shootout Stock Non-Wing 7th B Main
December 31 Tulsa Shootout Outlaw Non-Wing 14th LCQ
December 31 Tulsa Shootout Outlaw-Winged 5th B Main
