Chili Bowl Midget Nationals technical director Cody Cordell has kicked someone out of the Tulsa Expo for soaking tires and says any future infractions will result in a ban for the 2026 race.
The message was issued to teams on Thursday afternoon during the driver’s meeting.
“Listen, if you think it’s undetectable, I’m not going to sit here and babysit all of you,” Cordell said as transcribed by event broadcaster FloRacing. “I can assure you, it is detectable. Think what you want. Play the game. But if you get caught, from here on out, you will not be back next year. And it will be known, and be made a scene.”
Some teams have outright told Sportsnaut that there are certain chemical compounds that are undetectable, prompting Cordell to make that statement on Thursday. Tire soaking is intended to soften the compound, especially with the change to a harder compound in 2023, leading to teams seeking ways to get that lost grip back.
The event released a report from tire samples taken on Monday with none of them shown to be illegal. There has been a technical inspection process each day after the races so far but it takes three days to get the lab tests back from Lenoir, North Carolina.
“So here’s the deal,” Cordell said. “I cannot get the results back before Saturday night for tonight, tomorrow, or Saturday. So what we’re going to do is I am going to get those results back next week some time. If anybody fails a tire test the rest of the week, you will not race next year. And that’s it. Plain and simple. The guys from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday will be penalized this year. The guys from the end of the week can’t be penalized this year, so you will be penalized next year.”
There is also some thoughts that eliminating the ‘tire dope’ will also help convince the track prep crew to extend the main event back to 55 laps again.
Tanner Thorson, the 2022 race winner, said as much.
“This is the slickest this race track has been in a long time and I think that’s because of Cody Cordell doing his job and showing people that he’s actually going to tech,” Thorson said. “He’s showed everyone that he’s going to keep the tire dope out. All the teams you see that don’t usually roll in on new tires have new tires on.
“The track is definitely a different kind of dirt than we’ve seen in a long time.”
So what does Thorson want to see in terms of race length?
“Tire doped up? 40 laps because it rubbers up so bad,” he said. “If they cut the tire dope back, 55 laps is fine. We ran a lot of laps in practice and the track never rubbered up. The track started to take rubber at the start of the shootout and then they popping tires and the track never took rubber again. Gravel and Steve and all those guys in the infield will have a lot easier job if this holds.
“I’ve had a high standard for those guys over the past few years, given them a lot of crap, and I’ll take back a little of it because they’re doing a good job now that I realize how much tire dope is out here the past three to four years. So now I feel bad for talking that crap. They’re doing a good job.”
Corey Day, who podium’ed on Wednesday night, isn’t sure he agrees.
“I don’t think the track is that different from last year,” Day said. “There was definitely less grip last year. It was just a curb and it was slick to the curb. This year, I feel like there is more grip … I don’t feel like its affecting a whole lot.”
