The annual Chili Bowl Midget Nationals press conference began with event co-founder and promoter Emmett Hahn welcoming newly elected mayor Monroe Nichols to ‘redneck country.’
It was the first time that the walk-on letterman University of Tulsa wide receiver turned councilman and mayor got to experience the unpredictable and affable showmanship of Hahn, with the mayor performing to the stage too.
“I’ve always known Tulsa as Green Country but now I’ve learned something new from Mr. Hahn,” said the mayor to a laugh from those in attendance.
There was a lot for Hahn and Nichols to celebrate on Monday as the event, now in its 39th season at the Tulsa Expo, generates a $30 million direct impact into the city economy and 40 million indirectly. It’s another $10 million when counting the Tulsa Shootout race for Outlaw Karts and Micro Sprints the week prior.
The mayor seems to genuinely have an enthusiasm for supporting this event. He even has a racing story about running a kart at Cherokee Speedway in North Carolina as a kid and that his mom forbid him from ever getting in a race car again.
Hahn convinced him to ride in the two-seater on Saturday.
“How do I say no with all the cameras on me,” Nichols said.
But also, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell are back in the building they have dominated for parts of a half-decade combed for the first time since missing the races in 2023 and 2024. A caveat, of course, is that Larson made a last-minute attempt last year but crashed out of his heat race and was not in the building on Championship Saturday.
“You guys have a home run in your back yards,” Bell told the present council members and city luminaries. I’m just a lucky guy that gets to be part of it. This is the one dirt race a year that everyone pays attention to around the world.
“You may not be a dirt racing fan but Chili Bowl is the one that gets brought up all the time. I hope to see it continue to grow and it’s already reached heights larger than we ever could have imagined/”
Bell has not been permitted to race outside of NASCAR by Cup Series team owner Joe Gibbs, who lifted that policy in November, allowing the three-time winner to return to the event he coveted the most as a child growing up in nearby Norman.
He was asked if it felt like freedom, which was indeed the perfect word to articulate it.
“Freedom is the right word for it,” Bell said. “It’s very refreshing to know that if I want to do something, I can. It’s in my own hands now. It caught me by surprise when I got that phone call that said I can go race.
“It’s a huge credit to Joe in recognizing what’s out there, so it’s very exciting to know my schedule is my own hands now and I can do what I want to do.”
Not only is Larson back, after making that last minute effort with Keith Kunz, but he is also bringing back crew chief and car owner Paul Silva with him. They won this race together in 2020 and 2021.
“As this sport has evolved, become more and more competitive, crew chiefs have mattered more than ever before,” Larson said. “I am grateful to have had Paul involved in my life and career for the past 12 or 13 years now. I tried for a long time to win in this building and this guy next to me (Bell) was beating me in the same equipment (at Keith Kunz Motorsports) so I had to go try something different.
“I was able to bring Paul here and win back-to-back Chili Bowls so it’s good to come back here together. I think we have our stuff a little bit better but everyone else has too. The competition is deep, the talent level is deep and it’s going to be hard to win in this building like it always is.”
Bell v Larson
If you want to understand the value of having both Bell and Larson back in the building, look no further than last Saturday when the two of them dueled each other to a photo finish in the Non Wing Outlaw division of the Tulsa Shootout.
But the two have also had a friendly and sometimes contentious rivalry over the years that extended to both this building and their NASCAR races.
What is the state of it now?
“You can answer that one,” Larson said, laughing with the room.
“The rivalry has been kind of pinned on us by people like Matt Weaver,” Bell said to more laugh, “but also everyone else. Kyle and I have been fierce competitors and had tremendous races and tough heartbreaks from both of our sides, and I think hopefully it continues.”
Larson echoed that sentiment.
“We have been competed with each other, frequently, for the past 12 years,” Larson said. “We both have pushed each other to get better. It’s good for any athlete to have that person or persons that push you. We push each other. We have had a lot of great battles. He’s come out on top more than me, at least back in the day, and then he had his stint where he couldn’t race, which was nice on me, for sure.
“As a fan of the sport, and one who wants it continue growing, I’m glad he’s back racing on dirt, but he will be at a lot of the tracks I will be at and it’s going to be good for the sport to have two high profile guys who have a history of racing each other, hopefully battling each other for wins now and into the future.”
The champs are here
While Bell and Larson received headline billing in the press conference, it was important to note that this race still goes through the two men seated to the right of them on Monday morning in Logan Seavey and crew chief/car owner Kevin Swindell.
The latter won this race as a driver four years in a row from 2010 to 2013. Now his driver is two in and seeking four plus as well.
“This is year six that we’ve run this race together, and it’s the longest relationship I’ve ever had in racing,” Seavey said. “He built this new car for me and we’ve won with it every time we’ve come here now.
“I feel calm. I feel the same kind of calm I felt coming in here after winning the first one. I didn’t feel super nervous. There’s always some nerves when you walk in here because it matters and with the pill draw and the heats but that’s what makes this place so special. I feel calm and confident and that’s a good place to be in here.”
