ONE: Kyle Larson Spot-On With Chili Bowl Criticism
2021 Chili Bowl Nationals winner Kyle Larson damn near set the dirt racing world on fire last week with his apparent decision to skip the prestigious midget race in 2023, citing a $10,000-to-win purse that has not changed in decades despite increasing costs to compete and an entry list north of 300 cars that has grown in star power annually.
Kyle Larson says he’s likely missing Chili Bowl in January. He says the purse doesn’t currently match the status of the event and that other contenders feel the same.
Promoter Emmett Hahn says the racers do not understand his overhead and margin of error.https://t.co/XDuqX4QaAJ
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) July 13, 2022
By now, those in the dirt racing community have read the back and forth. While Larson does not believe the purse paid by the event is commiserate for its cost and prestige, the longtime organizers of the Chili Bowl state the money just isn’t there to dramatically increase the purse, citing the million-dollar cost it takes to transform the Tulsa Expo Center into a dirt track for most of January.
I have no doubt the Chili Bowl costs an astronomical amount of money to put on. Having said that, I’m entirely in the Larson camp on this one. For one, Larson is no stranger to race promotion himself, having played a major role in bringing a $20,000-to-win super late model race to Volunteer Speedway leading up to NASCAR’s Bristol dirt week. He just recently announced that he’d be part of a newly-launched sprint car tour meant to be the equivalent of the Flo Racing Night in America late model series for the winged sprint community.
ICYMI: NASCAR Cup Series Champ Kyle Larson and Sprint Car star Brad Sweet have formed the new @HighLimitRacing that will debut in August 2022 ⬇️@KyleLarsonRacin | @BradSweet49 https://t.co/gccpSarDE4
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) July 14, 2022
Larson has no shortage of money thanks to his NASCAR day job, but he’s putting said money where his mouth is when promoting races of his own.
More importantly, though, for at least a decade now the organizers of the Chili Bowl have been all but cavalier about the purse staying at $10,000 to win. They’ve cited that the entry lists were continuing to grow regardless, with drivers deciding the pursuit of a Golden Driller trophy was worth losing money over.
There are very few drivers in dirt racing with enough clout to sit out and get the Chili Bowl’s attention. Kyle…
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