Sacramento Bee Newspaper
January 8, 2008
www.sacbee.com





Larson wants to devour Chili
Though he's only 15, this midget driver has huge drive to win
By Debbie Arrington - darrington@sacbee.com


Elk Grove's Kyle Larson, a 15-year-old sophomore at Pleasant Grove High School, has competed against and defeated some of the best sprint car drivers in California. Now he's tackling Tony Stewart.

Larson's skill and national reputation earned the red-hot teen a seat in the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, which start today in Tulsa, Okla.

Larson, a 2007 national Rookie of the Year finalist in two sprint-car divisions, was seeded directly into Friday's qualifying heats – where  he could face such NASCAR stars as Stewart, Kasey Kahne and J.J. Yeley. That's a major coup for a newcomer such as Larson. About 285 cars were entered, with three more days of qualifying before Friday's heats.

Larson, the youngest driver to ever compete in the World of Outlaws, said he is ready to rumble.

"The Chili Bowl is the best race around," he said. "It's the smallest track for the midgets and so exciting. I can't wait."

Considered the Super Bowl of midget racing, the Chili Bowl is held on an indoor quarter-mile dirt oval that appears nearly round. Entries are divided into heats with drivers earning points by passing. Drivers with the most points advance to the next level.

Larson earned his seed by finishing in the top 10 of the Civil War sprint car series. In August, four days after his 15th birthday, he won at Placerville Speedway, becoming the youngest driver to win a Civil War feature in California.

Only one rookie – current NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Dave Blaney – has won the Chili Bowl, in 1993. Larson is among 70 rookies this week.

The Chili Bowl carries a mystique that attracts drivers from a wide variety of circuits. The presence of such broad-based talent helped elevate the Chili Bowl to pay-per-view status this year for the first time, with Saturday's finals appearing on HBO.

"It's just amazing," said Mike Larson, Kyle's father. "You wonder, how do they have such great racing on such a little track? But when you see the Chili Bowl, you know nothing can top this."

In addition to NASCAR's crossover drivers, former NHRA champions Gary Scelzi of Fresno and Cruz Pedregon of Santa Rosa will trade their Funny Cars for midgets this week. Open-wheel veteran P.J. Jones, a past winner at the prestigious 24 Hours of Daytona sports car race, also has an entry.

The celebrity drivers might crash the Chili Bowl party, but they rarely win. Out of 21 previous runnings, Stewart is the only invader to prevail, scoring overall victories in 2002 and 2007. But the two-time Sprint (formerly Nextel) Cup champion had an advantage: Stewart also is a past USAC Midget champion and owns a sprint car team.

"You aren't going to just get lucky and win," Stewart told reporters as he prepared for this week's event. "I mean, you have to have a perfect weekend, and everything has to go right for you to win."

In preparation, Larson drove the Tulsa Shootout, a major karting event with 1,050 entries at the same facility the weekend before New Year's Day. He finished second overall.

"It was kind of boring," he said. "I had to wait 12 hours to get on the track and only raced 30 laps all weekend. It was all right, but not as cool as the Chili Bowl."

Before returning to Tulsa on Monday, Mike and Kyle Larson dodged Friday's intense Northern California storm during a search for a steering wheel to better fit the 5-foot-4, 100-pound Kyle. Further complicating their preparations, the wind and rain knocked out power to their home.

Kyle has been focused on making the Chili Bowl for quite a while. The Larsons attended the race as fans two years ago and even bought a midget car with hopes of getting Kyle into the event. But he was too young.

"At least half the rides are rented out," Mike said. "It gets pretty expensive. You have to pay crash damages and rental, plus a $1,000 deposit. I told Kyle he had to wait until his reputation earned him a free ride."

Just before Christmas, Kyle found himself a car owner, Cliff Blackwell, willing to take a chance on a teen driver. Blackwell's Bay Area-based team will be making its 11th Chili Bowl appearance. Kyle will be teamed with Kingsburg's Doug Nunes, the Bay Cities Racing Association Midget Lites champion.

"Kyle did it all on his own," Mike said. "Cliff told him, 'You wreck, you don't even have to apologize.' In two weeks, Kyle had raised enough money to cover all expenses. It may not be the fastest car out there, but he'll do all right."



www.sacbee.com