Kyle Larson Set To Run Chili Bowl and Tulsa Shootout
Elk Grove, California, December 26, 2007. As the song says, 15 year old California sprint
car driver Kyle Larson will be “Living on Tulsa Time” for two of the next three
weeks. Larson is ready to embark on two separate trips to the Oklahoma wintertime hotspot
and compete on the legendary Tulsa Expo Center racetrack. The driver, recently nominated
for the national Rookie of the Year in both the 410 and 360 divisions by the National
Sprint Car Hall of Fame, is stepping down a bit in the size of the race cars, but will be
on a very big stage nevertheless.
After watching the Chili Bowl event in person the last two years, Larson will make his
first attempt in the 22nd running of
the prestigious event, January 8-12. He will be piloting one of three entries from the
Cliff Blackwell stable of cars out of Mountain View, California. Larson, who at the age of
14 became the youngest driver ever approved to race winged sprint cars in California,
knows the task at hand will be a difficult one. With only one midget race under his belt,
that being at the age of 13 at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Arizona where he drove from
18th to finish fifth, adapting quickly will be the key.
“At a race like the Chili Bowl, with so many cars, there is very little practice
time,” stated the high school sophomore. “Hopefully I can get up to speed early
and hold my own. I know this will be the toughest competition I will have ever run
against, but I am really looking forward to this. To be able to race on the same track
with NASCAR guys like Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, JJ Yeley, Jason Leffler, and all the
other top midget and sprint car drivers that will be there, is a dream come true.”
Larson’s first season of racing sprint cars saw considerable success. Besides
becoming California’s youngest feature winner with two victories in 43 starts, Larson
also finished seventh in points in the highly competitive California Sprint Car Civil War
Series, earning Rookie of the Year honors. He also became what is thought to be the first
driver under the age of 16 to be approved to race with the World of Outlaws, running late
season events at Chico, Tulare, Phoenix, and Perris.
Prior to the Chili Bowl Larson will first take to the track in his 500cc ParkerStore
sponsored outlaw sprint kart during the 23rd running of the Tulsa Shootout, December 29th
and 30th. This is the first year the lightning fast outlaw karts are being included in the
event and Larson is intent on winning the inaugural race. So far the only entry from
California, the birthplace of outlaw kart racing nearly 25 years ago, Larson is hoping the
class of cars takes the Shootout by storm (hopefully not an ice storm.)
“I’m real interested to see how fast an outlaw kart will get around that
track,” said Larson. “I hear that the 600 micros can get around the track as
fast, or faster, than the midgets. Out here in California, the outlaw karts are usually a
second or two faster than the micros on the same tracks. The track in Tulsa will be the
biggest track that I have raced my outlaw kart on, but not by much. Cycleland Speedway,
near Chico, is almost as big and we were much faster than the micros there. It sure would
be neat to make the fastest laps of any car, with an outlaw kart, on that track. Even if
it is not, at least I will get a chance to see the track before the Chili Bowl.”
Larson is racing his outlaw kart at Tulsa for the last time as his kart operation has been
purchased and will be hauled away at the conclusion of the event. Larson’s outlaw
kart career has produced 510 starts with 129 A-main event wins, 272 top three’s, 353
top five’s, 115 fast times, 10 track and series championships, and 4 National
championships, including both the 125cc and 500cc division championships at the 2005
Knoxville Outlaw Kart Nationals.
Larson’s racing efforts in Tulsa are sponsored by Bret Givens Construction, Inc.,
ParkerStore, NorthStar Concrete Pumping, Del’s Machine Shop, ILEX Lubrication
Equipment and Supply Co., Inc. and ParkerStore in Phoenix, AZ, Swimming Pool Perfections,
RPM Indoor Kart Racing and Conference Center, F & F Racing, KB Recording and DJ,
Mophead Graphix, Deputy Dave, Bob and Julie Tsukamoto, Laticia Daniels, Lary and Patty
Larson and Pistol Pete Johnston.
