ARDC Chili Bowl Thursday notes

ARDC Racers Go Two-For-Four on Night #2 of Chili Bowl

Tulsa, OK - January 6 - Members of the American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) continued to impress the other racers and fans at the 19th annual Chili Bowl on Thursday evening.

Five-time ARDC champion Ray Bull, Bloomsburg, PA, started his night's work on the outside of the fourth row for heat race no. 1. Bull blazed a path toward the front, winding up in third place as the checkered flag waved after ten laps.

That finish, combined with his passing points, put Bull on the outside of the third row for the 25-lap, A-main. He began the feature alongside non-other than 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart.

Bull followed Stewart as they picked off some cars in the early going, and the driver who has earned 38 career ARDC victories finished in the fifth position in the night's headline event. The top four drivers are automatically locked in to the actual Chili Bowl itself on Saturday night, so Bull just missed the cut. He will, however, have an excellent starting spot in one of the B-mains, giving the chauffeur of the Mega Motorsports/ Cafe Waldorf/ Lobitz Catering no. 22 a great chance of qualifying for the 50-lap Bowl.

Reading, PA lady driver Michele Miller also performed admirably in her second Chili Bowl start. Miller advanced two spots in heat race no. 4, going from fourth to second after spinning on the first lap in turn four.

Michele started 12th in the A-main, but found the close-quarters racing difficult, ending the main event in 20th spot.

An announcement was made at the track on Thursday, explaining that Michele and her sister, Tracy, are the first females to qualify for any A-main at the Chili Bowl. Tracy competed on Wednesday evening.

Donnie Trent, from Honeybrook, PA, also competed in Thursday's Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores preliminaries. Trent took the checkered in third place in his heat race. He started sixth in the first B-main, and that's exactly where he finished. Only the top four cars transferred to the A-feature, so Trent's evening ended a bit earlier than he wanted.

Another member of the Miller Racing Team, Indiana's Marc Dailey, had problems in heat race #2, finishing eighth. That put Dailey on the outside of the front row for the D-main, which he won.

Dailey, in the Miller/Stealth/Ott no. 7D, began the first C-main from way back in 15th position. He managed to pick up three spots, finishing 12th, but that was not enough to propel him into one of the B-mains.

Tracy Hines, the former USAC competitor who now races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, won Thursday's A-main. Hines, from Greenfield, IN, started on the pole and led all the way, winning easily over Bud Kaeding (Campbell, CA), Tony Stewart (Rushville, IN), and Gary Wright (Hooks, TX). Those four wheel-twisters are now locked in to Saturday's 50-lap finale.

The rest of the ARDC contingent will be in action on Friday night. Led by Birdsboro, PA, veteran Mike Miller, the group also includes 1990 Chili Bowl winner Johnny Heydenreich, Carey Becker, two-time ARDC champ Bryan Kobylarz, and Connecticut's Chris Morway.

Check out the awesome spectacle that is the Chili Bowl at www.chilibowl.com, and follow each night's activities by reading live updates at www.WhoWon.com. Dailey updates are also posted on the ARDC web site, www.ardcmidgets.com.

-ardc-