When I landed in T-town the first thing I noticed was no sheet of white on the ground, and yes, there was sun shining in Tulsa.
The famailiar Ron Bach owned # 49 is in the house. Ron right, and his driver, Bobby Michnowicz, made the main event and were crashed out by Terry McCarl for the second year in a row. Bobby was doing well, too. They had a good time as usual.
The Kasey Kahne Mopar slew of cars line up.
This purple # 11 looked pretty nice.It was driven by Joe Cleveland
I'll be putting a lot of pictures of cars I didn't know who drove. This one was clean.
Don O'Keefe brought two cars to the Chili Bowl for his first experience here. He had fun.
A car in the process of adjustment.
Frank Polimeda drove this one.
Mat Neely drove this one very well. He was 13th in the last Semi on Saturday night just missing the A-Main.
Here Mat and his Girlfriend Lacey are looking forward to this week on Wednesday.
Kevin Kierce, right and his friend from New York, Randy Smith are ready to have fun at the Chili Bowl.
Daniel Adler's ride.
Mike Goodman of Tulsa, OK.
Josh Most won the Tuesday night affair. Here, they have a viewing area on the hauler where you could view the big screen TV that showed all the action on the track.
One of the many views of the long Expo building.
Kyle Robbins black and white racers.
Zack Daum's car.
The good looking car of Kevin Morris.
Dale Crossno, left, and Hal Engstrom are having fun.
David Cardey drove this model.
David poses by his ride.
My son Kevin and David are chatting.
Nice black car, but no clue on driver.
The cars of Chad McDaniel and Eddie Martin in the other one
This is a light load of people as the pits were packed all week!
Andrew Felker's ride.
Is it true Blondes have more fun?
A fuzzy blonde is good.
Shannon McQueen did very well during the week.
Nice looking cars.
Kevin is coming back from another trip to his truck for something for the old man.
Chad Boat had fun this weekend, but dad didn't drive this year.
Ryan Kaplin's ride.
Troy Rutherford was in the house to drive again this year. He made a slide job that went awry for the last move forward qualifying spot and was done on Saturday.
A monkey sits in the midget of Kevin Olson.
A seal next to the RJ Johnson pit area is doing what?
Andy Bondio goes up the ramp of his trailer in his pit area where his two entries, driven by Cory Kruseman and J J Yeley were being readied.
These girls were touting a local watering hole.
In the Kasey Kahne pit area a lot of work is going on.
The four cars are lined up for Joey Saldana, Brady Bacon, Ryan Durst and Kevin Swindell.
Joey Saldana in yellow.
Kenny Brown's car.
Jerry Coons Jr was one of the favorites going in. Here he visits with all who come by.
Jerry is being interviewed in front of his car.
Josh Wise in a Cruz Pedregon car.
Cruz drove this one himself.
The Creek Nation Casino brought their girls again. This one was very bountiful!
The Hooter girls. They were from all over the area.
Dave Darland's ride took him to 2nd place on Saturday night. With the slick conditions, he was the pre race favorite.
Bobby East leans on his ride. He made the last semi, but did not transfer to the A-main.
Damion Gardner won Friday and Saturday for a big boost to his racing lore.
Danny Lasoski made a run at it with a 7th in the last semi, just missing the main.
A big dog hung out in this trailer.
Don't know who it is?
Dustin Morgan's ride is sharp.
A cute pit vehicle to get around in.
Tony Stewart's yellow car stands out.
Another shot of the car that finished 8th in the big one.
Front view.
The other side of Tony's car.
The Tony Stewart team has several other cars, this one was ninth.
Josh Richards drove this one.
Levi Jones drives this one.
Levi poses for another pohotographer.
Dean Mills does his video thing at the Chili Bowl.
Blake Miller drove the Mark Priestley midget this year.
Chris Windom (17) and Cole Whitt (71) cars ready to rock and roll. Chris was 12th in the last semi and Cole was 13th in the big Main.
Glenn Carson made another trip to the Chili Bowl.
Steve and Gary Howard enjoying the Chili Bowl.
Dalton Cole drove the 4c car.
Jessica Zimken signs an autograph in the trade center.
Who is that with the polka dot hat? A long beard means it's not me!
RJ Johnson on the move in his heat. He ran third.
Another of the 10 heats on the gas.
David Cardey strapped into a midget for this one. The white # 97 was fast, but he kept getting whacked and didn't fare well over the week.
A look around. I am sitting in turn four looking to turns one and two.
This is looking across the infield to the backstretch.
A look at the turn 3/4 grandstand. From the top of that you can look back to the pits behind it.
Blake Miller in the black #7 heading for fifth in his heat behind a bunch of heavy hitters.
Blake in action.
Blake escaping from a bashing.
Next race has Troy Rutherford taking the lead.
Everyone gets pushed from their pit down onto the racetrack and placed in position to get pushed off.
Harlan Willis and Rich Chesavage, right, enjoy the racing from the "sweet suites" above us.
Levi Jones on the track.
Hooter girls made a lot of laps this week.
Davey Ray and Josh Ford lead them out in the A-Main.
All 24 of them continue on around turn four to the green flag start.
Trucker Frank, left, and John "the Harley man" sit up top.
Tom Fish is one of the royal ones up top.
Bill Merion also is up there.
Let me take your picture to prove you were here.
One of the trollers, some of who went up and down, up and down, all week long.
Another.
Miss Penthouse was in the Randy Hannigan booth. I asked if she even knew the driver, and there he was sitting and I didn't notice him. Imagine that.
One of the regulars in the sky boxes sometimes runs errands. Here she is with and without stuff.
The blond has a big beer ($8.50 worth) and plenty of friends.
The hoocie coochie girl from the Casino went out front.
I only went into the press room after the races the first night. Here is Aaron Fiscus, Jerry Coons Jr and winner Josh Ford.
Another shot.
More.
Jerry Coons Jr in study.
Kevin and Steve Lafond of TOHF hamming it up.
Biker Bruce came in to help someone this week.
Morty and family. A serious fan who misses little and loves racing.
Another blond sighting. She got rave reviews in front of the "Hey Man's" grandstand area everytime she walked by.
See the big screen TV? Some people never go to the grandstands and chose to watch from here.
Little groups like this one gather all day and night in the pits.
I wonder how many T-shirts are sold during this event?
Danny Sheridan drove a second RJ Johnson car owned by Patrick Fly. He was aced out of a transfer to go further on Saturday by who else, his teammate RJ!
Always a pleasure to see a Wagtimes shirt!
Danny is climbing in to go hot lap.
Kevin and Karen are having a ball.
Josh Ford the day after winning the prelim.
Gary Selzi of NHRA Drag Racing tied up and had some fun.
Always a lot of action in the Andy Bondio pit area. That's Andy to the left.
Tom Fish sits on Andy's mobile pit cart.
I have a long history with these two brothers. Their names escape me at the moment, but they got involved in some of my weekly picture for Wagsbucks in the early days. The object was to display a picture and the person giving me the most Wagsbucks that race, got the picture (Jim Fargo's idea) These two bid on one pic one night without know the other was bidding. Anyway we made a lot of money that night and one of them went home with the neat picture. Today they are always ready to buy something for our cause as collectors of race memorabilia.
Jimmy Light drives this one that is very colorful.
Quite a paint job.
Jessica Zemken drives this one. She is from New York and plans to run out west at least once or twice this season.
Jessica talks with Jerry Coons Jr here.
Hmmmmm, what do I do now?
Oh yeah, were selling these raffle tickets!
That is Smoke Johnson in the hat and long hair. I wonder if he likes his new Toyota NASCAR deal.
It's time for the National Anthem!
That is J J Yeley in the Bondio 47X. He didn't have the greatest of luck getting a 15th in the D-Main on Saturday before he was done.
That's Tony Stewart in the bright yellow car.
Bobby Michnowicz won his heat, ran second in the A qualifier and was 7th on opening night.
In the 6th heat on Thursday they lined up with Scott Pierovich and Kenny Brown on the front row with Dennis Rodriguez and Danny Sheridanin the second row. After it was all done, that's the order they finished???
Danny Sheridan at speed.
Gary Lee Maier had a little tommy tipover, but went right back at it when they put him on his wheels.
Nelson Stewart, Tony's dad, was there all week. He was probably on his way for a snack here.
Another pretty blond came from the pits to watch.
Ready, aim, fire was the order of the day. Taking pictures was part of the memory making.
Lets see, where were we sitting?
Jessica Zemken on the track.
Bobby Michnowicz (pronounced Mick-NO-wits by the announcers who cared less to find out how is is said. It is usually a midwest thing) was on the gas!
Stripes always fascinate me!
Nathan High from AZ and J J Yeley lead off the B-Main on Thursday.
Ooops, another one of the several dozens of rollovers.
Kevin's at the bar????
Jack's traveling partner Toots says no pictures.
Speedway Bill never misses the Chili Bowl!!! He had some interestng things to say as he is part of the history of our sport. His new Museum is growing already in Lincoln Nebraska.
The second B saw Chris Rahe hold off Brady Bacon for the win!
Tom Fish taking some movies of the goings on in the "sweet suites" above us!
The Thursday A-Main takes off with Brad Kuhn on the pole and to the win!
Bobby M takes a charge at Tony Stewart. He passed him once, but Smoke didn't like that and slid him towards the wall at the next corner. Bobby backed off and lived to race another day.
Christine was in the "viewing comfortable" section after the races relaxing!
Wild looking Garrett Hood car!
Bob Reams beauty!!!! He didn't have much luck.
Bobby Martin owns the RJ Johnson car. He gets his rest when he can. With hundreds of people filing by, he didn't miss a beat.
This car is sharp looking!
Another view in the pits. That is Mike Spencer's dad talking to someone on the left.
I was just taking a picture of a wing car when those girls got in the way. What's up with that?
Garrett Hansen did real well right up until his motor quit on him on Saturday night, twice. He was done in the last Semi after running up to a qualifying spot.
Robby Josett is a California driver I don't know.
This flower is a memorial to Willey Miller's daughter who passed away recently. That's all there was, no name or words, just a very cool remembrance!
Activity was pretty busy in the Johnson and Sheridan pit when I came a callin' for some help. I had tripped and dropped my brand new Canon Rebel XTi on the concrete pit floor. Rickie Johnson rose to the occasian when I asked for help! The filter glass was broken and I feared for the expensive lens! Ricky and Kevin went into the trailer with the hopes of taking the battered filter off the lens, but it was fused on and wouldn't budge with all the mechanical tools they had at their disposal. They got the glass removed and I checked it out. It worked, but I was concerned, so Kevin took it back to the car . The next morning we took it to a camera repair shop and the guy took two seconds to remove the filter we couldn't get to unscrew the night before. He used a small pair of pliers and twisted it interally and wala, it was off. He inspected the lens, pronounced it fit and off we went to buy a new filter. Amazingly, the camera worked fine and I was very relieved. Thanks to everyone for their help and I am much better now. I feared it was a goner, the camera or the lens, so am back in business.
Here is Cory Kruseman's ride. There must not be any Bondio secrets there or it would have the body on it. Note the left front bike tire still in use.
Cory and wife Carrie hang out and visit with many during the days. He led Friday's A-Main until a restart happened with his tires sealed over. He had been way faster than the field behind him until that restart and was first passed by Jason Leffler as he tried to hang in there. The track was really slick and hard to pass on so when he saw a chance to high on the nasty track, unfortunately Damion Gardner was up there on his way around Cory, and they collided, with Damion going on to the lead and a big win and Cory getting pushed to the infield where he stopped. He was credited with 22nd and relegated to the C-Main on Saturday where he missed a transfer. It was truly one of those racing thngs and I doubt Cory saw Damion up there before he made his move. The American itres used by Andy Bondio's team were swapped out with Hoosier's on Saturday.
Danny Stratton had some good as he was in the Semi on Saturday night, but couldn't get moved to a transfer and was done a little earlier than he wanted.
Bob Ream, Cory Kruseman and many other favorites were in this one.
Both RJ Johnson and Danny Sheridan were in this one, starting side by side in the second row. This D-Main on Saturday only took five and RJ was 5th, Danny sixth.
Chad Boat in the 30 car. He missed the transfer. Brad Sweet was second and he moved on.
Cory is in this one, but didn't make the transfer, neither did Chris Rahe.
Davey Ray is doing a wheelie trying to stay ahead of Tony Stewart here!!!
Notice the car on two wheels leaning to his right? The reason I am showing you this is Damion did the same thing while leading the A-Main and I missed it with my camera. His was a little higher than this one, but you get the idea. I don't know how he manged to save it.
Tony is ahead of Ray now and Bobby is chasing both of them.
The other semi is going off as Kevin Swindell is leading with Garrett Hansen making a run for it.
Kevin and Jack Kraemer are bookending someone who is giving me a dirty look. I'll give you a hint. She is Slammin' Sammy's number one fan and hates the camera.
Every year the blow up dolls are rampant flying thru the crowd. This is one of the plain ones. There are others, including one that had a red and white polka dot bikini on, but it never was in the air when my camera was perusing the crowd.
The start of the A-main saw Josh Ford on the pole next to Damion Garder, followed by Brad Kuhn and Dave Darland.
The single file restarts were very similar late in the race as positions were not changing.
This is what it looked like at the end. No one could catch the Demon as he drove this race perfectly and beat all the heroes, like he wasn't one of them before, but now he has something to crow about. Look out Indiana, he's back!!!!!!!
This is the maddenng infield after the main event. A lot of media out there.
This is Glenn Carson, a one time 410 driver with us in So Cal. A very nice guy who comes every year to be part of it and has better luck than some. I had to censor his T-shirt, but you get the idea.
The winning car sponsored by Pace and driven by the Demon, Damion Gardner.
The Friday night Tulsa Driller trophy. Only a handfull of very special drivers have one of these, and the Demon now has two.
The Ron Bach Racing Team members had a great time.
Bob Ream Jr poses by the bright car.
Damion proudly poses with his Saturday night trophy, the big one.
Here, Damion poses for me, too! What a night for the California native and all his fans. It made you proud!!!
