Inside Line Promotions – TULSA, Okla. (Jan. 24, 2020) – The results for Zac Taylor during the 34th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals presented by General Tire might not look impressive on paper, but for the young Wyoming driver the week inside the River Spirit Expo Center yielded a lot of important contacts that might shape his 2020 season.
“Our racing didn’t yield great results, but I got to make a lot of new friends and possible partnerships that could help 2020 be a great season,” he said.
With approximately 350 entries, the Chili Bowl field was split into five qualifying nights beginning on Monday, Jan. 13, before the event concluded last Saturday. Taylor’s preliminary night was Tuesday.
“The car was a rocket when it was on all four wheels,” said Taylor, who was driving for Todd Henry. “You have to have laps there to get comfortable running the bottom. I had a lot of guys who race for a living in my heat, so to finish fourth to them was nothing to hang my head over.”
The Chili Bowl format awards points for where a driver finishes and how many cars were passed. Taylor’s heat race performance put him in a qualifier, in which he charged from 10th to a seventh-place finish. That relegated him to the B Main, in which he raced to an 11th-place result.
“I was running second in the B Main and a guy slid me, got into me a little and I had to check up,” he said. “I thought he would stay up top and when I went into the next corner on the bottom he was there and that pretty much ended our night.”
Taylor was in an H Main on Saturday, but a mistake on the berm dropped him to a 13th-place finish.
“I just made too many mistakes on the berm,” he said. “I got greedy and it cost us. I normally run the bottom, but the berm at the Chili Bowl is nothing like we have raced on before. I needed to move up a little and not get the front wheel over the berm so I could carry speed through the corners and not have to brake so hard.”
Things are looking up for Taylor, who earned the 2019 Lucas Oil POWRi Warrior Sprint Series championship in his first year of driving a non-wing sprint car and who guided Henry’s midget to a fourth-place finish in the Lucas Oil POWRi Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association standings.
“My dad and I were talking and I think we need to get to Indiana and race a midget more,” he said. “After talking to some people at the Chili Bowl, that opportunity may come about. We could take the sprint car along to get even more races in.”
QUICK RESULTS –
Jan. 14 – River Spirit Expo Center in Tulsa, Okla. – Heat race: 4 (2); Qualifier: 7 (10); B Main: 11 (5).
Jan. 18 – River Spirit Expo Center in Tulsa, Okla. – H Main: 13 (3).
UP NEXT –
March 26 at Creek County Speedway in Sapulpa, Okla., for the 7th annual Turnpike Challenge with the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League
MEDIA LINKS –
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zac-Taylor-Racing/176561235888527
Twitter: https://twitter.com/zac86taylor
Website: http://www.zactaylorracing.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA1su-PDXOb8wWUoLAw_POQ/videos
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – SuperClean
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“SuperClean helped us out a lot during the Chili Bowl,” Taylor said. “We had our car on display at their booth, which gave us a lot of exposure. Despite a disappointing performance on the track I am still very grateful for Todd Henry putting me in an amazing car and making sure I’m safe, my parents, family and friends and all of my fans who came by to talk and supported me through Facebook, and Austin Ervine for helping on the car.”
Taylor would also like to thank Smith Titanium, Vahlco Racing Wheels, Pitt Stop Signs & Graphix, USA Performance Racing Engines and Advanced Racing Suspensions.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Jan 24, 2020
- Article Date: 1/24/2020 by Inside Line Promotions