(Photo by DPC Media)
Inside Line Promotions – TULSA, Okla. (Jan. 18, 2021) – Frank Flud produced a career-best preliminary performance last week at the 35th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire.
Flud, who was driving for Hayward Motorsports for the first time, posted a 10th-place result on Tuesday before a crash resulted in a DNF during a C Main on Saturday inside the River Spirit Expo Center. The marquee midget event hosted more than 300 competitors with 60-plus racing during each of the five preliminary nights.
The action began for Flud by maneuvering from eighth to third place in a heat race on Tuesday, putting him in a great position for a qualifier.
“I had a great run in my heat race and a lot of luck on my side,” he said. “I started last and kept my nose clean, and a lot of guys wrecked. I had a great run going in the qualifier, too. I was running second after starting fifth. I got excited and caught the berm wrong and spun out. I restarted at the back and came up to sixth.”
That relegated Flud to a B Main and a third-place showing earned a transfer into the main event. Flud started 21st and hustled to a 10th-place result, which was his best outing during a Chili Bowl preliminary night.
“The track was pretty one lane,” he said. “I kept my nose clean and made good laps and passed guys when I had the opportunity. The whole race the racing never got off the bottom. At the start there were some guys making some moves during the first six or eight laps. After that it became a bottom-lane track and made it hard to pass. The last six or eight laps is when it was starting to rubber up pretty bad.
“It was good to have that great of a run with a great team. Even though I don’t do it constantly like the rest of the guys, I had a decent showing. It’s a confidence boost.”
Flud garnered the fourth starting position in a C Main on Saturday based on his preliminary performance.
“I’ve always lucked into a C Main and been in the back,” he said. “This year I started fourth in the second C Main. Right on the start someone ran me over going into turn one. It ended up collapsing the headers.”
The early incident resulted in a DNF.
“It was really frustrating,” he said. “You learn to accept some of that stuff the best you can after racing as long as I have. I felt like I had as good of an opportunity by far to make the B Feature and who knows what would have happened there.”
Flud kicks off the 2021 outdoor season Feb. 19-20 at Superbowl Speedway in Greenville, Texas, with the Lucas Oil National Open Wheel 600 Series presented by Hi-Plains Building Division.
QUICK RESULTS –
Jan. 12 – Tulsa Expo Raceway in Tulsa, Okla. – Heat race: 3 (8); Qualifier: 6 (5); B Main: 3 (2); Feature: 10 (21).
Jan. 16 – Tulsa Expo Raceway in Tulsa, Okla. – C Main: DNF (4).
UP NEXT –
Feb. 19-20 at Superbowl Speedway in Greenville, Texas, with the Lucas Oil National Open Wheel 600 Series presented by Hi-Plains Building Division
MEDIA LINKS –
Twitter: https://twitter.com/81racing
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frankfludracing
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“Working with Stevie Smith on his brake setup has been a definite game changer,” Flud said. “Smith Titanium’s stuff is a whole level up. They are more efficient and allow me to be able to do what I need to do. The titanium bolts are so nice. They pay so much attention to every nut and bolt.”
Flud would also like to thank Driven Midwest, Driven Performance, Harley Hollan Companies, Metric Cycles, Engler Machine & Tool, Outlaw Wings, Mychron-Tom, Performance Electronics, LTD, Schoenfeld Headers, PureMax Racing Oil, Swindell Bleeders, TUHB, Impact RaceGear, Broken Arrow Powder Coating, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Select Coatings, Klint Pursley Trucking, Walker Performance Filtration, Hoss Media, Fast Four Media and Velocita for their continued support.
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 18, 2021
- Article Date: 1/18/2021 by Inside Line Promotions