By Robert Haugh
Competing against the World’s
best racers over five days January 10 through 14, with approximately 260 racers
competing, including reigning and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion and
two-time Chili Bowl winner Tony Stewart,
reigning NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Sprint Car icon and five-time Chili Bowl winner Sammy
Swindell, reigning two-time champion Kevin
Swindell and a plethora of the most
talented racers from an array of racing backgrounds and disciplines, McQueen
Racing didn’t capture the coveted Golden Driller Trophy at the 26th
Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, but they were not alone of the
259 entries.
Having completed a stellar 2011
racing season, McQueen Racing opened the 2012 racing season with a strong,
efficient, performance at the 26th Annual Lucas Tulsa, Oklahoma at
the QuikTrip Center’s 1/5-mile Tulsa Expo Raceway, January 10-14.
With all three of the team’s
entries making it into the upper half of Saturday’s finale, which began with a
K-Main, double J-Mains up through Double B-Mains, leading into the 55-lap
A-Main, McQueen Racing didn’t take a Golden Driller home, but performed
admirably against the best of the best on one of the trickiest tracks to race
on.
For the first-time, McQueen
Racing’s Chili Bowl three-car team was an all-female roster, consisting of Bakersfield,
California’s Shannon McQueen, Guthrie,
Oklahoma’s Michelle Decker and Lindsay,
Oklahoma’s Harli White, a 16-year-old
Chili Bowl rookie.
White, a Chili Bowl rookie, chauffeured the McQueen Racing #7W American
Waste Control, Waurika Truck & Tire, Quantum Consulting, K&N Filters,
Eibach Springs Spike/Esslinger in Wednesday’s River Spirit Casino preliminary qualifying
night.
After starting second in her
Heat, alongside NASCAR and Chili Bowl veteran Jason Leffler in her Heat, Harli
was beat to the first corner, following Leffler closely to finish second. In
her A-Qualifier she was roughed up, falling backwards, ending up in the B-Main.
With little passing opportunities on a difficult track, Harli missed
transferring to the A-Main.
Decker, piloting the Shannon McQueen #7D Waurika Truck &
Tire, Carter Custom Finishes, Starrship Trucking, Simpson Race Products, Quantum
Consulting Spike/Esslinger competed on Thursday’s Suburban Chevrolet
preliminary qualifying night.
Decker started last in her Heat
race due to drawing a 79 pill. Struggling to find grip on a poor track, Decker
was marred in inexperienced traffic in the B-Main, missing the transfer to the
A-Main.
McQueen, the team owner, manned the Shannon McQueen #7 Murf Dogg
Racing, R.C. 4 Less, American Waste Control, Simpson Race Products, K&N
Filters Spike/Esslinger on Friday’s Vacuworx International preliminary
qualifying night.
Keeping the streak of high pill
draws, McQueen drew the fourth highest pill. With a narrow, fast track, McQueen
jumped from seventh to fifth on the opening lap and was setting up to pass for
fourth when the fourth place car spun in front of her, dropping McQueen to the
rear with only two laps remaining in the Heat. McQueen fought back to claim
sixth in the heat.
One spot shy of automatically
qualifying for the A-Qualifier races, McQueen had to race in the C-Main, where
she ran third, transferring to the B-Main, where she stormed from 18th
to sixth, missing the A-Main transfer by just two spots.
After competing in qualifying
night action, all three Lady racers competed in Saturday’s Chili Bowl final
night, which started with a K-Main.
Though driving with a heavy
heart, Harli showed poise, remaining
confident and running with the best, with most everyone at the Chili Bowl was
mourning the loss of popular Oklahoma racer and close friend of the White
family Donnie Ray Crawford, who lost his life in a tragic non-racing incident
on Saturday morning.
Originally getting a solid start
in G-Main 1, running from 12th to sixth, Harli fell backwards
halfway through the feature and did not transfer to F-Main 1.
Decker started on the pole, and despite strong challenges, led
every lap of G-Main 2, hugging the bottom and transferring to F-Main 2 with the
win in G-Main 2. Unfortunately, Decker got upside down on lap 2 in F-Main 2, as
another car moved from the bottom swiftly, causing her to flip on the front
stretch as she had nowhere to go.
McQueen quickly moved from her eighth starting spot E-Main 2 to a
potential transfer position in fourth before getting shuffled back to eighth
while fighting a rapidly changing track, missing the transfer by only two
positions.
McQueen Racing sponsors include
K&N Filters, Lucas Oil Products, Simpson Race Products, Eibach Springs,
American Fabrication of Bakersfield, Advanced Racing Suspensions, Ruth
Engineering, West Evans Motorsports, Esslinger Racing Engines by Duane McQueen
and JE Piston Company.
Additional 2012 Chili Bowl
Sponsors include: American Waste Control, MurfDogg Racing/Motorworks, R/C
4 Less, Carter Custom Finishes, Quantum Consulting, Waurika Truck and Tires,
Starrship Trucking, Dale’s Electric and Mud-X.
Full McQueen Racing 2012 Chili
Bowl Midget Nationals Saturday results:
E Main 2: 1. #11W Chris
Windom, Canton, IL; 2. #7DA Dalton Armstrong, New Castle, IN; 3. #73S Alex
Sewell, Broken Arrow, OK; 4. #94X Kevin Olson, Machesney Park, IL: 5. #2B Tyler
Reddick, Coming, CA; 6. #3F Tony Elliott, Warsaw, IN; 7. #15D Andrew Deal,
Caney, KS; 8. #7 Shannon McQueen, Tehachapi, CA; 9. #51 Brent Camarillo, Camarillo, CA; 10. #88 Brendan
Bright, Collegeville, PA; 11. #24E Rick Eckert, York, PA; 12. #37X Cameron
Hagin, Broken Arrow, OK; 13. #9U Doug McCune, Colleyville, TX; 14. #21M Billy
Lawhead, El Reno, OK; 15. #91X Kyle Steffens, St. Charles, MO; 16. #28 Alex
Schutte, Rohnert Park, CA
F Main 2: 1. #37X Cameron
Hagin, Broken Arrow, OK; 2. #2B Tyler Reddick, Corning, CA; 3. #15D Andrew
Deal, Caney, KS; 4. #28 Alex Schutte, Rohnert Park, CA; 5. #51X Matt Lundy,
Phoenix, AZ; 6. #11XS Donovan Peterson, Brookings, SD; 7. #37T Chris Urish,
Elkhart, IL; 8. #15B Danny Burke, Houston, TX; 9. #14R Troy DeCaire, Tampa, FL;
10. #58 Cole Peard, Quincy, CA; 11. #00 Pete Davis, Pleasanton, CA; 12. #11H
Garrett Hood, Concordia, KS; 13. #18 Floyd Alvis, San Carlos, CA; 14. #49JR
Bobby Michnowicz, Lomita, CA; 15. #7D Michelle Decker, Guthrie, OK; DNS -- #33X Jason Lair, Del City, OK
G Main 2: 1. #7D Michelle
Decker, Guthrie, OK; 2. #28 Alex
Schutte, Rohnert Park, CA; 3. #49JR Bobby Michnowicz, Lomita, CA; 4. #37T Chris
Urish, Elkhart, IL; 5. #2R A.J. Hopkins, Brownsburg, IN; 6. #81B Ryan Beechler,
McKinney, TX; 7. #6M Justin Mallo, Cheyenne, WY; 8. #0G Greg Bragg, Visalia,
CA; 9. #0B Glenn Styres, Ohsweken, Ontario; 10. #12S Bryan Severs, Collison,
IL; 11. #27C Kip Hughes, Enid, Ok; 12. #9M Cory Mallo, Cheyenne, WY; 13. #98G
Gavin Galbraith, Washington, MO; 14. #8B Bob Ream Jr., Glendale, AZ; 15. #89JR
Ron Kuhn, Independence, MO; DNS - #8K Donnie Ray Crawford, Broken Arrow, OK
G Main 1: 1. #6X Chris Morgan,
Topeka, KS; 2. #94 Darren Kingston, Vandalia, IL; 3. #14W Matt Westfall, Ludlow
Falls, OH; 4. #86C David Camfield Jr., Decatur, IL; 5. #8R Bobby Ruffin,
Crandall, TX; 6. #38N Kyle Neal, Ewing, IL; 7. #15N T.J. Smith, Fresno, CA; 8.
#17K Tanner Berryhill, Bixby, OK; 9. #7W Harli White, Lindsay, OK; 10. #2X Tyler Millwood, Kingston, CA; 11. #23F Jesse
Sobbing, Glenwood, IA; 12. #49 Trevor Kobylarz, Birdsboro, PA; 13. #12JR Josh
Pelkey, Peoria, AZ; 14. #77B Mike Boesel, Bennett, CO; 15. #25 Dylan Peterson,
Sioux Falls, SD; DNS - #96 Cody Brewer, Choctaw, OK
McQueen Racing will continue
their 2012 season on March 23-24 in USAC-Western States Midget action at the
¼-mile Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, CA as part of the Mini Gold Cup
featuring the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars.
Visit www.shannonmcqueen.com
for more information. The 2012 McQueen Racing schedule will be posted soon.
