Chili Bowl technical inspection is ramping up this year

New Chili Bowl Midget Nationals technical inspector Cody Cordell is not playing around.

For the first time in quite a while, the top four finishers of the Monday night preliminary were held in inspection on main street at the Tulsa Expo where traction control, radio communication devices, chassis tubing thickness certification and tire prep were amongst the things on the docket.

It’s not that Matt Ward, who has moved purely into an event director role, did not have any standards but the race holistically is taking a tougher approach in the aftermath of new chassis safety regulations and a crack down on ‘tire doping’ and the ever-elusive TC.

Emmett Hahn, the event promoter and co-founder said it as bluntly as he is known for.

“We have a drug problem in this world and we have them with this race too,” Hahn said. “They’re doping these tires so we’re working on that. We’re doing tech this year.”

The approach has been well-received throughout the building — especially since last week when Cordell sent several tire samples to a lab in Lenoir, North Carolina when several came up as not adhering to the rules. Those teams were disqualified.

Chili Bowl, historically, does not have a lot of rules and Christopher Bell will tell you it’s part of the appeal but what rules exist need to enforced and Cordell is doing just that.

“I think it’s huge,” Bell said. “And one of the most important things about the Chili Bowl is the lack of rules, right? It’s been so fun to see the innovative part of the Chili Bowl have kind of a run what you brung mentality.

“With that being said, the few rules that are in place, I have been very grateful that they’ve cracked down on it. The (Tulsa) Shootout has more rules but take the tire prep situation, it’s good that they stepped up and got with that.

“I like that there are really few rules but I’m thankful that they’ve upped the efforts to mandate them.”

Bell said this during the Chili Bowl press conference on Monday when asked about the topic alongside veteran racer and car builder Kevin Swindell.”

“The safety stuff is probably the biggest stuff too, like the cages and things like that,” Swindell said. “We’re just going a lot faster than we used to in this building. That’s what I think has changed the game altogether.   We used to probably go 15 mile an hour slower, the whole race. Go back and watch those videos; it just doesn’t look fast. You can bust your ass now more than ever before.”

Swindell said the tire prep is really hard to chase down because there are still undetectable chemicals. One team owner said anonymously that they know for a fact it’s still taking place too.

“But at least,” Swindell continued, “they are putting the fear into it that they are chasing it and making progress and detecting everything. I do think it’s working and kicking people out of the Shootout is going to deter some people even more.

“It’s all a good thing. I do think there needs to be some kind of box but for the purity of this place, you also need to have some freedom.”

After the press conference ended, Bell said he wanted to add some more perspective to that point.

“The Chili Bowl is amazing because of the lack of rules,” Bell said. “That is what is so cool about this event.”

Bell remembered his time racing pavement Super Late Models and getting disqualified for left side weight in the Snowball Derby and they weren’t fond memories.

“And honestly, the last 10 years or so, they’ve all kind of came together a little bit more than they used to,” Bell said of chassis conformant in Indoor Midgets. “Lack of rules is amazing. That’s why I hate the Snowball Derby ’cause there’s so many rules, right?”

The only rule changes for the chassis only intended to eliminate cages that were too lightweight to the point they would more easily bend, break and collapse into the driver compartment. It’s safety more than competition.

“Right, so the cage is not made of lightweight tubing, which I think is great,” Bell said. “The whole recipe for success is very few rules and the rules that you do have being able to enforce them. I just want to make it known that I love this event because there are very few rules and they just need to enforce what they do have on the rule sheet.”

And Cordell is doing just that.