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Jesse Love aboard the No. 84 CBI entry. (Tom Macht Photo)

Chili Bowl 2024 Preview: CB Industries, RAMCO & The Rest

TULSA, Okla. — CB Industries, owned and operated by Chad Boat, will continue to chase its first Chili Bowl Nationals title during the 38th running of the event, which starts Jan. 8 at Tulsa Expo Raceway.

Their lineup includes ARCA Menards Series champion Jesse Love, winged sprint car regulars Chris Windom and Tanner Holmes, as well as midget racing rising stars Daison Pursley and Bryant Wiedeman.

• Daryn Pittman, the 2013 World of Outlaws sprint car champion, will drive one of the entries from the Matt Wood Racing stable. Pittman, 45, has been a consistent Chili Bowl competitor through the years.

• Zach Daum, a winner in multiple midgets and multiple national midget series last season, will step into Andy Bondio’s familiar No. 47x midget for the Chili Bowl Nationals.

Known for his radically designed machines, Bondio won the in Andy Bondio’s famed No. 47x. Bondio won the Chili Bowl with driver Cory Kruseman in 2000 and 2004 and with the legendary Lealand McSpadden in 1991.

• Clinton Boyles, crew chief for the Vermeer Motorsports sprint car wheeled by Chris Windom this season, returns to the cockpit of a midget for the Chili Bowl steering the No. 11b entered by Scott Beierle.

• Longtime winged sprint car racer and Chili Bowl competitor Johnny Herrera will field two cars for the Chili Bowl with Canadian Robbie Price, who ran the World of Outlaws last year, and Jace Park, who steers Herrera’s winged sprint car, pushing the pedals.

• RAMCO Speed Group, operated by Kevin Ramey and Taylor Courtney, has assembled an interesting driver lineup with World of Outlaws rookie Landon Crawley, NASCAR driver Josh Bilicki, Ohio sprint car veteran Cap Henry, High Limit Racing competition director Mike Hess and small car aces Kris Carroll and Stuart Snyder driving.

• Second-generation California sprint car driver Corey Day, who won the NARC 410 winged sprint car title at age 17, will drive the No. 41 midget entered by Willie Kahne at the Chili Bowl.

• Among the many interesting Chili Bowl entries are NASCAR veteran and many-time Chili Bowl racer J.J. Yeley, Trans-Am competitor Adam Andretti, television announcer Dillon Welch and ageless former World of Outlaws contender Danny Wood.

• Multi-time USAC Western States midget champion Ronnie Gardner, who led Logan Seavey to the USAC Silver Crown Series title as crew chief, will climb back into a midget driving one of the Six8 Motorsports entries.

• One of the winningest drivers in the country last season with 41 feature triumphs, dirt late model standout Ricky Thornton Jr. will take on the Chili Bowl as part of the Reinbold Underwood Motorsports team that includes Mitchel Moles, Cole Bodine, Hayden Reinbold and Carson Perkins.

Reinbold Underwood won the Chili Bowl with Tanner Thorson in 2022.

• Two-time NHRA Funny Car champion and former Chili Bowl competitor Cruz Pedregon, a longtime open-wheel racing enthusiast, is fielding a pair of cars for non-winged sprint car regulars Trey Osborne and Ricky Lewis.