TULSA, Okla. — Dave Mac Motorsports has confirmed the final two drivers for its seven-car fleet for the 35th Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals, including a young NTT IndyCar Series star.
Connecticut’s Santino Ferrucci and Oklahoma’s Taylor Reimer will each pilot a Speedway Toyota-powered Spike Chassis for team owner Dave McIntosh during the Jan. 11-16 Super Bowl of Midget Racing inside the River Spirit Expo Center.
Ferrucci will wheel the No. 10 at the Chili Bowl, while Reimer will drive a No. 25k entry.
It will be Ferrucci’s second attempt at the historic event, while Reimer will be making her Chili Bowl debut as part of the Dave Mac stable.
Both Ferrucci and Reimer tested at Oklahoma’s Port City Raceway recently in preparation for the Chili Bowl, with McIntosh “blown away” by what he saw out of the pair.
“For it being just Santino’s second time on dirt, the guy is insane as far as car control and throttle control. He just blew us away and just got better and faster every time he went out,” McIntosh said. “The whole day could not have gone any better. And Taylor had just gotten back from the (Cory) Kruseman (driving) school in California and she was one of the smoothest drivers we had.
“We ran four cars that day and she was ripping some really good laps and was in control the entire way,” McIntosh continued. “I was flabbergasted how good the day was, but especially with those two.”
Ferrucci is coming off a season in which he finished fourth in the Indianapolis 500 driving for Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan. That headlined a season where the 22-year-old earned five top-10 finishes and ranked 13th in NTT IndyCar Series points.
“Between this being my first midget test and having, now, a good handful of laps in the car, I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do this,” Ferrucci noted. “I felt last year in the Chili Bowl that, with the car control and throttle control and all of that, that if I actually had laps, I could be decent.
“I told everybody I was going to come back (and run the Chili Bowl again) and I want to hold up to my word, but I also wasn’t going to come back just to do it. I wanted to come back in a good car because I have goals that I want to check off there. I want to make my main on my prelim night this time.”
Meanwhile, Reimer is making her return to racing after several years away from the sport due to obligations as a full-time cheerleader at the University of Oklahoma.
Prior to her racing hiatus, Reimer cut her teeth at Port City and became the winningest female racer in the eighth-mile dirt oval’s history, with success in the Junior Sprint and Restricted classes.
“She was a full-time racer and a full-time cheerleader in high school, and it got to the point where she had to make a decision (due to time constraints), and she went to be a cheerleader and won state championships and then went off to OU to be a cheerleader there for the University of Oklahoma. So that’s where she’s been. But she’s back with a fire,” said McIntosh. “She’s got a simulator set up; she’s been on the sim every day, pretty much. She’s putting in the work to get back at this the right way.
“We’ve got a lot of time to make up for, with her taking six or seven years off, but she’s doing everything that we’ve asked her to do,” McIntosh continued. “Beyond that, really, it’s just about trying to narrow that gap as far as her experience goes.”
Ferrucci and Reimer will join teammates Tanner Thorson, Jace McIntosh, Michael Faccinto, Noah Gass and Ace McCarthy at the Chili Bowl, marking the largest fleet that Dave McIntosh has brought to Tulsa in his organization’s history.
“We’re ready for it, though,” he remarked. “We’re excited to see what this group can do.”
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