VENTURA, Calif. – Kruseman Motorsports is bringing four cars to the 34th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Okla., Jan. 13-18 inside the River Spirit Expo Center.
Cory Kruseman, owner of Kruseman Motorsports and a two-time winner of the Chili Bowl (2000, 2004), confirmed Friday that Gage Rucker, Tony Gaulda and Andrew Carlson will drive three of the midgets he is taking to Tulsa. The fourth car is still available to rent.
Rucker, who resides in Bellflower, Mo., will be a part of the Kruseman team at the Chili Bowl for the second year in a row. A talented kart racer, Rucker made six midget starts last year between the Chili Bowl, the USAC National Midget Series and the Bay Cities Racing Ass’n.
At the Chili Bowl, Rucker will once again be piloting the No. 11K car.
The team welcomed Gaulda and sponsor ProCrop1 to its Chili Bowl lineup on Dec. 30, with Gualda set to possibly make some sprint car starts in 2020 with the Kruseman team also.
Gualda, from Hollister, Calif., rose through the ranks starting in karts and micro sprints and will be making his Tulsa debut. He notched three wins in three states in 2019 and placed fifth in the Sprint Car Challenge Tour standings.
The 20 year old also finished 12th in the Placerville Speedway 360 winged sprint car standings, despite not racing the full schedule.
Like Gaulda, Carlson will also be making his Chili Bowl debut.
The 27-year-old is a professional snowmobile and off-road racer. From Elk River, Minn., Carlson began racing snowmobiles as a four-year-old and got into off-road racing at 15 in UTVs.
Not only will it be the first Chili Bowl for the Snowcross and X-Games competitor, but it will also be his initial time competing in a midget.
Each of the drivers will have a practice session on Monday afternoon. All will race in one of the preliminary nights during the week before coming back for the finale on Saturday.
“We are excited about the 2020 Chili Bowl,” owner Kruseman said. “Right now, we have three talented drivers who have all done well in their respective racing disciplines. They are all very capable of doing well in Tulsa.
“In addition, we still have my own personal No. 21K with an open seat,” he added. “We hope to fill that slot and then look forward to a strong Chili Bowl performance later this month.”
SPEED SPORT’s Chili Bowl coverage is presented by MyRacePass, the official timing and scoring app of the 2020 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals. Fans can download the MyRacePass app on their phones to follow all the action during the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals. For more information on MyRacePass, visit www.myracepass.com and use the hashtag #GetTheApp on Twitter!
