TULSA, Okla. – Believe it or not, veteran sprint car driver Brooke Tatnell has never competed in the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals.
That changes this week as the 50-year-old Australian climbs aboard the No. 75U owned by Mike Griffiths for what he calls a bucket list event.
“I’ve had offers in years gone by,.I’ve had probably five offers to come here in the past, but with my Australian season I’ve always had commitments over there, so it hasn’t ever panned out for us,” Tatnell said.
This year things are a little different for Tatnell. Instead of traveling to Australia like he typically would, he made the decision to stick close to home in the United States while his wife, Amy fights breast cancer.
That, combined with his relationship with car owner and fellow Australian Griffiths, opened the door for him to make his debut on the quarter-mile temporary dirt oval known as Tulsa Expo Raceway.
“My wife is kicking cancer’s butt right now, so I need to be home with her,” Tatnell said. “My background growing up as a kid, my dad (George Tatnell) was one of the best midget racers and Sleepy Tripp used to come stay out our house. Midget racing has always been a passion for me.
“I’m probably going out there racing against a bunch of 15 year olds. We just cracked 50. We’ve got the five right, we’ve just got it in the wrong order,” Tatnell said with a laugh.
Tatnell said he previously was offered the opportunity to race a midget for Griffiths last year during Indiana Midget Week, but that was at the same time his wife discovered she had breast cancer, nixing the arrangement.
However, that connection eventually led to Tatnell’s Chili Bowl opportunity.
“Mike Griffiths is a car owner from Australia and he couldn’t make it over here to run Indiana Midget Week,” Tatnell said. “Mike is a big midget man in Australia and he knows my passion for midget racing. He watched my dad race midgets. He knew I’ve always said that I’ve loved midget racing and he asked would I be interested in running Indiana Midget Week since he couldn’t be here.
“That was at the same time my wife’s diagnosis came through and I couldn’t take that opportunity. Mike had said well, ‘Maybe we can do something for the Chili Bowl.’ I just took it as that was a very polite way of saying thank you, I appreciate it. I never really expected much to come out of it.”
Tatnell said he’s not concerned about how quickly he’ll adapt to driving a midget. Instead, he’s more concerned with the tight confines of the race track.
“I always set lofty goals for myself,” Tatnell said. “Like I’ve said to people, I’m not concerned about driving a midget because I’ve run them in the past. They were Autocrafts and I think I’ve run them once in the past 25 years. It’s not adapting that’s the concerning part for me, it’s I’ve never seen a race track this small.
“My kid races on go-kart tracks bigger than this place. My concern is we haven’t hot lapped, we haven’t run anything, we haven’t done anything yet.”
Beyond the Chili Bowl, Tatnell said he’s hoping to cobble together a schedule with multiple sprint car teams that would allow him to run the full season. He said he’s also open to competing in additional midget events should his schedule allow.
“I’m a race car driver by trade. If the opportunity arrises that we can run a couple more midget races, we’d love to,” Tatnell said. “The sprint car scene is getting very, very tough to find rides nowadays. We’re probably looking at driving three or four cars this year to try and put a full schedule together, but we’re always looking for more.”
Tatnell hits the track for the first time at the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals Wednesday evening during Hard Rock Casino Qualifying Night.
“I’m just very fortunate to be teamed up with Griffiths Motorsports,” Tatnell said. “It’s a bucket list that I’ve wanted to do and we’re getting to fulfill it.”