This message was edited on
December 26, 2007 at
01:07:39 PM by dirttrackracin
Kyle Larson Set To Run Chili Bowl and Tulsa Shootout
Elk Grove, California, December 26, 2007. As the song says, 15 year old California sprint car driver Kyle Larson will be “Living on Tulsa Time” for two of the next three weeks. Larson is ready to embark on two separate trips to the Oklahoma wintertime hotspot and compete on the legendary Tulsa Expo Center racetrack. The driver, recently nominated for the national Rookie of the Year in both the 410 and 360 divisions by the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, is stepping down a bit in the size of the race cars, but will be on a very big stage nevertheless.
After watching the Chili Bowl event in person the last two years, Larson will make his first attempt in the 22nd running of the prestigious event, January 8-12. He will be piloting one of three entries from the Cliff Blackwell stable of cars out of Mountain View, California. Larson, who at the age of 14 became the youngest driver ever approved to race winged sprint cars in California, knows the task at hand will be a difficult one. With only one midget race under his belt, that being at the age of 13 at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Arizona where he drove from 18th to finish fifth, adapting quickly will be the key.
“At a race like the Chili Bowl, with so many cars, there is very little practice time,” stated the high school sophomore. “Hopefully I can get up to speed early and hold my own. I know this will be the toughest competition I will have ever run against, but I am really looking forward to this. To be able to race on the same track with NASCAR guys like Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, JJ Yeley, Jason Leffler, and all the other top midget and sprint car drivers that will be there, is a dream come true.”
Larson’s first season of racing sprint cars saw considerable success. Besides becoming California’s youngest feature winner with two victories in 43 starts, Larson also finished seventh in points in the highly competitive California Sprint Car Civil War Series, earning Rookie of the Year honors. He also became what is thought to be the first driver under the age of 16 to be approved to race with the World of Outlaws, running late season events at Chico, Tulare, Phoenix, and Perris.
Prior to the Chili Bowl Larson will first take to the track in his 500cc ParkerStore sponsored outlaw sprint kart during the 23rd running of the Tulsa Shootout, December 29th and 30th. This is the first year the lightning fast outlaw karts are being included in the event and Larson is intent on winning the inaugural race. So far the only entry from California, the birthplace of outlaw kart racing nearly 25 years ago, Larson is hoping the class of cars takes the Shootout by storm (hopefully not an ice storm.)
“I’m real interested to see how fast an outlaw kart will get around that track,” said Larson. “I hear that the 600 micros can get around the track as fast, or faster, than the midgets. Out here in California, the outlaw karts are usually a second or two faster than the micros on the same tracks. The track in Tulsa will be the biggest track that I have raced my outlaw kart on, but not by much. Cycleland Speedway, near Chico, is almost as big and we were much faster than the micros there. It sure would be neat to make the fastest laps of any car, with an outlaw kart, on that track. Even if it is not, at least I will get a chance to see the track before the Chili Bowl.”
Larson is racing his outlaw kart at Tulsa for the last time as his kart operation has been purchased and will be hauled away at the conclusion of the event. Larson’s outlaw kart career has produced 510 starts with 129 A-main event wins, 272 top three’s, 353 top five’s, 115 fast times, 10 track and series championships, and 4 National championships, including both the 125cc and 500cc division championships at the 2005 Knoxville Outlaw Kart Nationals.
Larson’s racing efforts in Tulsa are sponsored by Bret Givens Construction, Inc., ParkerStore, NorthStar Concrete Pumping, Del’s Machine Shop, ILEX Lubrication Equipment and Supply Co., Inc. and ParkerStore in Phoenix, AZ, Swimming Pool Perfections, RPM Indoor Kart Racing and Conference Center, F & F Racing, KB Recording and DJ, Mophead Graphix, Deputy Dave, Bob and Julie Tsukamoto, Laticia Daniels, Lary and Patty Larson and Pistol Pete Johnston.
www.kylelarsonracing.com
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