(Photo: Aaron Bearden/Motorsports Beat)
By Aaron Bearden
J.J. Yeley entered Saturday’s Chili Bowl Nationals race day far removed from contention. He wasn’t in the A-Main, a B-Main or even an H-Main.
Instead he found himself starting off the day in the first O-Main – a disqualification from his preliminary heat race and a flip during that night’s C-Main leaving the 42-year-old mired at the back of the field.
Yeley has the record for the longest drive to transfer through the Chili Bowl’s dreaded ‘alphabet soup’ and make the feature, having gone from the F-Main through five qualifying races to make an appearance in the main event. But transferring to the feature from the O would require him to survive nine additional races – a feat that would prove near-impossible even for him.
So instead of aiming big, Yeley kept his goal simple. If he couldn’t make the show, he was going to go as far as he could before tearing up his race car.
“I had zero expectations when I showed up this morning other than I was going to be in the first race of the day, and I was going to go out there and go as far as I could,” Yeley said.
In the end that turned out to be the first L-Main.
Yeley easily moved through the O and the N, and survived the M with a third-place run and minor damage from contact on-track. He spun on the opening lap of the L, but was able to overcome the early mistake to rise into a transfer position with the laps winding down.
With two to go, Yeley saw an opportunity to gain one more spot. He tried to sail to the outside of another car for fourth, and for a moment it appeared he would clear them and move on to the K.
But the move didn’t stick. Yeley hopped over the car’s wheel, jerked toward the wall and flipped.
In a flash, his Chili Bowl run was over.
“I caught that car that was in fourth or fifth, and he was a little bit slow on the bottom and struggling,” Yeley said. “I was just kind of battling the guy next to me and just misjudged the closing rate. He really ran in and stopped. I had a little bit of a panic, jumped his wheel and kind of did a wheelie. I figured I’d better turn it back in the fence versus trying to hang it in the fence again like I did on my preliminary night.
“It was a silly thing for me to do, but the bicycle just kind of put me behind the eight ball and I knew that we were really close to running out of laps.”
The veteran’s run was brief in the end, lasting just under 40 laps. Despite his early success, Yeley also admitted to the challenge of passing during each of the runs.
“It was a situation where I was always running the top, which was not the preferred line,” he said. “The bottom line had a lot more grip. But if you’ve gotta pass, you’ve gotta pass. The times I was able to get to the bottom, the car was really good.”
But even with the handling woes and relatively little to race for outside of pride, Yeley made the most of the experience. The joy of passing cars replaced the hope of a trophy as he maneuvered his way around the Tulsa Expo Raceway.
“I mean, you have to take the good with the bad,” he said. “You put yourself in a bad position. The year I came from so far back and set a record, there’s so many things that come along with it. It comes with being in the right flight, having the right cars, getting the right brakes, getting cautions. And you don’t always get that.”
His disappointing 2019 run complete, Yeley can set his sights on a 2020 return. Next year’s race will mark his 25th Chili Bowl appearance – a mark he intends to celebrate with a special paint scheme and merchandise.
He’ll come back to Tulsa eager to compete for a Golden Driller.
If things go to plan, the Arizonan will also come back better prepared – with a few extra starts under his belt.
“I’m always hungry to come to this event,” he said.”I think the biggest thing I’m going to have to take into consideration is… For the last few years, I’ve just shown up and run the Chili Bowl. They have some great indoor events that happen in December, that a lot of these guys will go run. They’ll shake the rust off, get re-acclimated, go to Australia, New Zealand. I’m already five races behind the eight ball before we ever get here to Tulsa. I need to put a little emphasis on making more laps and tuning the car.
“I crew chief the thing myself, so I better have a better understanding. We showed up with a brand new car here, and it was significantly different than the cars I’ve had here in the past few years. I’m going to try to run it outdoors as much as I can throughout the year. We’ll probably be at the (BC39), may be able to go do a couple nights of sprint and midget week. We’ll go have some fun with it.”
