(Photo: Aaron Bearden/Motorsports Beat)
By Aaron Bearden
‘TULSA, Okla. — Imagine a world in which dominant teams like Clemson, Alabama, the New England Patriots and Golden State Warriors are all in the same sport.
Now imagine them all competing for the same team, in the biggest event of the season.
That’s how things have felt for many of the 300+ drivers competing in the Chili Bowl Nationals – both this week and in recent years.
Keith Kunz has long been a leading presence on the dirt scene. But in the current era of dirt midget racing his Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) team has grown into a near-unbeatable machine when it comes to the discipline’s biggest event of the year.
With top-tier equipment and an arsenal of drivers including two-time winners Rico Abreu and Christopher Bell, NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson and USAC National Midget Championship winner Logan Seavey, KKM flocks to Tulsa each year with every weapon they need to bring home the Golden Driller trophy.
The group is highly respected in the pits. But the only thing the rest of the field wants more than an opportunity to drive for KKM is a chance to beat them.
They’re the Empire, and their Death Star has remarkably few flaws. Toppling them is the ultimate challenge. But it is possible, and as second-place finisher (and former KKM driver) Tanner Thorson was quick to say after Friday night’s qualifying night, “it feels great.”
“I’ve experienced a lot of racing with Keith,” Thorson said. “I don’t want to say I roll my eyes, but I’ve been there and been able to kind of witness how they are and what they do. They definitely have it going on, there’s no two ways about that.”
“I feel for all of us it adds some more to it,” he later continued. “We want to do better. We want to beat them. It’s not a matter of we think they’re going to beat us.It’s just a matter of going out there and trying to do better, just because they have so much stuff and so many resources and everything.”
KKM entered the final qualifying night on top of the midget world and in search of a sweep of the Chili Bowl week A-Mains. Thorson had claimed Tuesday’s Vacuworx Invitational Race of Champions, but the four qualifying night features had been won by the KKM quartet of Seavey, Larson, Abreu and Bell.
With a 13-car fleet at its disposal, KKM entered multiple cars in the field each day to maximize the organization’s opportunity to learn and win. A few drivers encountered issues along the way. McKenna Hasse was subject to a pair of crashes on her night and got mired in the alphabet soup for Saturday, as did Holley Hollan. Spencer Bayston was forced to overcome a crash and trip to the C-Main to salvage a top-10 run in Friday’s feature.
But the team’s sheer level of talent and equipment made KKM the favorites each night at the Tulsa Expo Raceway, even with the occasional hiccup. Fellow giant Clauson-Marshall Racing has proven unable to topple them with any consistency heading into Saturday, leaving the smaller organizations to try to pull off the upset.
Such was the case Friday, as former CMR driver Justin Grant brought home an emotional victory with RAMS Racing.
“It feels great to come in here and beat those big teams,” Grant admitted after the win. “Their pit areas look awful intimidating with a bunch of cars, and they’re great organizations that do a fantastic job. But they’re not unbeatable. You can only race one car at a time.
“If you bring more than one, you’re guaranteed to not win with one of them.”
Grant and Thorson are veterans of the dirt midget scene. They’ve spent many nights competing and winning with the sport’s top teams, so they know what they’re going up against now that they’re driving for other groups in the paddock.
Third-place finisher Chad Boat hasn’t driven for either organization, but even he’s seen the magic Kunz can pull when he’s positioned for success. And few things motivate him more than an opportunity to run with and beat the legendary owner’s top drivers.
“Obviously I’m in a different position not having driven for Clauson-Marshall Racing or Keith,” Boat said. “But Keith’s been winning races a long time, going back to even when my dad (Billy Boat) ran midgets. He worked for John Lawson, was a crew chief. People forget Keith won 10 races in a row with my dad as a crew chief. So winning for Keith is nothing new. He’s done it for numerous drivers, and obviously now the drivers he has now are pretty good.
“Getting a chance to work with Christopher (Bell) at DuQuoin, kind of firsthand seeing that even if your car’s a little bit off, they can kind of make up for it. It just kind of gives me motivation to continue to work on getting my stuff better, working on my race craft and making sure I’m the best I can be behind the car.”
Saturday’s race day will see many storylines emerge. JJ Yeley will chase a transfer record from the O-Main after a disastrous qualifying night. NASCAR competitor Landon Cassill and IndyCar regular Conor Daly will test their skillsets in the alphabet soup. Five-time winner Sammy Swindell will try to drive his way to the feature, and the injured Brad Loyet will attempt to make one final A-Main in what looks to be his swan song.
But when the A-Main comes around, all eyes will be on the KKM fleet – Seavey, Larson, Bell and Abreu among others. The team has earned that attention and respect with consistent performance and improvement over the last decade.
The others in the field won’t wish ill of them. They don’t want them to crash out or encounter mechanical issues.
But make no mistake, they want nothing more than an opportunity to beat them – and they’ll do anything to make it happen.
“I feel like that’s my confidence coming into this year, and even last year,”: Thorson said. “I want to beat them.”
