Chad Boat 2008 Chili Bowl Recap

Five nights of racing, 280 cars, and the best drivers in the world from all types of motorsports sounds a lot like the lions den for a 15 year old driver just starting his first year of professional racing. For Chad Boat, it meant the opportunity to drive against the best drivers in the business and gain experience in midget racings version of the Indy 500.

 

The field was split into three qualifying nights and Chad drew to line up on Wednesday, one of the tougher nights to qualify. He started his heat race in the third position and was preparing a pass for second when the cars in front spun, and Chad tagged his bumper as he tried to avoid the spinning car. The contact flattend his left front tire, but Chad stayed on the track, driving the car with a flat. When the race went back green Chad drove to the top of the track and passed for the lead, holding it while fighting the flat tire. He held the lead until the very last lap, settling for second.

 

The second place finish lined Chad up in the outside front row for the qualifying heat, determined by the points format of the event. A slick track made the outside hard to get grip, and Chad dropped back to third at the start. A heated battled developed for the second through fifth positions, with drivers battling side-by-side for the positions. Chad attempted a pass for second on the high side on the last lap, only get moved up to the wall. He settled for the fifth position. Without enough points to transfer directly to the A main, Chad started on the inside second row for the B main, needing a top four finish to transfer to the A main. The track was dry and Chad ran a smooth race in third until lap 10, when a pack a cars came challenging for the position around the high side of the track. Chad challenged back but was bounced around in the middle, as again the last lap proved to be Chad's demise. He ended up fifth at the checker flag, missing the transfer by one position. He would start Saturday nights D main on the pole position.

 

With so many cars at the Chili Bowl they start out in the afternoon running two K main events, and drivers try to transfer up by winning each race and moving through the alphabet. Chad's start in the D main put him better than 70% of the drivers in the field, but not as good as the USAC rookie contender was looking for. Chad started on the inside of racing veteran and NASCAR driver PJ Jones, and raced PJ down into turn one at the drop of the green flag. Chad raced off turn two in second and followed PJ for three laps before being overtaken by Kasey Kahne Racing driver Brad Sweet and Roush Racing development driver and USAC racer Ricky Stenhouse. With two laps to go, a driver in front of Chad hit the wall and bounced off into Chad, sending the #30 into the air and onto its side, nearly flipping into the infield. Chad did a remarkable job of controlling the car and getting it back on four wheels, but the car had sustained suspension damage. With only two laps left Chad was a sitting duck, with a hungry pack of cars behind him looking for his transfer position and a wounded race car. Chad gave it his best effort and held on till the last corner, but the car would not hold. He ended up in the 8th spot. Chad's Chili Bowl for 2008 was over.

 

"It seemed like I was always in the wrong spot at the wrong time and just could not get a break,” Chad said after the race. "I love the Chili Bowl and I love racing against all these great drivers, but I am disappointed because I don't feel like we showed how competitive we can be. We battled and engine problem on Wednesday which got us a little behind, and we seemed to never catch up. This is one of those times when the next race can't come soon enough, so I am looking forward to the USAC opener at Manzanita next month."