WEDNESDAY – JANUARY 11, 2006

Chad and the crew woke up Tuesday morning in Tulsa to an unusual site – SNOW!!! Since the race track is indoors at the Expo Center, we knew it wouldn’t affect practice, so it was a pleasant change from our Arizona weather for one day. Chad ran two practice sessions, preparing for his qualification heat races scheduled for Wednesday night. Ninety-three midgets were scheduled for heat race action on Wednesday night, with the same number of cars scheduled for qualifications on Thursday and Friday nights. The line-ups were determined by a pill draw, and as luck would have it, Chad had to start Heat Race #1 in the last (9th) position. As the green flag waved, Chad passed one car and by the halfway point he had moved up to the 7th position in the 8-lap heat race. Chad was running in the 6th position as the checkered flag waved.

The race lineups were determined by points, and with his 6th place finish in the heat race, Chad had to run a Last Chance race , with only the top 2 cars transferring to the Wednesday night “A” Main Qualifier. Chad started the Last Chance race on the pole and led Laps 1 thru 9, until he was passed on the last lap. But his 2nd place finish earned him a spot in the “A” Main Qualifier for Wednesday night.

Starting at the back of the “A” Main Qualifier, Chad finished in the 9th position, but only the top four transferred to the Wednesday night “A” Main, so Chad had to run a “B” Main. Starting in the 15th position, he moved steadily forward, and ended up in the 9th position which put him in the “E” Main on Saturday night.

SATURDAY – JANUARY 14, 2006

The 2006 Chili Bowl started the day with “K” Main Events. Chad’s started the “E” Main on the inside of Row 2. He was running in the 2nd position at the end of Lap 1, and was running in a transfer spot when another car tried to slide up in front of him, but the car hit the front end of Chad’s car putting him in the wall. Chad’s car had too much front end damage to continue, ending Chad’s first experience at the Chili Bowl.