1/18/2017
Tyler Nelson
Tyler Nelson Fights through Difficult Chili Bowl
Tyler Nelson Fights through Difficult Chili Bowl
By Jessica Jenkins
Coming into the biggest race of the year, Tyler Nelson had realistic expectations for his third Chili Bowl appearance. His white number 88T appeared to be all ready for an improved showing at the indoor track.
Nelson's first laps on track Monday for practice went okay as he got a feel for the car he hadn't raced since engine problems had sidelined it during the Summer. However, when he pulled on track for hot laps on his preliminary night, the motor suddenly shut off in the middle of the back stretch one lap. He got it re-fired right away and hoped the issue wouldn't pop up again. Drawing #82 in the pill draw gave him a seventh place starting spot in the sixth heat race Wednesday night, something that could help give him a lot of passing points. It wasn't to be, though, as the motor issues continued and he couldn't gain enough ground to catch and pass any cars. He was able to maintain his position and pulled back to the trailer with a seventh place finish. Nelson and the team immediately went to work figuring out what was happening and found some possible reasons for the lack of power with some help from another team. In the scramble before the C feature, they were able to make the needed changes and rolled off to the track. He'd barely made the C based on his passing points in the heat and started from the fourteenth position. The main problem seemed to have been fixed as he raced all the way up inside the top 15. On the last lap he was racing hard into turns 3 and 4 when a couple cars ahead of him came to a stop right in the middle of the track. The Kansas native turned as far to the inside of the track as possible, but couldn't get past them and came to a stop while the cars he had passed zipped by. He was pushed back off track with a fourteenth place finish.
Winding up at the back of the C on his qualifying night meant Nelson's Saturday at the Chili Bowl started bright and early as 1 of around 375 drivers in the building. When the L Mains rolled off mid-morning, the 19 year old started third in the first of two. He jumped into the lead and drove off with the win, advancing him into the K main as just the first race he hoped to transfer into. Once he turned around and fired off for the first K main, all of his momentum came to a halt. Starting from the 13th position, he immediately started moving forward and was up to eleventh when they restarted after the second yellow flag. Driving into turn 3 another competitor made contact and knocked the valve cover off his car. The contact forced him to a stop in the middle of 3 and 4 and the 19 year old stood up in his car in frustration as the driver who hit him drove by a lap later. He was done for that race and sat back down to steer the car to the pit area, ultimately finishing with a 15th place finish and an early end to his Chili Bowl.
The speed in the car proved they got some of the major gremlins figured out with the motor, but it was too little too late for Nelson's first race back in his own equipment. There is still more work to be done on the car, but the contact did not damage the car very much and the kid from Kansas walked away wishing he could have had more, but knowing that was out of his control for this year's Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.
As he shared afterwards, "That's just kind of the things you face at the Chili Bowl and with my heat race being so stacked (Donny Schatz, Sammy Swindell and Parker Price-Miller all with me in the heat race), having a motor that wasn't running really didn't help us out. We'd be lucky to finish fourth to that lineup. You just can't be off at the Chili Bowl. You have to be perfect every race. And when you don't do that, it puts you so far behind that it's hard to catch up. You have to be something special to catch up and we just weren't that this week. So, depending on that, we did okay. The car wasn't too torn up, so it rolled in the trailer. We just need to go and find our motor gremlin and find if we can get it fixed. Hopefully we get that figured out before we go outdoors."
Tyler Nelson really appreciates the support of Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kansas City, Wilwood Brakes, Spike Chassis and Superior Bearing & Supply for giving him the equipment to put his car together.
Next up for Nelson is a trip to Australia at the end of this month where he might get a chance to race. Following that will be the Shamrock Classic at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin, IL for the start of the USAC season. He will be back driving for Jack Harris and the #91 team in Du Quoin and looks forward to building on everything they learned in December at the indoor dirt track. He thinks they have a good chance of doing really well there.
For pictures from the Chili Bowl and other fun things in the coming weeks, like him on Facebook @TylerNelsonRacing. Check out his website TylerNelsonRacing.com to find out more about him or give him a follow on Twitter @TylerNelson88.
Article Credit: Jessica Jenkins