Published 01/15/2023, 4:45 AM EST
The Chili Bowl Nationals, a 7-day fest of some of the best midget racing, ended in fascinating fashion. Although a historic event, it has been generating a lot of ‘unintended’ interest since last year because of Kyle Larson. Even Bubba Wallace conceded that his absence has been one of the biggest talking points.
Emmett Hahn and Kyle Larson’s dispute about the Chili Bowl made big headlines in 2022. That dispute didn’t end there. It had been simmering for a long while, before coming to a boil after Larson gave an interview that Hahn didn’t like.
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Kyle Larson & Christopher Bell are being missed
But keeping the sour relationships aside, Larson has been missed at the Golden Driller. He had been a regular at the event, participating for 15 consecutive years till 2022.
His absence has been so pronounced that one of his biggest rivals from the Cup Series, Wallace too posted about it. The 23XI Racing driver took to Twitter and wrote, “Just ain’t the same without @KyleLarsonRacin and @CBellRacing.” The tweet came during the Championship Night race.
Both Bell and Larson have been mainstays of the event in the past decade or so. While Larson won the 2020 and 2021 titles, Bell had won the previous three – i.e. 2017, 2018, and 2019.
2022’s champion, Tanner Thorson too rued their absence before the race. He told Racing America, “I’m a little bit sour about it, to be honest. I wish those guys were here. I have a really good race car again, and I want to race the best…”
It is unfortunate that some of the best drivers missed out on the historic event. But this is an issue that needs urgent sorting and requires both belligerents to show some level of flexibility.
Hahn & Kunz were really not happy about things
Thorson might have been a little unhappy about the absence of two drivers who share 5 titles between them. But his disappointment was more competition-related than anything.
On the other hand, Emmett Hahn and Keith Kunz had different forms of anger. And they were much less restrained in expressing it.
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“I’ve got to say this though — first it was about ‘it didn’t pay enough’ and then the story became it was about the guys in the back of the field. He bought himself a jet plane, a two and a half million-dollar motorhome and if he really wanted to help these back of the field guys, he would,” Hahn said.
“I just wish, if Kyle was that mad about the purse, that he would have called me. But listen, we’ve had $34,600 added to the purse this year. It still pays $10,000 to win, but it used to be $1000 to start and now it’s $1500 to start. We’ve added B feature money and to the C on back,” added the Chili Bowl owner.
Kunz, meanwhile, said “It’s kind of a mess. Christopher, there are some other reasons he’s not here. He’s gotten drug (sic) into it. He’s not boycotting this place like Kyle is. Kyle’s forgotten where he’s come from.”
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These statements indicate how bad the relationship has become between Larson and Hahn. It seems increasingly unlikely that they will reach a resolution soon, but if they can, it’ll be great for all parties and fans.