HARRIS TURNS UP THE HEAT AT CHILI BOWL
Neil randon speaks to a briton who is taking on the american sat their own game
Tom Harris is not adverse to throwing himself in at the deep end. In 2015 Harris became the first British driver to compete at the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, regarded as the Super Bowl of Midget car racing in the States.
It was an event completely alien to him, to the point where he even struggled to work out how to get out onto the track.
“I hadn’t even seen a Midget, let alone sat in one,” Harris says. “When I went to the Chili Bowl for the first time I was completely out of my depth.”
But the 30-year-old from Banbury is a fast learner. Last year Harris made history by becoming the first European driver to qualify for the A-main feature at the Chili Bowl.
Only two overseas drivers have ever made it to the Big Show since the inaugural event in 1987.
This weekend Harris takes part in the Chili Bowl Nationals again where he will drive the #9P car from the Parker Price-miller racing stable, having previously raced under the tutelage of USAC carbuilding guru Bob East.
The Chili Bowl is a big deal. Run on a quarter-mile clay oval inside the Tulsa Expo Center over six days of competition, more than 350 drivers take part, including some of the biggest names in US racing.
Three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart is a previous winner, and last year Harris went wheel-towheel with names such as NASCAR star Kyle Larson, and Christopher Bell, who would go on to win the Chili Bowl for a second successive year.
What makes Harris’ achievement more remarkable is that the only time he has driven one of the 400bhp rocket ships is at the Chili Bowl itself. For most of the year he is clashing metal in BRISCA F1 on the short oval tracks in Britain.
To qualify as one of just 24 drivers to take part in the main event in 2018 was a remarkable achievement. And to finish the 55-lap race in 16th place was no mean feat either.
“It is the biggest achievement of my racing career,” says Harris. “There are drivers who have been racing there for years and not made the A-main.”
Prior to the main event, Harris made his mark on the event by taking the Hard Charger award during his qualifying night. The award goes to the driver who passes the most cars during that night’s racing.
“I started 16th and finished fourth and got a Hard Charger award,” says Harris. “You know when you have done well, because when I got out of the car I had Ricou Abreu, Daryn Pittman and Kyle Larson congratulate me. It was a special moment.”
Harris is aware that to get to the main event takes a good car, a good team and a certain amount of luck. Last year he succeeded despite a lack of seat time to adapt to the car.
Taking part in the big race last year was a real eye-opener. “That A-main – 55 laps with a full fuel load makes a huge difference to a car that is so small and with so much power,” Harris says. “It makes a difference to the handling. I’ve never been in that position before – you are still learning about driving the car, as well as racing against other drivers. It takes a lot of getting used to.
“There is so much to take in, in such a short space of time. In the build up to the race they rework the track so you start with a fully fresh surface and throughout the race it goes to black slick. Your fuel load is getting lighter so the car is not as stuck to the track as it is getting slicker, so it makes everything harder to drive.”
As far as his racing in the States is concerned Harris has constantly stepped from one major challenge to another. In 2016, the BRISCA F1 star became the first British driver to compete in a non-winged Sprint Car in the USAC series and win a race.
Last August Harris jumped into the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car series at the biggest event on the calendar – the Knoxville Nationals.
The 410ci, 900bhp winged World of Outlaws Sprint Cars are formidable machines to drive. On a half-mile clay oval they average speeds up to 140mph. So to race against the best drivers in the world Harris needed a good car and plenty of experience.
Last year, while having the former, he was lacking in the latter. Harris was due to race for two nights prior to Knoxville but his truck broke down on the way to the track. Fortunately the Knoxville promoter managed to fit in enough time for Harris to do four laps.
“All we had done was fire it up at Robert Ballou’s place where I keep the car, but we had not driven it at all beforehand,” Harris says. “We were in the dark with it all. The only winged sprint car I had driven was Kevin Swindell’s car at Attica back in April.
“I went to the drivers’ briefing, David Gravel [multiple World of Outlaws race winner] asked whether I had been to a fast track before. And I said ‘well, Attica was pretty fast.’ And he looked at me and shook his head…”
Harris had to adapt quickly to a brand new car and a form of motorsport far removed from anything he had driven in before.
“The winged stuff is seriously fast. It takes your eyes a couple of laps to adjust,” he says. “You are averaging 130-140mph and before I drove one they said ‘do not turn the steering wheel, just be as smooth as you can and correct it. Put your arms inside the seat and hold on’.”
His first outing in the car, however, did not start well. The brake pedal had moved off from centre and caught on a piece of tubing inside the cab.
“So I had no brakes,” Harris reveals. “On your first time out in a winged sprint car you need to have that reassurance that if you want to slow up a bit you can – but I didn’t have that luxury! They were my first laps at Knoxville.”
As the event continued, however, Harris’ lap times improved.
“I got quicker and I felt more comfortable in the car,” he says. “When we went to the Finals on the Saturday night it was just a different car and I was a different person. When you have 24 hours away from the car and you get back in it, you step up again from where you left off.”
Harris returned to the States to race at the World of Outlaws World Finals at Charlotte in November. Once again the lack of seat time proved a hindrance.
“I hadn’t been in the car for about a month, which was obviously the first hurdle,” Harris says. “On the Thursday night you qualify for the Friday and Saturday features on the same day. You have four hot laps and then two lots of two-lap qualifying, so my limited time in the car ruined my week.
“We’ve got the equipment to do it, it is just the lack of experience with set-up on my part. It is different to anything I have ever done,” says Harris.
He will stay on in the States after the Chili Bowl to compete at Volusia, Florida, in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car series next month.
“I used to play the World of Outlaws computer game when I was a kid – so you have to pinch yourself now and again. It’s quite special.” ■