Over 33 years, the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals has grown from humble beginnings into the largest midget racing event in the world, annually featuring more than 300 cars.

Though it only pays $10,000 to win, the Chili Bowl is a crown jewel event. It is revered and coveted by drivers and teams alike, with racers from all walks of life chasing the iconic Golden Driller trophy awarded to the winner each January.

While the lineup of drivers who visit the River Spirit Expo Center in Tulsa, Okla., each winter to take part in the Chili Bowl is among the most diverse rosters in all of professional motorsports, the contingent of teams fielding race cars at the event is just as unique and varied.

At the top of the heap sits Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, winner of the last five Chili Bowls, as well as Clauson-Marshall Racing and Tucker-Boat Motorsports.

These multi-car behemoths are among the “super teams” that compete at the Chili Bowl each year, fielding anywhere from five to — in owner Keith Kunz’s case this past January — 11 cars. They are always looked at as the favorites to win.

In contrast, there are teams like Dunlap Performance, Dave Mac Motorsports and other various family-owned or shoestring-budget operations that don’t have the multi-figure budgets but still go to the Chili Bowl with the same dreams and aspirations of winning.

So how does a driver secure a ride for the Chili Bowl and what do some of the various teams look like? It’s certainly different from organization to organization, but there are some parallels among the various teams.

Kunz said during the second annual BC39 at The Dirt Track at IMS in September that he didn’t know at that point exactly what his 2020 Chili Bowl roster will look like, considering he traditionally has turnover in his driver lineup from year to year.

“It usually depends on who’s staying put and who’s coming in for the new season,” Kunz noted. “We try to get our regular guys accounted for first and then see how much more we can handle after that, but for us it could probably be anywhere from eight to 12 (cars) that we field in Tulsa this year.”

In contrast, DIRTvision’s Brian Dunlap, who along with his father fields the Dunlap Performance team at the Chili Bowl on a yearly basis, will campaign two cars in Tulsa next month.

World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series director Casey Shuman and Washington state veteran Gary Taylor will be behind the wheel for Dunlap.

“We all hear about the big teams in the front of the building every year, but there are so many stories throughout the pit area and I think that’s one of the special things about the Chili Bowl, is that drivers come from all over and all walks of life and they each have their own unique story as to how they got there or why they’re there going after a Chili Bowl trophy,” Dunlap said. “For us, we consider it special that we’ve been able to do this the last couple of years with guys that I consider really good friends of ours, Casey and Gary, and guys who really just make it fun for us and that we can go and have fun with during the week that enjoy that passion for competition just as much as my dad and I do.”

While Dunlap had his seats earmarked for two specific drivers, Kunz’s Chili Bowl lineup has changed considerably over the years, with talent coming and going through his team as it has evolved and become the benchmark standard for success inside the River Spirit Expo Center.

“There are a couple different ways that we go about evaluating and choosing talent for our Chili Bowl seats,” Kunz explained. “Some of our guys, we hire strictly on account of our belief in their ability to go out and win races and then we get other guys who come to us that say, ‘Hey, I want to drive one of your cars and want to run alongside guys of the caliber of Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson,’ so we do some rental stuff there also and that all goes into making our lineup what you see at the Chili Bowl on a yearly basis.”

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