Chili Bowl Midget Nationals. (Bob Hesser photo) ยป More Photos
Damion Gardner went from outside looking in to looking back at everyone as he scored a dominating victory in Saturday night's 22nd annual Chili Bowl.
Without a ride three weeks ago, this sprint-car veteran was a last-minute entry for the biggest midget race of the year but he wound up being the class of the record 284 entries in front of a standing-room only crowd of 13,000.
Starting on the outside of the front row, Gardner took command in Turn 1 on lap 11 and was only challenged a couple of times by Dave Darland, despite 10 caution flags.
"I tried to throw it away one time in Turn 4 and I saw Darland's nose a couple times but my car was amazing and it was our night," said Gardner, who competes full-time in the United States Auto Club sprint series.
"I just concentrated on being smooth because I knew we had the car to beat."
The transplanted Californian who now lives in Pittsboro, Ind. got an offer from friend and fellow driver Jason Leffler late last month.
"I wasn't planning to race here and then Jason offered me a car and we threw it together with some help from Pace Electronics," said Gardner.
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"I can't express my gratitude enough for all the people who helped pull this deal together but I think I repaid them in the best way possible."
Darland, the USAC veteran from Kokomo, had to settle for second after starting fourth while Shane Cottle came home third.
"I tried everything but I just didn't have enough to get him (Gardner)," said Darland. "I had one great chance when he jumped the cushion but I wasn't able to get alongside and I just kept waiting on him to make mistakes but he didn't."
Cottle, another USAC sprint regular, charged from ninth to third while Bryan Clauson stormed from 12th to finish fourth.
Defending champ Tony Stewart started 13th and ran eighth in the main event after capturing one of the B features while fellow NASCAR ace Kasey Kahne dropped out early with mechanical trouble.
Brady Bacon was the most exciting driver of the evening as he came from 14th in the B feature to wind up ninth in the A Main. That was exceptional in that he went from 19th to eighth early in the A before spinning and then he charged back through the field from last to snare ninth. Nobody passed more cars.
