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Jordan is Ready to Roll!

Jordan Kinser is ready to roll!

In his third Chili Bowl appearance Jordan Kinser is hoping to make some noise in the Wheelhouse/Chase Briscoe Racing midget this afternoon. The Ticket to Tulsa champion understands the challenges ahead and as always, the transition from sprint cars to midgets can be tricky.

Recapping his preliminary night experience Kinser said, "I had moved forward pretty well when RTJ (Ricky Thornton Jr) got turned around and I had nowhere to go and got collected. It bent the front end and it made the car super loose after that. Out here every spot in your prelim A main is like one or two rows on Saturday so you have to stay out there and hang on as long as you can and hope guys either fall out or crash out, or the track changes so you can do something with it."

The minute you enter the building you face long odd. With over 400 cars in the pits Kinser is also vying with drivers who spend considerable time behind the wheel of a midget. "We have gone back and forth on the setups," he said, "and I don’t drive these things enough to give the right feedback to Kevin (Briscoe) or the team so they can make the changes. Luckily Kevin drove sprint cars long enough that I can tell him this is what I feel and this is what I would do in a sprint car. He takes it from what he knows, and the way I drive, and that helps mesh together better."

Some erroneously think that is should be a simple matter to go from a fire breathing 410 sprint car to a midget, but the difference require real adjustments. "One thing you deal with is the gearing," Kinser notes, "at this track the thing is always ripping and screaming. There is a higher pitch in a midget compared to a sprint car motor and its hard to tell when you are losing speed down the straightaway or if you are still pulling on it into the turns. These motors feel like they bog down a little bit in turns and then they are ripping halfway down the straightaway. With a sprint car you can gas it up and get out of it at any time. You are at a disadvantage only running them once or twice a year."

The difference in driving style is common subject of conversation in Tulsa among those who are in Jordan's shoes. "You drive these more with the front tires than the rear tires.," he notes, "In a sprint car you are turning the thing all the time with how much throttle you are giving it. With these you just let them rip and turn then with the front tires – you just point and go."

It is a great experience overall, but when you are competitive your goal is to win. The reality of the Chili Bowl is that 399 people go home without a Golden Driller. How tough is it? Jordan will start from a D main where he is joined by 2025 USAC/CRA champion R J Johnson, 2025 Kokomo Speedway champion Kale Drake, USAC sprint car Rookie of the Year Gunnar Setser, former Gas City Champion Max Adams, and open wheel standout Joe B. Miller.

He knows it is going to be tough, but he is enjoying the experience. "I just really have to thank Wheelhouse, Chase and Kevin Briscoe and all the guys, and I really appreciate what Bloomington Speedway and Paragon Speedway did with the Ticket to Tulsa program."

Will he be back in a sprint car in 2026? That's the plan.

KFMediaphotos7

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