Lonnie Wheatley
NORMAN, Okla. (June 17, 2014) – From one Speedweek to two more. Such is the life of up-and-coming star racecar driver Christopher Bell.
The 19-year-old Norman, OK, native comes off USAC’s Indiana Midget Week to embark upon eleven consecutive nights of winged Sprint Car racing beginning tomorrow night at Lawton Speedway in Southwest Oklahoma and stretching into Ohio next week.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” an eager Bell exclaimed.
Bell’s Indiana Midget Week wasn’t all he’d hoped for even though he did score an open wheel racing world’s best 12th win of the year on Friday night at Bloomington Speedway.
“It was un up and down week for sure,” Bell explained.
The worst of the down part came right out of the box. After a Wednesday night rainout at Gas City, Bell’s Midget Week title defense got off to the roughest starts on Thursday night at Putnamville’s Lincoln Park Speedway.
Testing a treacherous cushion to the limits, Bell went for a wild ride while trying to chase down the final transfer position in his heat race.
With too much damage to continue for the night, the resilient Bell bounced right back to drive the Keith Kunz Motorsports Toyota-powered Midget to victory lane at Bloomington the next night.
Bell drove to a third-place finish at Lawrenceburg on Saturday night, explaining that, “We were just a little bit off all night. Even in the feature we were a fifth or sixth place car, we picked up some positions when (Alex) Bright crashed and then (Michael) Pickens crashed.”
Bell’s Midget Week wrapped up on Sunday with a 12-place finish at Kokomo after a flat tire in the early going sent him to the tail after a quick visit to the work area.
While Thursday’s heat race flip derailed his Midget Week title defense, it also nixed three nights of action in the Fox Brothers No. 53 non-wing Sprint Car.
“I needed to make sure I had my ducks in a row and focus on the Midget,” Bell commented.
“Steve and Brad (Fox) gave me a great car, we were going to be tough to beat at Lincoln Park,” Bell said of the car he raced to a convincing heat race win to earn a front row starting position for the feature only to have to scratch after his wild Midget ride.
There is a little time for rest though after Midget Week, as just a pair of idle days pass by before Bell transitions to winged Sprint Car for the next 11 nights beginning on Wednesday, June 18.
Bell will take the wheel of Brandon Berryman’s No. 31 Sprint Car for the final four legs of ASCS Speedweek at Lawton (Wednesday, Creek County Speedway near Tulsa (Thursday), Outlaw Motorsports Park near Muskogee (Friday) and then Missouri’s Lucas Oil Speedway (Saturday).
From there, it’s off to Ohio for seven consecutive nights of All Star Circuit of Champions Ohio Sprint Speedweek with the first four nights aboard the Ray Marshall Motorsports No. 33 mount before finishing it with three nights aboard the Keith Kunz Motorsports No. 67 winged 410-ci Sprint Car.
The transition from Midgets and the wingless ranks to winged Sprint Cars doesn’t phase Bell at all.
“Once you’re out on the track, go down the straightaway once and into a corner, you figure it out,” Bell says. “Once you’ve done it a time or two, it’s not too bad making the change from one to another.”
For Bell, the only thing better than 11 consecutive race nights would be a 12th night.
2014 Quick Stats: 47 races, 12 wins, 27 top-fives, 31 top-tens.
Coming Up: ASCS Speedweek and then into All-Star Circuit of Champions Ohio Sprint Speedweek:
Wednesday, Lawton Speedway (Lawton, OK) – Berryman 31 Winged Sprint Car
Thursday, Creek County Speedway (Sapulpa, OK) – Berryman 31 Winged Sprint Car
Friday, Outlaw Motorsports Park (Wainwright, OK) – Berryman 31 Winged Sprint Car
Saturday, Lucas Oil Speedway (Wheatland, MO) – Berryman 31 Winged Sprint Car
Sunday, Waynesfield Raceway Park (Waynesfield, OH) – Marshall Motorsports 33 Winged Sprint Car
Monday, Wayne County Speedway (Orrville, OH) – Marshall Motorsports 33 Winged Sprint Car
Tuesday (June 24), Sharon Speedway (Hartford, OH) – Marshall Motorsports 33 Winged Sprint Car
Wednesday (June 25), Atomic Speedway (Chillicothe, OH) – Marshall Motorsports 33 Winged Sprint Car
Thursday (June 26), Fremont Speedway (Fremont, OH) – Kunz 67 Winged Sprint Car
Friday (June 27), Limaland Motorsports Park (Lima, OH) – Kunz 67 Winged Sprint Car
Saturday (June 28), Fremont Speedway (Fremont, OH) – Kunz 67 Winged Sprint Car
Keep Track: Keep track of Christopher Bell’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.
If you would like to keep up with all of Christopher Bell’s racing action by having press releases e-mailed directly to you, simply send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on racinboys.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.