Van Gisbergen is planning the first Chilli Bowl with Trackhouse
Located in the Tulsa Expo Center, the Chili Bowl is arguably the most popular chili bowl in the world.
The Chilli Bowl is an annual home for NASCAR and IndyCar drivers and regularly attracts international competitors from Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell won the Chili Bowl three times while NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson won twice.
Van Gisbergen is excited to fight in the blue, but says his six-foot height puts him at a disadvantage. “Justin wants to do it and obviously I’m competitive,” van Gisbergen told Speedcafe.
“It’s really hard for a big guy to drive those cars. I talked to Kyle Busch about it because he did the Tulsa shootout, the micro cars the week before, and it was tough.
There are also no rules in the Chili Bowl. You know, they’re all light cars, light drivers, so you’re really dying for at least 60kg. They are all small. “So it’s tough for a big guy to compete.”
At least Van Gisbergen said he plans to watch the game. However, he is eager to compete if he can put together a project. “I love to work, experience, or fly and watch the last night as a fan,” he said.
“Man, do that race, it’s hard to just jump in the car and have a real crack.” But don’t say you don’t know. Justin talked about it, I think we can test it in a few months. We’ll see how it goes.”
Van Gisgbergen has a lot of experience with supercars, but he has stayed away from the wingless cars that are known in Australia.
Racing in Supercars for Triple Eight Engineering, his team principal at the time, Roland Dean, banned him from racing in the juniors in New Zealand after crashing at Bay Park. “It’s a big difference when I drive a race car,” says Van Gisbergen.
I felt safe in a fast car, I felt like I was in control of the car. You have that pillow on the roof, the couple is right next to you, and the big crash is about to happen.
“It’s a good feeling, but it’s also a bad feeling.” Van Gisbergen will return to New Zealand to compete in sprint cars before some tricks in the new year. “I do a few speedboat races in the summer — some races at Western Springs and Bay Park,” Van Gisbergen said. I spend two or three weeks at home, which is good. I only came back once this year in March.
