Santino Ferrucci gets first signature Chili Bowl moment

Santino Ferrucci gave boss AJ Foyt a fitting birthday present by taking a heat win during Friday night’s preliminary festivities at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.

After drawing pole for the second heat, Ferrucci remained a bottom feeder and stayed out front all eight laps in his No. 16 Abacus Racing machine, keeping behind two-time event winner - and Friday’s prelim A-Feature victor - Logan Seavey.

The result marked the first time Ferrucci, 27, has felt victory at the Tulsa Expo Center, with this year marking his sixth appearance in midget racing’s crown jewel. Additionally, it happened on the 91st birthday of the legendary AJ Foyt, the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner he drives for in the IndyCar Series.

The heat race for Ferrucci was the highlight of the night. He fell from third to ninth in his qualifier, and then an engine issue halted an opportunity to fight in the B2 Feature, sliding from ninth to 15th.

The opportunity to taste victory, however, kept Ferrucci’s spirits high.

“It’s been a fantastic day,” Ferrucci told Motorsport.com. “You come here and just to get a win in this building, regardless if it’s a heat or a qualifier, however it goes, is really cool. Our No. 16 Webco midget was really quick. The Abacus boys did a great job. The car was phenomenal.

"A mistake cost us in the qualifier. I was slowly figuring out the B. I was running the bottom and trying to get up top because people weren’t there, and then we had a small engine issue that ended our run there. But all in all, we’ve had a fantastic Chili Bowl this year compared to last year. Excited to run some soup tomorrow and see where we can go.”

As for Saturday, Ferrucci knows he’ll have to eat plenty of alphabet soup if he’s going to move forward to close with a career-best finish. His result on Friday night pushes him somewhere in the range around the J-Main to start on Saturday. (Note: The exact starting spot is impossible to determine due to an unknown number of withdraws on Saturday morning.) He currently holds a best finish of sixth in the G-Main at the Chili Bowl, which came in 2023.

“All the hard work is starting to pay off, but I want to make that A-Main, man,” Ferrucci said. “I’m still hungry for that. Let’s see if we can continue to do this in the future.”