Last year, Kaylee Bryson became the first woman to earn a spot in the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Championship feature.
With a sixth-place result on her preliminary night and a win during one of Saturday’s two B mains, Bryson punched her ticket to the highly sought-after main event where she finished 18th. She recently received the Wayne Servaies Wild Card Award for her 2022 performance and is the first woman to make the list.
The award is typically given to a driver who makes an impression, and Bryson’s path to the A-main certainly accomplished that.
Bryson is on track to repeat her performance this year, as she logged an identical performance in last Tuesday’s prelim and collected a sixth-place finish. She is set to start eighth in tonight’s second B-feature in her No. 71 Keith Kunz Motorsports.
However, Bryson is not the only woman chasing a Golden Driller.
There are 11 others who contribute to this year’s female force at the 37th annual running of the Chili Bowl Nationals — including Jade Avedisian, Taylor Reimer, Mariah Ede, Taylor Ferns, Randi Pankratz, Karysn Elledge, Harli White, Gray Leadbetter, Kayla Roell, Taylor Kuehl and Michelle Decker.
Avedisian has been making waves throughout her Chili Bowl debut this week.
The 16-year-old stunned on Tuesday night as she wheeled her No. 84 midget to a third-place finish — the best result a female has earned on a preliminary night in the event’s history. While the top-two drivers on Tuesday automatically locked into Saturday’s A-main, Avedisian was sent to the front row for her B-feature and will attempt to secure a spot in the 24-car main event from there.
KKM driver Reimer has also been on the gas all week, taking seventh place in her No. 25k midget during Wednesday night’s qualifying program.
“Felt strong early, just faded towards the end. Starting in a B-main Saturday and hoping to lock it into the show,” Reimer wrote on Twitter.
This is Reimer’s third attempt to qualify for the main event, but thus far, 2023 has been the strongest performance of her Chili Bowl career. In 2021, Reimer was entered in Saturday’s G-feature and in 2022, she moved straight to the D-feature from her preliminary.
Tonight, she will race alongside Avedisian in the first B main.
Meanwhile, Ede will lead the charge in a D-feature as she lines up on the front row. The No. 71e KKM driver typically races on the USAC national midget circuit but has extended her résumé to include the Chili Bowl.
Driving for the legendary Bob East for a second consecutive year, Ferns will represent the female troop in one of two E-features as she starts from 14th. She finished fifth in her B-feature on Thursday night, working her way up from a ninth-place start.
This year marks Ferns’ fifth run at the Chili Bowl.
Leading up to the event, she was determined to go “all in” and lock her No. 4 midget into Saturday’s show. However, Ferns will have a little farther to fly than she’d hoped.
The rest of the female crew will be scattered throughout the remaining features on Saturday, starting with Pankratz in an F-feature, Elledge in a G-feature, White (J), Leadbetter (K), Roell (M) and Kuehl (N) were also scheduled to race the alphabet on Saturday.
There are 12 women in the 365-car field.