TULSA, Okla. — Over time the Chili Bowl Nationals has become ingrained in the fabric of the City of Tulsa and widely celebrated. There were times when the foothold in the community was far less secure.
Emmett Hahn and the late Lanny Edwards often relied on their political skills to smooth the ruffled feathers of nearby neighbors and, at times, overzealous public servants. From a pure economic impact, the Chili Bowl is a heavy hitter. However, dating back to the old driver’s basketball game held at the West end of the building to a range of auctions and local events, this race has generated thousands of dollars for local charities.
One of the now standard features of the week occurs on Friday night — Paint the Bowl Pink.
Since 2015, through T-shirt sales and silent auctions, a group of dedicated volunteers have worked to raise money to help those with breast cancer and other needs. So many are touched by breast cancer and while men can be impacted as well, there is little question that a growing number of female racers on the Chili Bowl roster even heightens awareness of this issue.
Judy Stone is a regular volunteer and spends long hours in the booth. Her husband, Jerry, had great success in the supermodified wars and after relocating to Tulsa from Wichita, Kan., his career soared. Battling with Emmett Hahn and Ray Crawford among others, he became an NCRA champion and raced sprint cars extensively in Pennsylvania.
Judy and Jerry’s daughter, Theresa Morgan, grew up in the sport and together with her mother they had supported the work of Lisa Bain Ministries.
“Lisa does a lot of work with cancer patients,” Judy Stone says, “but she also helps all kinds of people in trouble. She has a backpack program for kids and the Tulsa police are involved. The police deal with kids who are in need, or even abandoned, and through her work they have shirts, coloring books and other things they can hand out.”
Because of their previous efforts to support Bain’s initiatives, Morgan reasoned that the Chili Bowl Nationals would be a great place to increase awareness of this work and forge a bond with the racing community. Hence, Paint the Bowl Pink was born. It seems a straightforward way to raise awareness and funds. An eye-catching shirt is designed every year and some fans are annual customers.
There is more to the story.
What Stone and the other volunteers have noticed is that they serve a much larger purpose.
“What I find interesting is that a lot of men come by. It turns out that their wife, daughter, mother or sister has had breast cancer and it is very therapeutic for them to stop by,” Stone said. “They want to talk about it. They are by themselves and they really want to talk to us. We have a guy who comes by every year and gives us an update. It is interesting because some ask where are the support services for men? Yes, there is a lot that is needed for the patient but there are also things that the caregiver needs. So it is very therapeutic.”