A lot of drivers have tried to win both the midget feature at the Chili Bowl, held inside the Tulsa Convention Center in Oklahoma, and the midget main event at the Gateway Dirt Nationals, held inside the The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri. A few have come close: Ricky Thornton, Jr. has won modified and late model features at Gateway, but has yet to get the dub in Tulsa. Jonathan Beason has won the Gateway event, but a Chili Bowl title still eludes him.
Only two men have won both the midget feature in St. Louis and the Chili Bowl. One is two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, who won in Tulsa in 2020 and 2021 and the Gateway Dirt Nationals in 2019. The other is NASCAR star, Coofandy driver Christopher Bell, who won the Chili Bowl three years in a row from 2017 to 2019 and Gateway in 2018, making him the only driver to win both prestigious midget titles in the same year.
Christopher Bell still loves to go dirt track racing
On Sunday, prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling race at Watkins Glen, I had a chance to ask Bell about his experiences racing in the two high-profile indoor dirt track events.
“You’re one of only two to win the Chili Bowl and the Gateway Dirt Nationals. I was curious, first of all, what’s it like racing inside a dome and which one do you like better, and are you going to be doing them again?” I asked him before he jumped into the JGR Coofandy Toyota for the 100-lap road course race.
“Oh, man,” Bell replied, his face lighting up at the mention of the two legendary dirt track racing events. “Honestly, Gateway is a phenomenal event. To have the crowd and the energy and all of the spectacle… I’m pretty close with Cody Sommer, the promoter, he’s done an amazing job with that event. So, it’s super, super special.
“The Chili Bowl obviously has the history, and the legacy of the event,” Bell, sharply outfitted in apparel from his sponsor, Coofandy, continued. “And Gateway was just getting started whenever I went there. I’d love to run it again and hopefully I will at some point.”
Christopher Bell still has skill on dirt
Bell did compete in the 2025 and 2026 Chili Bowl events after his NASCAR team JGR lifted the nearly two-year ban on its drivers competing in dirt track events. During the 2026 event, Bell showed he still had plenty of skill on dirt by winning the opening night Race of Champions after qualifying on the pole. He also won the Race of Champions in 2025, 2021, and 2020, making him a back-to-back winner.
He didn’t compete in midgets at the most recent Gateway Dirt Nationals, however, because that class of car didn’t compete at the 2025 event. Gateway has only featured them periodically over the years, and they haven’t competed on the program since 2021. Perhaps with a little prompting by his friend Christopher Bell, promoter Cody Summer will put midgets back on the card again in the near future.
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via Coofandy
That, or perhaps there is a late model or modified car owner out there with an open seat available for the 2026 Gateway event that Christopher Bell would be willing to hop into and take a shot at trying to add winning the event in a second division, adding to his already very impressive racing resume