Spirit of Speedway to Sponsor Daniel Whitley and Abacus Racing at the 2023 Chili Bowl. 

INDIANAPOLIS, December 30, 2022 — It was announced on the final day of PRI that Spirit of Speedway would be the primary sponsor of the #57 entry driven by Daniel Whitley being fielded by Abacus Racing in the 2023 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl.

In an interview with Will Marotti, team owner of Marotti Autosport, he stated, “We have been pretty single focused on our entry for this year’s Indy 500, but when the opportunity to be involved in the Chili Bowl as a primary sponsor was presented we saw it as an excellent opportunity to be part of another great event and get the word out about Spirit of Speedway.”

Spirit of Speedway was launched by Marotti in 2021 as the most successful crowd fund in INDYCAR history.  For 2022, the fund has been expanded with the goal of fielding an entry in the 2023 Indianapolis 500, allowing investors to work alongside corporate sponsors in the entry, not only giving individuals a chance to share in the thrill of being part of a team entering the Indianapolis 500, but to also honor and celebrate the hometown of the Indianapolis 500 – Speedway, Indiana.  Marotti Autosport first competed in the 2016 Indy 500 as a co-entrant with Schmidt-Peterson and driver Oriol Servia.  They qualified tenth and finished in twelfth place.

Brent Cox, Team Principal of Abacus Racing, had this to say, “The Indianapolis 500 is the reason I love racing.  Growing up as a kid in Indiana, that race means a lot to me.  To see Will’s passion for the sport and what he was doing with Spirit of Speedway, it seemed a natural fit for us to work together at this year’s Chili Bowl.”

Continued Marotti, “Racing is as much about honoring its history as it is future innovation.  In all the years of the Indianapolis 500, many towns have been honored, but never the hometown of the Indianapolis 500.  We see this as a great opportunity to do that with Spirit of Speedway.” 

The Chili Bowl has often been labeled “The Indy 500 of Midget Racing.”  It is an event that yearly has over 300 cars entered, with practice and racing over 7 days in hopes to make the coveted A-Main Feature race on the final night. 

Continued Brent Cox, “The Chili Bowl is an event you have on your mind all year long.  To be successful a lot of things have to go your way.  It is just like the Indianapolis 500.  To win the 500 you have to first make the race.  Then you have to finish the 200 laps, have 7 flawless pit stops, get the pit strategy correct, not get caught up in another driver’s accident and have a car fast enough at the end to win.  The Chili Bowl is the same way.  You have to do very well on your qualifying night to either lock into the A-Main or have enough points to make sure the feature race you start in on Saturday gives you a realistic chance to make the top feature.  When you start with over 300 cars, a lot can go wrong to prevent you from doing that and a lot of that may be out of your control.”

To further that point, veteran racer Dillon Welch, driving the #58 as teammate to Daniel Whitley and veteran broadcaster with NBC, the MRN Radio Network and former voice of USAC, is excited to get another opportunity for a Golden Driller said, “This will be my 11th time entering the Chili Bowl.  I made the A-Main in 2020, but when I came back in 2021, my qualifying night did not go well with a variety of unfortunate circumstances and in the end got taken out by a competitor in an accident that caused irreparable damage to the car and ended my chances to continue racing the rest of the week. It was gut-wrenching, but that is racing.  You need everything to go right to have the kind of success we want as drivers there.”  For Welch, that happened in 2022 when he came back and made the A-Main again. “Racing normally offers you another chance at redemption, and luckily we got that in 2022.”

Hoping to make the A-Main in 2023 and driving in his first Chili Bowl will be Ferndale California’s Daniel Whitley who recently drove for Abacus for the last 7 races in the USAC National Midget Series.  “Since I got the call from the team, things have moved really fast.  After we finished in California, I remember Brent saying, ‘now it’s Chili Bowl time!’  I am very excited for the event and to do what I can for Abacus Racing and to represent Spirit of Speedway in the #57 car.”

“What Daniel showed us in California is he has the speed to win right now.  In the last few weeks of the season, Daniel made a feature in a 410 sprint car at Oval Nationals and made 6 of the 7 feature races in our midget in California,” Said Brent Cox.  “We are excited to see what he does in Tulsa.”

Continued Marotti, “The Indy 500 is the biggest race in the world.  The Chili Bowl is the biggest Midget race in the world.  As a team, we are excited to be involved with both events and excited to see how the team and Daniel does.”  More information about Spirit of Speedway can be found at www.spiritofspeedway.com.

The Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals will begin on January 8, 2023 with practice with qualifying nights starting on January 9 and concluding with its feature events on January 14, 2023. 

            Abacus Racing is headquartered in Indianapolis, IN. 

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