Two Ways To Easily Get Disqualified At The Tulsa Shootout
Two Ways To Easily Get Disqualified At The Tulsa Shootout
There are two ways to easily get disqualified or ejected at the Tulsa Shootout: tire doping and fighting in the pits.
If drivers and teams would like to hang around for all five days of the 39th Tulsa Shootout, they will need to avoid doing two things this week in Tulsa, Oklahoma: tire doping and fighting in the pits.
Event officials offered a stern warning about one of those things Tuesday morning on the Tulsa Shootout social media pages. "DO NOT DOPE YOUR TIRES! They will be confiscated. You will be disqualified," the post read.
DO NOT DOPE YOUR TIRES! They will be confiscated. You will be disqualified. pic.twitter.com/86EexYgYuM
— TulsaShootout (@TulsaShootout) December 26, 2023
Of course, officials are referring to the illegal use of chemicals or gasses to enhance the characteristics of tires on a race car. Tire doping can lead to competitive advantages including better grip, better heat management of the tire and improved traction.
Tech officials will be keeping a close eye on tire doping throughout the five-day event and disqualifying teams found to be in violation of the zero tolerance rule.
Teams will also need to be on their best behavior in the pit area and on the ramp that leads from the pit area to the raceway. Any driver/team caught fighting in either of these areas will be issued an immediate disqualification and kicked out of the event for the weekend.
This is not a new rule for the Tulsa Shootout or Chili Bowl Nationals; however, it will be strictly enforced for the safety of competitors, fans and officials.
VIDEO: A fight at last year's Tulsa Shootout resulted in Blake Scott and his father Chris Scott being ejected from the event.
Matt Ward, the Director of Competition for the Tulsa Shootout and Chili Bowl, has made it clear that fighting will not be tolerated anywhere except on the race track in front of the fans.
"If you're going to fight, do it one on one. You can pull anywhere from turn three down to turn one and settle it yourselves one on one," Ward said during an interview at the 2022 Chili Bowl Nationals. "Kind of like hockey rules, our crew won't break it up until it gets disadvantaged or on the ground.
"We just can't control it at the top of the ramp. There are so many people, we don't want it to get out of control so I'm just trying to express to the drivers if you want to do it put a show on for the fans and do it on the race track."
The 39th running of the Tulsa Shootout kicks off Wednesday, December 27 with a full day of practice for all six divisions before heat racing begins at 7 p.m. CT / 8 p.m. ET. From there, racing will begin at 9 a.m. CT / 10 a.m. ET every day leading into Driller Day on Sunday, December 31.
All five days of racing will be streamed live on FloRacing for those unable to attend the event in Tulsa. If you're not a FloRacing subscriber, click here to sign up today.