Oh, there will be beef! At the Chili Bowl Nationals, all it takes for a driver to stage some frontstretch rumbles is a hunch that another has slighted them. The disrespect will, nonetheless, be addressed because nothing could bail them out from what eventually turned out to be a lost cause. So far, rules have allowed drivers to duke it out, but like everything else in life, there are conditions applied. On Wednesday, however, things got a little out of hand!

Two different crew members and one driver were seen throwing around knock-down punches in a drag-out brawl in the pits. In fact, even though two members fell to the ground and were visibly breathless, the fight didn’t stop. A different camera angle of the fight showed another member’s shirt torn.

It isn’t known what sparked the fight at the Tulsa Expo Center in Oklahoma. Those who were involved in the brawl will most likely receive reprimands from the officials, although fighting isn’t against the rules. Here’s how the incident went against the rules:

• The one-on-one fight needs to happen between drivers, and no crew members can get involved.
• It has to be in front of the fans on the frontstretch.
• The fight needs to stop once one of the drivers goes to the ground. It’s similar to the fights in the NHL.

So, in this particular fight, not just one rule, but almost all rules were violated. In fact, stock car racing driver Brayton Laster shared a clip on X and added his thoughts to it:

“I just learned that the Chili Bowl Nationals allows drivers to fight one-on-one, as long as it doesn’t leave the track, and it stops once you’re on the ground. With that being said, if any of my fellow drivers want to duke it out after a race, let me know, and we’ll settle it right then and there and eat pizza afterwards.”

His tweet came after Director of Operations Matt Ward discussed the new rules while speaking to FloRacing earlier this week.

“If you’re going to fight, do 1 on 1, you can pull anywhere from turns 3 to turn 1. So basically, opening to opening and settling it yourselves, 1 on 1. Kind of like hockey rules, our crew won’t break it up until it gets disadvantaged or on the ground.

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“And when they do it at the top of the ramp, there’s just so many people in this building, you might get a drunk or two that might walk through and sucker punch somebody or an official.”

So, while brawls like these are often tolerated as per the rules of the Bowl, the crew members’ involvement clearly represents a significant breach of conduct from both teams.

The rule is designed to prevent large-scale chaos and ensure that emotions remain contained between the competitors themselves. Considering that out of 400 teams that participate each night, Monday through Friday, only the top two drivers from each preliminary feature qualify for Saturday’s Chili Bowl main event, the tempers flare. While this might seem out of the ordinary, the staff at the event has gotten used to it.

Camera operator’s surprisingly calm reaction to “Fight Wednesday”

The camera operators at the Chili Bowl Nationals have one of the most difficult jobs. Owing to the action they have to capture at any given moment on the track, these brawls have become quite common for them.

During one of the interviews, a camera operator actually explained that they usually expect some of these fights, and it becomes their work to cover them from the best angle.

“We had a little spicy stuff during a shootout. So I told the guys today. I said today is a fight Wednesday, so I’m expecting somebody to get into it up there today,” he said.

Wednesdays can be especially tough at the Chili Bowl owing to the preliminary races held that day. ‘Fight Wednesday’ is a term given by the fans, owing to the brawls that happen on that day.

The sport also seems to entertain itself with the rules allowing such brawls. Understandably, however, the crew members should be kept out of it, as it can turn quite vicious at times.