Chili Bowl action makes for one exciting broadcast

TULSA, Okla. -- The bane of any broadcaster is "dead air," industry slang for silence caused by a lack of anything to talk about. That certainly won't be the case for the broadcast team on the final night of the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals on Saturday, Jan. 12.

If anything, this talented group of motorsports veterans might suffer from a less common broadcaster's curse: too much to cover.

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The on-track action at the Chili Bowl promises to keep the attention of the 10,000 fans in the sell-out crowd at Tulsa's QuikTrip Center, not to mention telecast anchor Ken Stout and his color commentators, Dave Argabright, Larry Rice and Pat Sullivan. Run on a purpose-built, quarter-mile indoor dirt oval, the Chili Bowl is annually the sight of some rock-'em, sock-'em bullring action, a blend of skillful racing and old-fashioned pushing and shoving.

As NASCAR superstar and Midget graduate Kasey Kahne puts it, "There's cars bouncing off each other, people wrecking, things going on throughout the entire race. Everybody is so crazy and wild."

And in the pits, where reporters Matt Yocum and Rob Klepper will share interview chores for the Chili Bowl broadcast team, things will be no less hectic. The 22nd annual Chili Bowl has drawn some 280 entries, with the nation's top Midget and Sprint Car drivers joined by an interesting mix of NASCAR stars, Indy 500 veterans, and even the occasional drag-racing champion.

But if ever a broadcast team was geared to handle a "crazy and wild" event like the Chili Bowl, this versatile team is it. Stout has covered a wide variety of motorsports, from CORR off-road trucks to ASA stock cars, from IHRA drag racing to tractor pulls. Stout's broadcast resume includes stints with NBC, ESPN2, SPEED and Versus.

At his side in the booth, Stout will have a trio of "old-school" open-wheel hands. In addition to his broadcast work, which includes SPEED and the Indianapolis 500 Radio Network, Argabright's writing has appeared in National Speed Sport News and Sprint Car & Midget magazine and he is a five-time recipient of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame's media member of the year honor.

Rice is not just a driver-turned-broadcaster; he's a champion-turned-qualified-expert. The 1973 USAC National Midget champion, Rice also raced in the Indianapolis 500 (sharing rookie of the year honors with Rick Mears in 1978) before turning his attention to television. Rice played a pioneering role in the old ESPN Thunder broadcasts in the 1980s, and has broadcast hundreds of Midget, Sprint Car and IndyCar events.

Open-wheel fans across the Midwest have come to recognize the voice of Sullivan, one of the most active public-address announcers in American motorsports. Equally at home calling major IndyCar races or weekly Sprint Car events at tracks in his native Indiana, Sullivan's grasp of history and trivia helps bring listeners inside the sport, and makes him a crowd favorite.

The pitside combo of Yocum and Klepper brings together a pair of terrific interviewers. Dubbed "The Voice of USAC," Klepper has risen from P.A. duties at speedways in his native California to a budding broadcast career that includes a weekly gig as host of The USAC Racing Show on RaceFanRadio.com and reporting duties for the nationally televised Lucas Oil Motorsports Hour.

Yocum has become a familiar face in millions of motorsports homes, thanks to having worked for the last 16 years on NASCAR-related television. These days, Matt's face is seen regularly on FOX, TNT, SPEED and DirecTV, plus he also co-hosts the weekly Tony Stewart Live program on Sirius satellite radio.

The Chili Bowl semifinals will be streamed on NASCAR.COM at 10:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 11.

Chili Bowl on HBO

HBO Pay-Per-View presents the live, with no commercials, television broadcast of the 2008 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday (Jan. 12). The HBO Pay-Per-View telecast has a suggested retail price of $24.95, and will be available to all cable and satellite homes throughout the U.S. and Canada. Order directly from your digital cable or satellite TV system or contact your provider's customer service for details. A subscription to HBO is not required. Visit http://www.hbo.com/events/chili.