TUCSON, AZ  – Darrell Midgley and Brandon Carlson kicked off the 2019 Team NPP race season at Tucson Speedway January 24th, 25th and 26th. The big three-day show culminated with the 6th annual Chilly Willy 150. A total of 41 Super Late Model teams packed the pits at the Arizona facility. Race officials split the field for two separate 50-lap Features on both Thursday and Friday. A total of 39 cars took the green flag Saturday for the 150 lap finale.

Darrell Midgley finished 12th in the opening Feature Thursday. “We were really good Thursday night right out of the box. Had a nice lead in that race then had a problem with the panhard bar.” Midgley’s quest for five consecutive top-10 finishes at Tucson Speedway came to an end with the Thursday night part failure. Midgley’s race weekend then wrapped-up with back to back DNF’s. The Sidney, British Columbia driver was involved in a multi-car incident Friday night and was credited with a 18th place finish.

Midgleys string of bad luck appeared to be turning around in Saturday’s Chilly Willy 150. “We started near the back of the pack because of Friday night.” In just 10 short laps Midgley gained more than a dozen spots. The march forward came to a screeching halt on lap 14. Midgley narrowly missed being part of a four-car crash. “I missed the accident but another guy drove into the back of me which bent up the rear end.” The impact sent Midgley into the front straight wall for the second night in a row. “The front end got bent up too.” Midgley drove his damaged car to the pits and was officially scored as finishing 37th. “We were heading to the front but you got to be there at the end.”

Teammate Brandon Carlson saw the checkered flag in all three Feature events at Tucson Speedway on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. However the Victoria, British Columbia driver was not happy with his on-track performance. “We just couldn’t get our feet under us this trip,” admits Carlson, “we had some mechanical difficulties. There was some stuff on the car that broke that shouldn’t have.” Carlson had back to back 13th place finishes in the Thursday and Friday night Features. “The rear clip on the car pulled apart. We had an issue with a shock absorber. We were continuously behind the 8 ball. Just want to thank my crew for getting me back on the track.”

The Chilly Willy 150 saw the caution flag fly a total of 7 times. “We pitted several times under caution without trying to loose a lot of track position.” Carlson was stuck running in the 25th to 27th position for a majority of the race. A final visit to the pits (under caution) took place with 45 laps to go. “We started passing cars towards the end of the race.” Carlson finished 19th in only his second Chilly Willy 150 appearance. “Not as good as last year (finished 14th) but we’ll take what we got tonight.”

> THURSDAY, JANUARY 24th 
– Darrell Midgley finished 12th in first 50 lap Feature.
– Brandon Carlson finished 13th in second 50 lap Feature. 

> FRIDAY, JANUARY 25th 
– Brandon Carlson finished 13th in the first 50 lap Qualifying Feature.
– Darrell Midgley finished 18th (crash) in the first 50 lap Qualifying Feature.

> SATURDAY, JANUARY 26th 
– Brandon Carlson finished 19th
– Darrell Midgley finished 37th (knocked out of race on Lap 14 crash)

>> Michael Scott from Cheyenne, Wyoming wins 2019 Chilly Willy 150