The Chili Bowl in Tulsa is in full swing with its special 40th anniversary edition. Among other things, it is one of the most unforgiving dirt races in motorsports, where safety is topmost priority due to the violent wrecks that keep happening like it’s Monday.

Whether it’s the position of the seat or the halo clearance, even the smallest of changes can make them take some tough calls with no compromise on the driver’s safety. And that’s what has happened with Brayton Laster, who will no longer be able to participate in the event that was supposed to be his debut.

Laster kicked out of the Chili Bowl

The ARCA star took to social media earlier this morning and announced he will not be participating in the Chili Bowl due to safety concerns. The announcement comes after Laster went viral on social media when a picture surfaced with his head sitting out of the halo. As flips are common in the Midget races, fans felt free to express their concerns. This ultimately led to the announcement.

With the picture came an overwhelming concern from the fans who initially noticed it. This caused Laster to update on social media that fixes were being made ahead of the upcoming start. This did little to ease the concerns and comments about the ill-fitted seat. One user commented on the announcement, his own reason for the replacement of the maiden Chili Bowl driver.

“To be fair, you were more concerned with fights and worthless trading cards from the 80’s than racing…” they said.

This comment was specifically referring to a post Laster had made the night before. It was a video of drivers fighting, and he had commented with the news that the Chili Bowl Nationals allow fights under the condition that it doesn’t make it to the track. He ended the post with a joke, asking who wanted to fight and if they would share a pizza afterward.

Laster didn’t let this comment get to him, however, replying with the work that he and the team put into the preparations for the event.

“It wasn’t my call, I sent 20 hours in the team’s shop getting fitted and working on the car to get it ready, as well as another 10ish hours from Sunday-Wednesday. Ultimately, the team made the call to pull the plug, and it wasn’t my decision,” said Laster.

The honest answer from Laster did little to calm this fan down, however. He voiced that if the team spent 20 hours fitting him, they “are all a bunch of idiots.” According to him, in 10 seconds on the track on Sunday, “EVERYONE” saw his helmet sticking up higher than the cage.

“Sometimes common sense goes farther than you just trying to be funny,” they said.

Laster once again tried to defend his honor and the team’s decision. Realistically, the entire 20 hours was not Laster sitting in the car. The team was busy installing the seat and setting everything else up. At 6’3, Laster is not a small driver, making it very plausible that it would take a long time to set the seat up correctly while making sure he fits into the midget car.

The maiden midget racer explained how exactly they were trying to fix the seat. They took a 3″ piece of foam from under his seat that was put in at the last second on Sunday. This had dropped him 2″ below the halo. This comment once again received a reply, but Laster did not engage after this.

The #6 entry will run nonetheless, with dirt Modified and Sprint car driver Mike “Sully” Sullivan. “Mike has raced for over 30 years and is a championship winning car owner,” said Laster.

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Reason for the kick out

The initial safety concerns began with the surfaced post of the driver’s head sitting out of the car. While Laster tried to remain optimistic, the team couldn’t risk his safety, resulting in the replacement.

Within the comments of the initial announcement post from Laster, there was a mix between the negative comments, such as the ones from above, and the positive comments that helped support the reason for the safety concerns.

Laster has not replied or shared any more information regarding the super-specific details about his replacement. ARCA has not commented about it either.

The speculation around the decision has to do with his body size and how he fit in the car. Particularly, his proximity to the halo area.

Regardless of Laster’s silence, one user commented with his own knowledge about safety and midget cars.

“IIRC 2.5″ of clearance is the standard for lemons, and their safety guy is really, really good. His name is John Pagel, and he’s usually able to give safety recommendations and rapid improvement suggestions with only a few pictures. If you have anything dumb, he’s seen it before. I’ve seen some pretty gnarly lemons crashes, and he’s managed to get everyone out alive. Might be worth the call before giving up,” he commented.

Laster or the Chili Bowl Nationals have yet to comment or explain any further on the situation. Unfortunately for Laster, he will remain a maiden Midget car driver, at least until next year’s event.