TULSA, Okla. — Thirty-nine-year-old Clint Wilson took six years off from racing, but he’s back and he’s ready to tackle the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals for the first time.

Wilson has teamed up with Jay Mounce and Gavin Stout of Mounce Motorsports to compete in the 34th edition of the midget racing spectacle on Jan. 13-18 on the temporary Tulsa Expo Raceway oval inside the River Spirit Expo Center.

“I wanted to step out of the box this year and experience the midget scene,” Wilson explained. “I hooked up with a team out of Tulsa — Mounce Motorsports, Jay Mounce and Gavin Stout — and we’ve joined forces. We’ve built cars for rentals for the Chili Bowl and the USAC tour.

“We’ve got really high-end cars that we feel are really competitive,” Wilson added. “They’re essentially taking me under their wings and getting me going from that perspective of the midgets.”

Wilson, who currently resides in Oregon after leaving Paradise, Calif., in the aftermath of the wildfire in 2018, began racing in 2007 at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif.

He spent seven years competing at the quarter-mile clay oval, but in 2013 he stepped away from competition to undergo surgery to repair some lingering injuries.

For the next six years, Wilson didn’t drive a race car. That changed in November, when he got back behind the wheel of a race car during the November Classic USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series event at Bakersfield Speedway.

“I’ve been trying to come back on a different level. I felt I needed to step out of the box to try something new, to get an experience I’ve never had in a different animal,” Wilson said. “I’ve always admired the midgets, I’ve always watched them, I’ve seen them, I’ve just haven’t had the hands-on experience with them or the opportunity to drive one.

“I just kind of jumped full force into it. I’m going to go for it.”

Wilson’s previous racing experience came in winged sprint cars. That makes competing at the Chili Bowl, a race that annually draws more than 300 of the best competitors from around the world to compete, an incredibly challenging endeavor.

Wilson says his only goal when he arrives in Tulsa, Okla., will be to survive as long as possible and enjoy the experience.

“As far as expectations, I’m only holding one at the top of the list. To survive and enjoy the atmosphere of what the Chili Bowl produces,” Wilson said. “I’ve watched it for years on TV. It’s just one of those things that if you do get to experience it and you get to feel the energy and everything out there, you might grow from it and you might make it work for you.

“This is a big learning curve for me in the midget, I want to give it my all and I want to be able to show that I can do this because I know I can,” Wilson added. “It’s a matter of having the right chemistry and the right people around you and if you don’t have that, you don’t get to experience it the way you should.”

Wilson, who said he and his wife are planning to move to Tulsa, Okla., to be closer to the Mounce Motorsports shop, will be part of a four-car effort by the team at the Chili Bowl. While Wilson will drive the No. C27 house car, Mounce Motorsports will also field cars for Trey Gropp, Daniel Sanchez and Austin Shores.

Beyond the Chili Bowl, Wilson says he’s planning to return to racing in a big way during the upcoming season. While he and the Mounce Motorsports team hasn’t set a schedule yet, Wilson said he hopes to compete in midgets and winged sprint cars during the upcoming season.

“The wife and I are planning to relocate to Tulsa out in Oklahoma to be closer to the team and the environment and more racing,” Wilson said. “I want to implement my winged program in the Midwest and I want to race on bigger tracks. I want more experience in places that aren’t just repetitive.

“We don’t have anything in concrete yet, but I do know that I will be racing some USAC midget stuff, ASCS stuff and some All Star races.”

SPEED SPORT’s Chili Bowl coverage is presented by MyRacePass, the official timing and scoring app of the 2020 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals. Fans can download the MyRacePass app on their phones to follow all the action during the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals. For more information on MyRacePass, visit www.myracepass.com and use the hashtag #GetTheApp on Twitter!