Expo Square

Races for the 35th Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals start tonight at the River Spirit Expo Center at Expo Square.

The midget car event attracts racers and thousands of fans from across the U.S., but this year, it’s being held amid a global pandemic in which thousands of Oklahomans are falling ill and hundreds are dying every week.

Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith said founder Emmett Hahn has committed to holding the event as safely as possible.

An international horse show and competition that draws thousands is underway at the Tulsa fairgrounds. Darrell Bilke is Vice-President of the Pinto Horse Association of America. He says the Pinto World Championship is the Pinto horsemen’s Super Bowl.

The event, which runs through June 21st, includes everything from miniatures to thoroughbreds, and is free and open to the public. The Tulsa Regional Chamber says the two week show brings hundreds of thousands of dollars into the community.

Tulsa County leaders today okay a deal that will change the name of the largest  building on Expo Square and officially end live racing at Fair Meadows.The naming rights agreement with the Muscogee Creek Nation will put the tribe’s name on what had been known as the Quik Trip Center. Fairgrounds CEO Mark Andrus says the deal also ends live race meets, which were money losers in recent years.