(TOLEDO, Ohio) – Chris Buescher (No. 17 Roulo Brothers Racing Ford) leads the pursuit of the prestigious season-within-a-season Bill France Four Crown Award, which rewards drivers in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards for success on a diverse slate of tracks.
The next challenge in the four-race trick will be the Illinois State Fairgrounds mile-dirt in Springfield for the 50th running of the Allen Crowe 100 Sunday afternoon, August 19.
The Four Crown schedule provides a link to the series’ roots, featuring a diverse combination of tracks in any given season. This year’s schedule includes Michigan Int’l Speedway (superspeedway), New Jersey Motorsports Park (road course), Springfield (mile dirt oval), and Salem Speedway (short track), where the Four Crown will conclude September 15.
“The Bill France Four Crown Award speaks to the very nature of the ARCA Racing Series. Being the full-bodied stock car series that runs on speedways, road courses, short tracks, and dirt ovals, this is the epitome of what our series is about,” said Ron Drager, president of ARCA.
Buescher, who won at Michigan and finished third at New Jersey, leads his Roulo Brothers Racing teammate Brandon Davis by 25 points headed to Springfield. However, Davis is not expected to compete at Springfield, opening the door for seven-time Springfield winner and nine-time ARCA Racing Series champion Frank Kimmel (ThorSport Racing), who trails the leader in third by 50 points. Alex Bowman (Cunningham Motorsports) is fourth in the Four Crown standings, 55 behind the leader. Overall championship points leader Brennan Poole (Venturini Motorsports) is currently fifth in Four Crown points, 65 points from first.
Four Crown points are allocated without qualifying or in-race bonuses, and distributed in the same method as in the official series standings.
Kimmel is the all-time Bill France Four Crown champion with six titles (2008, 2007, 2005, 2002, 2001, 1998). Other Four Crown champions over the years include Joey Coulter, Parker Kligerman, Jason Jarrett, Tim Steele, Bob Keselowski, Bobby Bowsher, Bill Venturini, Grant Adcox, Lee Raymond and Davey Allison.
Practice for the 50th Allen Crowe 100 in Springfield begins at 9 a.m. on Sunday, August 19, and will last for one hour. Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell is scheduled for 11 a.m., and the 100-lap, 100-mile race will start at 1 p.m. ARCARacing.com will feature live audio and timing and scoring coverage. All times are Central.
ARCA Celebrating 60th Anniversary Season
2012 is the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards’ 60th Anniversary Season, featuring 20 races at 18 tracks. The complete 2012 event schedule is available at ARCARacing.com.
The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 race tracks in 26 states since its inception. The series has tested the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, visiting tracks ranging from 0.375 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as a left- and right-turn road course in its most recent season. This year, the series visited Alabama’s Mobile International Speedway and Minnesota’s Elko Speedway for the first time.
Founded by John and Mildred Marcum in 1953 in Toledo, Ohio, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is recognized among the leading sanctioning bodies in the country. Closing in on completing its sixth decade after hundreds of thousands of miles of racing, ARCA administers over 100 race events each season in three professional touring series and local weekly events.
CONTACT:
Griffin Hickman, ARCA
(419) 574-2685 (mobile)
ghickman@arcaracing.com
Don Radebaugh, ARCA
(419) 450-0611 (mobile)
dradebaugh@arcaracing.com