(TOLEDO, Ohio) – Late summer racing on the mile dirt, state fairground ovals of Illinois is as familiar to the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards as any driver or theme in ARCA history. As such, the series has announced its two dates for competition on the famed tracks at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield and the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in DuQuoin.
The Illinois State Fairgrounds race will take place on Sunday, August 19; the DuQuoin race retains its traditional Labor Day date, Monday, September 3. The races are each scheduled under ARCA sanction for the 30th consecutive year, a key milestone that adds to the celebration of ARCA’s 60th Anniversary Season. Tickets for both events will go on sale in the Spring of 2012 at Track Enterprises by calling 217-764-3200.
“Racing in Springfield and DuQuoin for three decades has directly connected us to a whole community of race fans whose affinity is dirt track racing,” said ARCA president Ron Drager. “It’s important to reach out and connect with those racers and fans. Racing on the dirt is a vital, integral component of our schedule and a calculated part of our business plan. It differentiates our tour, and ties our series as it stands today to the very beginning of ARCA history, when racing on dirt built the foundation of our tradition.”
Championship stock car racing at the Illinois State Fairgrounds predates even the ARCA Racing Series, having started in 1950. The ARCA Racing Series’ sanction of the Allen Crowe Memorial 100 – which remembers the fallen Sprint car driver who died at New Bremen (Ohio) Speedway in 1963 – began in 1983. Dean Roper won the inaugural ARCA race at the track for the first of his three series victories in Springfield.
Nine-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel won a series-high seven races at Springfield between 2000 and 2008, and 1989 series champion Bob Keselowski is second all-time with four wins on the mile dirt oval. In August, Chad McCumbee made a leap toward winning the Bill France Four Crown with his Springfield victory.
Like its counterpart 150 miles away, the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds has hosted ARCA-sanctioned races since 1983. Roper won the first Southern Illinois 100 on the oval, his first of four ARCA victories at the track.
Kimmel is the dean of DuQuoin, as well, with five victories between 2001 and 2008. Billy Thomas ranks just behind Kimmel and tied with Roper, with four wins. Chris Buescher won at DuQuoin on Labor Day this year to open a stretch of three wins in the final four races and a charge for the Rookie of the Year title.
More detailed schedule information for the season will be available shortly. The following race dates for the 2012 ARCA Racing Series schedule have been announced:
February 18 – Daytona International Speedway
March 10 – Mobile International Speedway
May 4 – Talladega Superspeedway
June 9 – Pocono Raceway
July 1 – New Jersey Motorsports Park
August 4 – Pocono Raceway
August 19 – Illinois State Fairgrounds
September 3 – DuQuoin State Fairgrounds
The ARCA Racing Series will wrap up the 2011 season with the Championship Awards Banquet at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, Ky., near Cincinnati, on Saturday, December 10.
The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards featured 19 events at 16 tracks on its 2011 schedule. The series has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 race tracks in 28 states since its inception. In 2011, 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 0.4 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as a left- and right-turn road course.
Founded by John 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 two professional touring series and local weekly events.
CONTACT:
Griffin Hickman, ARCA
(419) 574-2685 (mobile)
Don Radebaugh, ARCA
(419) 450-0611 (mobile)