Ken Schrader Set to Defend Title Against Open Wheel Stars at DuQuoin State Fair
A diverse field that consists of a the first former full-time Formula One driver to compete at DuQuoin, sprint car and championship dirt car drivers, the king of the ARCA RE/MAX Series plus some of the best and toughest stock car drivers in the land dot the entry list for the 56th Federated Auto Parts-Southern Illinois 100 ARCA RE/MAX Series stock car race on Labor Day at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. Over forty drivers, including a NASCAR star who is the two-time defending race winner, are expected to vie for well over $130,000 in cash and prizes in the Federated-Southern Illinois 100.
Formula One veteran and ARCA rookie Scott Speed of Manteca, California, the current ARCA RE/MAX point leader, will be making his second dirt track start at DuQuoin. Speed is the pilot of the Eddie Sharp Racing Toyota, a team that fielded cars last year for USAC star Josh Wise and former CART Champ Car driver Michael McDowell. The twenty five year old Speed may be adding a page to the extensive DuQuoin history book, it is believed he is the first driver to have driven full time in the Formula I series and then participate on the dirt at DuQuoin. Speed drove for Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2006 and 2007 with a best finish of 9th coming at Monaco in 2007 and Australia in 2006.
Speed started 8th in the Allen Crowe 100 at Springfield and finished in that position at the end of 100 miles.
Speed is chased in the ARCA title by an array of veterans and rookies in a championship battle that has as many twists and turns as any road course.
Currently second in the standings is a rookie who may have the ultimate opportunity at making history by becoming the first driver in the 86 year history of the DuQuoin State Fair to win the Ted Horn 100 championship race and the Federated-Southern Illinois 100 stock car race on the same weekend.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. of Olive Branch, Mississippi drove one of Tony Stewart's championship dirt cars last year and his exploits in USAC led to a golden opportunity with the Jack Roush driver development team. Stenhouse has made the most of that opportunity with two wins and six top 5 finishes in 2008 and he led the ARCA RE/MAX points prior to the August Pocono event.
Third is Matt Carter of Denver North Carolina, the son of former NASCAR crew chief Travis Carter and the replacement for a former ARCA champ in a title winning car. Fourth is Justin Allgaier of Springfield, Illinois who won the Allen Crowe 100 at Springfield in 2006 and led both in 2006 and 2007 at DuQuoin. Allgaier returns to DuQuoin in 2008 with a real chance at the ARCA RE/MAX Series title. Justin has three wins in 2008, two in the family Chevrolet and another driving for the Venturini family.
Fifth in the ARCA chase is nine-time ARCA king Frank Kimmel of Clarksville, Indiana. The forty-six year old Kimmel is a four-time DuQuoin winner who has given up the seat in the Larry Clement Ford (taken by Matt Carter) to pursue owning his own race team. Kimmel is the all-time ARCA race winner on dirt and is second in ARCA starts at DuQuoin with 16. Kimmel made a statement in the race at the Illinois State Fairgorounds that he and crew chief and brother Bill Kimmel are not quite done in the ARCA RE/MAX series, as Frank dominated the Allen Crowe 100 in winning an unprecedented seventh race.
Sixth through tenth in the ARCA standings are Cherry Hill, New Jersey's Tom Hessert , Tayler Malsam of Sammanish, John Wes Townley of Watkinsville, Georgia, Washington, Ken Butler of Sherrills Ford, North Carolina and Patrick Sheltra of Indiantown, Florida. Townley and Butler have previous stock car experience while Hessert and Malsam come from open wheel dirt track and pavement backgrounds in midgets and sprint cars. Sheltra may be the dark horse of the group having finished 6th last year at DuQuoin and coming from outlaw dirt late model stock cars.
A number of ARCA veterans are expected at DuQuoin including Norm Benning of
Pennsylvania, Brad Smith of Michigan and Ron Cox of Tennessee. ARCA
youngsters who are regulars on the trail include Bryan Silas of Florida, Dexter Bean of Wisconsin, Gabi DiCarlo of Arizona and Justin Lofton of California.
While Allgaier may head the list of drivers from Illinois who could win at DuQuoin on Labor Day, he certainly is not the clear-cut favorite from the home state. Fifty-nine year old Bob Strait of Manteno won the 1992 Southern Illinois stock car race and comes into DuQuoin recovering from motorcycle accident injuries suffered last summer. Strait returns for the Hendren team out of Normal, Illinois which had popular Ken Rowley as a driver for over twenty years at DuQuoin. Other Illinois pilots include Dale Shearer of Alahambra, Kyle Chady of Benton and Mark Littleton of Arenzville. Last year's pole winner A.J. Fike of Galesburg will have a ride by race day and be one of three drivers trying to win theTed Horn 100 and the Southern Illinois 100. Joe Cooksey of Centralia is not yet on the entry list but could be by race day.
One other driver of note secured a very good ride for the Allen Crowe 100 at Springfield and may make the trek to DuQuoin, Brian Tyler of Parma, Michigan is the one lap stock car track record holder at DuQuoin and will be driving in the Ted Horn 100 championship dirt car event the previous day. Tyler is the pilot of the Venturini Motorsports ride prepared by Rich Woodland with Toyota power under the hood and the driver and car finished third at Springfield.
The driver that finally broke a 27-year DuQuoin 'jinx' returns as the defending race winner facing some stiff competition. Fifty three year old Ken Schrader of Fenton, Missouri spent the greater part of his career on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit driving for Junie Donleavy, Rick Hendrick, Andy Petree and the Wood Brothers teams. His love for dirt track racing and his diverse talents are well known, he won the 1982 USAC Silver Crown and 1983 USAC Sprint Car titles, countless midget car, late model and modified events across the country. DuQuoin remained the lone Midwest mile dirt track that eluded him until he broke through in a big way winning a dirt late model event and the Southern Illinois 100 on the same day in 2006! Schrader, who made his USAC Stock Car debut at DuQuoin in 1979, repeated at DuQuoin last year taking the lead from rookie Josh Wise late in the event.
Southern Illinois is no stranger when it comes to stock car racing or the appearance of legendary drivers. USAC stalwarts Don White, Norm Nelson, Jack Bowsher and Butch Hartman all won races at DuQuoin as did NASCAR legends Fred Lorenzen and Rusty Wallace. Indy 500 winners Jimmy Bryan and A.J. Foyt won in the hardtops on the DuQuoin clay as well. When ARCA took over sanction of the Southern Illinois 100 in 1985, Dean Roper continued his winning ways and was followed by ARCA stars like Bob Brevak, Bob Schacht, Bob Keselowski and Billy Thomas in victory lane. Even Tony Stewart took time off from his NASCAR travels to run three times in the Southern Illinois 100 and win his first one-mile dirt track event in 2003.
Another stellar field is set to pull into the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds on Labor Day, September 1 for the 57th stock car race held on the "Magic Mile".
Practice for the 56th Federated Southern Illinois 100 is slated for 9 a.m., with Sim Factory qualifications at 11. Brian Tyler's record qualification lap of 108.196 could be in jeopardy. The ARCA RE/MAX Series is scheduled to take the green flag at approximately 1 p.m. with the ARCA race record for 100 miles of 90.101 miles an hour set by Dean Roper celebrating its 25th anniversary. Additional information on the Federated Southern Illinois 100 and the ARCA Series can be found at www.trackenterprises.com and www.arcaracing.com.
A diverse field that consists of a the first former full-time Formula One driver to compete at DuQuoin, sprint car and championship dirt car drivers, the king of the ARCA RE/MAX Series plus some of the best and toughest stock car drivers in the land dot the entry list for the 56th Federated Auto Parts-Southern Illinois 100 ARCA RE/MAX Series stock car race on Labor Day at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. Over forty drivers, including a NASCAR star who is the two-time defending race winner, are expected to vie for well over $130,000 in cash and prizes in the Federated-Southern Illinois 100.
Formula One veteran and ARCA rookie Scott Speed of Manteca, California, the current ARCA RE/MAX point leader, will be making his second dirt track start at DuQuoin. Speed is the pilot of the Eddie Sharp Racing Toyota, a team that fielded cars last year for USAC star Josh Wise and former CART Champ Car driver Michael McDowell. The twenty five year old Speed may be adding a page to the extensive DuQuoin history book, it is believed he is the first driver to have driven full time in the Formula I series and then participate on the dirt at DuQuoin. Speed drove for Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2006 and 2007 with a best finish of 9th coming at Monaco in 2007 and Australia in 2006.
Speed started 8th in the Allen Crowe 100 at Springfield and finished in that position at the end of 100 miles.
Speed is chased in the ARCA title by an array of veterans and rookies in a championship battle that has as many twists and turns as any road course.
Currently second in the standings is a rookie who may have the ultimate opportunity at making history by becoming the first driver in the 86 year history of the DuQuoin State Fair to win the Ted Horn 100 championship race and the Federated-Southern Illinois 100 stock car race on the same weekend.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. of Olive Branch, Mississippi drove one of Tony Stewart's championship dirt cars last year and his exploits in USAC led to a golden opportunity with the Jack Roush driver development team. Stenhouse has made the most of that opportunity with two wins and six top 5 finishes in 2008 and he led the ARCA RE/MAX points prior to the August Pocono event.
Third is Matt Carter of Denver North Carolina, the son of former NASCAR crew chief Travis Carter and the replacement for a former ARCA champ in a title winning car. Fourth is Justin Allgaier of Springfield, Illinois who won the Allen Crowe 100 at Springfield in 2006 and led both in 2006 and 2007 at DuQuoin. Allgaier returns to DuQuoin in 2008 with a real chance at the ARCA RE/MAX Series title. Justin has three wins in 2008, two in the family Chevrolet and another driving for the Venturini family.
Fifth in the ARCA chase is nine-time ARCA king Frank Kimmel of Clarksville, Indiana. The forty-six year old Kimmel is a four-time DuQuoin winner who has given up the seat in the Larry Clement Ford (taken by Matt Carter) to pursue owning his own race team. Kimmel is the all-time ARCA race winner on dirt and is second in ARCA starts at DuQuoin with 16. Kimmel made a statement in the race at the Illinois State Fairgorounds that he and crew chief and brother Bill Kimmel are not quite done in the ARCA RE/MAX series, as Frank dominated the Allen Crowe 100 in winning an unprecedented seventh race.
Sixth through tenth in the ARCA standings are Cherry Hill, New Jersey's Tom Hessert , Tayler Malsam of Sammanish, John Wes Townley of Watkinsville, Georgia, Washington, Ken Butler of Sherrills Ford, North Carolina and Patrick Sheltra of Indiantown, Florida. Townley and Butler have previous stock car experience while Hessert and Malsam come from open wheel dirt track and pavement backgrounds in midgets and sprint cars. Sheltra may be the dark horse of the group having finished 6th last year at DuQuoin and coming from outlaw dirt late model stock cars.
A number of ARCA veterans are expected at DuQuoin including Norm Benning of
Pennsylvania, Brad Smith of Michigan and Ron Cox of Tennessee. ARCA
youngsters who are regulars on the trail include Bryan Silas of Florida, Dexter Bean of Wisconsin, Gabi DiCarlo of Arizona and Justin Lofton of California.
While Allgaier may head the list of drivers from Illinois who could win at DuQuoin on Labor Day, he certainly is not the clear-cut favorite from the home state. Fifty-nine year old Bob Strait of Manteno won the 1992 Southern Illinois stock car race and comes into DuQuoin recovering from motorcycle accident injuries suffered last summer. Strait returns for the Hendren team out of Normal, Illinois which had popular Ken Rowley as a driver for over twenty years at DuQuoin. Other Illinois pilots include Dale Shearer of Alahambra, Kyle Chady of Benton and Mark Littleton of Arenzville. Last year's pole winner A.J. Fike of Galesburg will have a ride by race day and be one of three drivers trying to win theTed Horn 100 and the Southern Illinois 100. Joe Cooksey of Centralia is not yet on the entry list but could be by race day.
One other driver of note secured a very good ride for the Allen Crowe 100 at Springfield and may make the trek to DuQuoin, Brian Tyler of Parma, Michigan is the one lap stock car track record holder at DuQuoin and will be driving in the Ted Horn 100 championship dirt car event the previous day. Tyler is the pilot of the Venturini Motorsports ride prepared by Rich Woodland with Toyota power under the hood and the driver and car finished third at Springfield.
The driver that finally broke a 27-year DuQuoin 'jinx' returns as the defending race winner facing some stiff competition. Fifty three year old Ken Schrader of Fenton, Missouri spent the greater part of his career on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit driving for Junie Donleavy, Rick Hendrick, Andy Petree and the Wood Brothers teams. His love for dirt track racing and his diverse talents are well known, he won the 1982 USAC Silver Crown and 1983 USAC Sprint Car titles, countless midget car, late model and modified events across the country. DuQuoin remained the lone Midwest mile dirt track that eluded him until he broke through in a big way winning a dirt late model event and the Southern Illinois 100 on the same day in 2006! Schrader, who made his USAC Stock Car debut at DuQuoin in 1979, repeated at DuQuoin last year taking the lead from rookie Josh Wise late in the event.
Southern Illinois is no stranger when it comes to stock car racing or the appearance of legendary drivers. USAC stalwarts Don White, Norm Nelson, Jack Bowsher and Butch Hartman all won races at DuQuoin as did NASCAR legends Fred Lorenzen and Rusty Wallace. Indy 500 winners Jimmy Bryan and A.J. Foyt won in the hardtops on the DuQuoin clay as well. When ARCA took over sanction of the Southern Illinois 100 in 1985, Dean Roper continued his winning ways and was followed by ARCA stars like Bob Brevak, Bob Schacht, Bob Keselowski and Billy Thomas in victory lane. Even Tony Stewart took time off from his NASCAR travels to run three times in the Southern Illinois 100 and win his first one-mile dirt track event in 2003.
Another stellar field is set to pull into the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds on Labor Day, September 1 for the 57th stock car race held on the "Magic Mile".
Practice for the 56th Federated Southern Illinois 100 is slated for 9 a.m., with Sim Factory qualifications at 11. Brian Tyler's record qualification lap of 108.196 could be in jeopardy. The ARCA RE/MAX Series is scheduled to take the green flag at approximately 1 p.m. with the ARCA race record for 100 miles of 90.101 miles an hour set by Dean Roper celebrating its 25th anniversary. Additional information on the Federated Southern Illinois 100 and the ARCA Series can be found at www.trackenterprises.com and www.arcaracing.com.
