Dennis Vandermeersch
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Springfield, Il August 17, 2008-Frank Kimmel probably could us a trip to Las Vegas as seven is clearly his lucky number after the 46 year old veteran from Clarksville, Indiana smashed all the stock car auto racing records books Sunday at the Illinois State Fairgrounds with a record setting seventh victory in the 46th Best Western-Allen Crowe 100 ARCA RE/MAX Series event.
Kimmel has now won seven of the last nine Allen Crowe 100 races held on the Springfield Mile.
Kimmel started a beautiful Sunday afternoon in the Illinois capitol by setting a new track (and world) record for the one mile dirt track in qualifications with a 32.878 circuit (109.496 MPH) smashing the one year old qualifying mark of Damon Lusk. In fact several drivers eclipsed the Lusk mark during the qualifying session. Tennessee veteran Ron Cox got the jump on Kimmel at the start and led the first 12 laps with Wisconsin's Dexter Bean leading three more before Kimmel took the lead on the 16th lap. Kimmel relinquished the lead to Missouri's Doug Keller during a round of pit stops on lap 27, but quickly regained the top slot on lap 31 and he was never seriously challenged after that, though A.J. Fike of Galesburg, Illinois ran a close second for a number of laps before his car blew an engine on lap 78.
Mississippi sensation Ricky Stenhouse, one of three drivers doing double duty at Springfield in USAC and ARCA machines, came home second in the Roush Fenway Ford, with Michigan's Brian Tyler third in a Toyota. Tyler, who won the USAC Tony Bettenhausen 100 the day before, was attempting to become just the second driver in the 98 year history of auto racing to win both the championship dirt car and stock car event on the same weekend, a distinction belonging only to Al Unser who won both in 1972.
The race was slowed by six cautions and there were several accidents but no drivers were injured. Several Illinois drivers made the 46th Allen Crowe 100, in addition to the aforementioned Fike, Springfield's Justin Allgaier finished 6th after experiencing mechanical issues, fellow Springfield driver Kelly Kovski was 9th, Arenzville's Mark Littleton 19th, Alahambra's Dale Shearer 28th, Manteno veteran Bob Strait 31st and Kyle Chady of Benton 33rd.
In addition to the record 7th Crowe 100 win, Kimmel tied the legendary Dean Roper for most stock car wins on the Springfield Mile, 7. Kimmel increased his leading laps led at Springfield with 570 and becomes the driver with the most consecutive ARCA starts at Springfield with 17. Kimmel also became the 14th driver to win a stock car race from the pole at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. The ARCA RE/MAX Series returns for it's second and final dirt race of the season on Labor Day at the DuQuoin State Fair.
In the companion running of the 15th Sportsman Nationals, Springfield's Dennis Vandermeersch held off repeated challenges from five time winner Wed O'Dell to post an emotional third victory, ten years after his second Sportsman triumph. Vandermeersch started on the pole and led everyone of the 20 laps taking 27 minutes to completed the distance in a race slowed by five cautions.
RESULTS
Official Results, ARCA RE/MAX Series
Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield IL, 8-17-08 Allen Crowe 100
FIN STR NO DRIVER/HOMETOWN TEAM & CAR LAPS STATUS
1 1 44 Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN Kimmel Racing-Ford Drive One Ford 102 Running
2 3 99 Ricky Stenhouse Jr./Olive Branch MS Roush Fenway Racing Ford 102 Running
3 6 25 Brian Tyler/Parma MI Jet Star-Nline Apparel Toyota 102 Running
4 5 46 Matt Carter/Denver NC Hantz Group-Stine Seed Ford 102 Running
5 14 4 Tayler Malsam/Seattle WA Dodge Development Dodge 102 Running
6 9 16 Justin Allgaier/Springfield IL Hoosier Midwest-AG Tech-Schlossers Chevrolet 102 Running
7 19 1 Tom Hessert III/Cherry Hill NJ Maaco Auto Painting America's Body Shop Ford 102 Running
8 8 2 Scott Speed/Manteca CA Red Bull Toyota 102 Running
9 15 39 Kelly Kovski/Springfield IL Central IL Security-Levi Home Construction Chevy 102 Running
10 20 5 Doug Keller/St. Joseph MO Van Am Tool & Engineering Chevrolet 102 Running
11 12 32 Bradley Rietmeyer/Hutto TX Win-Tron Driver Development Dodge 102 Running
12 11 60 Patrick Sheltra/Indiantown FL Ferguson Pipe-FloraGanics Dodge 102 Running
13 33 22 Ken Butler III/Lilburn GA Aaron's Lucky Dog Dream Machine Dodge 102 Running
14 22 10 Charlie Vest/Ocoee FL Fast Track Driving School Chevrolet 102 Running
15 17 09 John Wes Townley/Watkinsville GA Zaxby's Ford 102 Running
16 18 23 Donny Kelley/Humble TX Porter Glass Chevrolet 102 Running
17 25 45 Michael Phelps/Suwanee GA Bowen Family Homes Dodge 101 Running
18 13 7 AJ Henriksen/Mooresville NC ECC Ford 101 Running
19 16 96 Mark Littleton/Arenzville IL Birdsley Electric-AJ's-Mason Sound Chevrolet 101 Running
20 21 11 Bryan Silas/Stuart FL Nortrax-Shell Rotella T Chevrolet 100 Running
21 32 14 Lance Stott/Keokuk IA Stott Classic Racing Dodge 100 Running
22 23 24 Mike Harmon/Birmingport AL Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet 98 Running
23 26 26 Brad Smith/Shelby Township MI Central Michigan University Ford 98 Running
24 34 20 Justin Lofton/Westmorland CA Lofton Cattle Dodge 97 Running
25 28 90 Gabi DiCarlo/Phoenix AZ Uncle Joe's All Purpose Sauces-Great Clips Ford 97 Running
26 27 34 Darrell Basham/Henryville IN Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet 96 Running
27 24 84 Norm Benning/Pittsburgh PA Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet 92 Running
28 31 73 Dale Shearer/Alhambra IL Shearer Racing Ford 91 Handling
29 2 29 Ron Cox/Soddy Daisy TN Brown's Tax Service-Hixson Construction Chevrolet 83 Rear End
30 7 12 AJ Fike/Galesburg IL Liberty Village-RFMS Racing Ford 78 Engine
31 10 66 Bob Strait/Manteno IL Hendren Motorsports Ford 69 Trans
32 4 37 Dexter Bean/Westby WI Glock Chevrolet 39 Engine
33 36 57 Kyle Chady/Benton IL Kimmel Chaplain Pharmacy Ford 30 Rear End
34 29 06 Tim Mitchell/Fayetteville TN Star Wheels Skate Center Ford 22 Accident
35 35 48 James Hylton/Inman SC James Hylton Racing Dodge 2 Handling
36 30 8 Greg Seevers/West Milton OH Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet 1 Handling
SIM FACTORY POLE QUALIFYING: Frank Kimmel 32.878 (109.496 mph) *NTR
MRGN OF VICT: .921 second CAUTIONS: 6 for 32 laps
TIME OF RACE: 1:19:14 AVG SPEED: 77.240 mph
LAP LEADERS: Cox 1-12 (12); Bean 13-15 (3); Kimmel 16-26, 31-102 (83); Keller 27-30 (4)
Sportsman National Results
1-Dennis Vandermeersch, Springfield
2-Wes O'Dell, Springfield
3-Billy Nail, Springfield
4-Jeff Leka, Buffalo
5-Mark Littleton, Arenzville
6-Darrell Dick, Mansfield
7-Tim Dick, Mansfield
8-Brian Diulio, Macon
9-Ethan Schnapp
10-John Stanton, Alton
11-Shannon Eskew, Ashland
12-Jim Farley, Springfield
13-Lance Johnson, Clinton
14-Travis Copley, Jacksonville
15-Steve Sheppard, Jr, New Berlin
16-Roger Brickler, Springfield
17-Curt Rhodes, Taylorville
18-Rick Roedel, Shelbyville
19-Mike Pickering, Decatur
20-Steve Adams, Humboldt
21-Steve Hill, Edinburgh
22-Shawn Vaughn
23-Wade Wiseman, Virden
24-Jim Cardoni, Chatham
25-Bill Berghaus, Chapin
26-Bob Cowell, East Peoria
27-Jeff Ray, Springfield
28-Rick Lowe, Springfield
29-John Barnard, Sherman
30-Danny O'Dell, Springfield
