Back to the Dirt: ARCA Racing Series Set for 100 at Du Quoin

(TOLEDO, Ohio) - The Bill France Four Crown Award - won last week by Joey Coulter (No. 16 Rip It Energy Fuel/Darrell Gwynn Foundation Chevrolet) - annually celebrates the variety of tracks competed upon by the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards. Though the official Four Crown schedule saw its completion days ago, the series' surface diversity is far from over for 2010.

A third consecutive race in Illinois marks the second trip to a dirt oval for the ARCA Racing Series as the championship stretch winds on. Two weeks ago, the one-mile clay track at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield played host to stock cars, making way for Patrick Sheltra (No. 60 PatrickSheltra.com Dodge) to earn his first win of 2010. One hundred thirty miles to the south-southeast, as the crow flies, sits the dirt surface at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds, a one-mile track that will play host to the ARCA Racing Series in the renewal of a classic Labor Day tradition.

The 100-lap, 100-mile Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Auto Parts is scheduled to being at 1 p.m. Central (2 Eastern) on Monday, September 6, with live timing and scoring and a live audio broadcast presented by ARCA Nation and the ARCA Racing Network available at ARCARacing.com. 27 previous ARCA races have been held at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds; nine-time series champion Frank Kimmel (No. 44 Ansell/Menards Ford) is the all-time win leader at the dirt oval with five victories (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008). Parker Kligerman, last season's wins leader with nine, won at the track one year ago.

Kimmel trails leader Craig Goess (No. 81 Greenville Toyota of N.C. Toyota) by five points atop the ARCA Racing Series standings. Sheltra, who enters as a favorite with wins in consecutive races, is just 10 points from the lead in third place. With only five races remaining on the schedule, the top four drivers are separated by just 25 points in what promises to be an exciting finish to the championship contest.

The Southern Illinois 100 is scheduled as the 16th race of 20 this season, and the 330th dirt event of 1,309 total races in the series' history. The race is the feature event of the final day of the 11-day Du Quoin State Fair, which began Friday.

The lone practice is scheduled for 9 a.m. Central, with Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell - which has produced 12 different pole winners in 14 qualifying sessions this season - taking place at 11 a.m. Central. Live audio coverage and live timing and scoring of all events will be available on ARCARacing.com.

Kimmel is the highest returning finisher from last year's race after finishing second to Kligerman. Coulter was third. A.J. Fike (No. 10 RFMS/Liberty Village Ford) has finished in the top five in each of his last three ARCA starts, and will return to the field after starting on the pole, leading the first 54 laps, and finishing fourth at Du Quoin in 2009. Each of Fike's recent top-fives have been on dirt and in Fords owned by Andy Hillenburg.

Racing star Ken Schrader, a veteran of seemingly countless disciplines, finished fifth in 2009 and will enter the No. 52 Schrader Racing Chevrolet. Schrader last appeared in the ARCA Racing Series at Toledo in May, finishing sixth.

Additional returners from last season's top 10 include Steve Arpin (ninth) and Bryan Silas (10th).

The ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards features 20 events at 17 tracks on its 2010 schedule. The series has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 racetracks in 28 states since its inception. The series tests the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, annually visiting tracks ranging from 0.4 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as left- and right-turn street and road courses.

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.

Top Four in ARCA Racing Series Standings Separated by 25 Points

(TOLEDO, Ohio) - The separation of four drivers by a mere 25 points atop the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards standings serves as the norm at the beginning of a season, when only one or two races have been completed. After 15 races, however, such a small range among contenders is an indication of major competition.

Craig Goess (No. 81 Greenville Toyota of N.C. Toyota) entered Chicagoland Speedway 10 points behind Frank Kimmel's (No. 44 Ansell/Menards Ford) lead atop the standings, but seized the Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell Friday afternoon. In doing so, Goess earned 15 bonus qualifying points and moved out of third place to unseat Kimmel before the race.

Kimmel did edge Goess by one position in that evening's Ansell Protective Gloves 150, but Goess led three early laps to earn an additional five bonus points and maintain a five-point advantage (3670-3665) for first place.

Patrick Sheltra (No. 60 Recycling Services/Ferguson Pipe Toyota) entered the weekend 40 points behind Kimmel and 30 points behind the bottom of the Kimmel-Tom Hessert-Goess triumvirate, but earned 10 points for qualifying second and the maximum 200 for winning the race. Sheltra is now in third place, 10 points behind Goess and five behind Kimmel. He leads Hessert (No. 77 Cherry Hill Classic Cars Dodge), formerly second, by 15 points.

The fifth, sixth, and seventh positions are also closely contested. Rookie Dakoda Armstrong (No. 22 Ferrellgas/Syngenta Seeds Dodge) is 135 points behind Goess, and leads Justin Marks (No. 32 Construct Corps Dodge) by 10 and Mikey Kile (No. 25 Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet) by 20.

Coulter Survives in Four Crown Chase: With the ARCA Racing Series standings so competitively tight with just five races remaining, Joey Coulter's (No. 16 Darrell Gwynn Foundation/Rip It Energy Fuel Chevrolet) narrow win in the Bill France Four Crown Award competition may have provided a preview of the thrilling lap-by-lap points movement still to come in the series' October 9 season finale at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway.

Late in Friday's Ansell Protective Gloves 150, with Patrick Sheltra leading, Coulter was ninth - a difference equivalent to a 40-point shift in the final race of the Four Crown pursuit. For Coulter, who entered with only a 45-point advantage over Sheltra, the margin was too close to comfort. A fall of just one more position would have entered the two drivers into a tiebreaker for the Four Crown Award, which would have been won by Sheltra by virtue of the third tie-breaking criterion: most victories. Sheltra's two - at Chicagoland and the dirt oval at the Illinois State Fairgrounds - would have edged Coulter's one, earned at the Berlin (Mich.) Raceway short track on August 7.

Coulter rose to eighth, however, and defeated Sheltra at the top of the Four Crown standings by 10 points, 745-735. Coulter ended the competition with finishes of first (Berlin), second (New Jersey Motorsports Park, road course), fourth (Illinois State Fairgrounds), and eighth.

"It is really an honor," Coulter said after the race. "It is one of those awards I've always known about, and thought, 'Man, it'd be really cool to be able to go to four different race tracks and run really good.' When we won the first race at Berlin, I thought we really had a shot to win it this year. My strategy was to do good at the short track and survive on the road course, because I don't have a lot of experience there, and then go after it on the dirt track and come (to Chicagoland) and go after it."

Coulter mentioned his second-place finish on the road course as a key point for believing himself to be the top contender.

Four Crown points are allocated without qualifying or in-race bonuses, and distributed in the same method as in the official series standings. A race winner receives 200 points, the second-place finisher receives 195, and following positions receive five fewer points per lower position until five points are awarded to a 40th-place finisher, if necessary.

The top 10 drivers in the final Four Crown standings are as follows: 1. Coulter 745; 2. Sheltra 735; 3. Tom Hessert 725; 4. Steve Arpin 715; 5. Frank Kimmel 695; 6. Craig Goess 655; 7. Dakoda Armstrong 640; 8. Mikey Kile 620; 9. Bryan Silas 530; 10. Tim George Jr. 530.

Third All Too Common for Enfinger: Grant Enfinger (No. 09 BeasleyAllen.com Ford) made just his 17th career ARCA Racing Series start in Friday's Ansell Protective Gloves 150, but finished in third place for the fifth time overall and over his last 12 races. Enfinger has finished in that position three times this season alone, with the first two occurrences happening at Texas in April and at Iowa last month.

Enfinger, who runs a limited schedule in a car owned by Robby Benton, had entered the weekend as the highest-returning finisher at Chicagoland Speedway after posting a runner-up result in 2009.

Statistical Oddity for Sheltra: Patrick Sheltra's win was not only his first ARCA Racing Series victory on a speedway, but it represented the completion of a peculiar statistical quirk through seven races on such tracks.

In races on paved ovals over one mile in distance this season, Sheltra has finished in each of the first seven positions exactly once. He finished fifth at Daytona, seventh at Texas, second at Talladega, fourth at Pocono in June, third at Michigan, sixth at Pocono in July, and first at Chicagoland.

Remarkably, Craig Goess is only one race away from the same seven-race oddity. His 34th-place result at Daytona preceded finishes of second at Texas, fourth at Talladega, first at Pocono in June, sixth at Michigan, third at Pocono in July, and fifth at Chicagoland.

Sheltra is the only driver this season with seven top-10 finishes in as many speedway races; Goess and Justin Marks have six apiece.

Career High for Fowler: Eighteen-year-old Kyle Fowler (No. 52 Schrader Racing Chevrolet) of Georgia finished 12th in the Ansell Protective Gloves 150 to set a new career high. Fowler had finished 15th at Toledo in May and 22nd at Iowa in July in his only previous ARCA Racing Series starts.

Other notable highlights included: Kyle Martel (13th) posting the third top-15 of his partial season for the No. 43 Hanover Cold Storage/Finish Line Express Chevrolet owned by his father, Bill Martel; Chris Cockrum (No. 28 Hixson Construction Chevrolet) finishing 15th in his first appearance in the series since a 12th-place result in the season opener at Daytona; and Tony Palumbo (No. 70 NOTW.com Ford) achieving a career best in 17th place.

Sheltra Advances in Lap Leader Standings: Patrick Sheltra's 85 laps led Friday gave him the $500 Aaron's Lap Leader Award for the Ansell Protective Gloves 150 and moved him from 10th place and into third in the year-long Aaron's Lap Leader Award standings. Sheltra has led 100 of the 206 laps contested in the previous two races and 164 in all over four races this season. He trails only Chris Buescher (209) and Steve Arpin (196).

Additionally, Sheltra led at Lap 50 to win the $500 Messina Halfway Leader Award.

Chad Finley led three laps just before the race's halfway point and became the 24th driver to lead in the series this season.

Five Races to Reach Record: Patrick Sheltra became just the second driver with multiple wins in the ARCA Racing Series in 2010, joining Steve Arpin (Salem, Texas). Each driver scored his pair of victories consecutively.

Five races remain on the ARCA Racing Series schedule, allowing several chances for two more winners to materialize. Such an occurrence would give the series 15 different race winners in 2010 and tie the record set in the first 22 of 23 races in 2007. Nine-time champion Frank Kimmel, a winner of 74 races in his career, has not yet won in 2010.

Eleven of the 13 drivers to win this year have been first-time winners in the series.

Craig Goess became the second driver with multiple Menards Pole Awards in 2010, joining Chris Buescher. Eleven drivers with one pole each are tied for second place in the season-long Menards Pole Award standings.

Continuing Through Illinois: The ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards visits the one-mile Du Quoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds dirt oval in Du Quoin, Ill. for a Labor Day tradition on Monday, September 6. Practice begins at 10 a.m. Eastern/9 a.m. Central, and Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell follows at noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central. The 100-lap, 100-mile Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Auto Parts takes place at 2 Eastern/1 Central. Live timing and scoring and live audio coverage for all three events will be presented by ARCA Nation and the ARCA Racing Network at ARCARacing.com.

Frank Kimmel is the all-time leading winner at the track with five victories (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008). Parker Kligerman, last season's leading winner with nine victories, won last year to sweep the dirt oval portion of the schedule.

The ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards features 20 events at 17 tracks on its 2010 schedule. The series has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 racetracks in 28 states since its inception. The series tests the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, annually visiting tracks ranging from 0.4 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as left- and right-turn street and road courses.

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.

It's how it used to be; and for the versatile ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards teams, it's how it still is, and will be, when the renowned stock car tour, in its 58th consecutive season, comes to the sleepy little corner of southern Illinois to mix it up on the "Magic Mile".

And yes, the track's still dirt; the garage floor is still grass; the raceday ticket price is still reasonable, and the crowds are still among the healthiest anywhere in ARCA.

It's the 58th Southern Illinois 100 at the 88th annual DuQuoin State Fair in DuQuoin, Illinois, and it's next in the ARCA Series lineup Labor Day Monday, September 6th.

There is also a healthy field of top-notch ARCA Series warriors with story lines galore on the way for the historical stock car classic, a crowd pleaser since 1950, the year that Jay Frank won the inaugural Southern Illinois 100 in an Oldsmobile Rocket. Little could he know that some of the most recognizable names in racing would follow in his Victory Lane footsteps - names like Jerry Unser, Jimmy Bryan, Fred Lorenzen, Joe Leonard, Don White, AJ Foyt, Jack Bowsher, Rusty Wallace, Dean Roper, Bob Keselowski, Bob Strait, Frank Kimmel, Tony Stewart, Ken Schrader and Parker Kligerman.

But that's exactly what happened as the event, over time, turned itself into one of the most prestigious mile-dirt stock car races in America.

Schrader, a two-time Southern Illinois 100 winner, is again entered for this year's race.

"I can't miss DuQuoin," said Schrader. "That place is just too special for me. It's one of the first tracks my daddy took me to when I was a kid. I remember sleeping in the back of his station wagon excited as could be. Got to see all my heroes race there. The place was special then, and it still is today."

However, the event at DuQuoin will merely be the fourth in a row for Schrader this holiday weekend. Schrader will be racing in West Virginia Friday and Saturday nights before making his way to Lincoln, Nebraska where he will compete in a dirt late model Sunday. All this before he walks through the gate at DuQuoin bright and early Monday morning.

Of course, this is all nothing new for Schrader, who's been doing it this way for decades.

"I'll just grab a shower at the hotel and then meet the boys in the lobby because I think practice (at DuQuoin) is at 9 a.m," added the 55-year-old driver. "We've won DuQuoin twice, so we're looking forward to going back there."

When probed about the adjustment of going from a high-speed superspeedway to a mile dirt track, which he has done so many times in the past; or from a late model to an ARCA car, Schrader said, "There's no adjustment on this stuff. You've got this circle; you sit in a car; you've only got a couple of pedals that do anything, and you go around the circle as fast as you can."

Schrader has competed in every Southern Illinois 100 since 2001. In addition to his back-to-back wins in 2006 and 2007, the Fenton, Missouri driver finished second in 2003, third in 2002 and 2008, fourth in 2001, fifth in 2009 and eighth in 2004. He also earned two Menards Pole Awards presented by Ansell in '04 and '06.

ARCA Racing Series practice for the 58th Southern Illinois 100 is scheduled from 9:00-10:00 a.m. local Central time Monday, September 6, followed by Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell at 11:00. The start of the Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Car Care is set for 1:00 p.m.

The event will also feature Live Timing and Scoring at ARCAracing.com of all the on-track activity throughout the day. There will also be Live Streaming Audio of practice, qualifying as well as flag-to-flag race coverage at ARCAracing.com via the ARCA Racing Network.