Catchfence

(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.

- Automobile Racing Club of America Press Release