Catchfence

HUNTERSVILLE, NC (9/2/10) – Second year ARCA driver Joey Coulter has never seen any dirt track racing action outside of his career in the diverse ARCA Racing Series. One could infer that his little experience would lead to mediocre results, but the Miami Springs, FL native has made sure to impress at each stop. In three career dirt track starts, Coulter has racked up two impressive top-five finishes and he looks to build on that heading into this weekends Southern Illinois 100 at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in his No. 16 Darrell Gwynn Foundation, Rip It Energy Fuel Chevrolet.

“Dirt track racing is a completely different feel and concept than our typical asphalt races,” commented Coulter. “The car takes on a completely different feel and attitude, and it really responds differently to the changes you throw at it along with the way the track is constantly changing. I am very confident heading into DuQuoin this weekend, and I look to improve on last year’s results here.”

Coulter, already having experience beyond his years, is not afraid to seek out help and coaching when a new challenge arises. Before tackling the left and right-handed turns of this years road courses, Coulter spent three days at the Bondurant High Performance Driving School followed up with a private test at VIR (Virginia International Raceway). He has instilled the same philosophy when it comes to racing on the dirt, going to crew chief and mentor Harold Holly for pointers. Holly, a veteran of NASCAR, also has deep routes within the dirt racing community. He helped form Wolf-Pack Racing, a full service dealer that offers a broad range of services and products to the dirt industry.

Holly, along with veteran dirt crew chief (World of Outlaws, Scott Bloomquist) and Wolf-Pack Racing mechanic Danny Myers, have spent several days with Coulter, pouring over DuQuoin track notes and dirt compounds from the past races to help give him that needed edge. Coulter Motorsports has prepared chassis number 013, better known as “JJ” for this weekends show. “JJ” was last piloted by Coulter to a fourth place finish at Springfield just last month (8/22/10). That top-five helped Coulter lock up the Bill France Four Crown Championship. Last year at DuQuoin (9/7/09), Coulter proved his diversity by qualifying an impressive second and finishing third, earning his first career dirt track top-five.

“DuQuoin is one of those tracks I keep circled on my calendar every year,” said Coulter. “It is a fast paced crap-shoot, that requires you to be on your toes and race the changing track (dirt) at all times. My crew has prepared me another fast car and all of the advice I have gotten from Harold (Holly) and Danny (Myers) is a huge boost. I can’t wait to get back out on the dirt for this weekend’s race.”

The DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in DuQuoin, Ill. will host the Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Car Care on Monday, September 6th, with live timing and scoring, and live streaming audio coverage on ARCARacing.com via the ARCA Racing Network. Practice is from 9:00-10:00 a.m. CT, with Menards Pole Qualifying following at 11:00 a.m. CT. Make sure to tune into the 100-lap, 100-mile race at 1:00 p.m. CT to catch Joey Coulter and his No. 16 Darrell Gwynn Foundation, Rip It Energy Fuel Chevrolet.

- Coulter Motorsports Press Release