On that faithful day, if someone were to say that it would be almost two years before the nine-time ARCA Racing Series Champion would repeat that experience, many would not believe it. After all, he had been victorious every season since 1995; he was riding a string of three-straight victories and had won eight-consecutive ARCA Racing Series championships. As the green flag drops for the Northwest Ohio Ford Dealers 200 at Toledo Speedway on Sunday, September 12, Kimmel and his No. 44 Ansell/Menards team will be looking to end the winless streak and return to victory lane one day before the two-year anniversary of that win.
Getting to victory lane at Toledo Speedway is nothing new for Frank Kimmel. After earning his first-career ARCA Racing series win at the half-mile track in 1994, he went on to visit victory lane eight more times becoming the most prolific driver in Toledo Speedway history. In addition to his nine wins, Kimmel has earned 22 top-five finishes and three pole awards in 30-career starts at the track.
“Toledo is the site of our very first win, so it is a great place for us to come back to,” said Kimmel. “I’ve always enjoyed Toledo. We normally run well there and get good finishes; we have had a lot of success there with wins too. Although the car that we are bringing is predominantly an intermediate car, I think it will be one of the best cars we have ever brought to Toledo. The body on it is really slick and it’s a very nice racecar. It weighs out well. I have a lot of confidence going into Toledo. I think we will run well and be very competitive.”
The road to victory lane will begin for Kimmel on Saturday, as the ARCA Racing Series takes to the track for practice starting at 12:30 p.m. EST. Sunday’s 100-mile/200-lap Northwest Ohio Dealers at Toledo Speedway is set to begin at 2:00 p.m. EST. Live timing and scoring and audio coverage will be provided by ARCA Nation and the ARCA Racing Network at ARCARacing.com. BAS Racing Network (radio) and BCSN (TV) will also host live race coverage.
Battle for first: After bad luck plagued the Ansell/Menards team at DuQuoin, Kimmel fell to fourth in the championship standings. He now sits 50 markers behind leaders Tom Hessert and Patrick Sheltra, who are tied for first.
Last Toledo Race: In the spring event at Toledo Speedway, Kimmel overcame late-race damage to score a fourth-place finish. The finish began his climb in the ARCA Racing point standings and was his best finish in the early part of the season.
This Week’s Ford: Crew Chief, Bill Kimmel Jr., has chosen to bring chassis No. 340, “Courtney” to Toledo. This chassis, an intermediate track chassis, has not been used yet this season. With both short track cars wrecked after the dirt races at Springfield and DuQuoin, Kimmel Racing has called on “Courtney” to bring them to victory lane.
Meet Frank Kimmel: Kimmel will be signing autographs on the front stretch of Toledo Speedway on Sunday, September 12 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Featured Blogger: Want to hear what Kimmel has to say about each race weekend? Log on to http://www.motorracingnetwork.com/ every week to read Frank’s latest driver diary. He talks about what happened in the race, what he does when he is not at the track and his expectations for the next race weekend.
Follow Frank Kimmel: Follow Frank Kimmel at the track or in the race shop by logging on to facebook.com/frankkimmelracing and twitter.com/frankkimmel. Follow every race weekend for live updates and photos from the track and throughout the race.
- Activ8 Communications Press Release
