Other Motorsports

Venturini Motorsports was seen at the top of the speed charts all last season at the different test sessions.

Kyle Fowler continued that tradition Tuesday afternoon with a lap of 48.791 seconds (184.460 mph).

"I didn't expect that,” Fowler told the ARCA Racing Network. “This is my first time here, but the guys have been putting a lot of hard work and effort into it. I'm certainly pleased with it, obviously.”

The 18-year old native of Smyrna, Ga. enters his first year of competition with Venturini Motorsports. Fowler crafted his skills running late models and ran five races last year in ARCA (two for Eddie Sharp, three for Ken Schrader) with his highest finish being 12th at Chicago. The 2011 season will mark the first year that Fowler could run the full year as he is now of age.

Fowler was followed on the speed charts by Venturini Motorsports teammates Steve Arpin (48.796 seconds, 184.441 mph) and Hal Martin (49.141 seconds, 146 mph).

"I only had the afternoon to log laps in the 55 car, and the team really worked hard to give me a fantastic car,” Martin said. “The track is fast, the car is fast, and I'm ready for days two and three. The car feels good and we worked on several different setups today.

"Daytona is a world-class track, and the repaving has made it even more challenging than before. It's going to be really interesting to see the drafting practice over the next two days. We can easily take it three-wide for several laps with this surface."

The fourth Venturini Motorsports driver, Mark Thompson, was eighth on the chart. This all goes back to the hard work in the shop and high expectations the team has, according to team General Manager Billy Venturini.

"We have high expectations when we go plate racing,” Venturini said. “We've worked really hard since the week after (last season's finale at) Rockingham, so it's always good to see your hard work pay off. I hope we can make it all apply when we come back for the race.”

Richard Childress Racing Development driver Tim George Jr. ended the day in fourth at 49.201 seconds (182.923 mph). Chris Buescher, who led the morning session, finished the day fifth overall at 49.315 seconds (182.5 mph).

"It was a little unexpected, for sure, being the first session out on a speedway for me," Buescher said after leading the morning session. "To be honest, I'm not at all comfortable yet. I was a little bit all over the place, but that means I've got a good piece under me. We did a good job preparing."

IndyCar driver Milka Duno, driving for the defending championship team of Sheltra Motorsports, finished the day sixth, followed by rookie Ty Dillon, Thompson, Grant Enfinger and Dakoda Armstrong.

Testing is set to continue tomorrow and Thursday. Live timing and scoring can be found on both days at ARCARacing.com.

ARCA officials announced that tomorrow’s test session will feature single-car runs in the morning and drafting practice in the afternoon, which has drivers looking forward to it.

"We're going to try a couple different things. The car's handling outstanding so we just basically have to get me comfortable in the draft. That's going to be a new experience for me, so we'll see if we can get ready for the race here," Fowler said.

"Restrictor plate racing is absolutely different than anything I've ever done. It was something to take those first few laps around this place, considering how much history it has. It was incredible."

The 2011 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season will mark the sanctioning body's 59th year of competition and begins with the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 12. The event will air live on SPEED.

The complete 2011 event schedule is available at ARCARacing.com.

With testing beginning today at Daytona International Speedway for the ARCA Racing Series, Sheltra Motorsports announced that Milka Duno will be behind the team's second car, the No. 63.

Her test at Daytona for the next three days will lead up to her running the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona in February for Sheltra Motorsports. There are also plans in the works to have her run some more ARCA races this year, which those plans wil be released in the next several weeks.

"I'm very excited and grateful for this opportunity to test with the 2010 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards championship winning team," said Duno in a press release. "Patrick, Jon and Brandon head a very skilled and dedicated organization and having met with them and visited their facility it is easy to see why they are the 2010 champions."

Duno has been competing in the IndyCar Series since 2007 and last year finished 23rd in points after running 16 of the 17 races. Her highest finish of the season was 19th.

Before running IndyCar, Duno raced Prototypes in the American LeMans Series, in which she gained eight wins and holds the record for the highest finishing female in the 24 Hours of Daytona race (second).

"We are really excited to have the opportunity to work with Milka in Daytona and to give her a shot at being the first female to win a major event in stock car racing," Sheltra said. "Our goal is to get her comfortable at the test, and I have no doubt she will have a great performance in the race."

Championship crew chief Jon Wolfe is set to work with Duno throughout the test in helping her get comfortable.

"This is truly an exciting opportunity for all of us at Sheltra Motorsports," said Wolfe. "We are aiming to carry our momentum of the 2010 championship season into 2011."

Brandon Hinson, owner of Hinson Sports Management and Director of Marketing for Sheltra Motorsports, has been working with Duno's team for several months to bring her on board.

"We made the commitment to give her the best equipment and opportunity possible to be successful," Hinson said. "I believe that when she gets behind the wheel of the No. 63 this week, it will be the beginning of a great year for Milka."

Sheltra Motorsports won their first championship last year with driver/owner Patrick Sheltra in their fourth year of competition.

Multiple cost effective partnerships are available with Sheltra Motorsports for the 2011 season. Please contact Brandon Hinson, Director of Marketing, at bhinson99@aol.com, for more information.

ARCA driver Tom Hessert announced that he would be running the full 2011 ARCA Racing Series schedule with Ken Schrader Racing after finishing third in points in 2010.

Hessert, who drove the No. 77 Cunningham Motorsports Dodge to one win, 10 top-fives, and 15 top-10 finishes in 2010, informed Cunningham Motorsports owner Kerry Scherer last week that he will drive in 2011 for Ken Schrader Racing.

Hessert had a solid year as he was in the thick of one of the tightest points battles in recent years with Patrick Sheltra and Craig Goess.

“It was an awesome year,” Hessert told the ARCA Racing Network last month.

“Obviously, I’ll say that this was the best season in my career to this point. I’m a little disappointed to not win after we came from such a difference after the first eight races—220 points down—to lead the championship for a couple of hours (laughing), at least, after Salem. We got our first win and had a bunch of top-10s and top-fives, so I’m pretty pleased.”

The first win is a moment that many refer to as the highlight of the year, as he held off Ty Dillon to win the Prairie Meadows 200 at Iowa Speedway.

“It’s incredible,” he told me of that first win. “It’s my first win in a quite awhile and to win it in that fashion and leading all those laps at Iowa Speedway in front of a great crowd and with the Camping World Truck Series teams being on hand and all those people in the garage area and on Speed, it couldn’t have been a better day.”

Hessert got into racing through his father.

“My dad raced in sports car for a long time in the late 80s/90s and I grew up going to the races,” he told me. “I went to my first race when I was two weeks old and fell in love with it then.”

His father, among others, has now given him the advice needed to get to where he is.

“My dad’s been a mentor of mine all throughout my career, as he’s obviously a race car driver,” he said. “In our series, it’s Frank Kimmel, which everyone has been saying. Kenny Schrader’s also been a great friend, a great mentor the last year-and-a-half, and there’s Andy Hillenburg.”

Hessert found himself with Cunningham Motorsports this season after a discussion near the end of last year.

“Last year, I drove the first half of the season for Andy Belmont Racing and then the second half of the year for RAB,” he said. “Then near the end of the year, one of the guys from Cunningham Motorsports called me and I went down to Georgia and met with him and it was a very attractive offer. They ran really well last year and their affiliation with some of the big teams in NASCAR was very appealing and so far, so good. I couldn’t be happier.”

Hessert had some experience running some Camping World Truck Series races near the end of the year of 2010 and has expressed interest in moving into the NASCAR ranks. Therefore this move to Ken Schrader Racing puts him in position to do with that with Schrader’s program and connections.

Cunningham Motorsports may be in trouble as Dakoda Armstrong, Hessert’s teammate in 2010, has not yet informed Cunningham Motorsports of his plans for 2011, according to a team press release. 

Cunningham Motorsports is actively looking for sponsored drivers for 2011, and continues to prepare for the January 11-13 ARCA Racing Series open test at Daytona International Speedway.

While most of the focus remains on the upcoming Sprint Cup Series test near the end of the month, the ARCA Racing Series is set to hit the high banks of Daytona first.

From January 11 to 13, ARCA drivers will be present at the 2.5-mile oval, trying their hand on the new pavement.

One of the drivers attending will be last year's winner, Bobby Gerhart.

Gerhart will be making his 24th consecutive ARCA race this year at Daytona when he takes the green flag in February.

In those 24 starts, he has six wins, four poles and has led in 11 of the last 13 races at Daytona.

"We always come out with some very positive info," Gerhart said in the ARCA Racing Network's press release.

"We know our set-up is very solid for the race. We understand our baseline very well, but there are so many small adjustments anymore on these cars that translate into on-track performance. It's those several incremental adjustments that we gain on going to these tests.

"Overall, the information we've gleaned from the tests has worked for us, so we're not going to try and fix it."

Twenty-seven drivers are listed on the entry list to be at Daytona, including series veterans Frank Kimmel and young stars Ty Dillon and Chris Buescher.

ARCARacing.com will feature live timing and scoring from the three-day test.

ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards
Open Testing, Daytona Int'l Speedway (January 11, 12, 13)
Tentative Entry List
NO	DRIVER	TEAM
1	Chad McCumbee	Andy Belmont Racing
1	Chad McCumbee	Andy Belmont Racing
3	Brent Brevak	Brevak Racing
5	Bobby Gerhart	Bobby Gerhart Racing
5	Bobby Gerhart	Bobby Gerhart Racing
5	Brian Smith	Bobby Gerhart Racing
12	Maryeve DuFault	Tony Marks Racing
12	Chase Austin	Tony Marks Racing
12	Jared Marks	Tony Marks Racing
14	John Graham	Andy Belmont Racing
14	John Ferrier	Andy Belmont Racing
15	Kyle Fowler	Venturini Motorsports
16	Randy Renfro	Coulter Motorsports
16	Joey Coulter	Coulter Motorsports
17	Chris Buescher	Roulo Brothers Racing
23	Rob Jones	Hixson Motorsports
25	TBA	Venturini Motorsports
28	Tony Clark	Hixson Motorsports
31	Tim George Jr.	Richard Childress Racing
36	TBA	Jam Motorsports
41	Ty Dillon	Richard Childress Racing
44	Frank Kimmel	Kimmel Racing
48	James Hylton	Hylton Motorsports
49	Jimmie Nowell	Nowell Racing
55	TBA	Venturini Motorsports
66	Mark Thompson	Venturini Motorsports
08	James Hylton	Hylton Motorsports
09	Grant Enfinger
	Brent Cross	Cross Motorsports
	Brett Hudson
	Russell Henderson
	Ricky Byers
	Hal Martin	Venturini Motorsports

The 2010 ARCA season will be remembered for including one of the best championship battles the series has seen in a long time, involving three contenders. In the end, Tom Hessert finished third, 85 points behind Craig Goess, who finished second.

"It was an awesome year," Hessert told the ARCA Racing Network. "Obviously, I'll say that this was the best season in my career to this point. I'm a little disappointed to not win after we came from such a difference after the first eight races - 220 points down - to lead the championship for a couple of hours (laughing), at least, after Salem. We got our first win and had a bunch of top-10s and top-fives, so I'm pretty pleased."

The first win is a moment that many refer to as the highlight of the year, as he held off Ty Dillon to win the Prairie Meadows 200 at Iowa Speedway.

"It’s incredible," he told me of that first win. "It’s my first win in a quite awhile and to win it in that fashion and leading all those laps at Iowa Speedway in front of a great crowd and with the Camping World Truck Series teams being on hand and all those people in the garage area and on Speed, it couldn’t have been a better day."

Hessert got into racing through his father.

"My dad raced in sports car for a long time in the late 80s/90s and I grew up going to the races," he told me. "I went to my first race when I was two weeks old and fell in love with it then."

His father, among others, has now given him the advice needed to get to where he is.

"My dad's been a mentor of mine all throughout my career, as he's obviously a race car driver," he said. "In our series, it's Frank Kimmel, which everyone has been saying. Kenny Schrader's also been a great friend, a great mentor the last year-and-a-half, and there's Andy Hillenburg."

Hessert found himself with Cunningham Motorsports this season after a discussion near the end of last year.

"Last year, I drove the first half of the season for Andy Belmont Racing and then the second half of the year for RAB," he said. "Then near the end of the year, one of the guys from Cunningham Motorsports called me and I went down to Georgia and met with him and it was a very attractive offer. They ran really well last year and their affiliation with some of the big teams in NASCAR was very appealing and so far, so good. I couldn’t be happier."

A lot of people have always said that the ARCA Series includes the biggest talent pool of young talent and Hessert seconds that thought.

"There's a bunch of guys," he said. "It's super-competitive. I'm really curious to see, and hopefully we'll be a part of the series next year and we'll be a team to watch for, but obviously, you're going to have Ty (Dillon) or Chris Buescher coming in, and I think there are a couple other people coming up that really aren't too public right now to be some heavy hitters filling the holes that people will leave."

Since the conclusion of the ARCA season, Hessert had a chance to run a Camping World Truck Series race in November.

"Truck racing was alright!" He said. "It certainly could have been better, but it was good experience. I was glad to be a part of that event."

He also adds that he is working on some plans for 2011.

"My ultimate goal is to put myself in a situation to win races, whether that's here or in a different place," he said. "All I want to do is go out and be able to be competitive."   

Mikey Kile had a solid year this past season in the ARCA Racing Series Presented by Menards as he finished fifth after scoring his first win at Michigan mid-season.

"Overall, it was a good, solid year and we got a lot of things accomplished that we wanted to get accomplished," Kile told the ARCA Racing Network. "You know, it's racing, so we had some ups and downs and had a few races back to back that kind of took us out of the championship. Overall, it was a good season and I learned a lot."

The obvious highlight of the season concludes to June as at Pocono, he led the most laps after scoring the Menards Pole Award on his way to finishing second. The pieces came together the following week as he scored his first win at Michigan.

"Obviously, the win at Michigan was the biggest win of my career," he said. "I really enjoyed that, and I really enjoyed the week before that at Pocono when I led all the laps. Just winning that race and leading a lot of laps were all highlights."

Helping Kile along the way is Billy Venturini, General Manger of Venturini Motorsports.

"Billy Venturini has been a really good help to me," he said. "He's raced around this series before and been around these cars a lot. He's seen a lot of things that I haven't seen in this series. He's prepared me for what's to come."

The deal came together for Kile and Venturini to partner up after Kile had some success with Brad Keselowski Racing the year before.

"I ran ARCA last year for Brad Keselowski and they always ran good last year and then I had the opportunity at the end of the year," Kile told me in June. "He (Bill Venturini) called me at the end of the year and asked if I wanted to drive for him and I’d seen the success that they’d had through the years and they always ran up front and had good equipment, kind of a no brainer."

Mikey Kile got started in racing by racing go-karts at a young age. Since then he has moved up the ranks, having success at various levels. Career highlights include four carting championships, eight IMCA modified wins and 2008 USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series Rookie of the Year.

In 2009, Kile ran some ARCA and Camping World Truck Series races for Brad Keselowski Racing. In the truck series, he qualified career-high 10th at Las Vegas and finished a career-high 11th at both Milwaukee and Gateway in the Truck Series.

"It was good," Kile told me of the experience with BKR. "Our first outing we ran at Martinsville and finished 11th. I think we ran six races and finished top-12 in three or four of the six. We were sixth quickest at Vegas and running top-10 there and top-10 at Texas and a pit stop issue there caught us outside of the top 10. It was a learning curve, but definitely running there and running good, I felt like I belonged there."

During the off-season, Kile has been keeping himself busy with finding sponsorship and his boys.

"Man, I'm just trying to get everything put together for next year," he said. "I'm working really hard on sponsorship, running the family business, and having fun playing with my little boy at home. It's been a blast, not having to travel every week and getting to spend some time with him. It's been a whole lot of fun."

In five years, Kile says he hopes to find himself at the Sprint Cup Series level.

In speaking to those trying to follow in his footsteps, he says it is a lot of work.

"It’s hard work, nothing comes easy," he told me. "Keep training everyday, trying to make yourself better, and you’re never at the top. You can always be better at something so never settle for just being good. Keep pushing yourself even if you’re winning races ‘cause you can always be better so keep trying to make yourself better each day."

Venturini Motorsports is putting together their 2011 plans with a list of new talent behind the wheel.

Veteran Firestone Indy Lights, Asian and British Formula Three driver Alastair (Ali) Jackson, a native of Northern Ireland, has signed with Venturini Motorsports for the 2011 and 2012 ARCA Racing Series seasons.

"Ali has tremendous talent and desire to succeed," said Billy Venturini, general manager of Venturini Motorsports, in a press release, "We're honored to have the opportunity to help him make the transition and achieve his racing goals. He's an incredible addition to our team."

For the 2011 season, he will compete in select events to get ready for a full effort in 2012.

In 2006, Jackson began his professional career in the Asian Formula Three Championship Series. As a rookie at the age of 17, he became the youngest driver to win in Series history, capturing four victories and four pole positions.

In 2007, he moved to the competitive British Formula Three Series and drove for Raikkonen Robertson Racing, where he finished ninth in the point standings.

In 2009, Jackson attracted the attention of United States based RLR-Andersen Racing, for whom he competed in the Firestone Indy Lights Series, capturing a season best sixth-place finish at Long Beach.

Also, Max Gresham, a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, will pilot a Venturini Motorsports car in five select events.

"The expectations will be to run strong," said Gresham, "I will driving for a team with a history of winning ARCA championships. We'll be looking to finish well, run in the top-five, and be in a position to win at the end of races. It will be up to me as the driver to be as good as the team and the car Venturini Motorsports is going to provide me."

Gresham will make his ARCA Speedway debut at Chicagoland Speedway on June 4. The rest of the events will be Pocono Raceway (June 11th and August 6th), Michigan International Speedway (June 17th) and Kansas Speedway on October 7th. All five events will be televised live on SPEED.

"We're very excited about Max joining the team," said Venturini, "Max is a great young talent - he's already a proven winner in the ARCA Series and in NASCAR. I know Max is going to do a great job for us and hopefully, we're going to be able to help Max's career and get him to the level of racing he aspires to."

As a 16-year-old last April, the now-senior high school student at Woodward Academy in College Park, Ga. won the pole position in his ARCA career debut at Salem (Ind.) Speedway. Gresham then followed it up with a trip to Victory Lane in the prestigious Richmond Memorial event at Mansfield in only his third career ARCA outing.

Gresham also started his own NASCAR legacy in 2010, winning two NASCAR K&N Pro Series East events--one at South Boston (Va.) Speedway and the other at Iowa Speedway--and K&N pole positions at South Boston and Dover (Del.) Speedway.

Now, Gresham will be looking to take the next step to success on the super speedways with Venturini Motorsports. In addition to that venture, Gresham hopes to compete in select NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide events in 2011.

"I'm looking forward to getting some experience in the Truck or Nationwide Series - or both - this coming season," said Gresham, "I can't wait to get my feet wet in those divisions.  It will be great to race with them, to see what kind of success I can have and to try to build on what I've been able to accomplish to date. I've talked to a lot of teams and there are definitely some good opportunities available. I don't have anything firm yet, but I'm confident I'll get something worked out with someone. Along with the Venturini ARCA deal, it's going to be a busy learning season for me."

Last but not least, Venturini Motorsports announced today that they have also teamed up with USAC driver Darren Hagen.

Hagan is slated to run selective events for the 2011 ARCA schedule while he competes in the USAC ranks.

“Darren possesses all the tangibles to become a great race car driver. I don’t think anyone can deny his racing ability. It’s his determination and character on and off the track that makes him standout. We’re excited to have him join our organization,” said Venturini.

Hagen began his driving career with Go-Karts at the age of 11. By the time he finished his third season, he had won more than 90 races including the So Cal Championship, two Tri C Championships and the California Junior State Championship in Junior Sportsman and Super Box.

In 2005 he made USAC history by becoming the first driver ever to be awarded "Rookie of the Year" for both Sprint and Midget racing in the same season.

In 2006, he won the Hut Hundred National Midget Car race at Terre Haute and officially became "The Fastest Sprint Car Driver in the World" (2006-2010) by running a lap of 146.145 mph at Iowa Speedway--Darren held the prestigious title for four years.

Collecting more hardware along the way, Hagen won the 2010 USAC National Midget Car Series Pavement Championship, feature winner at Toledo in the USAC National Midget Car Series, won the POWRi National Midget Series at Belle-Clair Speedway, swept the Gold Crown Midget Nationals at Tri-City (highest paid midget race of 2010) and won his Preliminary Night feature at the 2010 Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.

Venturini Motorsports, fielding cars in the ARCA Racing Series, is one of the premier NASCAR Driver Development Programs in the country. Since 2007, Venturini Motorsports has assisted in the career development of notable NASCAR drivers Joey Logano, Justin Allgaier, Scott Lagasse Jr., Brian Scott, John Wes Townley, Marc Davis, Steve Arpin and Mikey Kile. For more information on the Venturini Motorsports Driver Development program, visit www.VenturiniMotorsports.com. 

Earlier this month, ARCA Series officials released the details to the 2011 ARCA schedule.

Nineteen events will comprise the diverse combination of superspeedways, short tracks, dirt tracks and road courses in the series' 59th consecutive season of competition.

"We're extremely proud of the depth and quality of the venues on the 2011 schedule, each of which is very important to the identity and industry position of the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards," said ARCA president Ron Drager in a press release. "Both the number of scheduled events and the geographic coverage represented by the markets we'll be racing in are good fits for the series."

The series will begin for the 48th consecutive year at Daytona with the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200. The event will take place during Daytona Speedweeks and be run prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Budweiser Shootout.

"We race on the same day, at the same track, just a couple of hours before the Bud Shootout, which is the first race for the NASCAR Sprint Cup tour. It's a great opportunity for us. It's a great platform.

"The race is always televised live on SPEED and annually draws the greatest field of entrants, the greatest number of paid admissions and the highest TV ratings," said ARCA president Ron Drager.

The series will then go to Talladega Superspeedway, making their 50th appearance at the 2.66 mile oval on April 15. They will be joined by the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series.

The 0.555-mile oval of Salem Speedway will host the third event of the year on May 1.

"Salem Speedway is a renowned, historical venue and ARCA's history there dates back to the decade of our origin," said Drager. "The fans at Salem give us great support and racing there on a Sunday afternoon in the spring and a Saturday night in the fall gives the fans two perspectives."

"We are certainly excited to have the ARCA Racing Series returning to Salem Speedway in 2011," said Salem Speedway general manager Richard Deaton. "The traditional spring and fall events are a mainstay on the Salem schedule.

"Through the years, the ARCA Racing Series has played a significant role in the storied history of the famed high banks. Drivers from such varied backgrounds as IndyCar, NASCAR and F1 have competed with ARCA on the super-fast Salem oval."

ARCA's home track Toledo Speedway will host its traditional spring date on May 15.

May 22 will mark the fourth trip for the ARCA Series to New Jersey Motorsports Park, a 2.25-mile road course.

June 4 will mark the annual trip to Chicagoland Speedway with the Nationwide Series.

June 11 will mark the 52nd time that the ARCA Series has raced at Pocono Raceway, as they will join the Sprint Cup Series there.

"Pocono Raceway is an integral part of our series, with superspeedway speeds and short track and road course turns," said Drager.

"When a driver is transitioning from a short-track career to superspeedway racing as many of our drivers do, Pocono is often the track to do just that. It's a great place for someone to run their first superspeedway race."

"Racing at Pocono takes on special significance because of our long-term relationship with the Mattioli family, especially Dr. Joseph and Rose, as well as Brandon and Nick Igdalsky, third-generation family members in track management. In addition, the track's location near major East Coast markets is important to our series."

"This is a tradition, and something we always look forward to doing every year," track president Nick Igdalsky said. "There's that personal date in some of our hearts with ARCA, and we've been associated with the series from very early on. We plan on having ARCA accompany every race we have at Pocono."

June 17 will be mark the annual trip to Michigan International Speedway, in conjunction with the Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series.

"We have always considered MIS our hometown superspeedway. It's a special place for us, with our history there since 1980 and it being an ISC-owned track," said Drager, noting his family's connection to the ISC-operating France family.

"Our drivers really look forward to racing at MIS since it's such a competitive track and it's close to home for many of our Midwest-based teams. The administration and staff at MIS have always been solidly supportive in promoting the series, and our teams and drivers appreciate that."

June 25 will mark the ARCA Series' first trip to Winchester Speedway since May of 2007.

"It's important for the ARCA Racing Series to be at Winchester Speedway. It's exactly the type of Midwestern facility where the ARCA brand is well-known and has the chance to be successful," said Drager. "Winchester is big enough and fast enough to play to the very nature of our cars."

"I think ARCA has a good name, and is known really well country-wide. ARCA is an asset to Winchester Speedway, and I think Winchester Speedway can be an asset to ARCA too," said Charlie Shaw, owner of Winchester Speedway.

"ARCA has been around a long time and it's a well-respected association. The series races around most of the country at big tracks, small tracks, and so forth, and it's a stepping stone for stock car drivers. I think that's an important part of Winchester Speedway, too, as it's a stepping stone. If people can run well at Winchester, they can usually run at the bigger tracks."

The ARCA Series will hit the 0.4-mile paved oval of Berlin Raceway on July 9.

"Berlin Raceway is unlike any of the short tracks we go to in terms of its unique layout and pit road," said Drager. "It's been a staple of the tour for a number of years, and it seems that everyone from local guys like 2002 winner Fred Campbell to multi-time champions like three-time winner Frank Kimmel has a chance to be successful."

They will then join the Camping World Truck Series at Iowa Speedway on July 16.

"Racing at Iowa Speedway is important from a market and venue perspective, as we reach a number of fans from several major areas there," Drager said. "Being new, Iowa Speedway is one of those tracks that has the luxury of incorporating so many amenities, sightlines and facilities among them, to be fan-friendly and competitor-friendly. Iowa Speedway fans have strongly supported ARCA."

The July 28 event will mark the return for the ARCA Series to O'Reilly Raceway Park, which they will run in conjunction with the USAC National Midget, and the Silver Crown Series races the same day.  The event will be the eighth for ARCA at the 0.686-mile oval since 1971.

"We feel the Thursday Night Triple Header will be an incredible night of racing and will be a tremendous addition to the storied history of Kroger SpeedFest," said Wes Collier, acting general manager at O'Reilly Raceway Park.  "All three of these series will add to what is already some of the best racing in the country during the course of three evenings."

"USAC and O'Reilly Raceway Park have provided us with a tremendous opportunity to join what is already a great night of racing during the Kroger SpeedFest," said Drager. "We hope to add to the energy and excitement of all the racing taking place in Indianapolis that week."

"Our long relationship with our friends at ARCA has produced some memorable racing weekends," said Kevin Miller, president and CEO of USAC. "We are pleased that we can offer this tremendous tripleheader event to the race fans at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, one of the nation's premier racing facilities.

"It's been seven years since the Midgets and ARCA shared billing and a dozen years since ARCA and the Silver Crown cars were on the same bill. We are extremely excited about this program and look forward to what we expect to be one of our season's signature events."

The ARCA/USAC tripleheader kicks off ORP's Kroger SpeedFest, which also features a Friday event for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and a Saturday race for the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

The ORP events lead in to one of the feature races on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, the July 31 Brickyard 400 at nearby Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Aug. 6 will mark the 53rd trip for the ARCA Series to Pocono Raceway as they make their second trip of the year to the 2.5-mile paved oval, along with the Sprint Cup Series and the Camping World Truck Series.

Aug. 21 will mark ARCA's first dirt race of the year, as they will hit Illinois State Fairgrounds.

"Racing on the dirt is part of what helps to set the ARCA Racing Series apart. It's an important component of what we do," said Drager. "This very directly connects us to the early onset and the founders of stock car racing. Before there were pavement tracks, racing on the fairgrounds dirt was it."

"This directly connects us to a whole community of race fans whose affinity is dirt track racing. It's important to reach out and connect with those racers and fans. Racing on the dirt is a vital, integral component of our schedule and a calculated part of our business plan. It differentiates our tour."

Aug. 26 will mark a new track for the ARCA Series as they will head to Madison International Speedway, a semi-banked, half-mile oval located in Oregon, Wisc.

The ARCA Series will then return back to the dirt tracks on Sept. 5 at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.

Following DuQuoin, the ARCA Series will hit Salem Speedway on Sept. 17.

Oct. 7 marks a trip to Kansas Speedway, in conjunction with the Sprint Cup Series.

The series will conclude its season at its home track of Toledo Speedway on Sunday, Oct. 16. The last couple of years, the final race normally belonged to Rockingham Speedway, which doesn't appear on the 2011 schedule.

As in years past, SPEED will cover some of the races live or have same-day coverage for fans.

"Our relationship with ARCA dates back to the early days of the network," said Hunter Nickell, president of SPEED. "We look forward to our continued relationship and working together to deliver great racing to a very supportive group of fans."

"ARCA and SPEED have invested a great deal over time in this relationship," said Drager. "Despite the tremendous evolution in the racing and television industries in the past 15 years, our partnership has never wavered and, in fact, has grown stronger over time. We're very pleased that SPEED will continue to be the television home for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards."

SPEED will kick off its live flag-to-flag ARCA coverage at Daytona International Speedway with the 48th running of the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at 4 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, Feb. 12.

In addition to Daytona, other events scheduled for live and/or same-day coverage in 2010 include Talladega Superspeedway on April 15, Chicagoland Speedway on June 4, events at Pocono Raceway on June 11 and Aug. 6, Michigan International Speedway on June 17, Iowa Speedway on July 16, O'Reilly Raceway Park on July 28, Kansas Speedway on Oct. 7, and the season finale at Toledo Speedway on Oct. 16.

ARCA's relationship with SPEED dates back to April 20, 1997, when the network (then Speedvision) covered the ARCA race at Salem (Ind.) Speedway. Since then, SPEED has aired a total of 179 ARCA races, making the 2011 opener at Daytona the 180th.

BAS Racing Network will also have radio coverage of all 19 events on the schedule.

The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 race tracks 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 a left- and right-turn road course.

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.

2011 ARCA RACING SERIES SCHEDULE
DATE	TRACK	LOCATION	TRACK TYPE
2-12	Daytona Int'l Speedway	Daytona Beach, Florida	2.5 paved
4-15	Talladega Superspeedway	Talladega, Alabama	2.66 paved
5-1	Salem Speedway	Salem, Indiana	.555 paved
5-15	Toledo Speedway	Toledo, Ohio	.5 paved
5-22	New Jersey Motorsports Park	Millville, New Jersey	2.25 roadcourse
6-4	Chicagoland Speedway	Joliet, Illinois	1.5 paved
6-11	Pocono Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	2.5 paved
6-17	Michigan Int'l Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	2 paved
6-25	Winchester Speedway	Winchester, Indiana	.5 paved
7-9	Berlin Raceway	Marne, Michigan	.4 paved
7-16	Iowa Speedway	Newton, Iowa	.875 paved
7-28	O'Reilly Raceway Park	Clermont, Indiana	.686 paved
8-6	Pocono Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	2.5 paved
8-21	Illinois State Fairgrounds	Springfield, Illinois	1 dirt
8-26	Madison Int'l Speedway	Oregon, Wisconsin	.5 paved
9-5	DuQuoin State Fairgrounds	DuQuoin, Illinois	1 dirt
9-17	Salem Speedway	Salem, Indiana	.555 paved
10-7	Kansas Speedway	Kansas City, Kansas	1.5 paved
10-16	Toledo Speedway	Toledo, Ohio	.5 paved

After running some Nationwide races for JR Motorsports, Arpin is now looking for something bigger.

The Fort Frances, Ontario native Steve Arpin told the Fort Frances Times that he had big things planned for 2011, yet can’t talk about them yet.

“I’ve got incredible plans of what I want to do,” Arpin said. “I’m just trying to talk all these team owners into going along with my plan. “As hard as it is to keep my mouth shut, I have to at this point.” 

In his plans, he looks to race full-time in NASCAR, either in the Nationwide Series or the Camping World Truck Series. 

Most would say this is the offseason for racing that Arpin has entered, however his appointment book would say otherwise. 

“We’re just really working hard,” he remarked. “It may be the offseason, but it’s the absolute most stressful time of the year putting these deals together.” 

Whichever plan works out for Arpin, it’ll be another year of learning. 

If he goes down the Camping World Truck Series route, he’s never raced a truck before. 

If he goes down the Nationwide Series route, several tracks will be new and the new car set to be permanently implemented into the series. 

"It was a lot different than the cars we're used to running,” Arpin told me of driving the car at Daytona. “But they were fun. At times they were a handful, and you really had to be up on the wheel and focused at the job at hand." 

Arpin’s best showing in the Nationwide Series this past year was a 10th place finish at the Subway Jalapeno 250 on July 2 at Daytona, driving the new Nationwide C.O.T. 

"To come out of Daytona with a top-10 was an amazing feeling for me,” Arpin said. “The guys back at the JRM shop have put a ton of work into our restrictor-plate program and I think it showed with the finish we had there." 

Arpin is best known, though, for his racing on the ARCA circuit as he won three races and recorded six other top-10s driving the No. 55 for Venturini Motorsports. 

“I think of all the places to get your first ARCA win, Salem is just the coolest place in the world,” he said in reference to the first win at Salem.

“Regardless, you’re going to absolutely love it but just the history and looking at who has run there and who has won there is absolutely unbelievable. There’s just so much history. Like, almost every driver that’s in the Cup Series has raced at Salem one time or another. It’s just a really cool place.” 

Arpin began racing in the ARCA season in 2008 after catching the eye of Eddie Sharp whole driving USAC Silver Crown cars for Carl Edwards. 

However, things didn’t work out with Eddie Sharp so he made the transition to Venturini Motorsports. 

“Before I signed up with Venturini Motorsports, I had talked to Bill Venturini a little bit and we really hit it off good,” Arpin said in speaking of how the deal came together. “But we were so far ahead with our deal with ESR that we decided to go with ESR and start in that direction and we really just kept in touch with Venturini.

"They just watched our performance and about halfway through the year when I talked with them, when my deal with ESR was up, we re-evaluated our program and we realized things weren’t going right there we decided to go with Venturini.” 

Arpin ended the 2009 ARCA Season seventh in points and took home the Most Popular Driver award. 

Easily, Arpin could have finished in the top 10 in points this year, though he missed some races as a result of running seven races for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series.

“When the opportunity came up to drive for Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. for them seven races, it was a pretty incredible thing that we just couldn’t pass up,” Arpin reasoned. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. chose to put Arpin in the No. 7 after both Mark Martin and Carl Edwards recommended him.

The first meeting between Arpin and Earnhardt Jr. took place at Texas, a week before his first start. 

“It was pretty cool,” he told me back in June. “I was always a Dale Jr. fan growing up. I liked how he showed a lot of respect and didn’t tear up a lot of his equipment. It was neat as the first time I met him, he was sitting in the trailer and you’d never know you’re sitting next to Dale Earnhardt Jr. 

"Since then, we’ve been able to hang out a little bit though not that much with both of our schedules. He’s also been good at giving me advice whenever I need it and sometimes we walk through what to expect at a track before running it.” 

The entire experience, however, didn’t set in for Arpin till Talladega. 

“To be honest, it didn’t set in till I was sitting on pit road with Carl Edwards beside me, Kevin Harvick on the pole and saw Dale Jr.’s name on the car,” he said. “Just to be involved and to be recognized for what I’ve done is an honor. It’s the biggest accomplishment so far for me with having Tony Eury Jr. as the crew chief and Kelley Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the owner.” 

Working with Tony Jr. turned out to be a plus for Arpin as it allowed him to learn a lot. 

"Tony Jr. is a great crew chief and mentor,” Arpin said. “Even for his age, he's got a ton of experience and has seen pretty much everything this sport can throw at you. He's an awesome guy to have in your corner." 

Right out of the gate, he met expectations as he qualified fourth in his first start at Talladega Superspeedway.

Though a pit road speeding penalty set him back and a crash late in the race resulted in a 26th place finish. 

“It’s been a struggle,” he said. “We had a really good car at Talladega. The pit road speeding penalty put us behind; we were only speeding by 0.03mph.” 

The next three races he ran didn’t end much better, with the only highlight being a qualifying effort of seventh at Charlotte. 

“Charlotte was the means of miscommunication and me not checking my mirrors,” he said in reference to the wreck. “You’ve got to learn every time you’re out, whether good or bad, and it’s been a good learning experience. Actually, this past month I’ve learned more then I had up to this point in racing.” 

In Tony Eury Jr.’s mind, Arpin did well those first couple of races. 

“Steve has impressed us with what he's been able to do in the No. 7 Chevrolet with his limited experience," Tony Eury Jr. told me back in June. "There's no doubt the kid has a lot of talent, especially with what he's been able to do dirt racing.  He had a couple great qualifying efforts at Talladega and Charlotte over the past few weeks.

"He did have his work cut out for him at Richmond and Darlington, which are two of the toughest tracks we race at. Being a rookie in the series it's not easy to run at those facilities. We've had some growing pains, and caught some bad luck with a couple wrecks, but overall, he's shown promise.”

Looking over everything, Arpin called it a good year. 

“We were really fast wherever we went. We accomplished a lot of what we wanted to accomplish,” Arpin said. “We won more races than anyone else in the series and didn’t even race all of the races. It was, all in all, a really good year and opened up a lot of doors. We have a lot of possibilities for moving up next year.” 

Arpin grew up racing racing on dirt at Emo Speedway so he has gone through a steep learning curve the past couple of years, learning about asphalt racing. 

“The hardest thing was to forget all I knew on dirt racing that I thought would help on asphalt,” he said. “It was a real eye opener when I started running asphalt. Basically, you got to throw away 98 percent of what you know about dirt racing.” 

In this past year with what he has learned, he said it could fill a novel, but noted patience was the biggest lesson. 

“Back in dirt racing, you would take the green flag and you would have 20 or 25 laps and that’s it. That’s the race,” he explained. You’ve got to be 100 percent every lap.

 “On the asphalt races, you’ve got 200 and 300 laps. When you’re getting 60, 70, 80 laps on a set of tires, it’s really easy to be really fast at the start of a run and then use up your equipment, use up your tires, and then from Lap 40 on, you’re really slow.” 

Arpin’s love for racing started at the local dirt track at the age of five. 

“I started going to the dirt tracks with my dad and watching dirt track racing with my dad and I’ve just loved it ever since,” he said.

“When I was about eight years old, when I found there was a go-kart track that was about 45 minutes away, I just kind of worked my butt off for two years delivering newspapers and all that kind of stuff like that to try to save enough money to buy my first go-kart. By the time I was 10, I had enough money saved up to buy a go-kart and that’s where it all started.” 

Arpin quickly showed that he had the talent as he started winning races at the go-kart and dirt modified level quickly, including a record that still stands today of winning every race at Emo Speedway for three straight years. 

His success on dirt at Emo Speedway in Ontario and across the United States caught everybody's attention, including Sprint Cup Series veteran Mark Martin. Martin was quoted saying on SB Nation that he’d pick Arpin against anybody on dirt. 

“I didn’t know he said that till I heard Dale Jr. say that on national TV,” Arpin said of the quote. “It knocked the wind out of me hearing that. For Mark Martin to go out of his way and say something like that means a lot to me. He’s a guy with a lot of respect so you listen if you hear something coming from him.” 

Arpin has been through his share of adversity as the beginning of 2008 was rough for Arpin, as he would suffer burns on his hands, thighs, and groin as a result of a radiator hose blowing off and spraying him with water. 

Away from the track he’s got his mind on racing, though he likes spending time with his wife Katrina. 

“Thinking about the next time I’m going back to the track,” he said when I asked what he likes to do away from the track.

“With the schedule, I’ve been pretty busy and haven’t had a lot of time to do much otherwise. When I’m not at the track, I’ve been running the simulator's to try to get better.

“When I do get time, I like to hang out with my wife (Katrina) as we don’t get a lot of time. The other day we played tennis. When we get back from Michigan actually, we’re going to take a trip to Charleston.” 

Though five years down the road, Arpin hopes he’s at the Cup Series level. 

“My dream is to be in the Cup Series,” he said. “I’d like to win the ARCA Championship this year and then keep a relationship going with JR Motorsports next year. Though I don’t want to move up too quick as I want to make sure I’m ready when the opportunity comes.” 

To those who are looking to get to Arpin’s level, he says stick with it no matter what. 

“Don’t get down,” he said. “There was a lot of people telling me you can’t do it, it’s all about the money, but I stuck with it and went after it. If you know you can do it, then keep going after it.”

This past season, Chris Buescher made eight ARCA Re/Max Series starts, running all of the races he was allowed to run. In those eight starts, he had two wins, three top-fives and five top 10s. His worst finish was a 12th at Salem in his first ever start.

Now that he is 18, Buescher is allowed to run the entire schedule, starting at Daytona this February.

Both of Buescher's wins came at Toledo with one in May and one in September. Buescher feels more satisfaction, though, from the second one due to the circumstances.

"It was a little bit more enjoyable than the first, after having to start close to the back," Buescher told the ARCA Racing Network.

"Just because you're good at one race, it doesn't mean you're going to do the same when you come back. I had a bit of nervousness going back but we seemed pretty decent in practice.

When qualifying got rained out, we had to start back there, but we were able to make ground up pretty quickly and pretty consistently. It was a lot more fun, to be honest, getting to run in traffic and go through those guys."

Going into the 2011 season, Buescher looks to take in one of the biggest lessons he learned from 2010: patience.

"It seems like all of the races I'd run up to this point had been 50 to 100 laps, if that," he said. "Going to these races, you just have to pace yourself a little more and save for those last 50 laps."

For the 2010/2011 off-season, Buescher plans to work on racecars.

"Lately, I've been working out at Roush (Fenway Racing) four days a week and driving pit stop practice," Buescher said.

"I've got to call the engine builder over at Roush Yates; he says he's going to get me hooked up to where I can start working over there one or two days a week, so I'm looking forward to it and getting to learn about the engines and all."