Full Throttle

Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. became the first driver to break the 29-second range in the ARCA RE/MAX Series at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday afternoon, posting a 29.995 second lap around the 1.5-mile speedway for a speed of 180.03 mph. He sits on the pole in a No. 99 Aflac Ford owned by Jack Roush for Saturday’s Chicagoland ARCA 200.

Scott Lagasse, Jr. also broke the previous track record (30.171 second/179.575 mph) to start second in a No. 25 Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet.

By virtue of the pole, Stenhouse picked up an extra 15 points in the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series points race and heads into Saturday’s Chicagoland ARCA 200 second in points, trailing Scott Speed by 60 marks. Speed has led the series’ point standings after each of the last four races and will start Saturday’s race fourth in the No. 2 Red Bull Toyota.

Both drivers are 2008 SunTrust Rookie of the Year contenders and are two of six rookies currently in the top-10 in the ARCA RE/MAX Series point standings.

The 41-car starting field includes Stenhouse, Jr., Lagasse, Jr., Justin Lofton, who qualified third in the No. 20 Lofton Cattle Dodge, Speed, and John Wes Townley, who qualified fifth in a No. 09 Zaxby’s-SPS-BB&T Ford. Positions one through 32 were set by qualifying times with the rest of the starting field set by provisional positions.

The Chicagoland ARCA 200 marks the 17th of 21 events in the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series and is set to roll off at 5 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Central on Saturday, September 6th, 2008. The race will be aired on SPEED beginning at 4 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, September 7th.

Driver Erin Crocker will make her SPEED broadcasting debut at the event, teaming with Ralph Sheheen to call the ARCA RE/MAX Series Chicagoland ARCA 200 from Joliet, Illinois.

Team GLOCK Racing will present live Timing and Scoring and a live audio broadcast of the race on arcaracing.com.

Scott Speed has declared himself happy to have lived the dream of Formula 1, despite the aborted nature of his time with Toro Rosso.

Speed became the first American in more than a decade to make it to F1 after signing for the Red Bull ‘B’ team in 2006, making the most of his links with the drinks giant to secure a place in the new Toro Rosso squad alongside Tonio Liuzzi.

Having failed to score a point in his debut season, Speed returned for 2007 but a spectacular fall-out with team principal Franz Tost following the European Grand Prix saw him leave the team, with Sebastian Vettel coming in to replace him.

Speed has since gone on to forge a career racing back in the States and has taken four wins to date in the ARCA stock car series as well as one victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Admitting he views stock car competition as something of a personal challenge, Speed said he was happy with how his 28 race F1 career had panned out, despite achieving ‘nothing’ during his time in the sport.

“Formula One was always my dream, always way above NASCAR,” he told USA Today. “In my mind, I have accomplished what I’m going to in my life. This [stock car racing] is a personal challenge. If I don’t make it, I wouldn’t feel any worse than if I did, honestly.

“I did absolutely nothing in F1, but I’m 1,000 per cent satisfied. It’s like going to college of the world. I never went to college, but I know a lot because I had the opportunity to live in Europe and travel the world.”

Car & Driver has an excellent account of the Speed/Tost bust-up that included Tost punching Speed.

The same mag has a piece on Speeds history leading up to, and while in F1 that includes this classic line that relates to his ongoing health problems:

“Are you kidding? I was wearing a diaper!”

A very funny line, but for those unaware he’s fighting a serious and lifelong health issue, the second link is also a recommended read.

NOTE: The image is the aftermath of the chaos during the rain plagued 2007 European Grand Prix. Although running a career high sixth (due to some serendipitous chicane chicanery) a screwed-up pitstop found him buried in the field when the rain turned into a torrent. Speed, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Liuzzi, Adrian Sutil, and Nico Rosberg all aquaplaned into the Turn One gravel trap.

From open wheel cars to stock cars, Justin Allgaier had won on short-tracks all across the nation, but never on a superspeedway. That all changed Saturday afternoon at Pocono Raceway where the Springfield, Illinois driver held off Scott Speed in the closing laps of the Pennsylvania 200 to earn his fifth career ARCA RE/MAX Series victory, the biggest win of his career.

“Definitely by far this is the biggest race of my career,” said Allgaier. “Scott [Speed] is extremely good on restarts and to be honest on the last restart I was sweating bullets there because I knew he was going to be very good. I think Scott is looking probably at the big picture. He’s thinking about points. He drove me as clean as anyone can. It was a great day. This is my favorite track on the circuit.”
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SunTrust Rookie of the Year contender Scott Speed held off veterans’ Justin Allgaier and Frank Kimmel to win the ARCA RE/MAX 200 Saturday night at Berlin Raceway.

Speed, in the no. 2 Red Bull Toyota, took the lead from Kimmel on the 153rd lap of the 200 lap race and never relinquished it to earn his third career victory and second consecutive triumph of the 2008 season.
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Great Clips driver Gabi DiCarlo will be one of a select group of female drivers being honored at the upcoming Women in the Winner’s Circle Luncheon on July 24 at the Plaza Village Pavilion inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway today.

DiCarlo, who is competing full-time in the ARCA RE/MAX Series, is honored to have been chosen to participate.

“I’m very grateful to have been chosen for such an acclaimed luncheon where successful female drivers from all forms of racing will be honored,” said DiCarlo. “I am definitely in good company, and I wouldn’t be where I am in my racing career without the continued support from my sponsor, Great Clips.”

The luncheon will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., which will also include a grand march highlighting the graduates of the Lyn St. James Driver Development Program.

The Women in the Winner’s Circle Luncheon us held annually to help raise funds for the Women in the Winner’s Circle Foundation (formerly the Lyn St. James Foundation), founded by racing driver and motivational speaker Lyn St. James.

Co-hosting with St. James will be Basketball Hall of Fame commentator Nancy Lieberman. In addition to DiCarlo, more than 40 winning female racers will be introduced including Sarah Fisher, Janet Guthrie, Milka Duno, Ashley Force and Danica Patrick.

Fellow ARCA RE/MAX Series racer Alli Owens (read the Alli Owens FT exclusive interview here) is also scheduled to participate in the program.

In addition, the Mildred Marcum Pioneer Award, named in honor of ARCA’s co-founder and patriarch, will be awarded at the luncheon. Marcum worked as a NASCAR official alongside the France family in the 1940s and 50s before starting ARCA as a Midwest-based auto racing sanctioning body with her husband John in 1953.

Marcum, who is currently 94 years old and still works at ARCA’s Temperance, Michigan headquarters on a daily basis, was the first ever recipient of the Mildred Marcum Pioneer Award in 2005. Other recipients have included the late Barbara Parks, who co-founded the NHRA alongside her husband Wally Parks, and journalist/author/racing driver Denise McCluggage.

Red Bull Racing driver Scott Speed earned his second ARCA RE/MAX Series win of the season and first at Kentucky Speedway by 0.561 of a second over Sean Caisse tonight in the “Kentucky 150.”

The converted Formula One star drove to the pits on Lap 19 to take on fuel in his No. 2 Red Bull machine during the third caution period of the race and proceeded to masterfully manage his fuel mileage through a maze of seven caution periods that followed.

The Manteca, Calif., driver placed a punctuation mark on the win by holding off Caisse and his No. 01 Aisin AW ride during a last-lap restart that began on Lap 104 of the event originally scheduled for 100 circuits.

Speed, who lost the series’ May 10 Kentucky race on the final restart after a gear failed in his car, earns a bit Kentucky poetic justice with tonight’s victory.

“It was the second time we won this race on the proper lap and almost lost it. It was cool to win a race like that. Me and the 01 had a great battle the last 30 laps or so and I’m glad I could pull this off for my guys.

“We went back-and-forth on each other a lot on the restarts. It was two good drivers racing really hard and really clean. It was definitely real exciting for me,” Speed said.

Caisse earned his first top-five series finish of the season in his third start.

“We had issues with 20 to go with the throttle sticking. It would get stuck when I’d go full throttle and pull out. It would get stuck at half throttle. So, trying to shift and not being able to come out of the gas all the way, it was getting jammed up in the gearbox. That kind of was making my restarts slow. He (Speed) got a good jump on me. He went to the outside and the 16 followed. I was able to get the 16 back.

“It took me about five or six laps to run the same kind of speed. Then, five laps later it would be a tenth or two better. We were just a better long-run car and this just wasn’t a long-run race,” Caisse said of the event which matched the series track record for caution periods at 10.

Justin Allgaier placed third in the No. 16 AG Tech / Hoosier Tire Chevrolet; four-time Kentucky Speedway series race winner Frank Kimmel closed out the race fourth in the No. 44 Comfort Systems USA/Ford Drive One Ford; and race pole sitter Brian Scott delivered a fifth-place finish in his No. 25 Albertsons Chevrolet.

For me the race boiled down to three “A’s” and a “G.”

The race was the first time to my knowledge four females were in an ARCA RE/MAX starting field, Alli Owens (see interview on preceding entry), Angela Cope, Amber Cope and Gabi DiCarlo.

Owens and DiCarlo finished 15th and 17th respectively on the lead lap. Angela Cope finished 29th from her 8th starting position 4 laps down to the leader and twin sister Amber crashed out on lap 21 finished 38th.

Technorati Tags: ARCA RE/MAX Series, Scott Speed, Amber Cope, Angela Cope, Gabi DiCarlo

Michael Phelps and his No. 45 Bowen Family Homes Dodge emerged from a two-hour Kentucky Speedway practice session atop the ARCA RE/MAX Series speed chart after turning a quick 175.006-mph (30.856 seconds) lap.

The Suwanee, Ga., driver successfully built on an effort that began July 1 when he was fastest in a 20-car Kentucky test session with a 176.010-mph (30.680 seconds) lap.

“The track was a lot like it was a couple of weeks ago. The car is really good; it has a lot of the same feeling in it. We came out here this morning knowing we had a good car. It sticks really well and we ended up busting off some fast times today,” Phelps said.

Phelps will attempt to make his 10th series start of the season tonight at 8:00 p.m., in the “Kentucky 150.”

He will enter the race 18th in the series standings after earning his lone top-10 finish of the season with a ninth-place performance at Pocono Raceway June 7.

He plans to improve upon his May 10 38th-place Kentucky showing attributed to a blown engine on Lap 11.

“We have some thing to prove today. We can show we’re a powerhouse and we can run with these guys. We had some minor problems here in May, but I think we’ve got it together now. These guys have been working hard these past few weeks. We have some good cars and we’re going to go out and show them what we’re made of,” Phelps said.

Four-time Kentucky Speedway ARCA RE/MAX Series winner Frank Kimmel was second on the practice chart with a quick 174.109-mph (31.015 seconds) lap in the No. 44 Comfort Systems USA / Ford Drive One Ford; Robb Brent was third on the speed chart after turning a 173.695-mph (31.089 seconds) lap in the No. 00 Orchard Chrysler Dodge Jeep Chevrolet.

Brian Scott was fourth quickest in the session with a 173.633-mph (31.100 seconds) lap in the No. 25 Albertsons Chevrolet and Matt Hawkins was fifth fastest with a 173.544-mph (31.116 seconds) circuit in the No. 39 Jani-King / Racing Radios Dodge.

Qualifying for tonight’s “Kentucky 150″ commences at 4:30 p.m., when speedway gates open. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice is up next and will be followed by NCTS rookie practice. Fans can view practice from the designated area outside the Turn 3 Fan Center for free.

Michael Phelps ARCA Race Results.

Technorati Tags: Michael Phelps, Frank Kimmel, ARCA RE/MAX Series, Kentucky Motor Speedway

You probably know Wendy Venturini as a pit reporter for ARCA RE/MAX Series race broadcasts on SPEED, or possibly as the sister of veteran ARCA RE/MAX Series driver Billy Venturini and daughter of former series champion Bill Venturini.

Now you can call her a third generation and two-time race winner.

Tuesday night at Lowes Motor Speedway she competed in the “NASCAR RaceDay” School Bus Challenge.

As Jimmy Spencer sputtered; Kenny Wallace wobbled; John Roberts retired; and Rutlege Wood was just happy to be there Wendy was racin’ to the front of the angry pack of school buses.

Venturini pushed her purple flower-power machine past Wallace and cruised to her second career School Bus victory. Wallace settled for second with Lug Nut, the world’s fastest mascot, coming in third in the eight-lap special event.

Did someone say Smoke was in the market for a second driver for his new race team?

Technorati Tags: Wendy Venturini, Lowes Motor Speedway, SpeedTV, ARCA RE/MAX Series

Justin Allgaier, in his father Mike Allgaier’s #16 Zoller & Bergfield Farming-AG Tech Chevrolet, recovered from a mid-race spin, raced his way back into the lead, survived two late-race restarts, and then drove away from Frank Kimmel and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. to win the inaugural Cayuga ARCA RE/MAX 250 Sunday afternoon at Cayuga Motor Speedway.

“This racetrack was really cool and it means a lot to me to win here,” said Allgaier in victory lane. “We got turned around and everything and tried to come back from that. We had to check up a little bit there and he (Stenhouse) got into us; no hard feelings there.”

Allgaier was leading Stenhouse midway through the race when Stenhouse gave Allgaier a nudge that sent the eventual winner spinning off turn four. Allgaier made two consecutive pit stops for new tires and adjustments before returning to rejoin the field at the tail-end.

From there, Allgaier raced his way forward and caught Stenhouse inside of 50 laps from the finish to contend for the win. Allgaier found the opening he was looking for down the backstretch and muscled inside of Stenhouse for the lead in turn three on lap 215 of the 257-lap event.

Allgaier completed the pass off turn four, and was never seriously challenged from there.

“This track is tight and unfortunately this car doesn’t look as good as it should but we’re happy to have four wheels on it,” added Allgaier. “There are quite a few donuts along both sides of the Zoller & Bergfield Farming-AG Tech Chevrolet. Its tight racing and it’s a lot of fun.”

Allgaier, with 13 lead-lap machines lined up directly behind, also held off the pack during two green-white-checker finishes in order for the race to finish under green, as mandated by ARCA officials. As a result, the race went seven laps beyond the scheduled 250-laps to accommodate the finish.

Kimmel, in his own Ford Drive One-Engineered Components Ford, also got by Stenhouse and finished second, 10 lengths behind Allgaier.

“It was a pretty good day,” said Kimmel. “This is a tough little racetrack. You couldn’t be cautious at all; you had to race hard all day. We weren’t the best car overall but we were consistent all day and we kept it up front.”

Stenhouse, who led the most laps (101), earned the Aaron’s Lap Leader Award and finished third in the Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Stenhouse was also the Klotz Halfway Leader and the SunTrust Highest Finishing Rookie.

AS A SIDE NOTE: On Pit Row’s Steve Wronkowicz did the radio play-by-play from Cayuga. I’m not sure if it was his debut as a race announcer - being a radio/web broadcast I couldn’t tell if he was wearing a Debutante’s Gown - but he turned in an excellent job none-the-less.

ALSO: I have a special super-duper secret interview coming this week with one of the ARCA RE/MAX Series drivers. So stay tuned to this same Bat Channel at your Bat Time of Convenience.

Technorati Tags: Justin Allgaier, Roush Fenway Racing, Frank Kimmel, Ricky Stenhouse, Sports, ARCA

For the second time in as many weeks, Surrey, BC driver Pete Harding won an ARCA West Super Late Model racing event at Sunvalley Speedway in Vernon, BC.

Pete Harding scores second Sunvalley Speedway win in 2 weeks
Driving the #39 LP Body Shop Chevrolet Impala SS, the well-respected Harding followed his ARCA West Circle K Series win on June 14th with another trip to victory circle in a dominating performance in the Summer Sizzler 150 leading nearly every lap in his first ARCA West Mac’s Series appearance.

Harding also set the fast time turning a 17.465 second lap on the 1/2 mile tri-oval, one of six drivers to qualify under 18 seconds.

Current points leader Trevor Emond (Leduc, AB) drove the #17 Glentel Pontiac Grand Prix to the second place finish. Emond was scored as the first lap leader but lost the lead on the next lap. The large crowd watched as two of the top Late Model drivers in Western Canada dueled for the lead through the 28-car field on a very crowded race track.

Barry Bischoff (Calgary, AB), the defending ARCA West Mac’s Series champion making his first appearance of the 2008 campaign, turned an 11th place start into a third place podium for the #69 A-1 Auto Body Pontiac Grand Prix.

Victoria, BC native and ARCA West Circle K Series regular Wade Bland finished 4th in the #07 C-1 Contractors Ford Fusion. After inheriting 3rd place from Rick Johnson Jr (Milwaukee, WI) when the #67 Superseal Construction Products Chevrolet Monte Carlo retired on lap 140, Bland was caught by a surging Bischoff just five laps later.

And rounding out the top five, was newcomer Mark Barriau (Penticton, BC) who continues to impress in the #31 Westbench Trucking Chevrolet Monte Carlo with two top five qualifying efforts to go with the 5th place finish. Barriau was third in last year’s Summer Sizzler at Sunvalley Speedway.

Jon Teppin is 2nd in championship points
With a strong showing early in the season, Jon Teppin (Barrhead, AB) driving the #38 Lufkin Industries Chevrolet Monte Carlo leaves Vernon in second place in the championship. (Editors note: Teppin was recently featured in the Barrhead Leader newspaper, click here to read the article.)

The Summer Sizzler lived up to its reputation as the scorching daytime heat and the hot summer evening took its toll on drivers and equipment. Heat exhaustion forced Randy Thompson to park the #01 Mac’s Motorsports Chevrolet Monte Carlo on lap 90 after an extended red flag due to a spectator side emergency diverted safety crews from the track. The driver collapsed after being pulled from the car but was not injured in the incident.

Local favourite Korbin Thomas (Williams Lake, BC) turned in a spectacular drive in the #19 CP Electronics Chevrolet Monte Carlo after being moved to 19th position (end of the lead lap cars) for an incident on track and rallying to as high as 5th before finishing 6th.

Former WRL driver Greg Funk (Medicine Hat, AB) in the #11 Supernal Homes Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Cranbrook, BC driver Trevor Hansen in the #28 Beacon Lubricants Ford Fusion made their first ARCA West appearances. 2006 Western Canadian Super Truck Racing Series champion Roy Wigley (Airdrie, AB) making a switch to Super Late Model racing debuted the #89 Wigley Motorsports Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

The Border Challenge 150, round four of the 2008 championship season, goes Saturday, July 19th at Race City in Calgary, AB.