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 SOUTH
BOSTON, VA (October 18) -- NASCAR Winston Cup veteran Kenny Schrader
used his day off to do, what else, go racing. Schrader led 156 of the
204 race laps from the pole en route to winning the "Bank of
America ARCA 200" at South Boston Speedway Saturday night. The
race had been postponed twice before due to rain in July and a hurricane
in September before successfully being run on Saturday under the
lights. Schrader was followed to the line by Frank Kimmel--.376
seconds behind the race winner. Not only did Schrader find time to
compete in the ARCA race on Saturday, he also raced in the Craftsman
Truck Series race finishing 8th. Frank Kimmel officially claimed the
2003 ARCA RE/MAX Series championship with 6145 points over Jason
Jarrett who finished the season with 5470 points. Kimmel finished the
season with seven wins in 22 events. Shelby Howard and Casey Mears
were second on the 2003 win-list with three wins each. Howard finished
in third place in the driver standings. Hoosier was the official tire
of the ARCA Series throughout the season and signed on to exclusively
provide tires for the dynamic series through the 2006 season.
Thirty-five cars started Saturday's "Bank of
America ARCA 200" with Ken Schrader on the pole after setting a
new track record of 90.107 mph around the 4/10-mile oval. Shelby
Howard joined Schrader in the front row for the start of the
season-ending race. Schrader took command early leading through lap
85, before Jason Jarrett took a turn out front. Jarrett led the next
39 laps, before Hermie Sadler made a move for the lead. Once out
front, Sadler led the next nine circuits before Schrader regained the
lead for good leading the race's final 71 laps to take the win.
Following Schrader to the finish line was Frank
Kimmel, Hermie Sadler, Jason Jarrett and L.W. Miller rounding out the
top five. Completing the list of lead-lap finishers was Travis Geisler
in sixth, Ron Cox, Norm Benning, Aaron Fike and Billy Shotko in
seventh through tenth, respectively.
Frank Kimmel won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award
for advancing the most positions during the race. Kimmel charged from
14th to finish in the runner-up spot.
Hoosier's ARCA Series Track Service Manager Doug
Barnes who attended all but one of the 22 events summed the season up by commenting,
"The 51st ARCA RE/MAX Series season was truly an exciting
one." Barnes added, "It was a pleasure to work with such a
professional organization as the ARCA Series and its competitors.
Hoosier is looking forward to continuing our relationship with the
series next season and many more seasons after that."
Barnes concluded, "This was my second season with
ARCA and I'm looking forward to many more. I am working to add a great
deal more information about our tires to the Hoosier website to assist
the teams between events. I would also like to express my appreciation
to all the teams in the series that made my 'sophomore year' so
enjoyable and congratulate Frank Kimmel on winning his fifth
championship in the last six years."
The ARCA Series awards banquet is scheduled for
December 13th at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington,
OH and will be attended by Hoosier's ARCA Track Service Manager Doug
Barnes and his wife Wendy.
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