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 TOLEDO,
OH (May 16) -- Toledo Speedway was packed Sunday afternoon to witness
veteran racer Kenny Schrader surviving 204 laps of short track racing
and winning the ARCA RE/MAX Series "Hickory Farms 200". The
race had its share of drama including a black flag handed out to Billy
Venturini after contact with then race leader Frank Kimmel, 13 caution
flags for a total of 79 of the 204 race laps and a green-white-checker
finish. In the end, it was NASCAR Nextel Cup competitor Ken Schrader
adding his name to the growing list of winners this season in the ARCA
RE/MAX Series. With the win, Schrader becomes the series' fifth
different winner in as many events to start the 2004 season.
Thirty-five cars attempted to make the 33-car field in
Sunday's race with Ken Schrader on the pole after posting a qualifying
lap of 16.577 seconds (108.584 mph) around the 1/2-mile oval. Maybe
even more impressive was 17-year-old Justin Allgaier qualifying second
fastest and joining Schrader in the front row.
The race began with young Allgaier powering into the
lead over Schrader at the drop of the green flag. (Allgaier is the son
of Hoosier Tire Midwest owners Mike and Dorothy Allgaier.) Allgaier,
who has been mentored by Ken Schrader, led the race's first 12
circuits before last year's race winner and defending series champion
Frank Kimmel moved into the lead. Sadly, Allgaier's day would end
early after just 25 race laps suffering a transmission failure and
finishing 29th.
From there, Kimmel (48 laps led) and Schrader (106
laps led) swapped the lead five times with young USAC Series hotshoe Boston Reid
also leading once in the race's middle stages. Reid, only recently signing as
a developmental driver out of the Rick Hendrick racing stable, led 38
laps in his first-ever ARCA start.
As the race came down to its final laps, Schrader was in
third place with Kimmel out front, ahead of the hard charging Billy
Venturini who arguably had the fastest car after starting eighth.
That's when Venturini made contact with Kimmel's left rear sending the
race leader spinning. With the race set to resume after the caution,
the black flag was given to Venturini for his aggressive driving
sending him to the pits for a stop and go penalty. The black flag
resulted in Kenny Schrader being positioned as the race leader with
Jason Jarrett in second with just one lap to go to determine the
winner.
Schrader was able to fend off the determined attack by
the third generation driver to capture his 11th ARCA Series win in 31
starts. Jarrett settled for runner-up, while Indianapolis' Boston Reid
came home third.
Twelve of the 33 starters finished the race on the
lead lap. Rounding out the list of lead-lap finishers was previous
race winner Ryan Hemphill in fourth, Mark Gibson, A.J. Fike, Brent
Sherman, Norm Benning, Steve Cronenwett and Frank Kimmel in fifth
through tenth, respectively. Mike Buckley was 11th followed by Billy
Venturini in 12th place after challenging for the win. Buckley earned
the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for advancing the most positions.
The Ann Arbor, MI driver started 23rd before finishing in 11th.
Despite the 10th place finish, Frank Kimmel remains
atop the ARCA RE/MAX Series standings with 1320 points followed by
Billy Venturini with 1245 points. Jason Jarrett, Brent Sherman and
Mark Gibson round out the top five in the rankings.
The event was serviced by Hoosier's own traveling ARCA
track service crew comprised of Doug Barnes (Track Service Manager),
Dave Wroblewski (Crew Chief), Larry Merrill, Chris Grossman, Jacob
Hartle (Mounting) and Mike "Moonpie" Haenes (Prep).
The next stop on the ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule is a
Thursday night race at Lowe's Motor Speedway (May 27) which will be
carried live on Speed Channel.
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is proud to have been
selected by the ARCA RE/MAX Series as its exclusive tire supplier for
the 2004 racing season.
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