 TOLEDO,
OH (May 22, 2005) -- Veteran racer Ken Schrader, driving his own Federated Auto
Parts Chevrolet, won Sunday's ARCA RE/MAX Series "Hantz Group 200" at
a soggy Toledo Speedway. Schrader, the defending race winner, started the race
in 27th place in the 35-car field after rain forced series officials to cancel
qualifying for the 52 hopefuls that made the trip to the Buckeye State for the
series' fifth race of the season. Schrader, making his 36th series start, took
the lead for good from defending series champion Frank Kimmel on lap 141 of the
200-lap race. But not before a last-lap caution gave Kimmel one last shot at
his second win of the year.
Fifty-eight cars had pre-registered for Sunday's race with 52 cars actually
on hand. Just before noon, qualifying began in hopes of setting the starting
grid. But midway through the process it started to rain. For nearly two hours,
the Toledo fans sat out the delay as ARCA RE/MAX officials were forced to set
the starting grid according to owner's points. This decision sent home some
strong contenders including Justin Allgaier, son of Hoosier Tire Midwest owners
Mike and Dorothy Allgaier, who finished runner-up last year in the Fall
race.
With no qualifying to set the lineup, Frank Kimmel was awarded the pole with
rookie Joey Miller alongside. The race began with Kimmel taking the lead at the
outset. Kimmel, who had won four of the past five races at Toledo, led until
rain brought out the red flag on lap 45. The race resumed about two hours later
with Kimmel leading through lap 86, when he came in for fuel and tires, while
third starting Chad Blount opted to stay out. Blount, already with two wins
this year, led the next 54 laps until he was passed by Ken Schrader on lap 141.
Although Schrader's lead was never relinquished during the race's final 66
laps, he was challenged throughout the final 50 laps by Kimmel who had a chance
to perform a "bump and run" maneuver on his worthy opponent on the
final lap after a late race caution. But the champion opted to let off the gas
avoiding contact with the #99 car's left fender and allow Schrader to go on to
the win.
Kimmel settled for the runner-up spot .236 seconds behind the race winner.
Jason Jarrett finished in third place followed by David Ragan, T.J. Bell, Brian
Tyler, Steven Wallace, Joey Miller, Chad Blount and Mark Gibson in fourth
through tenth, respectively. Fourteen of the 35 starters finished the race on
the lead lap. The race was slowed 13 times for cautions totaling 102
laps.
Ken Schrader won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for advancing the most
positions. Schrader had to pass 26 cars en route to claiming the thrilling win.
Amazingly, in the past six races at Toledo Speedway, Frank Kimmel has four wins
and Ken Schrader two at the Ohio track.
After five races, Frank Kimmel remains atop the driver standings with 1335
points followed by Joey Miller (1275) and Chad Blount (1225).
TIRES: 11.5/26.0-15 12L (left side) and 11.5/27.0-15 20R (right side)
tires. Toledo is one of eight tracks the ARCA RE/MAX Series visits on its
23-race schedule in which a bias-ply tire is used.
All ARCA Series events are serviced out of Hoosier headquarters in
Lakeville, IN. The service team is headed by Doug Barnes. Other track service
team members making the trip to Toledo included; Dave Wroblewski, Kevin
Wroblewski, Larry Merrill, Mike Haenes and Mike Smith.
Quote from Doug Barnes: "I was sorry to see so many new teams
go home without having a chance to race today." Barnes added,
"My hat is off to the dedicated fans who sat through the rain delay to
watch the end of the race. I'm confident they weren't disappointed."
The ARCA RE/MAX Series is back in action May 28th at Lanier Speedway in
Gainesville, GA. For complete race results and more information about the ARCA
Series, visit their website at www.arcaracing.com.
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