JOLIET, Illinois (June 2, 2011) – – ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards Rookie of the Year contender Maryeve Dufault and her Tony Marks Racing (TMR) team will make their inaugural intermediate track debut Saturday afternoon when she takes the green flag in her No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger in the Messina Animal Wildlife Stopper 150.
Currently sitting 11th in the ARCA championship standings, the TMR is focused on having a solid run that will only propel the team’s confidence and hopefully vault the freshman team into the top-10 in their quest to run for a championship.
Thus far, Dufault has experienced her fair share of ups and downs, but with that being expected for any rookie driver and team in their inaugural season, the Mooresville, North Carolina-based team continues to march on with their head held high.
While the team did not participate in the recent open-test at Chicagoland Speedway, the Sorel, Quebec Canada native is relying on the wealth of experience from her team to guide her towards the front in the sixth race of the season.
“I’ve been anxious to get back to a bigger track, because I really enjoy competing on them,” said Dufault. “I’ve been learning as much as I can about Chicagoland by watching old races and talking to other drivers. I know I’m going to learn a lot this weekend – but I know that we’ll have a fast No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger which hopefully should ease our learning curve a little bit.” Coming off a respectable finish in her ARCA road racing debut, Dufault is anxious to have some luck on her side and show how potent her TMR team really is.
“This is a great operation with a lot of great support,” sounded Dufault. “VR-12 and Dodge Motorsports have poured their faith and trust in our young team to go out there and produce good finishes. We’ve had those but we’re looking for more. Hopefully Chicagoland will be a race that we can find ourselves competitive right out of the box and earn our first top-10 of the year.”
For car owner Tony Marks, the continued trust of his leaders at TMR and his confidence of Dufault have him thinking extremely positive for Saturday’s race.
“We’re looking forward to our first mile and a half track this weekend,” said Marks, a racer himself. “The whole team has been focused on making sure we go to Chicagoland with a mission to show that our team is capable of running up front and staying there. It will be another weekend of learning for us, but in the end we’re hoping for a great finish for VR-12, Dodge and all those who support TMR.” The Messina Animal Wildlife Stopper 150 (100 laps / 150 miles) is the sixth of 19 events on the 2011 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards schedule. The 11th ARCA event held at Chicagoland Speedway is a two-day show.Practice begins Friday, June 3 with a one hour and twenty minute practice session planned from 2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying is slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 4. The field will take the green flag shortly after 5:00 p.m. The event will be televised same-day delayed on SPEED beginning at 10:00 p.m. CST / 11:00 p.m. EST. Live timing and scoring throughout the 1,318 race for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards since it was formed in 1953 will be available through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com presented by ARCANation.com. All times are local.
For additional information on TMT, Inc. please visit; tmtcompanies.net. For more on Maryeve Dufault, please log onto Maryeveracing.com To learn more about Tony Marks Racing, please click over to Tmr-racing.com See the buzz that VR-12 is creating by clicking over to their website at VR-12.com. Quench yourself with Victory Water, see how at Victoryh20.com.
About Tony Marks Racing (TMR):
Tony Marks Racing was founded in 2009 through the passion for racing of team owner and former driver Tony Marks. Marks is the successful owner of TMT, Inc., a logistics, warehousing and packaging company with over 400 employees whose customers are mainly comprised of Fortune 100 companies. Marks began his racing career in 1985 getting behind the wheel of everything from drag racers, Dirt Late Models, SCCA Formula Fords, USAC F2000 Open Wheel and ARCA cars. Tony personally raced until 2005 amassing numerous wins, championships and track records along the way until he then changed his focus from driver to owner and began building racing programs for his children Jared (16 years old) and Rachel (13 years old). Under the auspices of TMR, Jared began his racing career in 2002 in quarter midgets and now competes in late model, CRA, ASA and ARCA Series events while Rachel continues her development program racing quarter midgets and Bandoleros.
TMR has been at the forefront of charitable giving through its’ “Driving Against Hunger” and “Million Meal Challenge” race programs which have raised over $200,000 for Forgotten Harvest in 2010 at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series events at Michigan International Speedway.
For the NASCAR events TMR along with TMT, Inc. partnered with Forgotten Harvest for the “Million Meal Challenge For Our Kids” which helps to bridge the hunger gap while schools are out of session and feeds 20,000 children per day in the Detroit metro area. Forgotten Harvest was significantly displayed on the entry of Chase Austin during both the Truck and Nationwide events at Michigan International Speedway along with logos of “Million Meal Challenge” sponsors Walgreen’s, United Race Group, Holyfield’s Choice Alka-Power Water and Vitamin Spice. Evander Holyfield was also instrumental in the challenge, acting as Grand Marshall for the August race and announcing his “Fight Against Hunger” on behalf of Forgotten Harvest.
As the first race team to “Drive Against Hunger” through their partnership with Forgotten Harvest, TMR plans to continue their alliance with Forgotten Harvest and once again “Drive Against Hunger” during the 2011 season.
