ARCA Racing Series Presented by Menards Returns To Winchester Speedway
This weekend’s ninth race of the 2011 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season marks the return to Winchester after spending three years without going there.
After success last year and an eighth place finish back in May at Toledo Speedway, Dakoda Armstrong will once again team up with Cunningham Motorsports for the Winchester 200 presented by Federated Auto Parts at Winchester Speedway in Indiana on Saturday.
Crew Chief Paul Andrew is expecting good things following a test last week at the half-mile, 37-degree banked track.
“We did have a good test,” said Andrews. “We started with our Salem setup and tuned on it from there. Winchester is very similar to Salem, just much smoother. Our times on the longer runs were very consistent and our mock qualifying lap was good. With the history of the track and all of the laps that Dakoda has on the track, we are hoping for good things.”
The Newcastle, Indiana native has had success in ARCA before as he was crowned the 2010 ARCA Racing Series Rookie of the Year with two wins – Talladega and Salem.
This marks the first race for the ARCA Series at Winchester Speedway since 2007.
“It’s important for the ARCA Racing Series to go back to Winchester Speedway,” ARCA president Ron Drager said. “It’s exactly the type of Midwestern facility where the ARCA brand is well-known and has the chance to be successful. Winchester is big enough and fast enough to play to the very nature of our cars.”
When Armstrong got the news, he jumped at the opportunity to run it.
“(I am) excited about racing again at Winchester,” Armstrong said. “I really like the track. After our test last week and the similarities Winchester has to Salem, where we run well, I am expecting a good run.”
Meanwhile, series veteran Frank Kimmel has a lot of experience at Winchester and leads the series in victories at Winchester with five.
“Winchester is exactly the kind of track we need to be racing at,” the Indiana,native said. “It’s perfect for these big heavy stock cars, and what a show. I think Winchester is one of the best half-miles in the country, bar none. When it was repaved, I thought it wasn’t going to be as good, but it actually got a lot better. It made a lane in the middle and made it a really racy race track.”
Racing began at Winchester in 1914 as it was originally a flat half-mile dirt oval, with the banking added in 1922. It would then become an asphalt oval in 1952, followed by a re-paving in 1995.
“Before they repaved it, it was a lot like Salem where you had really only one good lane to work with – through the middle in one and two and higher up in three and four,” Kimmel said. “But now, you can put the car about anywhere on the track. You can actually pass someone without running them over.”
The return to Winchester marks the first race at the track on the short track radial tire, which Hoosier introduced in 2008.
“The speeds will be up,” Kimmel, who sits second in points behind Ty Dillon, said. “The radial is just a better tire than the bias-ply so I’m curious to see how that could affect the outcome.”
The Winchester ARCA 200 presented by Federated Auto Parts is a one-day event, with a 90-minute practice session beginning Saturday at 1:45 p.m. Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell will take place at 4:45, with a 45-minute autograph session at 6:45. The 200-lap, 100-mile event begins at 8. Live timing and scoring for all of the events will be featured at ARCARacing.com.
Race #4 for NASCAR Canadian Tire Series: Vortex Brake Pads 200 at Mosport
Opening in 1961, Mosport International Raceway is a track that many Canadian motorsports fan know of and have been too. The 10-turn, 2.459-mile road course also has been on the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series schedule since the first year in 2007.
On that first race on June 17, 2007, it was then 20-year-old Andrew Ranger winning the event in just his third stock car start after switching from open-wheel racing. Ranger won the 2009 event, as well, though will not be racing in this year’s event.
Winning the other two races was JR Fitzpatrick, who will attempt the Road America-Mosport double. On Saturday June 25th, he will run the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Road America for Go Canada Racing after scoring a top 10 there last year for JR Motorsports. He follow that by running the Vortex Brake Pads 200 on Sunday at Mosport. The Cambridge, Ontario native has led 72 laps on the Mosport road course and is known for how he runs on them as five of his six career wins have come on road courses. So far this year, he has had a successful start to the season, finishing in the top 10 all three races.
The 10-turn course, though, will pose a chalelnge as according to Robin Buck, series competitor and instructor.
“The pretty drastic elevation change along with a couple blind turns makes Mosport fairly unique,” Buck, who got his career win earlier this year at Circuit ICAR, said. “It’s a driver’s course, but long straightaway from Moss Corner to The Esses requires horsepower regardless of what kind of car you are in.”
One of the parts of the track to watch is the Mario Andretti Straightaway.
“If you have a car that can’t pull up that straightaway, then you’re going to have a long day at Mosport,” Fitzpatrick said.
Another part of the race to watch will be the pit stops as with this being the longest of the five road courses, it requires at least one pit stop. Once a caution comes out, teams will have a tough decision to make as series rules mandate teams cannot change tires and fuel the car under the same stop.
“There’s going to be a caution at some point,” veteran driver Kerry Micks said. “The odds of the race going green-white-checkered are pretty slim. So, when a caution does come, you have to decide what’s most important at the time – fuel or tires. Obviously, a fuel stop under green is easier than changing tires but everything depends on those yellows.”
Last year, Micks scored his best finish ever at Mosport as he finished fifth, well the previous three starts resulted in a high finish of 16th. He has had success on the road courses despite that as he has two road course wins, both coming in 2007.
Depending on how a driver works the strategy and drives the course will depend if they find success or not. For those who do, it will mean a lot.
“Practically every racing fan in Canada has heard of Mosport and knows of its history,” defending champion DJ Kennington said. “For sponsors, it’s an easy drive from Toronto. The setting at the track is comfortable. It’s not cramped. All in all, it’s a good setting and if your sponsors are there, then you want to win.”
Red Bull’s Jay Frye Speaks Out About Future of Team to The Media
This morning Jay Frye, General Manager and Vice President of Red Bull Racing Team, had a teleconference to answer questions from the media concerning the story that surfaced last week about Red Bull Racing possibly leaving the NASCAR series.
Frye started off the 40 minute conference by saying that Red Bull Racing is looking for a potential investor or sponsor to take over the day to day operations of the organization for the upcoming 2012 season.
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[/media-credit]Frye did mention the team would continue until the end of the current season under the Red Bull Banner, and could possibly field a two-car race team next season to give them more time to find an investor by financing the team for one more year.
Frye did say said that, “There are some potential investors outside of motorsports who might be willing to invest in the team”, which would include the race shop, as well as the cars and other equipment that would be needed to run the team.
Frye added that, “We’re very enthused and excited about some of the prospects and things we have got going on. This process has just started, and there have been a lot of inquiries based on what happened yesterday, in addition to some other people we already were talking to.”
As far as which manufacturer or eventual sponsor the new team owner would work with, Frye said that decision would be left to the new owner. As far as the speculating that surrounded Kasey Kahne signing with Hendrick Motorsport to take over Mark Martin’s seat in 2012, then driving for RBR in 2011 with the possibility that Hendrick might be interested in starting a satellite team in 2012.
That theory was quickly put to rest when Frye said that, Hendrick’s involvement was purely based on his 30 years of knowledge in the sport, and that Hendrick never showed any interest of wanting to buy the team.
Frye also said that he was hoping to begin talking with an investor within the next 30-45 days, but knew that it’s impossible to put a time frame on when and where any negotiations will actually take place.
With Kasey Kahne moving over to Hendrick Motorsports, and Brian Vickers contract running out at the end of the year, that would leave the team without a driver for next season. The focus right now is first get an investor, then worry about who will drive for them which shouldn’t be a big problem when you look at the talent coming up from the Nationwide and Truck series. “We’re very keen and very encouraged about the prospects of everything moving forward.”
