TOLEDO, Ohio – official series release — ARCA photo —
The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards is headed back to Michigan Int’l Speedway for the 34th annual Corrigan Oil 200 on June 12.
Located in the Irish Hills of Brooklyn, Mich., the renowned two-mile superspeedway is about an hour away from ARCA’s Temperance, Michigan-based home office, and has long been considered the tour’s hometown superspeedway. The ARCA brand, originally born just south of the border in Toledo, Ohio, is well known and established in the area.
Venturini Motorsports is also becoming well known to area race fans. In fact, the longtime ARCA team has won the last two ARCA events at Michigan – with rookie Austin Theriault (right) last year and with Brennan Poole in 2013. This year, Venturini Motorsports is going for three consecutive wins at Michigan, and going with 10-time ARCA champion and two-time Michigan winner Frank Kimmel to help get the job done.
“Just to get to go to Michigan is such an honor,” said Kimmel, driver of the No. 25 Ansell-Menards Toyota. “It’s been around forever…such a historic track. It’s so smooth, big and wide…you can run right down on the bottom or you can run all the way right up against the wall. You can run anywhere on the racetrack you want so if the car’s not working where you want it to, you try to move somewhere else and get it better. You’ve got options at Michigan. It’s one of my favorite places.”
Kimmel’s first victory at Michigan was in 1998, the year he won his first national championship. The Clarksville, Indiana second-generation racer also drove to Victory Lane at Michigan in 2005, but none since. He thinks his chances this year are better than ever.
“Anytime you climb in a Venturini car, you absolutely know you’ve got a shot to win no matter what track you’re at. I know I’m going to be in a really good car…I just need to do my part and finish the job. The Venturinis are really good at that place, and I’ve got a few laps around there too, so I’m very excited about our chances.”
ARCA’s relationship with Michigan reaches back to 1980 when Joe Ruttman won the inaugural ARCA race event from the pole. Other former Michigan ARCA winners over the decades include Bob Keselowski, Jeff Purvis, Tim Steele, Kerry Earnhardt, Casey Mears, Reed Sorenson, Steve Wallace, Parker Kligerman, Ty Dillon and Chris Buescher, to name a few. There hasn’t been a repeat ARCA winner at Michigan since Steele pulled off the feat in 1996 and 1997.
CREDIT: ARCA Racing Series
