ARCA Goes Gateway

ARCA RE/MAX Series Goes Deeper Midwest; Goes Gateway Arch-Way
 

TOLEDO OH (7-1-04)  The Midwestern-based ARCA RE/MAX Series, in its 52nd season of competition, returns to some old roots when it drives deeper Midwest for the Shop 'n Save 150 on the 1.4-mile Gateway Int'l Raceway oval Friday night, July 16 in Madison, Illinois. The event is live on SPEED Channel from 9-11 pm eastern.

 

The RE/MAX Series made two previous appearances at Gateway, the most memorable of which made for a thrilling late-race duel between three-time series champion Tim Steele and series veteran Mark Gibson in 1997. Steele and Gibson traded the lead twice on the final lap before Gibson edged Steele at the line for his career-first series victory. Five-time series champion Frank Kimmel won the rain-shortened event at Gateway in 2001.

 

Initially, the RE/MAX Series first raced in the St. Louis market in 1986 when the now defunct St. Louis Int'l Raceway road course, which was located on the same grounds that Gateway Int'l currently inhabits, hosted the Busch ARCA 200 won by 19-time series winner Bob Schacht.  

 

The series, which opens its season each year at Daytona Int'l Speedway, is renowned for its diversity and competes at a variety of venues across the country including short-tracks, superspeedways, an occasional road course and even on dirt-tracks in nearby Springfield and DuQuoin, Illinois. 

 

Entrants for the Shop 'n Save 150 include NASCAR Nextel Cup-RE/MAX Series veteran Ken Schrader, 5-time RE/MAX Series champion Kimmel, third-generation racers Jason Jarrett and Billy Venturini as well as Pryor, Oklahoma's Christi Passmore and series veterans' Gibson, Brent Sherman, Todd Bowsher and Joe Cooksey to name a few. From the rookie ranks, expect series winner Ryan Hemphill, open-wheeler AJ Fike, Sparks Nevada driver TJ Bell and 18-year-old Brandon Knupp. Justin Allgaier, also 18, is entered from nearby Springfield, Illinois.

 

The race will serve as a preamble to the next-day NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers Ram Tough 200.