Baird Holds Off Kimmel on Springfield Mile-Dirt

ARCA Veterans Rule Springfield Mile-Dirt; Bill Baird Triumphs
By Don Radebaugh



SPRINGFIELD IL (8-22-04) Former ARCA RE/MAX Series champion Bill Baird came out of retirement following a two-year hiatus, dusted off the old car, and then dusted off five-time ARCA RE/MAX Series champion Frank Kimmel in the closing laps to win the thrilling 42nd annual Allen Crowe Memorial 100 Sunday afternoon at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois. 



In doing so, the 55-year-old Sturgis, Kentucky driver became the oldest winner in race history at the renowned central Illinois fairgrounds surpassing former Crowe 100 winners Sal Tovella and Bay Darnell, who were each 51 when they triumphed on the historic mile-dirt.



In addition, Baird, who hadn't raced anything since September of 2002, snapped Kimmel's four-race Springfield win streak. Kimmel, who led the most laps, hadn't been denied a Springfield victory since Baird out-dueled him on the last lap there in 1999. Baird's victory represented his sixth series triumph overall and second at Springfield. 



Baird and Kimmel were side-by-side with less than two laps remaining when Baird pulled out in front for good as they raced off turn four for the white flag.

Kimmel finished second in the Advance Auto Parts-Pork Ford one length away.



Norm Benning, in his own unsponsored Chevrolet, was stout all afternoon and finished a career-best third in front of Jason Jarrett, who finished fourth in the Gladiator GarageWorks-Bennigan's Chevrolet. Hueytown, Alabama legend Red Farmer, 71, finished fifth in the Bass Pro Shops-Tracker Boats Chevrolet making the average age among the top-five finishers, save Jarrett, 55 years old.



Benning, who gets by with a few volunteers throughout the year, earned the Gladiator GarageWorks Gladiator of the Race for his continual outstanding achievement.



While most of the front-runners made just one pitstop during the 100-mile event, Baird was forced to make two stops to change a right-rear tire that went down. Ironically, it was Kimmel's crew that serviced the car for Baird.



"I just really need to thank Frank Kimmel and all his guys," said Baird. "His crew changed my right-side tires when we had that tire go down. Frank let us work out of his hauler all day. This whole thing was sort of a fluke. I got to thinking about running Springfield and DuQuoin a couple months back; I still had one car left after we liquidated everything, so we put this deal together. We didn't really have a full crew so Frank and his guys came through for us. This was supposed to be our warm-up for DuQuoin. We just had a ball racin' with Frank out there today; beatin' and bangin' on one another. This is the greatest thing in the world."



Kimmel appeared to be on his way to a record-setting, unprecedented fifth straight win at Springfield before Baird fought his way from the tail-end to challenge. Joe Cooksey, who ran second for most of the race before his tire went flat, held off Baird lap after lap while Kimmel built a ten-length advantage. But once Baird cleared Cooksey, the eventual winner began tracking down Kimmel inside of 20 laps remaining. With 12 laps to go, Baird got within a length from Kimmel as the leaders approached lapped traffic. Coming off turn two, Kimmel went low under a lapped car while Baird went lower. Kimmel and Baird bounced off one another with Baird coming out on top before they got to turn three. 



Baird tried to pull away from Kimmel but caution after caution kept the field tightly bunched. With 100 laps used up, series officials lengthened the race to accommodate the ARCA-mandated green-white-checker finish. On the third attempt, Baird, doing everything he could to protect the preferred groove on the bottom, left too much open to the outside. Kimmel went for it and shot ahead of Baird from the high-side headed into turn one. Coming off turn two, Kimmel held the advantage before Baird charged back on the inside. The two veterans raced side-by-side into turn three with Baird coming out the leader as they charged off turn four headed for the white flag. 



Series rookie AJ Fike earned his career-first Pork Pole award and led the first 28 laps before Kimmel took the lead on lap 29.

 

Kimmel led through lap 87, earning the Bennigan's Halfway Lap Leader award, before Baird took control for good. Seven additional laps were added to get the green-white-checker finish. 



Fike, after pitting, charged from the tail-end to fourth in the closing laps but wrecked racing for position on the backstretch on the 100th lap. 



Brent Sherman, after an engine change earlier in the day, raced from the tail-end to finish sixth in the Serta Mattress-Hickory Farms Ford. Two-time series champion and Springfield winner Bobby Bowsher, who started 23rd, finished seventh in the Numerics Unlimited-Jack's Auto Body Ford ahead of Billy Venturini, who finished eighth in the Central Merchant Services Chevrolet. Bowsher also earned the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger award for advancing the most positions. Waukesha, Wisconsin driver Rick Tackman wowed the regulars with a solid ninth place finish in the Dick's Westridge Auto-Dixie Vending Ford. Springfield, Illinois favorite Justin Allgaier raced as high as third before locking horns with veteran Andy Belmont in turn three and four. Allgaier, from the tail-end with a very bent racecar, managed to finish 10th in the Hoosier Tire Midwest-Trashman Pontiac. 



Next action for the ARCA RE/MAX Series will involve a three-race trick in nine days beginning with Toledo Speedway on Friday, September 3, followed by the DuQuoin mile-dirt on September 6. Chicagoland Speedway wraps up the very diverse stretch Saturday, September 11. The Toledo and Chicagoland events are LIVE on SPEED Channel.



TOP-10 ARCA RE/MAX SERIES POINTS AFTER SPRINGFIELD    (8-22-04)  1) Frank Kimmel 4570; 2) Brent Sherman 3940; 3) Billy Venturini 3795; 4) Jason Jarrett 3620; 5) TJ Bell 3575; 6) Christi Passmore 3445; 7) AJ Fike 3425; 8) Mark Gibson 3375; 9) Todd Bowsher 3310; 10) Darrell Basham 3125.