Press Release-Schrader or Illinois Native Could Win 44th Federated Southern Illinois 100 at DuQuoin as ARCA Chase Goes to Wire!!

Schrader Still Seeking Elusive DuQuoin Win
 as Kimmel Drives for Title

The twenty-seven year quest of a NASCAR invader to win at DuQuoin, one of
the closest point battles in ARCA RE/MAX history and the good chance that
the first Duquoin stock car victory for a downstate Illinois driver in
twenty four years could happen on Labor Day are just a few of the reasons
that Southern Illinois race fans are eagerly anticipating the 54th running
of the Federated Car Care-Illinois 100 for the ARCA RE/MAX Stock Car Series
at the DuQuoin State Fair on Monday, September 4.  DuQuoin State Fair
promoter Bob Sargent of Track Enterprises has posted a purse of well over
$100,000 in cash and prizes as the 'Magic Mile' celebrates sixty years of
existence as one of the premier dirt tracks in the country.

At least one NASCAR star made his intentions known when he filed an entry
for the Federated-Southern Illinois 100 over the winter. A number of ARCA
drivers have advanced to the three top NASCAR series competing today but the
return trip of ARCA “agitators” as they have been humorously dubbed by
writers began in earnest in 2001 when no less than Tony Stewart, Ken
Schrader and Andy Petree entered the Southern Illinois 100. So great was
Stewart’s desire to win one of the coveted 100-mile dirt track events that
he purchased his own car in 2003 and won the 100-mile classic after
capturing the pole position. Schrader, the driver of the Wood Brothers Ford
on the NASCAR Nextel Cup circuit was one of the first entries for the
Southern Illinois 100 bringing his Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet back to
DuQuoin in his quest to win on the dirt mile closest to his Fenton, Missouri
home. Schrader made his USAC Stock Car debut at DuQuoin in 1979 but in the
last 26 years has yet to post a victory at DuQuoin. The “Magic Mile” is the
lone one-mile dirt track in the Midwest on which Schrader has yet to win a
main event race in any type of machine. Like Schrader, any appearance by any
of the NASCAR Nextel Cup cars who are interested in racing full bodied stock
cars on the dirt is contingent upon the weather and flight from the NASCAR
event at the California Speedway the night before the Southern Illinois 100.

Lady Luck and a field of around forty drivers are the obstacles that Ken
Schrader and any fellow “ARCA agitators” will encounter at the Southern
Illinois 100 on Labor Day. Certainly not the least of those obstacles is
four-time Southern Illinois 100 winner and seven-time ARCA national driving
champion Frank Kimmel of Clarksville, Indiana. The forty-four year old
Kimmel has become quite accustomed to the dirt surfaces and is the all-time
career win leader of ARCA dirt races. Kimmel’s success in the ARCA series
led to an invitation to participate in the International Race of Champions
in 2006 and the Indiana native needs just one more Southern Illinois 100 to
tie the record for wins held by the late Dean Roper. As the driver of the
Advance Auto Parts-Pork Ford Taurus, Kimmel currently leads the ARCA RE/MAX
points by a slim margin over veteran Bobby Gerhart.

A former dirt track modified driver from Pennsylvania Gerhart is no stranger
to ARCA or the dirt miles of the Midwest. He originally had planned only a
limited schedule but a win at Daytona in February and leading the point
standings for a good portion of the first half of the season have him trying
to secure his first ARCA crown. Currently fourth in the ARCA point standings
is Washington’s Damon Lusk, returning full time to the ARCA series after a
short lived NASCAR stint. Third is young Ryan Foster of Arkansas, Kimmel’s
teammate. Fifth is veteran Ken Weaver of Texas, followed by former ARCA
truck competitor and RE/MAX rookie Brett Rowe of West Virginia. Tied for
seventh are young Ryan Howard of Indiana and Texas veteran Chuck Weber,
while two second generation drivers round out the top ten. Former Chicagoan
Billy Venturini won his first ever ARCA race this season at Salem driving
for his father while Todd Bowsher has rebounded from the loss of his father
over the winter, team owner Jack Bowsher was a former winner of the Southern
Illinois 100 and ARCA champion.

ARCA brings a diverse field of experienced drivers and eager youngsters
representing at least sixteen states in the entry list.  ARCA regulars
expected at DuQuoin include Andy Belmont of Pennsylvania, Tim Mitchell of
Tennessee, Mark Gibson of Georgia, Jason Hedlesky of Michigan, David Boggs
of South Carolina and Mike Harmon of Alabama. Promising rookie Blake
Bjorkland of Minnesota has indicated he will run the full series, and it is
possible that veteran Brent Sherman of northern Illinois could return to
DuQuoin since he has come back to ARCA after vacating his ride in the NASCAR
Nextel Cup series.

Illinois natives may have their best chance in years at taking home a
Southern Illinois 100 trophy in 2006, led by the winner of the Allen Crowe
100 at Springfield two weeks ago.  Twenty year old Justin Allgaier became
the first Springfield driver in the 72 year history of national championship
racing on the Illinois State Fair mile to post a win in a national
championship event.  The roar of a large partisan crowd could be heard over
the engines as Allgaier passed veteran Bob Strait on the last lap for an
emotional win, his first ever in ARCA competition.  Allgaier led 41 laps of
last year's Federated-Southern Illinois 100 and could be one of three
drivers to pull double duty at DuQuoin on Labor Day weekend, running both
the Ted Horn 100 USAC Silver crown event and the Southern Illinois 100.
Another driver with an excellent chance to win at DuQuoin is 1991 Southern
Illinois 100 winner Bob Strait of Mokena.  The veteran looked poised to post
a popular win at Springfield for the Normal, Illinois based Hendren team but
had to settle for a top five finish when passed on the last circuit.  A
DuQuoin win by the Hendren team would be just as popular, the team won the
pole at DuQuoin twice with Ken Rowley at the wheel and has been running the
Illinois dirt since 1974.

A third Illinois native harbors a lifelong dream of winning the Southern
Illinois 100 and should he capture that elusive win his hometown of
Centralia might explode with pride. Long-time ARCA racer Joe Cooksey became
the first Southern Illinois based driver to win the ARCA Pork Pole at
DuQuoin when he set fast time in 2000 and Cooksey has always run near the
front of the Federated-Southern Illinois 100. Galesburg’s A.J. Fike may
return for double duty in 2006, while Springfield’s Wes O’Dell and Kelly
Kovski have plans to make the trek south to DuQuoin. There are two other
teams south of Interstate 64 in Illinois with ARCA machines but they have
yet to make it known if they will compete at DuQuoin.

Missouri native Doug Keller ran very strong in 2005 and is an entrant once
again in 2006 for the ARCA dirt events. Sturgis, Kentucky veteran Bill Baird
now lives in Florida with wife Jan but came out of retirement to run the
dirt and Springfield and DuQuoin in 2005 and may return again in 2006. Baird
is a former ARCA champion and two-time race winner of the Allen Crowe 100 at
Springfield.

One other driver of note who could be on the DuQuoin ARCA entry list is
Brian Tyler of Parma, Michigan.  The thirty eight year old Tyler currently
leads the USAC Silver Crown point chase and indicated at Springfield that
owner Rich Woodland might bring back his DuQuoin pole winning car from a
year ago.  When Tyler smashed Tony' Stewart's DuQuoin track record last year
it marked the fifth consecutive year that a driver with significant open
wheel experience set fast time for the ARCA RE/MAX series at DuQuoin.

Forty drivers and teams continue a stock car racing tradition in DuQuoin
that began in 1950 and a Labor Day racing tradition on the “Magic Mile” that
started in the late 1940’s. After Bill Hayes finished construction of the
mile dirt track on the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds after World War II, he
sought an American Automobile Association national championship race for the
facility and in 1948 received not only one, but two such events. As the
popularity of auto racing grew in the Southern Illinois mining community and
the popularity of stock car racing grew in the United States, Hayes added a
100-mile AAA stock car race in 1950, and the hard tops returned in 1954 to
become an annual staple of the DuQuoin State Fair entertainment lineup.

Famed drivers such as Jimmy Bryan, Fred Lorenzen, Norm Nelson, Don White,
AJ. Foyt, Butch Hartman and Rusty Wallace all captured USAC Stock Car races
before large crowds at the “Magic Mile”. In the 1980’s, Dean Roper emerged
as the master of the mile dirt track winning events under the USAC banner,
and the ARCA banner when they assumed control of the Southern Illinois 100
in 1985. In 1984, the distance of the stock car race was doubled to 200
miles and ARCA stars Roper, Bob Keselowski and Bob Brevak won the 200-mile
grind. Alabama’s Billy Thomas established himself as a DuQuoin favorite
winning at the 250-kilometer distance and three more times after the race
was returned to the 100-mile distance in 1996.

The best of the ARCA RE/MAX series, open wheel drivers, NASCAR shoes and
local pilots all hope to add their name to the DuQuoin winners list on Labor
Day, September 4. Practice for the Federated-Southern Illinois 100 is slated
to begin at 9 a.m., with Pork Pole qualifying at approximately 11. The
20-mile Bill Oldani Memorial for UMP Modifieds is slated prior to the
Southern Illinois 100, with Marion, Illinois’ Jeff Parks the defending
Oldani winner. The 100-mile Federated-Southern Illinois 100 is scheduled to
be pushed off at approximately 1 p.m.

For the first time in history a third feature race will also take place on
Labor Day as the Best Wester Challenge for the C.A.R.S. Late Models,
postponed from August 27 will be run as well.  Ken Schrader is also expected
for that event having set fast time for the C.A.R.S. series on August 27.

Tickets are $20 in advance for adults and $10 in advance for children and
can be purchased at the DuQuoin
State Fair Box Office at 618-542-1535, Track Enterprises at 217-764-3200 or
at any Ticketmaster location.
Additional information can be found on the ARCA RE/MAX series at
www.arcaracing.com or
www.trackenterprises.com.

2006 ARCA RE/MAX Series Schedule
DATE TRACK LOCATION TRACK
2-11 Daytona Int'l Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida 2.5 paved
4-15 Nashville Superspeedway Lebanon, Tennessee 1.33 concrete
4-23 Salem Speedway Salem, Indiana .555 paved
5-7 Winchester Speedway Winchester, Indiana .5 paved
5-13 Kentucky Speedway Sparta, Kentucky 1.5 paved
5-21 Toledo Speedway Toledo, Ohio .5 paved
6-10 Pocono Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania 2.5 paved
6-16 Michigan Int'l Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan 2 paved
7-1 Kansas Speedway Kansas City, Kansas 1.5 paved
7-7 Kentucky Speedway Sparta, Kentucky 1.5 paved
7-15 Berlin Raceway Marne, Michigan .4 paved
7-22 Pocono Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania 2.5 paved
7-28 Gateway Int'l Raceway Madison, Illinois 1.25 paved
8-12 Nashville Superspeedway Lebanon, Tennessee 1.33 concrete
8-18 Michigan Int'l Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan 2 paved
8-20 Illinois State Fairgrounds Springfield, Illinois 1 clay
8-27 Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 1 paved
9-1 Toledo Speedway Toledo, Ohio .5 paved
9-4 DuQuoin State Fairgrounds DuQuoin, Illinois 1 clay
9-9 Chicagoland Speedway Joliet, Illinois 1.5 paved
9-16 Salem Speedway Salem, Indiana .555 paved
10-6 Talladega Superspeedway Talladega, Alabama 2.66 paved
10-15 Iowa Speedway Newton, Iowa .875 paved