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ARCA: Tim Steele earns Bill France Triple Crown

19 October 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Toledo, Ohio,- Three-time ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series champion Tim Steele, by virtue of his runner-up finish in the Winn-Dixie 300 at Talladega Superspeedway, has clinched this year's Bill France Triple Crown award.

The highly-prestigious honor, representing three very diverse venues, best exemplifies ARCA's versatility. The award is unique in that it is an accumulation of points at the half-mile Salem Speedway, the Illinois State Fairgrounds dirt-mile in Springfield and the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. Steele's second place finish at Talladega combined with a second at Salem and seventh at Springfield pushed the all-time ARCA superspeedway winner ahead of Frank Kimmel by 20 points to earn the top honor. Veteran Bobby Gerhart finished third 60 points in back of Steele.

"It means a lot to us, that's for sure," said Steele. "Our ultimate goal is always the championship, but if we don't win that, this is one of the next best things."

Having missed the Daytona season-opener, the Coopersville, Michigan driver was at an immediate disadvantage in the overall season championship. However, the HS Die-Softech Ford driver recently moved into second ahead of Bob Strait, and trails Kimmel by 295 markers heading into the season finale Georgia Boot 400 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway on Nov. 18.

Text Provided By ARCA

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