Connected to ARCA’s Past, Charlson Has Career Day;

Connected to ARCA’s Past, Charlson Has Career Day;

News & Notes from ARCA’s Season Opener at Daytona

(TOLEDO, Ohio) – Drew Charlson had made just one ARCA Racing Series presented by
Menards start prior to Saturday’s Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200.

Last October, he finished an unremarkable 24th at Toledo Speedway, no surprise
for
a 17-year-old driver making his first competitive laps in the national tour. One
year ago, Charlson attempted to qualify at Daytona, but couldn’t make the
43-car
field.

Now 18 – and just eight days past that milestone birthday on Saturday afternoon
- Charlson improved upon his career debut and more than made up for last year’s
failure to start.

Charlson charged to the outside as race leader Brandon McReynolds ran out of gas
on the final lap of Saturday’s race, falling in line just behind Bobby Gerhart
and pushing the veteran to a win just as both cars approached the start/finish
line.
Gerhart’s win was his eighth in 25 starts, both Daytona ARCA records, and
Charlson
earned a runner-up finish that he’ll remember forever.

“Bobby’s spotter (Jason Jarrett) came on and he just said, ‘Stick with them,
stick
with them,’” Charlson said. “I stuck to his bumper and came out of the turn to
give
him a shove. It’s just amazing. This is my second ARCA start. We’re just a small
team working out of a two-car garage, and I can’t thank everyone – Aluma
Aluminum
Trailers, AgriGold, and Heitkamp Crop Insurance – enough. It was just awesome.”

With his Lap 83 heroics came the demise of the driver who had led Laps 19-82 -
64
in all: McReynolds.

“That’s got to be heartbreaking,” Charlson said, “to sit in the spot like he
did.
He led a lot of laps, and I feel for him. That’s just the way it goes.”

Charlson is from New Bremen, Ohio, the same town where sprint car driver Allen
Crowe
died in a racing accident in 1963. Crowe’s name is familiar to many in the ARCA
Racing Series; the Allen Crowe 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds is the
first
of ARCA’s dirt track races each summer. Likewise, New Bremen Speedway, the track
that took Crowe’s life, hosted six ARCA events between 1957 and 1973.

He plans to run at least two more ARCA events this season.

“Right now, we plan on running the Talladega race. Aluma has stepped on board.
Their
home track is Iowa Speedway, so we’re for sure doing those two tracks.
Anything’s
open right now.”

W. Kimmel Keeps it in One Piece, Earns Award: Will Kimmel’s No. 68 Ford stands
firmly
in the middle ground in the ARCA Racing Series. The family name rings well in
ARCA’s
60th Anniversary Season, a year celebrating many accomplishments of ARCA’s past
- including those of Kimmel’s father Bill, uncle Frank, and grandfather Bill.
Frank
is no longer part of the Kimmel Racing bunch, though, having departed for
ThorSport
Racing early in the offseason. The move leaves Will Kimmel as the face of a team
with plenty of fan support and a famed name, but no major sponsor.

That mattered little to Will Kimmel on Saturday, though, as he finished third in
the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200.

“Unbelievable,” Kimmel said. “I feel like we stole that race. It was just
unbelievable.
Me and my team, we (started) 21st. The car did not draft at all in happy hour;
it
ran away from other cars. I’m ecstatic now. (Enterprise Software Development) on
the quarter panel, Clarksville Schwinn and Crosley, they help out whenever they
can, and we have an all-volunteer crew. I’m just happy to be here. We came out
of here good.”

Asked about his plans to carry the Kimmel name forward from a team’s perspective
in the ARCA Racing Series, the 23-year-old from Sellersburg, Ind. spoke
uncertainly
about what was next but said he hopes to have a plan soon.

“Right now, I’m not sure,” he said. “I’m glad we got out of here in one piece
and
we’re going to roll the car back in the trailer, of course. It looks like we’re
going to go to Mobile. I’m sure we’ll figure something out, and run that, and
maybe
Salem and Talladega. We’ll see what happens.”

Another highlight of Kimmel’s day came in one of ARCA’s special award
categories,
as his rise of 18 spots from a 21st-place start gave him the first CGS Imaging
Hard
Charger of the Race Award for 2012. Bobby Gerhart’s 41-position rise is not
eligible
for the award since he started with a provisional spot.

Daytona the Debut for 10: Ryan Reed, driving Venturini Motorsports’ No. 15 JDRF
Chevrolet, finished best among the 10 drivers making their first career ARCA
Racing
Series start in Saturday’s race. Reed ran second to Brandon McReynolds for much
of the afternoon, but finished 12th – still good enough to top fellow debut
driver
Fain Skinner by three spots.

Zach Ralston (18th) and Brandon Davis (19th) each finished in the top 20 while
making
their maiden ARCA starts.

Nelson Canache Jr. (22nd), Paulie Harraka (26th), Larry Barford Jr. (28th),
Sloan
Henderson (40th), Aleks Gregory (41st), and Bill Coffey (42nd) all made ARCA
debuts.

Half of Top 10 New to Daytona: In all, 24 of the 43 drivers who started
Saturday’s
race had never competed in an ARCA Racing Series event at Daytona International
Speedway before this year.

Five of those drivers finished in the top 10, led by Charlson in second. Max
Gresham,
Brennan Poole, Chris Windom, and Alex Kennedy finished sixth through ninth,
respectively.

F. Kimmel Disappointed, but Encouraged: Frank Kimmel finished 23rd in the Lucas
Oil Slick Mist 200, the final driver on the lead lap after being penalized for
advancing
his position below the yellow line just before taking the checkered flag.

Kimmel was disappointed to miss his first Daytona victory in his 21st start at
the
track, and more frustrated with missing a sure top-10 finish because of the
official
decision. However, his run in the season opener has him feeling confident about
his chances in 2012 with his new team, ThorSport Racing.

“This definitely wasn’t the way we wanted to end this race,” said the driver of
the No. 44 Ansell/Menards Toyota, in a team press release. “It is an unfortunate
situation. We had a good car in practice and the guys really worked their tails
off to get this Daytona setup ready for us. This team just became a team six
weeks
ago, so it’s a testament to their hard work that we could bring it home in the
top
10. I understand the ruling, and again, it’s unfortunate, but it is the
sanctioning
body’s decision. We learned a lot today, and the positive is we’re that much
more
close as a team going into Mobile in March. We’ll get after it there.”

First Trip to Mobile Next: The next race for the ARCA Racing Series presented by
Menards takes place Saturday, March 10 at Mobile International Speedway, and
will
start at 2 p.m. Mobile will host practice and Menards Pole Qualifying presented
by Ansell on Friday, March 9. The event at Mobile will be ARCA’s first at the
track.