Score another one for one of the nicest drivers to ever wheel a stock car. The Labor Day Southern Illinois 100 ARCA Stock Car Race on the famed DuQuoin Mile dirt track closed the 91st edition of the DuQuoin State Fair.
When the checkers flew, nice guy Kenny Schrader, originally hailing from Fenton, Missouri, had broken his own record, set in May at Toledo, as the oldest driver (58) to ever win an ARCA stock car race.
Seems like just yesterday that I watched Kenny climb into Elmo Langley's beat up orange #64 for his first NASCAR race - at Nashville on July 14, 1984. Ford had hooked him up with Elmo as a development driver for Ford. Unfortunately for Ford, the winning Nashville car owner, Rick Hendrick, was also watching and liking what he saw. Hendrick would later "steal" Schrader from under Ford's nose and sign him to drive for Hendrick Motorsports Chevy teams. Same thing Hendrick later did to Ford again, stealing Jeff Gordon.
My own personal memory from DuQuoin - albeit from a two wheel series
Here's the recap from ARCA with a video link below the results:
Schrader on the win: 'Too much fun '
DuQUOIN, Ill. Sept. 2, 2013 Ken Schrader won the Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Car Care Monday, surviving a green-white-checkered finish to win for the second time this season in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards.
Schrader, in the No. 52 Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet, won the pole, led the first 41 laps and led when it counted, the finish. He passed Tom Hessert in the No. 77 Barberas Autoland Dodge, just before a caution came out to set up the green-white-checkered finish. As cars fought for position, Hessert made his move but couldnt get any closer to Schrader.
That was just too much fun, Schrader said in victory lane. It was his 17th career ARCA victory.
Hessert took the lead during a wild middle part of the race that saw several lead changes and door-to-door racing. At one point, Frank Kimmel took the lead on a three-wide pass in front of the main DuQuoin grandstand. A few laps later, he found himself in fifth position and Hessert grabbed the top spot.
Meanwhile, Schrader knifed his way through traffic and got to second, behind Hessert.
We pitted late, like around lap 40, and we came back out eighth, then we got to sixth. A couple things happened and we got to second, Schrader said. I thought we might be done if Tom didnt have problems. He got just a little bit high with a half dozen laps to go and that opened the doors for us.
Schrader took the lead coming out of turn two.
That was it, he said. That made all of the difference. He got up high an extra foot there. If not, I never would have got around him.
Hessert said he just a real small mistake, but it was enough for Schrader to win the race, which officially took 102 laps.
He is so good at this place, Hessert said. He runs so well here. We do, too. Man, we were so close.
Venturini Motorsports driver Justin Boston, in the No. 25 ZLOOP Computer & Electronics Recycling Toyota, passed his teammate Brennan Poole on the final lap to finish third, Poole, in the No. 15 Venturini Motorsports Toyota, finished fourth. Chris Windom, in the Roulo Brothers Racing No. 17 Ford, rounded out the top five. Mason Mitchell was sixth in the Empire Racing-Happy Cheeks Ford with Kimmel seventh, Kelly Kovski eighth, A.J. Fike ninth and Taylor Ferns 10th.
Boston, Poole and Ferns gave Venturini Motorsports three top 10 finishes.
SCOTT Rookie Challenge winner Boston finished in the top 10 for the seventh straight week. He seemed to be in the top five the whole race.
I was really just trying to be cautious as possible while being aggressive, Boston said. I just tried to be consistent and not make any mistakes and let everyone else make mistakes. We had really good track position today and it paid off for us.
Fourteen cars finished on the lead lap, including Jason Basham in 14th place in the Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet. Josh Williams, in the No. 99 Allegiant Travel-Roulo Brothers Racing Ford finished 13th after having to change engines and Ryan Unzicker finished 11th place, including a highlight-reel save on the front stretch when he avoided crashing into a spinning Kimmel.
Mason Mingus, the SCOTT Rookie Challenge leader and second in overall ARCA points, finished 12th in the 811 Call Before You Dig Toyota.
The traditional Labor Day race closed the 91st DuQuoin State Fair. Schrader has now won three poles and three races at the Magic Mile. He led 47 laps Monday.He became the oldest winner in series history at Toledo in May and set the mark again Monday.
Hessert led 33 laps and Windom 19.
There were eight cautions for 34 laps for the race, which took 1 hour and 19 minutes to complete.
Race Results
2013 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards Event #17
DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, DuQuoin Illinois, 9-2-13
Southern Illinois 100 presented Federated Car Care
Official Race Report
FIN STR NO DRIVER/HOMETOWN TEAM & CAR LAPS STATUS
1 1 52 Ken Schrader/Fenton MO Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet 102 Running
2 9 77 Tom Hessert/Cherry Hill NJ Barbera's Autoland Dodge 102 Running
3 6 25 Justin Boston/Baltimore MD ZLOOP Computer & Electronics Recycling Chevy 102 Running
4 4 15 Brennan Poole/The Woodlands TX Tork-BMRS Toyota 102 Running
5 5 17 Chris Windom/Canton IL Reliance Tool-Roulo Brothers Racing Ford 102 Running
6 11 82 Mason Mitchell/W. Des Moines IA Happy Cheeks Ford 102 Running
7 12 44 Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN Ansell-Menards Toyota 102 Running
8 2 16 Kelly Kovski/Springfield IL Billingsley EZ Car Wash Chevrolet 102 Running
9 8 11 A.J. Fike/Galesburg IL RFMS-Liberty Village Ford 102 Running
10 18 55 Taylor Ferns/Shelby Township MI Nat'l Auto Placement-Motor City Transport Toyota 102 Running
11 24 66 Ryan Unzicker/El Paso IL Hendren Motor Sports Chevrolet 102 Running
12 7 32 Mason Mingus/Brentwood TN 811 Call Before You Dig-Diamond Eqpmnt Chevy 102 Running
13 26 99 Josh Williams/Port Charlotte FL Allegiant Travel-Roulo Brothers Racing Ford 102 Running
14 19 34 Jason Basham/Henryville IN Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet 102 Running
15 3 22 Tyler Reddick/Corning CA Broken Bow Records-Cunningham Dodge 100 Running
16 15 35 Milka Duno/Caracas Venezuela Cantv-Milka Way Toyota 99 Running
17 25 5 Mark Littleton/Arenzville IL Mason Sound-ProBoat Chevrolet 99 Running
18 17 01 Austin Rettig/Sikeston MO Retco Trailer Manufacturing Dodge 98 Battery
19 16 56 Devin Steele/Stuart VA PHCC-AutosByNelson.com Dodge 98 Running
20 21 2 Thomas Praytor/Mobile AL Realtor Chevrolet 98 Running
21 20 24 Spencer Montgomery/Windsor IL SavMor Pharmacy-Cedar City Motors-JCC Chevy 97 Running
22 13 71 Shane Cockrum/Benton IL Illinois Lottery Ford 94 Accident
23 23 40 Dominick Casola/Holmdel NJ Carter 2 Motorsports Dodge 92 Running
24 10 69 Will Kimmel/Sellersburg IN Messina Wildlife Ford 72 Overhtng
25 14 10 Tyler Speer/Woodstock GA Mallory Marine Chevrolet 53 Overhtng
26 29 48 James Hylton/Inman SC Radon.com Ford 26 Handling
27 28 06 James Swanson/Clarksboro NJ GreatRailing.com-Wayne Peterson Racing Chevy 18 Accident
28 27 97 Roger Carter/Sunfield MI Carter 2 Motorsports Dodge 8 Engine
29 32 1 Michael Covington/Marshville NC Covington Racing Ford 7 Brakes
30 22 3 Josh White/Charleston WV Hixson Construction Chevrolet 6 Handling
31 30 68 Chris Bailey/South Park PA Clarksville Schwinn Ford 2 Vibration
32 31 02 Brad Smith/Shelby Township MI Josh Williams Motorsports Ford 0 Handling
89 Brad Dubil/Bettendorf IA JC Dubil-Uncle Joe's All Purpose Sauces Ford DNS
Menards Pole Award Presented by Ansell: Ken Schrader 34.351 (104.800 mph)
Margin of Victory: .565 seconds Cautions: 8 for 34 laps
Time of Race: 1:19:02 Average Speed: 77.428 mph
Lap Leaders: Schrader 1-41, 97-102 (47); Windom 42-60 (19); F. Kimmel 61-63 (3); Hessert 64-96 (33)
Link below of Video of Schrader doing it in the dirt at Duquoin:
http://www.arcaracing.com/videos.php?video_id=1965154
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM