Category: Featured Other Series

After a month off, the ARCA Menard Series returned to action this weekend at the historic Salem Speedway located in Salem, Indiana.

Michael Self was coming off a win at Pensacola before going in to a month break and returning to Salem in hopes of continuing his winning dominance.

The weather was the talk of the day as it rained just hours before the start of the race. But the rained cleared and the race was able to get started on time. Unfortunately, mother nature returned again on lap 97 and thus the cars were brought down on pit road on lap 102.

After a 30 minute red flag, the ARCA officials called it official and Michael Self was declared the winner.

“The first 15 laps, we were a little on balance and the car was a little rough through (Turns) 3&4, and I was afraid that was something we was going to have to deal with,” Self told MAVTV. “It just never fell off, that’s so bizzare here. Usually here (Salem Speedway), you’re going to get a car one way or another with how abrasive this place is.”

“You’re either going to loose drive or front turn,” he continued to MAVTV. “We just didn’t all day and the car stayed so neutral when we got back out to the lead, and I would back off 40 percent in the lead was able to still turn good lap times. I just think it speaks volumes to what Shannon (Rursch, Crew Chief) is doing. The chemistry he and I have right now as far as him building the cars, understanding what I want, feedback and what we want from a setup standpoint and we just nailed it. We continue to get better every single week. To come have a car like that and be able to run a 40 to 50 percent pace, and still be two to three tenths faster than the next guy back there, it’s just a feeling to stride for. I haven’t had many of those in my racing career.”

16-year old Carson Hocevar won the pole during Saturday afternoon with Christian Eckes alongside him. However, Eckes fell ill last night and wasn’t able to race, thus seeing Harrison Burton subbed in instead and having to drop back to the rear.

It didn’t take long for Self to get to the front, as he passed Ty Gibbs for second on lap 18 and eventually took the lead on lap 27.

It was a relatively clean race, which is unusual for the ARCA Menards Series. There were some notable close incidents however.

On lap 10, Tanner Gray bounced off the wall and got damage on his right side. There was a four way battle for position between Sam Mayer, Gray, Burton and Bret Holmes. Lap 34 saw Gray and Mayer have a close call between each other in Turn 2 while trying to pass the lapped machine of Morgan Baird.

The first sights of mother nature was seen on lap 52, where sprinkles were being seen and felt in the grandstands. The race stayed green and Self continued to put on a dominating performance by having just ten cars on the lead lap on lap 58.

He was able to lap up to sixth place, leaving just five cars on the lead lap on lap 68. Lap 85 saw Travis Braden go to pit road after hitting the wall and receiving right front damage to his No. 27 machine.

The first caution of the day fell on lap 88 for Gibbs and Mayer, who both wrecked in Turn 2 after battling for third. Both would escape clean without damage to either vehicle. Carson Hocever would receive the free pass.

With rain in the area, it put race leader, Michael Self in a difficult position whether to pit or not to pit. He decided to pit, while a few others would stay out in hopes of the rain to start downpouring.

That was not the case, as the race went back green on lap 95 but two laps later the skies opened up, and the yellow flag was brought out once more. Chandler Smith stayed out in hopes of it raining earlier, but Self got around him for the lead and eventually the race win.

ARCA officials called it for the rest of the day and Michael Self was declared the victor on lap 102 of the 200 lap race.

For Self, however, he has had experience in that car before and some success as well.

“I’ve had some big wrecks in that car,” Self said to MAVTV in his post race interview. “That car has kind of been pieced together a few times. We ran that car last year at Michigan, Chicago, Kansas and ran it here, IRP, Iowa.”

“That was my car,” Self continued in his post race interview with MAVTV. “It was comfortable and a good car, and we could switch it around. We always have really good speed in that car, it was a little hard to get a handle sometimes since the car was a little more aggressive so to speak. Like a little more stiffer and rigid feeling cars that we had there, but we had speed a lot of speed. This year, we will bring it back to the fall, some more tracks and take our Pensacola car/this one to swap them back and forth. We got a new intermediate car that we are really excited about, everyone at Venturini (Motorsports) does. So hopefully at Charlotte and Pocono, those cars run like we did here today. Everyone at Venturini Motorsports does a great job putting these cars together, I think the resources we have at Toyota right now, they give us so much to Billy (Venturini), Kevin (Reed), Shannon (Rursch). It just makes it huge to our Sinclair team to have confidence every single week, no matter what car we run or what track we are at.”

It was Venturini Motorsports third consecutive win of the season and Self’s second consecutive win of the season, and his first victory at Salem Speedway.

Harrison Burton (No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota) drove to victory in Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire at Daytona International Speedway. It was Burton’s first start of any type at Daytona.

“It means so much to come here and win at a track my dad won at before me,” Burton said. “I can’t thank my guys at Venturini Motorsports enough, they busted their butts on this car for the last month to get it so we can come here and compete to win.

“We had some debris on the grille over the last run and I think it actually helped. The temperatures went up but they weren’t too high. I got the jump on the restart and I knew Todd was on a run. We were up high next to the wall and I looked up and saw no one had a run. I knew that any time something bad could happen, and I was just waiting for it. It never did and then when I crossed the line I started screaming my head off.”

Burton held off Todd Gilliland (No. 4 Frontline Enterprises Toyota) on a one-lap overtime dash to the checkered.

“I could go wherever I wanted with this car,” Gilliland said. “No matter what line I was in, we could go to the front and help the whole line. It was a shame I couldn’t get up there and beat my Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate for the win, but we learned a lot for next week.

Gilliland planned on riding at the back in the early stages of the race then charging to the front at the end. He was able to team up with Brandon McReynolds (No. 28 US Work Boats Toyota) but McReyolds was involved in a crash that sent the race into overtime. From there, it was a one lap dash to the finish, and Gilliland tried to outduel Burton, but couldn’t make it stick on the final lap around.

“There’s still a lot to be learned,” Gilliland said. “I think I learned a lot for next week. It would have been great to get up there and race Harrison tonight but I think what I learned will be a huge help when we get back here in the Truck next week.”

Grant Quinlan (No. 30 Jones Demolition & Abatement Ford) finished third. Quinlan’s team owner, Terry Jones, finished second here in 2017, and Quinlan, a former ARCA/CRA Super Series late model champion also capitalized in a rare superspeedway start.

“I don’t do a lot of superspeedway racing,” he said. “It’s a lot different than what I am used to. We hooked up with Todd (Gilliland) and went to the front late in the race. We had some debris on the grille and had to make a second pit stop but thankfully he was back there too and we could work our way up to the front together.”

Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota), the General Tire Pole Award winner, lined up second on the final restart and ended up fourth.

“I thought we had a little bit better car than Harrison did but that’s speedway racing,” Eckes said. “We just weren’t in the right line on the restart. As far as the points are concerned it was a good day. It would have been good to win here but we’re happy to get a good start on the championship.”

There were five cautions for incidents which consumed 30 laps, the final one of which sent the race into overtime. The first accident of the night involved defending race winner Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) and last year’s runner-up finisher Willie Mullins (No. 3 County Waste Systems Ford) tangled on the back stretch, cutting their day short.

Other incidents involved Eric Caudell (No. 2 Caudell Consulting & Marketing Ford), Thad Moffitt (No. 46 Performance Plus Oil Chevrolet), Paul Williamson (No. 36 Vizion Motorsports Toyota), J.J. Pack (No. 61 IceBoxx Customs Toyota), Brandon McReynolds, and Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet). There were no injuries in any of the incidents.

Burton led three times for 48 laps. Other leaders included Eckes, who led 9 laps from pole, Gus Dean (No. 32 CAB Installers Chevrolet), who led 29 laps. There were five lead changes among three drivers.

The next race for the ARCA Menards Series is the ARCA Pensacola 200 at Five Flags Speedway, scheduled for Saturday, March 9. The race will be live on MAVTV at 8 pm ET; ARCARacing.com will have live timing & scoring, live chat, and live track updates free for registered users.

The Stephen Cox Blog is presented by “Corvette Miracle: The 1970 24 Hours of Daytona”

Winchester Speedway’s web site advertises the track as the “world’s fastest half mile.” And now we know why. The recent discovery of a handwritten 1922 letter offers a few small clues as to how builder Frank Funk constructed a facility that still holds the world record for half mile tracks more than a century later.

Frank Funk was a successful farmer who owned a home and a large tract of land just west of Winchester, Indiana on State Road 32. Part of this land was used to build Winchester Speedway in 1914. Funk’s home still stands there today, although now it is owned by local race fan Nathan Peed.

“We were re-doing one of the rooms upstairs and I had to climb into the attic to repair some wiring up there,” Peed recalled. “The upstairs has never been touched since the house was built. It had no heat or nothing like that. I thought, ‘I’m gonna run new wires to the ceiling fan.’”

Buried under a pile of insulation in the attic, Peed ran across a “box with a bunch of papers in it,” including a receipt book from the 1920’s, several canceled checks, entry forms from the 1922 racing season and a handwritten letter to Frank Funk from a man named F. E. Clemons.

Frederick Earl “Skinny” Clemons was one of the Midwest’s premier short track racers in the early 20^th century. After placing fifth at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Labor Day weekend 1910, he went on to make a name for himself as both a driver and car builder. Over the next decade Clemons competed in multiple 500-mile events and won the 25-lap feature at the Indiana State Fairgrounds’ “Indy mile” on July 5, 1920.

Peed was amazed at his discovery. “I thought, ‘Is this really what I’m reading?’ I knew that Funk had built the race track and he initially built my house. I just couldn’t believe that I was finding papers that were in decent shape from 1922.”

Dated July 11, 1922, the letter reveals that Funk wanted Winchester Speedway to be faster, especially in the turns, so he wrote to Clemons requesting that he provide a blueprint to improve the track layout. Today’s Winchester Speedway is paved, but in 1922 the track was dirt and could still be altered for additional speed.

Clemons replied that it wasn’t the corners that needed changing. “You won’t need to do anything but bank the straightaways a little,” Clemons suggested, “so the cars will go into the turns on an angle. When the cars can run all the way around the track at the same angle, there won’t need to be any shutting off on the turns, and we can sure show some speed.”

Clemons concluded his letter by recommending that Funk eliminate the bigger displacement cars from the upcoming 1922 Labor Day event at Winchester because they were “clumsy, and get in the way of those who can travel.”

Winchester saw huge crowds throughout the 1920’s. The speedway continued to evolve under Funk’s supervision. He began oiling the clay before each event to minimize dust. On Clemons’ advice, the banking continually increased until the top of the turns reached an incredible 25 feet in height. The track was paved by the early 1930’s with seating for 6,000 fans.

A successful businessman and legendary sprint racing promoter, Funk oversaw the construction of at least five more tracks and continued promoting motor races until his death in 1953.

“Skinny” Clemons continued racing into the 1920’s, building his own cars just north of The Circle in downtown Indianapolis. His original mechanic’s shop and welding facility was one of five buildings demolished during the 1926 construction of the Indiana War Memorial which still stands on that site. Barely six blocks away, Clemons’ old home at 107 West St. Claire Street is now an abandoned garage with an empty, fenced-in parking lot.

Winchester Speedway remains open today as one of the world’s oldest operating race facilities, still holding the world’s record for the fastest lap on half mile track. Owned by Charlie Shaw, the track retains its original character and layout just as Funk and Clemons intended.

Clemons continued to build race cars for famous drivers including Louis Meyer and Wilbur Shaw until 1940. He spent his last years in the restaurant business, operating “Grandmother’s Kitchen” in downtown Indianapolis until his death by heart attack in 1945 at age 54.

Although my success has so far been limited to a pole position and a handful of top fives, I consider myself fortunate to have raced at such a grand and historic venue. If you’re a racer, be sure to log a few laps at Winchester. It doesn’t matter where you finish. Driving there is an privilege that few drivers enjoy.

If you’re a fan of motorsports or one who enjoys history, take a road trip to Winchester Speedway this summer. While you’re there, raise a glass to men like Frank Funk and Skinny Clemons. And remember, you never know what you’ll find in an old attic.

Thanks to Nathan Peed, Jim Michels and Jimmy Rush for their assistance in preparing this article.

Stephen Cox

Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions

Driver, FIA EGT Championship & Super Cup Stock Car Series

Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN

The Automobile Racing Club of America, Procter & Gamble, and Menards today announced that the multi-national consumer goods corporation would become an official partner and major sponsor  of the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards beginning in 2019. 

The announcement, which took place at ARCA’s pre-season open test at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, January 12, includes the news that P&G’s lead consumer paper products brand, Bounty, would become the naming rights sponsor of ARCA’s prestigious Rookie of the Year Program. 

“Bounty, the Quicker Picker Upper, is excited to be an official partner of the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, helping another generation of racers pick up wins more quickly,” said Jacques Hagopian, Bounty Brand Director. “Procter and Gamble brands have a storied history in motorsports, dating back to “The Tide Ride” made famous by Darrell Waltrip and Ricky Rudd.”

The Bounty Rookie Challenge will consist of per-race awards recognizing the Bounty Rookie of the Race and culminated by the season long Bounty Rookie Challenge Rookie of the Year Award, and the $10,000 bonus that accompanies it. Previous ARCA “Bounty Rookie Challenge” rookies of the year include four-time NASCAR race winner Chargin’ Charlie Glotzbach, 1973 NASCAR Cup Series champion and 1975 Daytona 500 winner Benny Parsons, former ARCA Racing Series champions Scott Stovall, Lee Raymond, and Bill Venturini, and 2019 NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee Davey Allison. Zane Smith won the award in 2018.

“We are excited to be partners with Procter & Gamble for the 2019 ARCA racing season,” stated Jeff Abbott, Promotions Manager and Spokesperson for Menards. “P & G has an extraordinary line of products available for sale at Menards and we appreciate having our name associated with their brands.”

The Menards / ARCA marketing partnership dates back to 2009, when Menards partnered with 10-time series champion Frank Kimmel. Menards assumed the Series Presenting Sponsorship role in 2010, and has been a prominent, strategic partner with ARCA the past 10 years.  

“This motorsports sponsorship program is a direct result of the business-to-business relationship between Procter & Gamble and Menards,” said Mark Gundrum, Vice President of Business Development and Corporate Partnerships for ARCA. “The end result is increased business, product sales and sales promotion for Procter & Gamble and a number of their consumer brands.”

About Procter & Gamble – P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands.

About Menards – A family owned company started in 1958, Menards is headquartered in Eau Claire, WI.  Menards has more than 300 retail stores located throughout the Midwest in the states of IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, OH, SD, WI and WY.  Menards is known throughout the home improvement industry as the low price leader.  It’s famous slogan “Save Big Money at Menards” is widely known and easy to remember.  For more information, visit Menards.com, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest.

About ARCA – The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is among the leading auto racing sanctioning bodies in the country. Founded in 1953 by John and Mildred Marcum, the organization administers more than 100 events each year in multiple racing series, including the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, the ARCA/CRA Super Series, the ARCA Truck Series and the ARCA Midwest Tour, plus weekly racing at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedways.  For more information about ARCA visit www.arcaracing.com.

INDIANAPOLIS, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018 – Mike Hiss, the 1972 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, passed away Dec. 19 in Evansville, Indiana, following a near-30-year battle with cancer-related issues.

He was 77.

The 6-foot, 2-inch Hiss drove in the “500” four times, his highest finish being the seventh he scored in his rookie year in 1972.

Born in Norwalk, Connecticut, and schooled in Sarasota, Florida, Hiss was bitten by the racing bug as a boy when his father took him to witness the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race. He attended college in Deland, Florida, and began his racing career shortly thereafter, driving a Triumph TR3 in Sports Car Club of America competition at Marlboro, Maryland. During the next half-a-dozen seasons, he competed in Formula A and B, plus Formula 5000 before moving into United States Auto Club National Championship racing in 1972.

Driving an Eagle/Offy for a little, independent team operated by Tom and Mary Page, Hiss placed 10th in his debut in the Phoenix 150 and was seventh in the Trenton 200 before heading to Indianapolis. At the last minute, Andy Granatelli stepped in to sponsor the car, changing its number from 72 to 60 and declaring the car the STP Pylon Windshield Wiper Blade Special.

It was back to the Page Racing No. 72 after that, and after placing sixth in the Pocono 500, Hiss got the break of a lifetime at the expense of another driver.

With Indianapolis 500 winner Mark Donohue sidelined by injuries sustained in a Can-Am accident, team principal Roger Penske needed a driver for the upcoming Ontario 500.

Hiss got the call, and he went on to finish a most impressive second behind Roger McCluskey, thus scoring his best National Championship race finish. From there, he wound up sixth in the final standings and added the USAC National Championship Rookie of the Year honors to his resume.

Just to underline his versatility, he finished the 1972 season in the final Can-Am race of the year at Riverside and finished seventh.

Hiss placed in the top 10 a half-a-dozen times for Fred Gerhardt’s team in 1973, topped by a pair of third-place finishes, but then found himself “looking for a ride” for 1974.

Donohue had recently retired as a driver (this would last about six months), and Team Penske was about to announce Donohue’s successor as Peter Revson after four seasons with Team McLaren. By this time, Penske was in the developing stages of entering the Formula One arena and since this would not come until near the end of the season, Revson was cleared to drive in F1 in the meantime for the Don Nichols UOP Shadow team.

But tragedy was right around the corner. Revson never had a single start for Shadow, crashing fatally during a private test session in South Africa.

The Penske press announcements concerning the hiring of Revson were already to go when the accident occurred.

Penske needed a driver, and once again, Hiss got the call.

Hiss qualified for the outside of the front row of the 1974 Indianapolis 500, next to A.J. Foyt and Wally Dallenbach, and he later reminisced about his surreal experiences on race morning. Staying at the old Speedway Motel, he and his wife, Arlene, joined the line to the dining room for breakfast and was soon invited by a thoughtful staff member to nip into the kitchen for some privacy. After they had finished eating in there, they then proceeded to walk through the tunnel and across the infield to the Garage Area, Mike marveling that while completely unrecognized by the masses for the time being, he would shortly be starting from the front row as one of the 33 drivers the fans had come to see.

Hiss’ 1974 “500” for Penske was not quite as spectacular as the 1972 Ontario race, but he was still around at the finish. He ran fifth at the time of his first pit stop but later lost quite a bit of time when the magneto failed, necessitating a “tow-in.” The magneto was changed, and Hiss was flagged off in 14th place at the finish, many laps in arrears.

Hiss had two other starts for Penske that summer, both at the Michigan International Speedway where he finished seventh in the July 200-miler and fourth in the 250-mile race in September.

His fourth and final “500” took place in 1975 when he was eliminated by a single-car accident after only 39 laps, and in 1976, he was unable to qualify at all with a Lindsey Hopkins entry.

But there was to be one more chapter to his Indianapolis career.

Mario Andretti finished third in the 1977 Formula One World Championship for Team Lotus and was already on his way to ultimately winning the 1978 title.

In those days of much more freedom for the drivers in their careers, Andretti was competing in USAC Championship events for Penske whenever there was no scheduling conflict with F1.

The plan was to compete in the Monaco Grand Prix on May 7, qualify for the “500” the following weekend and then head to Spa-Franchorchamps for the May 21 Belgian Grand Prix before returning to Indianapolis.

Unfortunately, the weather at Indianapolis did not cooperate in the slightest.

Saturday was a total washout, and so was Sunday.

Faced with the excruciating possibility of jetting back and forth across the Atlantic multiple times with little or no rest, United States Auto Club officials agreed to having another driver qualify in Andretti’s absence with understanding that Mario would start the race in the 33rd and final position.

The “other driver,” taking the call from Roger Penske, was Hiss, who had decided to remain in sunny California.

So back he came again, his role this time to simply work the car up to speed and get it safely “in the “show.”

He did, and in as much as he never raced again, it turns out that his final laps in a race car were the four qualifying laps he did for Andretti.

That accomplished, he assumed he would head back to California.

But not so fast!

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network was looking for a driver expert since veteran Freddie Agabashian would not be returning, and Hiss accepted the last-minute invitation.

Just over two years earlier, in March 1976, Hiss had been a key factor in a moment of history. A driver was testing at the Phoenix International Raceway in an Eagle/Offy in which the partners included driver Lloyd Ruby and chief mechanic Mike Devin. Hiss was serving in the role of “coach,” and the driver was none other than his soon-to-be ex-wife, Arlene.

Arlene began turning some very respectable laps speeds.

She qualified for the 150-mile 1976 season-opener at Phoenix in the 24th and final starting position and was still around at the finish in 14th place.

It was Arlene’s only start in a Championship car, but she did set a record which can never be broken. She was the very first female ever to start in a Championship race.

After retirement, Hiss worked for Penske for a while in association with Detroit Diesel Allison and was headquartered in Houston. An ATP-rated pilot, Hiss flew both Cessna Citation and Lear jet aircraft.

He visited IMS from time to time with his family and attended three of the United States Grand Prix F1 events on the road course as well as a Brickyard 400 and the occasional Indianapolis 500.

In 2011, he was one of a large number of drivers on hand to celebrate the 100th Running of the first “500” and, in addition to signing a large number of autographs, he was one of the 161 drivers who appeared in the huge panoramic photo taken the morning before the race in Pagoda Plaza area. There he was able to meet Tony Kanaan, who had become his hero.

Hiss is survived by Connie, his wife of 42 years, son, Brian and his wife, Getter; daughter, Jennie and her husband, Mike Freisem, plus two grandsons, Landon Anderson and Levi Freisem.

Anyone wishing to make a donation in Hiss’ memory may do so at Crossroads Christian Church, 10800 Lincoln Ave., Newburgh, IN 47630.