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February 5, 2010

Kimmel ready to go after another ARCA title

Nine-time champ hoping for more victories after going winless in 2009

By KEVIN HARRIS

After not winning the ARCA Series title the past two seasons, people might be wondering if nine-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel still has the fire in the belly to win another championship.

According to Kimmel, that fire is still burning awfully bright inside him.

“I think we feel like that this is the year to get back going again,” the Clarksville native said. “I think we’re better prepared than we’ve been in a number of years. We’re fully-sponsored this year again, which is tremendous, with Ansell and Menards back on board. Our crew is pretty much intact. It’s the same that we had last year.

“I feel like that we should come out and run really well every single race and contend for the championship. That’s our goal.”

But according to Kimmel’s longtime crew chief and older brother, Bill Kimmel Jr., their Clarksville-based Kimmel Racing team must be more competitive throughout the entire season. Despite finishing third in the point standings and recording 14 top-10 finishes last season, Frank Kimmel went winless, which has not happened since 1995.

“We’ve got to be competitive,” Bill Kimmel said. “I don’t ever judge a season on wins or championships or things like that. I judge more on how competitive we were, and last year we were not very competitive. I thought we would have a chance to win one race. If we legitimately had a chance to win five or six races, I don’t think that would’ve been a bad deal. But we weren’t (competitive). We’ve got to make that better.

“At end of the day, we’ve got to get more competitive.”

Frank Kimmel, who co-owns Kimmel Racing with his brother, says he and his whole organization are motivated to get back into Victory Lane this season.

“We’re very determined,” the younger Kimmel said. “In the second half of the season last year, there were times we could have won a race or two through certain circumstances. But we’re working very hard to make our race cars better this year all the way across the board. Our whole program has to step up, and when it does we’ll win some races.”

Both drivers say the three drivers they will have to contend for the ARCA title with are Joey Coulter, Justin Marks and Craig Goess.

“If we do our homework, we can beat them. We’ve just got to do our thing,” Bill Kimmel said.

The Kimmels will try to break that winless string on Saturday when they compete in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at the world-famous Daytona International Speedway.

Frank Kimmel has never won at the famed 2 1-2-mile oval and would like nothing more than to put a Daytona victory on his already stellar resume.

“I think this as good of a chance as we have ever had,” he said. “I feel really confident that we can go, be competitive and go to the front. We have everything in place that it takes to go down there and be competitive and try to race for a win.”

Kimmel Racing tested its primary and back-up superspeedway cars at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in January, and the Kimmel brothers liked the results from the test session.

“Both of them ran really well,” Frank Kimmel said. “This is without a doubt the best two cars we’ve ever taken to a speedway. The primary car was very strong. I think it’s going to be a good car.”

Saturday’s ARCA event will be the first stock-car race for IndyCar star Danica Patrick, who is scheduled to run at least 12 NASCAR Nationwide Series races this year.

The field also will include former Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr., son of former F-1 world champion Nelson Piquet, and ex-motocross star Ricky Carmichael. Kimmel confirmed that Kimmel Racing has signed a three-year contract to have Ansell and Menards be full-time sponsors. Ansell is a glove company, while Menards is a chain of home improvement stores throughout the Midwest.

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