For more than 60 years, the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has been celebrating its rich history and milestone moments in the season-ending championship awards ceremony.
Series officials are preparing to do it all again on Saturday night, December 14 at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana where Frank Kimmel will be honored with an unprecedented 10th series title.
Kimmel, the 2013 Bill France Four Crown champ, also surpassed Iggy Katona this year as the all-time series win leader with 80 career victories, adding more milestone flavor to this year’s 61st annual championship awards ceremony.
While the honoring of Kimmel and his ThorSport Racing championship team will be big, this year’s formal banquet will have much more to celebrate.
“There were so many milestone moments this year that it was difficult to give it all its proper attention, especially when you’re running races back-to-back every weekend non-stop,” said ARCA Communications-Media Manager Don Radebaugh.
“The banquet will provide the perfect opportunity and setting to capture all the milestone moments that made ARCA’s 61st season one of its most memorable.”
It will also be a big night for 79-year-old James Hylton, ARCA’s oldest driver to ever compete in competition. Hylton, who retired from driving following his respectable 18th place finish in the season finale at Kansas Speedway, will be a sentimental crowd pleaser when he comes to the stage to accept honors for finishing 11th overall in championship standings.
In addition to honoring the top-20 race teams, there’ll be plenty more to feature on stage and on the big screens, including the celebration of ARCA’s youngest winner – Kyle Benjamin (15) and ARCA’s oldest – Ken Schrader (58). Ironically, the momentous occasions happened in consecutive weekends at Madison Int’l Speedway and the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.
Benjamin was also the series’ youngest competitor ever when he debuted on tour at Mobile Int’l Speedway in early March, finishing second.
The series will also celebrate the youngest superspeedway winner in history – that being 17-year-old Chase Elliott following his victory at Pocono Raceway in June.
It will also be a memorable moment when Bill and Cathy Venturini take the stage in honor of the team’s second place car owner finish. The Venturini 15 car won a season-best six races with four different drivers.
Other milestone moments in 2013 include ARCA’s 50th consecutive race at Daytona Int’l Speedway, the 200th race broadcast on SPEED, which officially became FOX Sports 1 in August. ARCA also introduced NBC Sports Network as a new and additional television partner.
The very special celebratory evening will also feature several special award recipients, including SCOTT Rookie of the Year Justin Boston, Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell winner Mason Mingus, Cometic Crew Chief of the Year Jeriod Prince, CGS Imaging Hard Charger Josh Williams, and the Hoosier Superspeedway Challenge champion Duke Thorson, Kimmel’s car owner.
Other special awards to be featured include the Marcum Award (one of ARCA’s highest honors named after series founder John Marcum), the HG Adcox Sportsman of the Year award and ARCA’s Spirit Award.
Fortunately, this year’s ARCA championship awards ceremony is open to the public. Those wishing to participate in one of ARCA’s biggest milestone seasons, can purchase tickets by visiting ARCAracing.com and/or calling Shalene Williams at the ARCA home office 734.847.6726, extension 202.
ARCA Racing PR
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