Austin Nemire will make his ARCA Racing Series debut this weekend in the Menards 200 at Toledo Speedway. The 16-year-old will drive the No. 10 DeVilbiss/PB Fabrication/R&M Recycling Ford for two-time ARCA champion Andy Hillenburg.
“I am really looking forward to this weekend,” Nemire said. “We’ve been looking at doing some ARCA races this season and this opportunity with Andy is exactly the situation we wanted for my debut. There isn’t a lot of pressure, but yet we still think we can go out and achieve our goals. We have a new Ilmor engine in the car so we think we should be able to be competitive right out of the trailer.”
Nemire has a varied schedule for 2016. His focus is on chasing the USAC Silver Crown Series championship with team owner Ron Hemelgarn, with additional midget, winged sprint, and even more ARCA races all possible.
“Our main focus is the Silver Crown car,” he said. “That’s been a really good opportunity for me, and I really think the experience I have in the Silver Crown car at Toledo is going to be a really big help. They don’t look a lot alike, but the Silver Crown car is big and heavy like the ARCA car is and you have to really take care of that right rear tire. At a place like Toledo, they drive a lot alike. Having all those laps at Toledo should be a big help to get me up to speed.”
Despite nearly a decade of racing experience, his ARCA debut will also give him the chance to do something he’s never done in a racecar or a street car before: shift gears.
“I’ve shifted gears before on a four-wheeler, but never in an actual car so that’s something I am looking forward to doing this weekend too,” Nemire said with a laugh. “We’ll work on that in practice, especially for restarts. Another thing I’ve never done is race a car with fenders. I know I’ll need to take care of the car and keep the fenders on the car, but I also know they can help me move someone out of the way if I need to. I don’t really plan on being overly aggressive if I don’t have to be, but for the first time in my career that option is there.”
Nemire expects a lot of local support in the grandstands once the green flag waves on Sunday.
“I go to school fifteen minutes from the track,” he said. “I have a lot of friends that should be at the track on Sunday. My family has been a part of the Toledo racing community for more than 50 years so there will be people who watched my grandfather Jerry race out there pulling for me too. We have a lot of support from a lot of local companies who have pulled together to make this happen and we’d like to thank everyone for their support by going out and having a nice clean race and coming home with a top ten finish.”
Nemire/Yager Racing will have their midget on display in the grandstands throughout the weekend and fans can also purchase Austin Nemire t-shirts and hoodies at the track.
The Menards 200 serves as the fifth race of the 2016 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season. Practice and qualifying is scheduled for Saturday, May 21st while the race is scheduled for a 2 P.M. Eastern start on Sunday May 22nd. Live timing and scoring for all on-track sessions is available at ARCARacing.com and the race will be televised live on the American Sports Network.
Austin Nemire PR
