Factsheets
RACE: Prairie Meadows 250, 4-19-08
TRACK: Iowa Speedway, .875-mile paved oval
LOCATION: Newton, Iowa
DISTANCE: 219 miles (250 laps)
SANCTION: ARCA
SERIES: Event #3 of the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series
PROMOTER: Iowa Speedway
PR CONTACTS: Mike Beecher (515) 419-1806
SCHEDULE:
Fri, April 18: Practice 12:30am - 2:00pm & 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Sat, April 19: SIM Factory Pole Qualifying at 9:00am; Prairie Meadows 250 at 12:30pm CT
POSTED AWARDS: $186,286 in prize, point and contingency money.
ARCA OFFICIAL COMPANIES: RE/MAX International Inc, Aaron's Sales & Leasing, Featherlite Trailers, Hoosier Racing Tire, Lincoln Welders, Mallory Ignition, Racing Electronics, Sunoco Race Fuels.
ARCA OFFICIAL PRODUCTS: Amkus Rescue Systems, Bilstein Shocks, Casite, Cometic Gasket, Dodge Motorsports, Exedy, Fast Track High Performance Driving School, Flowmaster, Gatorade, G-Force Racing Gear, Holley HP Carbs, Intercomp, Klotz Synthetic Lubricants, Landrum Spring Service, Mo'sGold, Motive Gear, Stoner Car Care Products, University of Northwestern Ohio.
PARTICIPATING COMPANIES: Accel Wires, BSR Products, CV Products, Ford Motor Company, Hutcherson-Pagan, Ilmore Engineering, Impact Racing, JE Pistons, Joyce Julius & Associates, Mechanix Wear, Moroso, RaceSafe Systems, Rhyne Racing Engines, Tesar Engineering, Toyota Racing Development, Wallace Race Car Lettering.
TV: SPEED, LIVE at 1:30 pm Eastern.
RECORDS: Qualifying - Steve Wallace, 22.932 (137.357 mph) 2006. Race - Frank Kimmel (102.486 mph) 2007.
NOTES OF INTEREST: The Prairie Meadows 250 at Iowa Speedway marks the third ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Iowa Speedway since 2006. From defending race winner and 9-time series champion Frank Kimmel to Formula 1 veteran/ARCA RE/MAX Series rookie Scott Speed, the entry list is loaded with an interesting mix of rookies and veterans. Speed is coming off a career-best 5th place finish at Salem. Speed is one of four teammates under the Eddie Sharp Racing banner at Iowa. Speed's teammates include Lilburn, Georgia's Ken Butler III, Westmorland, California's Justin Lofton and Ottawa, Ontario's Pierre Bourque. Des Moines, Iowa favorite Michael Annett will make his 6th career series attempt at Iowa. Annett, who earned the SIM Factory Pole at Iowa in his series debut in 2007 (finished 3rd in the race), has never finished out of the top-10. Annett's stats include back-to-back superspeedway victories at Talladega '07 and Daytona '08. Justin Allgaier, fresh from his victory at Salem last Sunday, leads the points headed to Iowa by 40 markers over Kimmel. Series rookie and former Pro Cup Iowa winner Matt Carter is third in points trailing Kimmel by 20. Carter, son of renowned NASCAR team owner Travis Carter, drives the #46 Clement Racing Ford replacing Kimmel in the seat after Kimmel started his own team in 2008. Series rookies' John Wes Townley and Tom Hessert III are 4th and 5th in points respectively. Other entrants include Dodge Development driver Tayler Malsam, Roush Fenway Racing development driver Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 5-time Daytona winner Bobby Gerhart, Westby, Wisconsin's Dexter Bean, Birmingport, Alabama's Mike Harmon, Indiantown, Florida's Patrick Sheltra, Phoenix, Arizona's Gabi DiCarlo, Henryville, Indiana's Darrell Basham and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Norm Benning.
ARCA/IOWA CONNECTION: Prior to racing at Iowa Speedway, the ARCA RE/MAX Series raced roadcourse-style on the streets of Des Moines, Iowa on July 3rd, 1994 where St. Augustine, Florida's Scott Lagasse won the race by four seconds over Frank Kimmel, Jimmy Spencer, Bobby Bowsher and Gary Bradberry. While the Prairie Meadows 250 marks only the series' fourth appearance in Iowa, ARCA has enjoyed a long history with the Hawkeye state. In particular, the small town of Keokuk, Iowa, which is located less than 200 miles from Iowa Speedway, has produced 7 former ARCA RE/MAX Series drivers. Among them, 1970 and 1971 series champion Ramo Stott, and 1972, 1973 and 1974 champion Ron Hutcherson, whose brother, NASCAR veteran Dick Hutcherson, won an ARCA RE/MAX Series race in 1962. Other Keokuk, Iowa drivers to race in the ARCA RE/MAX Series include Ernie Derr, who competed in ARCA from 1955 through 1964, 10-time ARCA RE/MAX Series winner Don White, and Lem and Gordon Blankenship.
