Dominick Casola, No. 1 A. Casola Farms Ford Fusion Allen Crowe 100 Fast Facts

Topics:  Dominick Casola, Allen Crowe 100

Chris Knight
Andy Belmont Racing
August 16, 2007

ARCA RE/MAX Series Race No. 16, Allen Crowe 100
Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield , Illinois

Race Information: Event: Allen Crowe 100, Sunday, August 18 at 1:00 p.m. Local Time Track: Illinois State Fairground Qualifying: Sunday, August 18 at 11:00 a.m. Local Time Track Length: 1.0-mile clay oval.

Nashville Superspeedway Recap: ARCA RE/MAX Series rookie Dominick Casola battled record heat and an exceptionally clean race to net a strong 17th place finish after starting 23rd last Saturday afternoon. Casola bettered his previous Nashville finish of 34th set in the Nashville ARCA 150 this past April.

Welcome To The Dirt: For the first time in his stock-car career, Dominick Casola will compete on the dirt. Sunday’s Allen Crowe 100 will mark the first of two clay races for the Holmdel, New Jersey native this season. Despite no experience in a car, Casola does hoist two starts in an All-Star truck on the dirt in 2005 at Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey .

Testing, Testing, Testing: Casola recently spent time testing at Tri-County Speedway in North Carolina shaking down his dirt car in preparation for the 16th race of the 2007 ARCA RE/MAX Series season.

Car Owner In Different Spot: The last four years, ARCA RE/MAX Series veteran driver Andy Belmont has sat behind the wheel of the No. 1 Ford at Illinois State Fairgrounds. This year, Belmont turns the wheel over to one of the most talented rookie driver he’s ever worked with, Dominick Casola.

It Has Its Advantages: Dominick Casola boasts that his success in the ARCA RE/MAX Series can be attributed to the new ARCA SIM Factory video game that is expected to be release September 1st. Casola, is one of several drivers who plays the personal computer (PC) game to further familiarize himself with the diverse number of tracks the series competes on.

Watcha Haulin: Car owner Andy Belmont has elected to bring Casola “Odie” to Illinois State Fairgrounds (ISF) this weekend. This is the same Ford Fusion, his development driver has piloted in several of the short tracks events this year including USA International Speedway (Lakeland), Salem Speedway, Winchester Speedway, Toledo Speedway and Berlin Raceway. The team’s backup machine is nicknamed “Big Bird”.

Point Standings: Competing in 14 of the 15 races on the 2007 ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule, Casola sits 16th in the championship standings advancing one position from last weekend thanks to his second consecutive top-20 ARCA finish. 120 points separate Casola from overtaking the 15th position from rookie and fellow competitor Gabi DiCarlo. Casola has gained considerably ground in the chase to reach the top-15, picking up an additional 90 points over the rest of the group the past two races.

Not A Bad Stat: Casola has accelerated past four drivers who have attempted all 15 ARCA RE/MAX Series events this season. Two of the four drivers have competed in every event this season. Casola joined the tour in the second race of the year at USA International Speedway and has since steadily and competitively inched his way through the standings hoping to maneuver inside the top-12 by the last event of the season at Toledo Speedway in October.

Andy Belmont Racing, Illinois State Fairgrounds Pre-Race Quotes:
Dominick Casola, driver of the No. 1 A. Casola Farms Ford:

On Nashville : “What a hot race last weekend was in Nashville . We had a good car, but we just ran out of time. I heard the race used to be a lot longer and if we had those extra fifty miles, I think we could have had our second straight top-10 finish.”

On Illinois State Fairgrounds: “The dirt race should be a lot of fun this weekend. My car owner and coach Andy Belmont tells me this is one of the most exciting races of the year, and I’m sure I’ll back up his statement on Sunday afternoon.”

On The Points Race: “For the second straight week we gained a spot in the standings. We’re on a roll as far as the points are concerned. I know it’s only going to get harder as we try to move our way into the top-15, but I think we’ve done a great job. We’ll see if we can make it three weeks in-a-row on Sunday.”

On Goals For The Rest Of The Season: “We’ve capped off our first top-10, so I would like to position ourselves to grab a top-five by seasons end. I really think we still have a realistic shot at a win too. I would like to end the season making some good headlines of our own to give us some momentum to roll into the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series season.”

PRIOR RESULTS:

Dominick Casola , Illinois State Fairgrounds Prior ARCA Race Results:

Date Event Start Finish Laps Status

No prior starts at Illinois State Fairgrounds

Fast Links:

Driver/Team: Dominick Casola on the web: DominickCasola.com

Sanction: ARCA RE/MAX Series: ARCARacing.com

The Allen Crowe 100 (100 laps/100 miles) is the 16 of 23 races on the 2007 ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule. The 25th ARCA race held at Illinois State Fairgrounds is a one day show. Practice begins Sunday, August 19 with an hour practice (9:00am-10:00am) session planned. ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying is set for later in the morning at 11:00am Local Time. The event will take the green flag shortly after 1:00pm Local Time. The race will not be televised but additional race coverage can be found online at arcaracing.com

MEDIA CONTACT:

NAME: Chris Knight, Andy Belmont Racing

PHONE: 239.834.9797

EMAIL: Knight849@aol.com