Mason Mingus; Win-Tron Racing Ready To Play In The Dirt, Again

Topics:  Mason Mingus, Win-Tron Racing, Southern Illinois 100

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management
August 29, 2012

DUQUOIN, Illinois (August 29, 2012) - - With just two races remaining on his freshman season in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, Brentwood, Tennessee native Mason Mingus is ready to leave his mark on the tour continuing with Monday’s Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Car Care at the DuQuoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds.

The annual Labor Day tradition marks the second and final dirt contest of the season for the highly diversified stock-car series. For Mingus, it will be just his second start on the dirt driving the No. 32 Diamond Equipment Chevrolet for Lakeville, Minnesota’s Win-Tron Racing.

On August 19, Mingus maneuvered an eighth place finish at the 1.0-mile oval of the Illinois State Fairgrounds nestled in Springfield, Illinois. During the 100-lap contest, Mingus cleverly kept his Chevrolet bowtie cleanly inside the top-10 and took advantage of a last lap swing to move his machine from ninth to eighth coming to the checkered flag to net his sixth top-10 performance of the season.

A strong performance in last Sunday night’s Herr’s Live Life with Flavors 200 at Madison (Wisc.) International Speedway was halted just before the halfway point when the brakes failed on the No. 32 Call 811 Before You Dig Chevrolet leaving an unjust 23rd place finish after starting sixth.

Returning to the dirt on Labor Day presents unique challenges for the Tennessean but the 18th race of the year also provides incentives for the rising 17-year old star.

“I’m very excited and have high hopes for DuQuoin,” said Mingus. “With the run that we had going at Springfield, I think we are going to have a great racecar for Monday’s race. I really enjoyed dirt racing and I am ready to give it another shot and use what we have learned to my advantage.”

While an extremely tight schedule can put any rookie driver on their toes, the High School senior embraces the compact agenda.

“It’s an incredibly fast-paced day, nearly identical to Springfield,” sounded Mingus. “For me, that’s a good thing. I don’t have a lot of time to think. We practice, then qualify and before you know it, it’s time to race. We had such a strong run going at Madison last weekend but the black cloud showered down on us again and we experienced some tough luck. Hopefully, our bad luck is out of the race for the rest of the season and we can just focus on running hard and clean and turn in our best performances of the season.”

With DuQuoin and Salem (Ind.) Speedway the two remaining contests on deck for the avid ARCA / CRA competitor, Mingus has impressively secured six top-10 finishes including a career-best finish of sixth at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway, but the teenager admits that he won’t be satisfied with his partial season without a top-five or two.

“We’ve been trying for a while to finish inside the top-five,” Mingus added. “This team with Mark’s (Rette, crew chief) leadership gives us all the ingredients to make that happen.

Unfortunately, for one reason or another we just haven’t been able to seal the deal. My goal on Monday is turn that (goal) into a reality. I also feel like Salem is another place where we can make that happen as well. So if we can go two-for-two in my last two races of the year, I’ll be extremely happy.”

Nate Thiesse, co-car owner of Win-Tron Racing offered his sentiments on his protégés tango with DuQuoin. “Mason’s been raving about getting to DuQuoin ever since Springfield. He did a nice job there and feel we’ll expect even better things from him on Monday. He knows what he can and cannot due on the dirt from his tango with Springfield. Even though the tracks are a little different, they still have some similarities and that should aid Mason in his goal of putting the No. 32 Diamond Equipment Chevrolet inside the top-five. It’s hard to believe that our season is drawing to a close with Mason this year, he’s done a fantastic job.”

For the first time this season, Diamond Equipment leaps aboard as the primary marketing partner for Win-Tron Racing, while the Call 811 Before You Dig will adorn the associate marketing partner role for Mingus’s 12th-career ARCA start.

The Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Car Care (100 laps / 100 miles) is the 18th of 20 events on the 2012 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards schedule. The 30th ARCA event held at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds is a one-day show. Practice begins Monday, September 3 with a one-hour practice session planned from 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Menards pole qualifying presented by Ansell is set for just an hour later slated to begin at 11:00 a.m. The event will take the green flag a short time later just after 1:00 p.m. The race will not be televised but additional coverage including a radio broadcast and timing and scoring will be available through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com. All times are local (Central).

On top of DuQuoin, Mingus’s current ARCA schedule also includes the traditional Fall Salem (Ind.) Speedway classic on Saturday, September 15.

Further information including driver opportunities with Win-Tron Racing is available by visiting win-tronracing.com or contacting Nate Thiesse at 612.306.1641

Learn about Call 811 Before You Dig and what it can do for you by connecting to call811.com.

For more on Mason Mingus, please visit MasonMingusRacing.com.

About Win-Tron Racing:

Located in Lakeville, Minnesota, Win-Tron Racing is the home of one the most potent ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards single-car operations. Owned by former racers Kevin Cywinski and Nate Thiesse, the team since has acquired the assets of County Joe Racing has become a favorable fixture on the circuit. Since Win-Tron Racing’s inception in 2007, the team has hosted a variety of drivers including leading drivers James Buescher, Blake Bjorklund, Justin Marks and Matt Merrell to their first career ARCA victories. In 2012, the team will begin its sixth year of competition with current drivers Chris Windom, Mason Mingus and Aleks Gregory.

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TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Knight Motorsports Management
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: chris@chrisknightpr.com