STEVE ARPIN READY FOR ARCA RE/MAX SERIES BATTLE ON SPRINGFIELD MILE

Topics:  Steve Arpin, Allen Crowe 100

Emily Teeter
Venturini Motorsports
August 20, 2009

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (August 20, 2009) Steve Arpin will head back to familiar territory when the ARCA RE/MAX Series makes its annual return to the historic Springfield Mile on the Illinois State Fairgrounds for the running of the Allen Crowe 100. It's not that Arpin has ever competed at the one mile oval in his career, but the unique event will see him back on a dirt racing surface as the talented driver of the Venturini Motorsports entry guns for his first ever ARCA win.

Arpin, a former multi-time champion of dirt modified action, is looking forward to a return to non-asphalt competition even though his rookie season on the ARCA tour has produced very impressive results. In his most recent run in the Pennsylvania 200, Arpin drove the Pinewood Sports / SpeedShop sponsored Venturini Toyota Camry to a fourth place finish at Pocono Raceway. Entering the Sunday August 23rd event Arpin continues to be ranked inside the top-ten of the national title chase at seventh place of the standings on the series and considers it an honor to be able to contend for a win in such a special event.

'The race at the Springfield Mile has a very rich racing history,' Arpin points out. 'When you look back over the past half-century and consider the names of the great racers who have won there it is mind boggling. It would be very special for me to earn my first ARCA win in an event that has been won by such hall of famers as A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, Ken Schrader and Curtis Turner, and that's just the tip of the iceberg,' exclaimed Arpin. 'I know a lot of our friends and fans from the dirt racing side of the business will be rooting us on so we don't want to let them down and are going to give it our best shot,' added Arpin. 'To win this upcoming race at Springfield would have an added special meaning with me coming from the ranks of dirt racing.

Arpin is right, as this year's 47th running of the Allen Crowe 100 memorial event represents not only the turning point down the stretch in the ARCA Series championship drive, but it is also significant of two very special stops on the circuit's annual schedule, with yet another dirt track event coming up at DuQuoin, Illinois on Labor Day (Sep 7th). One of the other key ingredients to the in Springfield is that fact that Arpin will have to go head to head against one of the most successful racers to have ever competed at Springfield, that being the 9-time ARCA Champion Frank Kimmel.

'It's been great racing with Frank as one of the competitors that I have to try and beat each ARCA race, but he's won this race seven times in the past,' Arpin continued. 'That is a very impressive mark and if I am able to get my first ARCA win going up against Frank and Kenny Schrader it will really make it even more of a special day.'

The mile dirt track within the Illinois State Fairgrounds is in its 75th year of hosting auto racing and has seen many other greats in the sport pull into the track's victory lane in ARCA action, including Ramo Stott, Bobby Issac, Jack Bowser, Bob Keselowski, Roger McCluskey and Tim Steele, to name a few. This season marks Arpin’s first full year of asphalt racing experience after several stellar seasons on dirt in which the young Canadian talent became a dominant force and earned numerous titles while racking up wins in his open wheel modified against the strongest competition in North America. Last season Arpin claimed the USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year award and with his strong runs this season the native of Fort Frances, Ontario has attracted a lot of attention from some of the industry's leaders. Prior to moving into auto racing Arpin earned 7 world championships in snowmobile competition as lead pilot for Team Polaris. Arpin would go on to score his first Open Wheel Modified championship at the age of 15 and has since moved on to his current successes in stock cars on superspeedways and short tracks across the nation.

'Our first outing with Billy Venturini and the team at Pocono produced solid results and I am confident that my prior experience on dirt will help me at Springfield and then later on at DuQuoin,' says Arpin enthusiastically. 'It's a neat thing that the ARCA series still races at some of the old grass roots tracks and we need to use those events to help us move up in the standings and hopefully grab a win or two. The entire Venturini team has high expectations for the rest of the season and I am here to drive their car to the winner's circle,' continued Arpin. 'They are just a pleasure to work with and have given me top-notch equipment with great communication between Billy, myself and the rest of the team. I just appreciate the opportunity,' Arpin concluded.

Now driving for Venturini Motorsports with backing from Pinewood Sports & Marine, Taylor Motorsports, SpeedShop and Lo-N-Bro Enterprises Arpin has gained ground on the points battle and closed in on a top-five ranking on the tour. The event at Springfield gets underway with an early Sunday morning practice session at 9:00 am on August 23rd followed by time-trial qualifications at 11:00 am. The green flag is set to wave on the Allen Crowe 100 just after 1:00 pm at the Illinois State Fairgrounds on August 23rd. All of the ARCA RE/MAX Series action will be aired live via the ARCA Racing Network located at www.arcaracing.com. The special stock car event is promoted by Track Enterprises and long-time successful race promoter Bob Sargent.

Ticket and event information may be obtained by visiting the group's web site at www.trackenterprises.com.

To learn more about Steve Arpin and to become involved with the team's efforts for the balance of the 2009 season, visit www.stevearpin.net. Souvenir racing apparel is available online from the Steve Arpin Racing web site.

Also be sure to catch Steve LIVE on the “Venturini Motorsports Power Hour” aired exclusively on www.RaceFanRadio.com Thursday August 20 at 9:00PM EST.

About Pinewood Sports & Marine

www.pinewoodsports.com

Since 1977 Pinewood Sports offers a complete line of products to help you enjoy the great outdoors. Our business is built on Service and continues to grow and propser due to our policy unequalled customer service and competitively priced product lines that represent the very best recreational products in the world. We also offer many services to seasonal residents such as boat pick-up and delivery along with storage.

Location: Fort Frances, Ontario

Phone: 807-274-7737

About Speed Shop (Rochester, Minnesota)

(507) 281 7976.

Owned by Jay Clark and located at 3856 65th Street, N.E. just north of Rochester, MN (just off of Hwy 63). Speed Shop serves competitors and teams with racing parts and components, specializing in items for dirt racers with parts, tires, fuel, and fabrication services for local and traveling racers in the Rochester, Kasson, and Lansing, Minnesota area.

About Venturini Motorsports

www.venturinimotorsports.com

Racing has been a family sport for the Venturini’s since 1951. Billy’s grandfather, Tony, raced in the Chicagoland area through the 50’s. Then came 2nd generation driver Bill Sr. He also began his career in the Chicago area. After winning 2 International Racing Association titles, which only competed in a 3 state venue, Bill moved to the highly competitive series of ARCA. Bill Sr. set the stage on what was to become a great career in ARCA by becoming Rookie Of The Year in 1983. By the time that his racing career ended in 1995, Bill had become ARCA National Champion twice. The first one came in 1987 and then again in 1991. Along the way, Bill Sr. set and still holds the qualifying records at Daytona and Talladega Speedways. The latter is still an all-time ARCA record of 205.634 mph!

In 14 years of competing in the ARCA series, qualifying records and championships were not his only accomplishments. Bill led 3 of every 10 races he competed in, was the leader in top 5 finishes when he retired, and had set an astounding record in 1991 of completing over 98% of all possible race laps. One of Bill’s most prized accomplishments was putting together the first All-Female pit crew in racing. These women performed all race duty pit stops, which included changing tires, jacking up the car, and refueling. The amazing fact about this is that they did these jobs as well as any male crew at that time. This was very evident in that Bill Sr. won his first ARCA Championship using this crew exclusively. After Bill Sr. retired in 1995, his son Billy began his racing career, following in his father’s footsteps. Some of Billy’s stats include finishing a career-best 3rd in ARCA RE/MAX Series points in ‘06. He also finished 4th in points in ‘04, 5th in points ‘03 and 6th in ‘02. In 162 career starts since 1994, Billy had 28 top-5 finishes & 75 top-10s including 1 win at Salem in 2006. Other career-best finishes include a 2nd at Lake Erie ‘05, 2nd at Kentucky ‘04 and 2nd at Lake Erie & Talladega ‘03. As a team, Venturini Motorsports has competed in the ARCA Re/Max series for over 25 years. In those seasons, they have finished in the top 5 in the points 12 times with the others 2 seasons finishing 6th.

About Taylor Motorsports www.jefftaylor5.com

Located at 3501 E. Parker Road in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Jeff Taylor Motorsports manufactures and delivers Taylor Chassis racecars and quality performance.

Phone: 870-910-0555

About Lo-N-Bro Enterprises, Inc. www.lonbro.com Paul and Jon Leach, brothers and Sun River, Montana Natives, started the business in 1998 while only 21 and 18 years old respectively. In that first stage, the entire staff was made up by the two of them. In 2001 they took their “baby” to the next step and transitioned from being an LLC to becoming a formal corporation. One of their first major projects was to build a 10,000 square foot shop on their property in Sun River that formed the base for their operations. Since that time, they have grown into a company that employs over 85 people and generates revenue of over $5,000,000.00 annually. Paul and Jon are always looking for ways to expand their business, while also filling a niche’ within the respective areas of contracting. One of the prominent areas that they give their employees credit for is how they have helped to build Lo-N-Bro into what it is today. The quality of people that are hired, as well as retained, reaches far beyond the industry standard. Paul and Jon genuinely value each and every individual employee and want the best for them as well as the best out of them. Employees are dynamic members of the family, and thus are offered incredibly competitive wages and benefits, as well as opportunities to advance within the company