Texas: Frank Kimmel preview

KIMMEL TO START TENTH IN IROC RACE TWO AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Fort Worth, Texas (April 5, 2006) -- Seven-time ARCA RE/MAX Series Champion Frank Kimmel will start from the tenth position in Friday night's running of Race Two in the IROC (International Race of Champions) Series at the Texas Motor Speedway. Kimmel finished Race One at the Daytona International Speedway in an impressive fashion earning the third place position. However, based on IROC rules, the starting position for each event is determined by inverting the finish of the previous event. Kimmel plans to take to the mile-and-a-half Texas Motor Speedway on Wednesday evening for his first practice laps in preparation for this event.

"Racing in the IROC Series is definitely one of the greatest thrills of my racing career," said Kimmel. "To have this opportunity is unbelievable and I plan on making the best of it in trying to pick up another solid finish here in race two at Texas."

While Kimmel may not have quite as much experience around the Texas Motor Speedway as he did at the Daytona International Speedway, he has competed at Texas with some success. In 1998 Kimmel earned the pole position for an ARCA RE/MAX Series event, but got involved in an on-track incident forcing him to a 28th place finish. And in 2002 Kimmel competed in a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series car fielded by Travis Carter where he started in the 32nd position and finished in the 33rd position.

"I definitely don't have quite as many laps around Texas as some of the guys I will be racing against," said Kimmel. "But when I have run here I have run well. This track is a lot like some of the other tracks that we compete on regularly so I am comfortable with the track from that aspect, now I need to work on getting a feel for these IROC cars at Texas. These cars drive a lot different than my ARCA car or the Nextel Cup car I drove in the past, so getting as much practice in as possible is big for me."

Kimmel showed that he is anything but a rookie when it comes to racing in the IROC Series during Race One at Daytona when he worked his way to the front of the field on several occasions battling with some of the best racers in the world to earn the third place finish along with the third position in IROC Series points entering Race Two. But Kimmel admits that while there will still be excitement at Texas, he knows it will not involve the same bumping that made Daytona one of the most exciting races of Daytona SpeedWeeks.

"Daytona was just crazy," said Kimmel. "There is really no other way to describe that race, but I think Texas will still be exciting, but this is a very different race track and we just won't have the same amount of room to make some of those moves. All of the team members that Jay (Signore) has assembled to work with us and on these race cars are phenomenal because they truly make these cars so equal and it is a blast to race them."

Race Two of the 2006 IROC Series will take the green flag at 6:00pm CT on Friday, April 7 at Texas Motor Speedway and is scheduled to air live on Speed Channel. Kimmel's next ARCA RE/MAX Series race will be April 15 at the Nashville Superspeedway.

-lmm-