Frank Kimmel

Frank James Kimmel (born April 30, 1962 in Clarksville, Indiana) is an American stock car racing driver. He competes in the ARCA Racing Series, driving the No. 44 Toyota for Win-Tron Racing. Kimmel has won the ARCA championship ten times, including eight consecutive. He won the championship in 1998 and also won the 2000 through 2007 championships, and again in 2013.^[1]

Personal

Frank Kimmel was born in Clarksville, Indiana on April 30, 1962. His father Bill Kimmel Sr. was 3 time ARCA race winner.^[2] Frank resides in Borden, Indiana ^[3] with his wife Donna. He has two children Holly and Frank II.^[4] He also has two years of college education. Kimmel is involved in his community, participating in school events and coaching youth sports.^[4]

Early career

Kimmel made his first career start racing street stock at the age of 15. Seven years later he moved to late models Before racing in ARCA, Kimmel won three championships racing Late Models.^[5]

ARCA

Kimmel's 2013 championship car at Road America

Kimmel's first ARCA start was in 1990. His first full season was 1992, driving the #02 Indiana Steel Co. Pontiac. Kimmel was consistent and was able to claim Rookie of the Year honors. Frank won his first race at Toledo Speedway in 1994.

He is the only nine-time champion in the ARCA Racing Series and the only driver to win eight championships in a row (2000–2007). Kimmel became the first ever ARCA Racing Series driver to be assigned a seat in the IROC (International Race of Champions) Series in 2006.

As of 2006, the crew chief on Kimmel's team is his brother, Bill Kimmel Jr.^[3] In 2008, the Kimmel brothers left Tri-Star Motorsports to form their own team, known as Kimmel Racing. The team initially ran a Dodge with the support of Cunningham Motorsport and sponsorship from Riverside Auto at Daytona before joining forces with Ford Racing for the remainder of 2008.

On August 2, 2008 Kimmel was seriously injured in a 3 car crash on lap 68 at Pocono Raceway, suffering a partially torn sphincter and pulled groin; he was taken to the hospital for observation overnight. Though lacking a title sponsor for the entire year of 2008, Frank and team were able to pull out a 2nd place finish in points by a margin of 50. The loss of the championship was not the surprising part of that year but rather the surprise was how close Kimmel Racing was to winning a tenth title.

Following the 2011 ARCA Racing Series season, Kimmel left the Kimmel Racing team, and drove for ThorSport Racing in the ARCA Racing Series starting in 2012.^[6]

On June 30, 2013 Kimmel tied Iggy Katona's record for most wins in the ARCA Racing Series, winning his 79th career victory at Winchester Speedway.^[7] On October 4, 2013, he clinched his tenth ARCA Racing Series championship at Kansas Speedway.^[8] Kimmel went on to win the race, surpassing Katona to become the all-time win leader in ARCA Racing Series history.

For the 2014 season, Kimmel moved to Win-Tron Racing, retaining his No. 44.^[9]

NASCAR

Kimmel made seven starts in the NASCAR Winston Cup (now NASCAR Sprint Cup) Series,^[10] five of those coming with Travis Carter Motorsports in 2002.^[11] He found little success in the series. His best finish to date was a 26th place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He had one Busch Series start.^[10] Through 2010 he had had two Top-10 finishes from twelve Craftsman Truck Series starts.^[10] and will be running the 2011 and 2013 Camping World Truck Series season finales at Homestead-Miami Speedway for ThorSport Racing.^[6]

IROC

Kimmel was invited to participate in the 2006 edition of the International Race of Champions, IROC XXX. Kimmel was the first ever ARCA Racing Series driver to be assigned a seat in IROC.

That season, he placed seventh in points^[12] with a best finish of third in the first race^[13] of the four-race IROC season.^[12]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold - Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics - Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nextel Cup Series

Busch Series

Camping World Truck Series

^* Season in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

References

External links

• Official website
• Frank Kimmel driver statistics at Racing Reference