Sunday, December 12, 1999
Speedway adds 2nd ARCA race
150-mile event scheduled to be run on July 2
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SPARTA — The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) on Saturday officially announced a second appearance at Kentucky Speedway in 2000 with a 100-lap stock car race July 2.
Speedway officials are still working on sponsorship for the 150-mile race at the 1.5-mile tri-oval here, but as of now the race is called the Kentucky 150.
The ARCA race will be a finale of two days of Indy Racing League (IRL) testing July 1-2. The ARCA drivers will compete under the lights the night of July 2 and the race will be followed by a fireworks display.
ARCA, which announced its 21-race 2000 Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series schedule at the Westin Hotel Saturday, returns to Kentucky Speedway Aug. 26 for the Bluegrass Quality Meats 200 event. That race is followed Aug. 27 by the Belterra Resort Indy 300 race for IRL cars.
As previously announced, Kentucky Speedway will open its first season with a NASCAR weekend June 16-17, starting with Craftsman Truck Series qualifying and a Slim Jim All-Pro Division race on Friday, and the Kroger 225 Truck Series race on Saturday night.
ARCA honored its drivers, team owners and sponsors at the Westin during the annual banquet Saturday night. Bill Baird of Sturgis, Ky., was crowned the 1999 Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series points champion.
“I finally got the big trophy,” said Baird, the 1998 ARCA rookie of the year who has twice run test laps at Kentucky Speedway this year, once on the base dirt surface and again on asphalt when he turned in speeds of about 155 mph.
Kerry Earnhardt, the eldest son of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt, was on hand for the ARCA celebration and said he will compete in all the Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series races on major tracks in 2000.
“Our goal is to get as much experience as possible on the big speedways,” he said. “I've had some seat time at Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta last year in (NASCAR) Busch Series races.”
For its inaugural season, Kentucky Speedway will seat 70,000 in addition to 50 private suites which have already been leased for the next three years. The $150-million speedway, located at I-71 and Ky. 35, is designed to grow to 150,000 seats and 200 suites if officials can land a NASCAR Winston Cup event.
Official sponsors line up at speedway
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