By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Rookie of the Year battle is heating up as ARCA RE/MAX drivers begin qualifying today for Saturday's Channel 5-205 at Kentucky Speedway.

WEEKEND EVENTS

FRIDAY • Admission: $20 • Gates open: 3 p.m. • Qualifying: 6-8 p.m.   SATURDAY • Admission: $30 • Gates open: 4 p.m. • Legends series race: 4:30 p.m. • Tammy Cochran Concert: 5:30 p.m. • ARCA RE/MAX Channel 5-205: 8 p.m.

Bill Eversole, a 40-year-old racecar driving instructor from Manchester, Mich., is tied with Christi Passmore of Pryor, Okla., with 142 points in the rookie standings. Passmore is eighth in the overall point standings with 1,025, while Eversole is ninth with 995.

Given his driving instruction experience at Michigan International Speedway, Eversole expected to be one of the strongest rookies when this season began. At age 40, Eversole realizes his racing career won't last very long, and he wants to win something while he's at it.

"We're leading the Rookie of the Year race," Eversole said. "And that's one of our goals this season."

Eversole, who drives the Think Pink Energy Drink Chevrolet, said he's more likely to finish higher at superspeedway tracks because of his experience at Michigan International Speedway, a 2-mile oval. His worst finish of the season came two weeks ago at Salem, Ind., when he finished 27th on the short track.

Passmore finished ninth at Salem and 17th last week at Toledo. That makes sense, considering she made the jump to ARCA this season after racing short-track sprint cars for several years.

But now that they're at Kentucky Speedway, a 1.5-mile tri-oval, Eversole likes his chances.

"That's why we're testing here," Eversole said. "We've got great potential to get in the top 10 here."

Eversole, who is older than the average ARCA driver, embodies what ARCA bills itself as: a professional racing circuit for the working class.

Aside from a few up-and-coming drivers such as Kyle Busch and Shelby Howard, making NASCAR isn't a realistic goal for most of this circuit's drivers.

Frank Kimmel, also 40, has won four of the last five season championships. Kimmel is again at the top of the standings entering the race at Kentucky, where he has won three of the last four times.

Practice for Saturday's race begins at 3 p.m. today with two-lap qualifying scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday's race starts at 8 p.m.

"This is the type of race where you can come to the track on a reasonable budget," Kimmel said.

That is why Eversole, even at 40, has his wife's blessing to race.

"She loves it," Eversole said. "This is my dream. And I made it come true."

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com