(TOLEDO, Ohio - July 19, 2012) - For 27 years and counting, the Roulo Brothers have been fielding first-class equipment for a wide variety of drivers in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards. While their program has been impressive to be sure, their list of drivers, and ultimately winners, is equally so.

And when they walk through the gate at Chicagoland Speedway for this Saturday's Ansell ActivArmr 150, they won't have to walk far. Born and raised in Midlothian, Ill., the Roulo Brothers still live there and operate their race team from the same home-based shop. Although there will be no Anniversary party awaiting their arrival at Chicagoland, they can honestly call the place home.

Roulo Brothers Racing, a combination of a lot of hardworking and dedicated people, represents a variety of the brothers over the years, to include Gary, Russ and Chris; but the mainstays have been Gary and Russ over the long haul. A cousin John Roulo also helped for a time. Currently, Gary and Russ run the operation with Roush Fenway Racing development driver Chris Buescher in the driver's chair.

Surprisingly, after 29 career wins with seven different drivers, the 2011 season was their first full season on tour. During their only full-time season, they finished second in championship driver and owner point standings, won Team Messina Rookie of the Year honors with Buescher, and secured the 2011 Hoosier Tire Superspeedway Challenge Championship.

To add, the team has won on all disciplines the versatile ARCA Racing Series has to offer - from quarter mile short tracks, to the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds mile-dirt; from a road course/street course in Des Moines, Iowa, to Michigan Int'l Speedway where Buescher earned his seventh career victory with the Roulo Brothers back in June of this year.

With any luck mixed in, along with their vast knowledge of the sport they have committed their lives to, they just might add win number 30 this Saturday at Chicagoland.

"Any win is a big win for Roulo Brother Racing," Gary Roulo said. "Obviously, a win here at home (Chicagoland) would be just a little bigger. But we don't discount any of our victories over the years; they're all special to us. Let's put it this way, our biggest win will be our next one, and that just happens to be here at home."

And of course, there were all those races they 'shoulda-coulda' won, but didn't. And even though they didn't win them all, it's certainly worth noting here that, through it all, Roulo Brothers Racing has led 3,864 laps in 81 races. They have also earned 22 career Menards Pole Awards presented by Ansell. Not too shabby.

For the Roulo Brothers, racing has been a way of life. From as long as they were old enough to walk, they performed all the necessary, entry-level, wheel-polisher positions with their Dad, who fielded championship race teams at Soldier Field in Chicago and other Chicago-area race tracks.

"Our roots are here in Chicago. My Dad raced all around Chicago - Soldier Field, Illiana, Rockport, all over the Chicago area since the late 50s. He fielded cars for a lot of successful drivers over the years. We learned it from him, just as my kids are learning it from me.

"So from that standpoint, Chicagoland Speedway is definitely big for us. We've raced so long in the ARCA Series without a home track, that it's nice to be able to call Chicago home."

The Roulo Brothers were also instrumental in testing the pavement at Chicagoland and Kansas Speedways during each of the track's construction phases. 

"ISC (International Speedway Corporation) hired us to test each layer of the tracks at Chicagoland and Kansas. We tested each layer of aggregate as the pavement was being completed. We did that with Dave Weltmeyer."

As it turns out, they did a lot with fellow Chicagoan Dave Weltmeyer, including winning eight races over the years at some really cool, classic ARCA short tracks such as Kil-Kare Speedway, Columbus Motor Speedway, Flat Rock Speedway, Toledo Speedway and Louisville Motor Speedway.

Bob Strait, another Chicago-area ARCA racer, won the most races for the Roulo Brothers beginning with the team's career-first triumph at the now defunct Cloverleaf Speedway near Cleveland, Ohio on July 5, 1986, in just the team's fifth ARCA attempt. From 1986 through September of 1992, Strait won nine times for the Roulo Brothers at Kil-Kare, Toledo, Delaware Speedway Park in London, Ontario, and the DuQuoin mile dirt.

NASCAR veteran Ken Schrader drove a No. 6 Roulo Brothers Chevrolet to Victory Lane on the Hagerstown Speedway half-mile dirt in 1990 from the pole, giving the Roulo Brothers a one-two finish that day with Strait trailing in second. Team cars were virtually unheard of in ARCA competition at that time.

In 1992, NASCAR champion David Green wheeled the Pedigree Dog Foods No. 39 Roulo car to Victory Lane at the Nashville Fairgrounds, leading a whopping 175 of 200 laps.

Two years later, Scott Lagasse steered the Roulo No. 39 car to the Winner's Circle on the Des Moines Circuit street course, with a relatively unknown rookie by the name of Frank Kimmel trailing in second.

"Smokin" Joe Ruttman was a winner for the Roulo Brothers at Flat Rock in 1995. Then, in 1997, Schrader hopped aboard the 39 car again, this time at Toledo, where he dominated the race, earning yet another victory for the Roulos.

Other drivers who have driven for the Roulo Brothers over the decades include Darrell Waltrip, Jim Sauter, Rich Bickle, Dick Trickle, Dean Roper, Jimmy Spencer, Andy Hillenburg, Erik Darnell, David Ragan, Mike Wallace, Larry Moore, Ed Hage and more.

The most recent winner for Roulo Brothers Racing is Buescher, whose first victory came at Toledo in May of 2010. Since then, Buescher has become the driver to beat at ARCA's hometown Toledo track, winning four ARCA races there, including the most recent one in May earlier this year. In addition to the Michigan win, Buescher also won at Salem and the DuQuoin mile dirt in 2011.

And to save what could be considered the best for last, Roulo Brothers Racing and Buescher are atop the ARCA Racing Series championship standings headed to Chicagoland for Saturday's Ansell Active Armr 150. They lead Venturini Motorsports' Brennan Poole by 45 points.

Arguably, the latter half of the season plays into Buescher's hands more than it might Poole's. Whereas Poole (21) is a rookie, Buescher, at 19, is already a veteran on the tour. Furthermore, Buescher won three of the final four races on tour in 2011 at DuQuoin, Salem and Toledo, tracks he is very familiar with, as are the Roulo Brothers. Poole has yet to lay eyes on Springfield's mile dirt and/or DuQuoin's.

Either way, it'll be a fight to the finish in ARCA's 60th Anniversary Season.

But for now, for Roulo Brothers Racing, it's just nice to be able to head home ........ and race of course.

Drivers will prepare for the 150-mile race with just one practice session on Friday, July 20 from 6-8 p.m. Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell is scheduled for Saturday morning, July 21 at 9:30 a.m. The Ansell ActivArmr® 150 follows at 4 p.m. All times are local. The race will also be live on SPEED.