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After Seven Consecutive Weeks of Racing, ARCA Menards Series Takes Fourth of July Weekend Off

www.arcaracing.com July 4, 2019

As the country celebrates its independence this weekend, the ARCA Menards Series celebrates with a much-needed weekend off after seven consecutive weeks of racing.

it started at Toledo when Chandler Smith scored his first win of 2019, and continued just four days later at Charlotte Motor Speedway where Ty Majeski earned his first career series win. The series then went to Pocono and Majeski made it back-to-back wins for Chad Bryant Racing.

Majeski nearly made it a natural hat trick by going three in a row but ran dry of fuel in the final turn of the final lap at Michigan allowing Michael Self to slip by and pick up his third win of the year. From there, the series made the trek to Madison, and to no one’s surprise Chandler Smith scored his second consecutive win at the track, winning from the pole.

The teams traveled from just outside of Madison, Wisconsin to Madison, Illinois, home of WWT Raceway (formerly known at Gateway Motorsports Park), and after a day-long debate with Mother Nature, 16-year-old Ty Gibbs parked it in victory lane for the first time in his young ARCA Menards Series career. Majeski then earned his third win – and the fourth in six races for a driver named Ty – in last week’s Bounty 150 at Chicagoland.

Despite no race this weekend, the ARCA Menards Series has a rich history or racing on the Fourth of July weekend. For instance, in 1985, Ypsilanti, Michigan’s Ed Hage led all 100 laps from the pole to defeat Dave Simko, Bosco Lowe, Davey Allison and Bill Venturini to win the Cloverleaf ARCA 100 at Cloverleaf Speedway in Cleveland, Ohio. It was Hage’s first career ARCA Menards Series win.

Hage was a long-time ARCA late model campaigner at Flat Rock and Toledo Speedways, and was the 1997 ARCA Gold Cup Late Model champion. He had ten career late model wins at Flat Rock, and six career ARCA Menards Series wins, all coming with V-6 power on short tracks.

The ARCA Menards Series returns to action on Saturday July 13 in the Menards 250 at Elko Speedway. Practice is set for 2:15 pm ET/1:15 pm CT, General Tire Pole Qualifying is scheduled for 6:15 pm ET/5:15 pm CT, and the 250-lap feature event will go green shortly after 10 pm ET/9 pm CT. The race will be televised live on MAVTV, and ARCA for Me members can follow every lap made by every car entered throughout every on-track session with free live timing & scoring at ARCARacing.com. Discounted tickets to the Menards 250 are available at nearly 40 Minneapolis-St. Paul Menards locations for just $20. For more information, please visit ElkoSpeedway.com or call (952) 461-7223.