Stock Car History Rich at DuQuoin

The month of August brings annual Midwestern state fairs, and with that, it also brings the ARCA Menards Series to its two annual dirt track races.

Held at the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds and on the Magic Mile at the DuQuoin State Fair, ARCA’s two dirt mile races are two of the series’ cornerstone events and two races that differentiate the series from virtually every other stock car tour in the country.

Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) added his name the list of winners at Springfield when he took the win in the Allen Crowe 100 presented by Lucas Oil last Sunday at Springfield. Self led 47 laps and dominated the second half of the race on his way to his fourth win of the season and his first ever dirt track win in his first ever dirt track start.

The tour now moves a couple hours to the southwest for the second duel on the dirt, the Southern Illinois 100 at DuQuoin.

The Magic Mile has a rich stock car racing history that dates back to 1956, and the list of winners includes some of the biggest names in motorsports.

Marshall Teague won the inaugural stock car race at DuQuoin in 1956. Jerry Unser won in 1957, followed by the “Golden Boy” Fred Lorenzen in 1958 and 1959. Norm Nelson won in 1960 and 1963, sandwiching Paul Goldsmith who earned wins in 1961 and 1962.

Joe Leonard won in 1964, and the following year Goldsmith became the first three-time winner. Don White won in 1966 and in 1968, bookending Norm Nelson’s third win in 1967.

Anthony Joseph Foyt won in 1969 and Nelson won earned his fourth DuQuoin checkered in 1970. Verlin Eaker won in 1971, and USAC and ARCA champion Jack Bowsher won in 1972. Butch Hartman became the third back-to-back winner in 1973 and 1974 and then made history by becoming the first driver to win three in a row in 1975.

In 1966, Bay Darnell ended up in the infield lake at Daytona International Speedway, something he never forgot. In fact, he raced at Daytona with a life preserver after that. While there is an inner moat at DuQuoin that didn’t deter Darnell as he won in 1976. Paul Feldner won in 1977 and Don White won for the third time in 1978.

Future NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace won in 1979, ten years before his Cup Series championship. Sal Tovella won in 1981, and Rick O’Brien won in 1982.

In 1983, ARCA co-sanctioned the race with USAC and Roper earned his second DuQuoin win. David Goldsberry won in 1984, the second and final co-sanctioned race with USAC.

In 1985, ARCA became the sole sanctioning body for the race and Lee Raymond won a 200-mile marathon on his way to that season’s championship. Roper went on to win in 1986 and 1987, his third and fourth DuQuoin victories.

Bob Keselowski won back-to-back in 1988 and 1989, starting a five-year streak of winning drivers named Bob. in 1990, Bob Brevak won, in 1991 Bob Strait won, and in 1992 Bob Schacht won. Billy Thomas won in 1993 and Dean Roper won for the fifth and final time in 1994. Bob Hill won in 1995 and 1996, making it seven wins by a Bob in nine years.

Billy Thomas won again in 1997 and 1998 before Jeff Finley earned his one and only ARCA Menards Series victory in 1999. Frank Kimmel won in 2001 and 2002, and again in 2004 and 2005. In between, Cup superstar and champion Tony Stewart made the trip to DuQuoin and won for the only time in his ARCA career.

Ken Schrader won in 2006 and 2007, and in 2008 Kimmel won for the fifth time. NASCAR on NBC analyst Parker Kligerman swept the dirt races in 2009, and Canadian ace Steve Arpin won in 2010. Chris Buescher won in 2011, a year before the race was postponed and eventually canceled by rain for the first and only time in its history.

Ken Schrader won for the third time in 2013, and Grant Enfinger won back-to-back in 2014 and 2015. Tom Hessert III won in 2016, Austin Theriault won in 2017, and Logan Seavey won in 2018.

All told, 37 drivers have scored at least one USAC and/or ARCA win at DuQuoin.

The Southern Illinois 100 is set for Saturday night August 31. Practice starts at 2:30 pm CT, General Tire Pole Qualifying is set for 5:30 pm CT, and the race is set for 8 pm CT. The race will be televised live on MAVTV; ARCARacing.com will have live timing & scoring, live chat, and live track updates for registered users.