Jesse Love and Corey Heim
Venturini Motorsports drivers Jesse Love (left) and Corey Heim (right) talk prior to the Allen Crowe 100 for the ARCA Menards Series at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois, on Aug. 22, 2021. (Jeff Curry/ARCA Racing)

NOTEBOOK: Milwaukee Mile presents new challenge for ARCA Menards drivers

www.arcaracing.com August 27, 2021

The last time the ARCA Menards Series raced at the famed Milwaukee Mile, its current championship points leaders, Ty Gibbs and Corey Heim, were 4 and 5 years old, respectively.

For all but one driver in the field, Sunday’s Sprecher 150 at the one-mile paved oval in West Allis, Wisconsin, will be a new experience.

And the challenge is a welcome one.

ENTRY LIST: Sprecher 150 at the Milwaukee Mile

ARCA racing veteran Brad Smith is the only driver entered in Sunday’s race who has competed in the series on the Milwaukee Mile. The 52-year-old finished 25th, 24th and 19th in his three Milwaukee starts from 2005-2007. That 2007 race, won by ARCA’s all-time wins leader Frank Kimmel, marks the last time the series competed on the Mile prior to Sunday’s event.

Everybody else will be making his or her first ARCA Menards start at the Milwaukee Mile. And with the Sprecher 150 being a combination event with the ARCA Menards Series East, even more drivers will get chances to compete on the oldest continuously operating speedway in the world.

“Even though most of the field doesn’t have experience at the Milwaukee Mile, I think it is going to be a very competitive race where there is going to be little to no room for error,” said Parker Retzlaff, an East Series regular who ranks seventh in points. “I’m taking all the steps I can to prepare myself for the race on Sunday. …

“I am really hoping that the hours that I have spent on iRacing at the Milwaukee Mile will help on Sunday. iRacing without a doubt has made me a better race car driver, and I’m hoping that my weeks of preparation will help ease the real-life transition on Sunday.”

Added Daniel Dye, the only driver not named Gibbs or Heim who has won in the ARCA Menards Series this season: “It will be fun getting back in the GMS Racing Chevrolet on Sunday in Milwaukee. I know it’s been a while since (crew chief) Chad Bryant has been there, but he and the GMS guys always bring great equipment to the track, and I’m confident we’ll be dialed in.

“I haven’t raced at a track like Milwaukee in an ARCA car, so there will definitely be a learning curve, but hopefully, we’ll get it figured out quickly like some of our other races this season and be in contention up front when it counts on Sunday afternoon.”

PIT BOX: Past meets present at Milwaukee Mile

Round 16 goes to …

Corey Heim and Ty Gibbs

One of the tightest championship battles in ARCA Menards Series history rages on as the Sprecher 150 arrives. Even if neither Gibbs nor Heim wins at Milwaukee, the event is sure to provide another chapter in what has been the story of the 2021 season.

Gibbs and Heim split last weekend’s ARCA Menards Series Friday-Sunday doubleheader, with the former winning at Michigan International Speedway and the latter winning on the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

An epitomization of this seasonlong battle, the results at Michigan and Springfield left the two tied atop the championship standings with five races remaining.

“We just keep hammering down and keep winning,” Gibbs said after the Springfield race when asked how he manages the pressure associated with the title chase. “That’s the biggest thing to help us out on points. My guys are never going to give up, so we’re going to keep fighting.”

Gibbs has been the more dominant driver this season, winning a series-high eight races and leading a series-high 1,088 laps.

Heim, though, as been more consistent, posting an average finish of 2.3 for the year and finishing in the top 10 in each of the 15 events.

Which is why Gibbs’ “keep winning” strategy makes sense. As the fourth quarter of the season begins at the Milwaukee Mile, he will try to do just that knowing the odds of Heim making a mistake are slim.

Sammy Smith’s series to lose?

Sammy Smith
Sammy Smith (Matthew Putney/ARCA Racing)

The other Joe Gibbs Racing driver in Sunday’s field looking to put himself in position to win a championship is Sammy Smith, the 17-year-old East Series points leader.

Smith enters the Milwaukee race, the seventh of eight on the 2021 East Series schedule, with a 19-point lead over second-place Mason Diaz in the standings.

While that’s a healthy margin, it is not insurmountable, as proven by Smith’s 18th-place finish following a crash (cut tire) in the most recent East points race at Iowa Speedway.

Still, Smith surely feels confident about his chances to become a champion. In the five standalone East Series races this year, he won three events with his worst finish being a fourth-place run at Dover International Speedway. If not for Max Gutiérrez’s dramatic move in the final corner to win the East Series season-opener at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway, Smith likely would have four wins.

That Iowa race was the first of three combination events with the ARCA Menards Series to close the East Series’ season. After the Milwaukee race, the East Series will conclude at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 16.

How he runs at Milwaukee will determine Smith’s comfort level going into the season finale.

And more:

  • Sunday’s Sprecher 150 at the Milwaukee Mile represents Round 8 of the 2021 Sioux Chief Showdown, a 10-race series within the series that allows drivers from the East Series and the West Series to compete with ARCA Menards Series drivers for a title. Gibbs has an eight-point lead over Heim in the Showdown standings with three races remaining.
  • Rajah Caruth, the East Series rookie running for Rev Racing as part of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity development program, will make his second ARCA Menards Series start Sunday at Milwaukee having also competed in the combination event at Iowa. He’ll join his Rev Racing teammate, ARCA Menards Series full-timer Nick Sanchez, in the field on the Mile.
  • South African native Arnout Kok will make his first ARCA Menards Series start on an oval Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile, as his first two runs this season came on road courses (Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Watkins Glen International). The Mid-Ohio race marked his professional motorsports debut on American soil; he finished ninth.
  • Sam Mayer, the two-time reigning East Series champion who won a combined nine East races in 2019 and 2020, is still searching for his first ARCA Menards victory of 2021. Driving for Bret Holmes Racing, Mayer will make his fourth ARCA Menards Series start of the season at Milwaukee after finishing 22nd at Pocono Raceway, 14th at Watkins Glen and fourth at Michigan.
  • Sunday’s Sprecher 150 will mark the 11th ARCA Menards Series race at the Milwaukee Mile. The series first competed on the track in 1958.
  • The Milwaukee Mile has hosted at least one auto race every year since 1903.