Venturini Motorsports announced on Tuesday that two Kimmel’s will pilot rides at Salem Speedway on September 19 with the organization. Frank Kimmel, a 10-time ARCA champion, will pilot the No. 25 Toyota for the well-known ARCA Racing Series team. The other? If you had guessed Frank Kimmel II then you are correct!
Kimmel II isn’t sure exactly how the deal came about.
“I’m not sure who came up with the plan or how it all came up, but one night my dad called me and mentioned that Billy [Venturini] wanted to run me at Salem,” Kimmel II said in a release. “I did a start-and-park for them in the spring, but we’re coming to race this time. My dad started talking to me about it back in May… then in mid-June Billy said, ‘let’s put something together,’ and we’ve been working towards it ever since.”
Plans are to run Kimmel II in the No. 55 Toyota. The team will also bring the same car that Dominic Ursetta ran back in April at Salem. That particular ride took Ursetta to a third-place finish.
“Our mindset going in is to run all 200 laps,” Kimmel II continued. “The [No.] 55 car I’m driving is right in the thick of it for owner points, so I can’t do anything too crazy. If we run all 200 laps, don’t put a scratch on it and roll it back on straight, it’ll be a good day, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care about winning the race. I want to win that race more than anything right now, and that means beating my dad.”
His father also shared his opinions on the matter.
“We’re all racing each other, whether it’s our teammates or not, and we all have a job to do for our sponsors and all the people who support us,” said Frank Kimmel in a release. “But it’s crazy to think that I wouldn’t be rooting for my kid. Of course I’m going to be aware of where he’s at and what he’s doing out there. He’s got a job to do just like I do. He knows I want to win, and I understand he wants to win it.”
Kimmel II has seven career ARCA Racing Series starts. The 24-year old has two top-10 finishes in the series in 2011 and 2012. His last start came earlier in the year at Salem Speedway, where he took home a 24th-place finish.
