Frank Kimmel's Street Stock Series - Steppin' Up

A lot of people laughed when Frank Kimmel, an eight-time ARCA RE/MAX Series champion and part-time promoter, announced a Street Stock race at the mile-and-a-half Kentucky Speedway. The naysayers said that the cars would be crashing every lap, or there would be huge multi-car crashes that would decimate the field. Others said the cars would not stand up to the rigors of a superspeedway. They said wheels would break, engines would blow and there wouldn't be enough cars left at the end to even constitute a race. All of those folks were wrong-very wrong.

The Frank Kimmel Enduro Nationals was not only a technical success, with few wrecks and a tremendous finish, but also a commercial success. Now, after the running of that event in May, Kimmel is about to step up to the next level and create a series for Street Stock drivers.

"The Kentucky race showed us that we can race this type of car safely on a superspeedway and put on a good show for the fans," Kimmel says. "It just makes sense to me to go on and add a few more races to give these guys an opportunity to race at some of the places where they never dreamed they would get a chance to race."

"No more than four races at this point," says Kimmel. "When I retire from driving, and if this thing grows like I think it can, then we can think about expanding to six or even eight races. We want to spread out the races, separate them so guys can afford to go back home and get their stuff back together and get ready to come back to the next one ready to race. We want to keep at least a month between the races.

"Remember, these are still cars that they can go home and race with every Friday and Saturday night somewhere. That's important to not make a car that is so specialized for this series that they can't run it on their local tracks, although we might have to find a different name for the cars. In reality, the cars that came to Kentucky were much better than the normal Enduro or Street Stock car. We may come up with something like Sportsman Enduro car, or something like that.

"Right now we're waiting for the ARCA schedule to come out," Kimmel continues. "After I know what free dates I have, we can get with the tracks and match up the dates that they have available. We've talked with Mr. [Humpy] Wheeler about a race at Lowe's. He's currently looking over our rules and the things that were done with the Kentucky race but hasn't gotten back with us yet. Also, the folks down in Nashville asked for information about the series while we were down there for the ARCA race, so they are considering the idea also."

Wheeler's initial impression is that he likes Kimmel's concept.

"I'm for anything that will produce low-cost racing, and anything that will introduce people to superspeedway racing in a safe manner," Wheeler says. "I think it's a good idea. Frank obviously got a lot of input at Kentucky. He's a smart guy who has been around for a long time and understands the epidemic that we run under, the costs. The costs are closing down the short tracks, and the costs really limit what you can do with the big tracks. Really, there aren't a lot of things you can do at a track like Lowe's Motor Speedway.

"Maybe we have a new era on our hands. Right now, if a guy wants to get on asuperspeedway, the cheapest thing he can do is ARCA, and really, when you look at it, it's a Cup car and still hugely expensive. I've asked guys like Foyt and Pearson what they would do if they were 19 years old and starting out. They just throw up their hands and shake their heads."

The need for avenues to develop local talent is paramount to the health of the industry, according to Wheeler.

"Because of the costs of racing, there are a lot of really good race car drivers who will miss ever becoming a Cup driver," Wheeler says. "As a track operator, you want to make sure you have the best drivers from anywhere starting the race at your racetrack. That's what all of those people in the stands are paying to see.

"There are a lot of guys who can't afford to take that next step. They may be able to race a Legends Car, an IMCA car, or a Street Stock, and that's as far as they go because they don't have the money. So Frank's deal is something I would definitely look at. As I said, I'm for anything that will lower the costs of racing. If you go back and look at Cup racing in the '60s, that's all it was really, Street Stock racing.

"It wasn't until about 1964 that they got fast and less stock-like. That's when the factories came in, and the cars have become less stock year after year, until now where we have that twisted sister car running out there now. It can't die soon enough for me. I can't wait for next year."

Wheeler, through 600 Racing (producer of Legends, Bandoleros, and Thunder Roadsters), has a new race vehicle nearly ready to hit the marketplace.

"We have a new body coming out for the Thunder Roadsters," he says. "It looks like a cross between the Viper and the Corvette, and we are going to run some races for them on the superspeedway. We've tested them and they run about the same speeds as Frank's cars, so I could see taking an afternoon or an evening and maybe running them together as a doubleheader."

The Dynamics
Kimmel's series, for now, has a unique footprint in the industry and a huge upside.

"I think that there is a tremendous potential for this," Kimmel says. "We have some great ideas for the rules for next year. I've talked to the folks at the Salem Speedway and it looks like next year we will have a compatible package where you can run the same setup at Salem and at our races. We've also talked to Glenn Luckett from the CRA. They are interested and they are looking to get their rules together with ours.

"So, hopefully, we can sit down and mesh it all together and make a real neat traveling deal. We're going to keep the gear rule like we had it at Kentucky, but we are considering a 450-lift hydraulic cam rule for next year. Some other things that we're considering is a weight penalty and a taller wickerbill for cars with big motors. We'll be using 93-octane pump gas for the cars and at least 20 gallons will have to be bought at the track, and also the tires you race on will have to be bought at the track.

"We'll, of course, keep the wickerbill. The wickerbill is going to be our signature deal. If you see a car going down the road, or coming into a racetrack, you are going to know that it is one of our cars. Plus, it's a great place to put the title sponsor's decals. Somebody joked that we should go after Gillette as a title sponsor so we could call the wickerbill 'The Gillette Blade.' I kind of like the idea.

"After the Kentucky race, out of the hundreds of phone calls and e-mails I've gotten, I only had two that weren't happy. One was from a disgruntled competitor who got beat and the other was from a guy [who] wasn't happy about some of the things we did in tech. It wasn't anything to do with the competition side, it was all safety stuff. I don't care because we are going to keep people safe even if we have to protect them from themselves. We are going to change how we do the starting lineup. I'm not doing this to put on a crashfest. I don't want that.