ARCA Midwest Tour Returns to Action on Saturday, June 13th
by Kari Shear-Carlson
June 5, 2015 – When the ARCA Midwest Tour presented by Scag Power Equipment returns to competition on Saturday, June 13th for the Bill Meiller Memorial 101 presented by Assembly Products and Wounded Warriors in Action at Dells Raceway Park, several drivers will be returning having taken advantage of the brief break in the Tour schedule by racing at their local home tracks.
One of those drivers may be walking just a little bit taller and maybe even with a little bit brighter smile, and rightfully so. ARCA Midwest Touring Star, John DeAngelis, Jr recently acquired his first ever super late model victories, yes plural, winning features at his home track of Slinger Super Speedway. Nothing builds more confidence in a driver than a victory…or two.
“Honestly the first win really boosted my confidence. Getting the second win just boosted it that much more. To get a win at Slinger is not an easy thing to do, going up against the veterans of the track like the Lowell Bennett, Conrad Morgan, the Pruntys, Steve Apel, etc. They’ve all won a lot of races there and to be able to get two wins in three weeks is just awesome,” said DeAngelis.
When it comes to the competition in the ARCA Midwest Tour, DeAngelis admits that it might be a little bit more of a challenge, and that has a lot to do with the experience of the drivers he races against.
“The ARCA Midwest Tour has a lot of tough competition. I would have to say it’s a little different and more of a challenge because 90% of the Tour guys have raced at all these tracks before, where I haven’t. I grew up racing at Slinger so it’s more of a given if I win at Slinger. But it is only my second year in super late models. So eventually I feel the Tour will get easier,” he said.
When it comes to Dells Raceway Park, DeAngelis isn’t necessarily a rookie. In fact, out of all of the races on the ARCAMT circuit, DeAngelis has the most experience at DRP and has found his fair share of success.
“The Dells is a track I’ve had success at and yet haven’t had success at. I used to race limited late models every week. Although we never got any feature wins there, we had a lot of fast times. We always seemed to finish second every time after setting fast time.”
DeAngelis has always enjoyed racing at Dells Raceway Park and having three years of limited late model experience as well as a partial season of four-cylinder racing at the venue, it may be one of easier tracks for the Touring Star when it comes to racing against the Stars and Cars of the ARCAMT.
“I feel like the Dells will be an easier track for me since I’ve raced there a lot before. Granted the competition is really strong, I feel like I don’t face a lot of challenges. I’m sure there will be a lot of cars but I feel pretty confident,” admitted DeAngelis.
With his experience at the track and his new found confidence, John DeAngelis, Jr is ready to return to ARCA Midwest Tour competition on June 13th, but he admits that sometimes the hardest obstacle to overcome is himself.
“A win at this track in the Midwest Tour event would be huge. We had an awesome car for the Ice Breaker 100 before we got fenced on lap 8. We are taking a different car but we have tested before. I feel like we are going to have a really good car if the driver cooperates. I’m one to be really hard on myself if something doesn’t go right, so a win here would boost my confidence a lot more. I think it would be a big relief since we always seemed to finish second in the limited late model features.”
Chances are, a victory in the ARCA Midwest Tour isn’t too far off for John DeAngelis, Jr, and June 13th at Dells Raceway Park just might be the night.
Practice will begin at 1:30pm with qualifying at 5pm and racing at 7pm. Tickets are available online today at shtrk.us/arcamtix
For complete event details, log on to arcamidwesttour.com
Be sure to follow the ARCA Midwest Tour on Facebook (/midwesttour) and Twitter (@midwesttour).
To learn more about the Automobile Racing Club of America Midwest Tour, log on to arcamidwesttour.com. The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is among the leading auto racing sanctioning bodies in the country. Founded in 1953 by John and Mildred Marcum, the organization administers more than 100 events each year in multiple racing series, including the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, the ARCA/CRA Super Series, the ARCA Truck Series and the ARCA Midwest Tour, plus weekly racing at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedway.
