Veteran Racer Aims To Take On ARCA Midwest Tour Stars
by Gregg Paul
When the ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment and Lester Buildings rolls into State Park Speedway on May 18th the Touring Stars will have their hands full not only with each other, but with a few local drivers who aim to steal a win away from them.
One of these local drivers will not be a surprise to anyone if he should happen to take the checkers once again.
Mark Mackesy is no stranger to State Park Speedway, nor is he a stranger to visiting Victory Lane at the famed quarter mile oval. Mackesy is a three time track champion (2008, ’09, ’11) and has won all three of the track’s signature events. He is a three time winner of the Larry Detjens Memorial (1999, 2006, 2012), and he has won both the Flip Merwin Memorial (2012) and the Wayne “Lodi” Lodholz Memorial (2009) once each. Mackesy also won the Midwest Tour event back in 2011
Despite all these accomplishments Mackesy knows that merely showing up will be no guarantee of winning again.
“It’s going to be really tough,” said Mackesy. “The talent in the series is the toughest in the nation. You look at all the track titles and feature wins that group has accumulated. It’s amazing!”
Mackesy would go on to rave about the competition that he is about to race side by side against on May 18th as well as wishing he could race with the ARCA Midwest Tour on a full time basis.
“I really like it. If I had the money I would run it,” said Mackesy. “The list of names is truly amazing. Wimmer, Bickle, Haseleu, Goede, Fredrickson, Holzhausen, Eilen, Morrissey, Hoffman, the Weinkauf brothers. The list goes on. It’s got drivers who have raced in NASCAR. This group has won races all over America.”
Mackesy should also be a member of that esteemed list, but is quick to point out that it is the help of his crew that gives him the chance to win every time he straps himself into the car.
“I’ve got a great crew chief in Tom Ress and a great pit crew,” said Mackesy. “Tommy’s very intelligent and the team leader. It also helps I grew up about five minutes from the track. I feel I grew up there. My brother and I pitted for my dad in the 80’s before I started racing there. Good local sponsors too.”
Mackesy knows that he will once again have his work cut out for him when the ARCA Midwest Tour comes to where he grew up. He is well aware that another Tour win will be another highly regarded win.
“If I could win another it would rank right up there with the last win in the Midwest Tour in ’11 and last year’s Detjens,” said Mackesy.
The ARCA Midwest Tour drivers will know they will have another threat to win when the green flag flies.
Qualifying will begin at 4:00pm with an Autograph session to follow from 5:00-5:30pm. Racing begins at 6:00pm. For complete race day details go to arcamidwesttour.com and click on Schedule.
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. For questions call the ARCA Midwest Tour office at (262) 729-4111 or Tim Olson at (612) 327-5831 or Steve Einhaus (630) 212-6022 at or e-mail Tim Olson at tim@arcamidwesttour.comor Steve Einhaus at steve@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 Speedways.
