Frank Kimmel
| Frank Kimmel | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality |  American | ||||||
| Born | Francis James Kimmel April 30, 1962 Clarksville, Indiana | ||||||
| Related to | Bill Kimmel Sr. Will Kimmel | ||||||
| ARCA Racing Series career | |||||||
| Debut season | 1990 | ||||||
| Former teams | Larry Clement Racing (1999–2007) Kimmel Racing (2008–2011) ThorSport Racing (2012–2013) Win-Tron Racing (2014) Venturini Motorsports (2015) Team Stange Racing (2016) Cunningham Motorsports (2016) | ||||||
| Starts | 503 | ||||||
| Wins | 80 | ||||||
| Poles | 45 | ||||||
| Best finish | 1st in 1998, 2000, '01, '02, '03, '04, '05, '06, '07, '13 | ||||||
| Championship titles | |||||||
| 1998, 2000, '01, '02, '03, '04, '05, '06, '07, '13 | ARCA Racing Series | ||||||
| Awards | |||||||
| 1992 | ARCA Permatex Super Car Series Rookie of the Year | ||||||
| NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
| 7 races run over 4 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 54th (2002) | ||||||
| First race | 1998 Pepsi 400 (Michigan) | ||||||
| Last race | 2002 Pocono 500 (Pocono) | ||||||
| |||||||
| NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
| 1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
| Best finish | 94th (2001) | ||||||
| First race | 2001 Pepsi 300 (Nashville) | ||||||
| |||||||
| NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career | |||||||
| 14 races run over 10 years | |||||||
| 2013 position | 48th | ||||||
| Best finish | 44th (1996) | ||||||
| First race | 1995 Ford Credit 200 (Louisville) | ||||||
| Last race | 2013 Ford EcoBoost 200 (Homestead) | ||||||
| |||||||
| Statistics current as of September 20, 2014. | |||||||
Francis "Frank" James Kimmel (born April 30, 1962) is a retired American stock car racing driver. He competed primarily in the ARCA Racing Series, from 1990 through 2016. Kimmel has won the ARCA championship ten times, including eight consecutive. He won the championship in 1998 and also won the 2000 through 2007 championships, and again in 2013.[1]
Kimmel is currently the general manager for KBR Development, which fields the No. 28 Chevrolet in the ARCA Series.[2] From after the end of his driving career in 2017 through 2019, he returned to Venturini Motorsports (the team he drove for part-time in 2015) as a crew chief and a driving coach for their drivers, such as Leilani Munter, Gavin Harlien, and Hailie Deegan.
Personal
Frank Kimmel was born in Clarksville, Indiana on April 30, 1962. His father, Bill Kimmel, Sr., was a three-time ARCA race winner.[3] Frank resides in Borden, Indiana[4] with his wife Donna. He has two children Holly and Frank II.[5] He also has two years of college education. Kimmel is involved in his community, participating in school events and coaching youth sports.[5]
Early career
Kimmel made his first career start racing a street stock at the age of 15. Seven years later he moved to late models. Before racing in ARCA, Kimmel won three championships racing Late Models.[6]
ARCA
Kimmel's first ARCA start was in 1990. His first full season was 1992, driving the #02 Indiana Steel Co. Pontiac. Kimmel was consistent and was able to claim Rookie of the Year honors. Frank won his first race at Toledo Speedway in 1994.
He is the only ten-time champion in the ARCA Racing Series and the only driver to win eight championships in a row (2000–2007). Kimmel became the first ever ARCA Racing Series driver to be assigned a seat in the IROC (International Race of Champions) Series in 2006.
As of 2006, the crew chief on Kimmel's team is his brother, Bill Kimmel Jr.[4] In 2008, the Kimmel brothers left Larry Clement Racing to form their own team, known as Kimmel Racing. The team initially ran a Dodge with the support of Cunningham Motorsport and sponsorship from Riverside Auto at Daytona before joining forces with Ford Racing for the remainder of 2008.
On August 2, 2008, Kimmel was injured in a 3 car crash on lap 68 at Pocono Raceway, suffering a concussion.[5] He was taken to the hospital for observation overnight.[7] Though lacking a title sponsor for the entire year of 2008, Frank and team were able to pull out a 2nd-place finish in points by a margin of 50. The loss of the championship was not the surprising part of that year but rather the surprise was how close Kimmel Racing was to winning a tenth title. As a result of his performance, Ansell and Menards joined forces with him the following season, a partnership that continues to this day.
Following the 2011 ARCA Racing Series season, Kimmel left the Kimmel Racing team, and drove for ThorSport Racing in the ARCA Racing Series starting in 2012.[8]
On June 30, 2013, under crew chief Jeriod Prince, Kimmel tied Iggy Katona's record for most wins in the ARCA Racing Series, winning his 79th career victory at Winchester Speedway.[9] On October 4, 2013, he clinched his tenth ARCA Racing Series championship at Kansas Speedway.[10] Kimmel went on to win the race, surpassing Katona to become the all-time win leader in ARCA Racing Series history.
For the 2014 season, Kimmel moved to Win-Tron Racing, retaining his No. 44.[11] His final start came in 2016.
Kimmel holds ARCA records in a number of categories, including starts, wins, and poles.
On December 20, 2019, KBR Development hired Kimmel as team general manager.[12]
NASCAR
Kimmel made seven starts in the NASCAR Cup Series,[13] five of those coming with Travis Carter Motorsports in 2002.[14] He found little success in the series. His best finish to date was a 26th-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He had one Busch Series start.[13] Through 2010 he had had two top-10 finishes from twelve Craftsman Truck Series starts.[13] and ran the 2011 and 2013 Camping World Truck Series season finales at Homestead-Miami Speedway for ThorSport Racing.[8]
IROC
Kimmel was invited to participate in the 2006 edition of the International Race of Champions, IROC XXX. Kimmel was the first ever ARCA Racing Series driver to be assigned a seat in IROC.
That season, he placed seventh in points[15] with a best finish of third in the first race[16] of the four-race IROC season.[15]
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Nextel Cup Series
| NASCAR Nextel Cup Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | NNCC | Pts | |||
| 1998 | Travis Carter Enterprises | 23 | Ford | DAY | CAR | LVS | ATL | DAR | BRI | TEX | MAR | TAL | CAL | CLT | DOV | RCH | MCH | POC | SON | NHA | POC | IND | GLN | MCH 31 |
BRI | NHA | DAR | RCH | DOV | MAR | CLT | TAL | DAY | PHO | CAR | ATL | 65th | 70 | ||||||
| 2001 | Larry Clement Racing | 46 | Ford | DAY | CAR | LVS | ATL | DAR | BRI | TEX | MAR | TAL | CAL | RCH | CLT | DOV | MCH | POC | SON | DAY | CHI | NHA | POC | IND | GLN | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | KAN | CLT DNQ |
MAR DNQ |
TAL | PHO | CAR | HOM | ATL DNQ |
NHA | N/A | 0 | |||
| 2002 | Haas-Carter Motorsports | 26 | Ford | DAY | CAR | LVS | ATL | DAR | BRI | TEX 33 |
MAR 40 |
TAL 35 |
CAL | RCH 42 |
CLT 26 |
DOV | 54th | 292 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Larry Clement Racing | 46 | Ford | POC 43 |
MCH | SON | DAY | CHI | NHA | POC | IND | GLN | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | NHA | DOV | KAN | TAL | CLT | MAR | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Haas-Carter Motorsports | 66 | Ford | ATL DNQ |
CAR | PHO | HOM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | Fast Track Racing Enterprises | 71 | Ford | DAY DNQ |
CAL | LVS | ATL | BRI | MAR | TEX | PHO | TAL | RCH | DAR | CLT | DOV | POC | MCH | SON | NHA | DAY | CHI | IND | POC | GLN | MCH | BRI | CAL | RCH | NHA | DOV | KAN | TAL | CLT | MAR | ATL | TEX | PHO | HOM | 71st | 0 | |||
Daytona 500
| Year | Team | Manufacturer | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Fast Track Racing Enterprises | Ford | DNQ | |
Busch Series
| NASCAR Busch Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | NBSC | Pts | |||
| 2001 | HighLine Performance Group | 8 | Chevy | DAY | CAR | LVS | ATL | DAR | BRI | TEX | NSH 11 |
TAL | CAL | RCH | NHA | NZH | CLT | DOV | KEN | MLW | GLN | CHI | GTY | PPR | IRP | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | KAN | CLT | MEM | PHO | CAR | HOM | 94th | 135 | |||
Camping World Truck Series
Winston West Series
| NASCAR Winston West Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | NWWSC | Pts | |||
| 2001 | Clement Racing | 46 | Chevy | PHO | LVS | TUS | MMR | CAL | IRW | LAG | KAN 1* |
EVG | CNS | IRW | RMR | LVS | IRW | 42nd | 185 | |||
| 2002 | Ford | PHO | LVS | CAL | KAN 22 |
EVG | IRW | S99 | RMR | DCS | LVS | 53rd | 97 | |||||||||
ARCA Racing Series
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points
International Race of Champions
(key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)
| International Race of Champions results | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Pos. | Pts |
| 2006 | Pontiac | DAY 3 |
TEX 8 |
DAY 8 |
ATL 7 |
7th | 40 |
References
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-10-15. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "KBR Relocating, Hires Kimmel As General Manager". Speed Sport. December 20, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-07-18. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ a b RoundAbout Entertainment Guide - Harley-Davidson of Cincinnati 150 Archived 2007-05-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-12-03. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Racing beat - Truckers News".
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ a b "ThorSport Racing Expanding to ARCA Series with Frank Kimmel in '12". ThorSport Racing PR. Iowa Speedway. 11 November 2011. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 2011-11-12.
- ^ "Looking back at big ARCA race weekend".
- ^ "Kimmel clinches 10th ARCA Racing Series title". Rotoworld. NBC Sports. October 4, 2013. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved 2013-10-04.
- ^ Kerchner, Mike (December 22, 2013). "Short-Track Roundup: ARCA champion Frank Kimmel changing teams". Autoweek. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
- ^ "KBR Relocating, Hires Kimmel As General Manager". Speed Sport. December 20, 2019. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
- ^ a b c "Driver Frank Kimmel Career Statistics - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info.
- ^ "Driver Frank Kimmel 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info.
- ^ a b "IROC Results for 2006 - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info.
- ^ "Driver Frank Kimmel's IROC Results at Daytona International Speedway - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info.
External links
- Frank Kimmel driver statistics at Racing-Reference