I must admit to not really knowing a great deal about 9 time ARCA Champion Frank Kimmel prior to a recent interview with him. Oh I knew some stats, knew his brother Bill was his crew chief, knew this white haired veteran racer was the one to beat almost every ARCA race in every year. But I didn’t know many hows, whys or whats about Frank. I truthfully enjoyed every minute, and he gave me quite a few, of speaking with Frank. And now I know there is so much more to admire and know about Frank Kimmel, so, without any further comment for now, please enjoy getting to know more about Frank Kimmel.
Frank came by this need for competition quite naturally. His father, Frank,Sr. raced all across Indiana and neighboring states to support his family of 5 children and his wife.
“My brothers Thom, Bill, myself and our entire family have been racing our entire lives,” Kimmel began. My dad started racing in 1948, so, this is where we grew up and this is what we did. Bill and I both played sports in high school. Dad was pretty big into that and wanted us to be kids, but, at the same token our spare time was usually spent in the garage working on his cars and eventually working on our own cars getting ready to go the weekly races. This is what we did. I tell people all the time who ask ‘why would you do something like that’, this is our life, this is what we do. This is what we think about. Every day this is our main focus, what we’re going to do at the race track and how we’re going to do it.”
After many successful seasons driving for Larry Clement, Frank joined the ranks of owner/driver in 2008. I asked him after 9 championships, why strike out on his own then? Why not sooner? Why not later? Was it just time?
“Yeah, I think so,” Frank continued. “Bill and I had talked about it for a bit of time during that season (2007) and things had kind of changed a little bit the way the whole program was running there with Larry. Larry was a great owner for us for many, many years and we had a lot of great success, so, it was very difficult decision to make to move. It came down, really, to what we were going to do in the future. I had just turned 48 and I knew that the big 50 was coming. Am I worth as much to sponsors later than I was then? Probably not. We had just won the 9th championship, so, things were going very well and we thought it was the right time to move out, start something of our own, gain some of our own equipment to add some longevity to Kimmel Racing, whether that be with our sons or other drivers on the road. We don’t know yet, but, right now we’re focused on getting us a 10th championship and trying to win some races and trying to do all the things we’ve done in the past. We’re slowly approaching that, but it was just some tough decisions to make for our families and our lives at that time.”
Owner/driver attempts have been tried in the past. Some work, some do not. It’s a risk, so, why try it?
“Yeah, everybody tries to do it it seems like,” Kimmel explained. “Sometimes it doesn’t work out like you said. We feel like we’ve been racing forever. We’ve owned our own cars back in the day when we first started racing street stocks and late models and developed in to having other people own our cars and that paid some bills, so, that was really a good time. I think we understand it, maybe as much, if not better, than most especially in the ARCA Series. It just felt like the right thing to do. Whether we will have success at it, I don’t know. It remains to be seen. We haven’t won a race this year. Last year we didn’t win one and that’s disappointing. Our productivity on the race track is not what we want it to be yet, but signing sponsors like Menards and Ansell Gloves was a huge feather in our cap.”
“With today’s economy in today’s world when you get any sponsorship is something else, but to come up with 2 major sponsors like that that’s going to carry us for the next 3 years, that’s a big deal for us. If you had asked me that question about midway through the first season I’d have said we were all stupid and crazy to do this, but now it looks a little bit better. There is some light at the end of the tunnel. Our race cars are improving on the track and the best things are ahead of us right now. Nothing ever succeeds by being mediocre. If you’re going to rest on your laurels and look what I’ve done, I’m this and I’m that, you’re just not going to be good at anything, I don’t care what you do, so, we felt like this was something we had to do. It’s going to be fine. If you don’t challenge something or make yourself take those steps that are difficult then you’ll never be successful.”
At the close of 2008 sponsorship had not been locked down for 2009 and Frank was thinking that a partial run was eminent for the upcoming year.
“(At the end of 2008) we weren’t going to Daytona. We had no sponsorship. We had nothing going on,” he explained. “We were struggling. At that point we thought we won’t go to Daytona and we’d get ready for a car for sale and then we would lease it out to somebody. We had heard of this sponsorship package going together, but, we had heard of this type of thing ten million times in our career, so, you take it with a grain of salt and you definitely don’t spend any money with it because it doesn’t pay very well until you’ve got the check. It was 8 days prior to leaving for Daytona when I signed the deal. We had actually spent the money and got the car to color because we knew if the deal was going to go through it had to be this neon yellow, so, we had it all prepped and ready. Then we found out they wanted the hauler wrapped and even wanted uniforms by Daytona, if possible. When you pick up a new sponsor you want to show them you can jump through any hoop they want to throw at you, so, we got the job done, but, it was quite a stretch. And when all that came around we had to go race too!”
I asked Frank about the next generation of Kimmel racers.
“Well, Bill’s son Will has raced a few ARCA races already. He has shown a lot of promise. Won a late model championship here locally and he is driven to drive. That’s what he really wants to do. I think he has the potential to do anything he wants to in this sport. I think it’s time for him to move up and do something like that. I’d love to see him get a truck ride or an ARCA ride and continue his career because he’s almost 22 years old now and we all know they’re getting younger and younger guys so it’s time for him to get going. Hopefully he’ll be able to do that very soon. My son Frankie just graduated from high school last year and now he’s a freshman at UNC Charlotte and majoring in mechaical engineering and has a lot of potential there. He’s a great race car driver already. He’s won 2 of the last 3 championships and Rookie Of The Year in the year he didn’t win it at the local track here at Salem Speedway, so, he has every potential to be anything that he wants to be. I’d like him to finish his education first and then if he’s able to grab that gold ring and wants to go racing then that’s fantastic. We’re proud of both children. They’re both good young men, they don’t smoke or do the stupid things you see kids do nowadays, so, we’re very proud of them.”
The Menards 200 presented by Federated Car at Toledo on May 23rd represents Frank’s 30th start at Toledo since 1990. Frank’s very first ARCA win came there in 1994 driving for Jack Wallace and Kimmel leads all other ARCA drivers with 9 wins at the historic track. Additionally Frank is the last driver to win back to back races there in 2002 and 2003. That’s quite some record.
“It is,” he explained. “It’s been such a great race track for us over the years with a lot of wins and a lot of success there. I have a lot of confidence going in to that track. I think that even last year both of our races there were very good and we had a car that could contend for the win. This year we are taking 2 cars again that are going to be good. Matt Crafton is going to be driving one of our other prepared cars and we’re looking forward to having him racing with us and on our side at that deal. It’s going to be a good race. There’s probably no better short track than Toledo Speedway, I don’t think. It’s great racing all the way around. The fans can see the whole track and they’ll pack the place pretty good so it’s going to be an exciting day for us. That place holds a lot of good memories for us. It’s what ARCA racing is all about and makes for great racing for the fans.”
Frank’s opinion on the veterans of that series being such an intricate part of ARCA.
“Veterans become an asset for ARCA. There are only 4 or 5 of us (now) that have run a lot of the races over the years. The fans get to know you. It’s a little bit different in ARCA. It’s a little more personable. People can come out and do the on track autograph session and meet and talk with you. It’s not as rushed. You don’t have the 100,000 people on a Sunday race. Of course we have our 5 or 6 thousand that we’ll have at Toledo, which is great because we get to see a bigger percentage of the crowd. They get to know us, see our kids and wives are with us. In NASCAR there are so many things pulling on the drivers as far as sponsors. I don’t think those drivers get to do all the things they want to do with the fans just because of the nature of the job they have. In the ARCA series there are guys like us that do this for a living and then there are guys that have to hurry home so they can go to their jobs on Monday, so, it makes for a good mix. The love of racing that some of these ARCA drivers have, of driving all night, having to have 2 of your crew members sleep in your truck because you can’t afford the extra room and doing the things we have to do to get to race, people don’t get to see that part of it. That part is missing a little bit in other series that’s all money driven. Without sponsorship it comes down to how much money your family can afford to spend.”
Addressing race fans Frank offered, “I think it’s amazing that the race fans are so resilient and have put up with this poor economy. We all know there are people without jobs or their paychecks are cut. Sure there are empty seats at Sprint Cup races when you watch them on TV, but, there are still a lot of people in the seats, too. I think they are the toughest fans in the world. They come out and watch these races and it can be sprinkling rain or there will be thunder storms and they actually have to tell them to leave the grandstands because they are waiting for the track to dry. We get to drive because we love the sport, and I know this is an old cliche and people say it all the time, but, I think the drivers really need to step back and look at what the fans give up and dedicate to our sport so that we can do this. I hope in the future that more and more of the Tony Stewarts and Jeff Gordons understand what it really means to be in their positions. My position is a little smaller than what theirs is, but, it is phenomenal that we get to do what we do and that these fans put up with what they have so that we can do this. The fans need to know that we appreciate what they do and I think it’s a neat deal.”
Frank’s used as an example of just what he meant.
“This was brought to light to me at our last autograph session. We were at Talladega and we were at a sit down session behind the stage. It was a whole series deal, which is neat and it was on the grandstand side. There was a gentleman sitting beside me that races with us and I was signing autographs and I thanked pretty much everybody that came up. The line slowed for a second and this guy said ‘ Why do you thank them? You’re the one giving them something.’ I said because they came to watch. Why would they stand in this line? I thought to myself, he doesn’t understand what the deal is. It made me open my eyes about the fans even more than what they had been in the past. It’s not all about the drivers, it’s not all about the teams or owners. Those people in the stands are what it’s about. The drivers need to really understand that. The NASCAR drivers can’t race if they get 10,000 people in the stands (like at ARCA events). They need that 100,000, so I think we (ARCA drivers) should understand how lucky we are.”
There is just no possible way to include every thought or insight Frank shared with me that day, but, time and time again he made statements of appreciation for the fans of racing, his sponsors and team members. I don’t believe I have ever experienced a driver deal with those topics at such length. That certainly made me realize why Frank is so liked among the ARCA fans and why he has been so successful.
I am very happy to announced that Frank has agreed to do a column for Catchfence, as time allows. I believe race fans from many series can see things in this racer that they appreciate and wish they would see more of in their personal favorite, whoever that might be in whatever series
Be sure to check out Frank’s website at www.frankkimmel.com and learn more about his sponsors at www.menards.com and www.ansellconstruction.com and if you are a facebook fanatic you can follow Frank there. Just search Frank Kimmel for current news and input.
FYI: Coming soon is a small article with a glimpse of young Frank, Billie and his siblings as they learned what racing was all about. Be sure to check back often.
