The battle of development drivers

By Mike Harper

Friday night at Gateway International Raceway should prove to be one of ARCA’s best events of the season. If you’re a NASCAR fan, I would recommend tuning in to watch the battle of development drivers.

Over the years NASCAR team owners have used the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series to develop young drivers. But due to increased costs and the difficulty in retaining sponsorships, owners have opted to utilize the ARCA RE/MAX Series this season as their playground to spot and develop upcoming drivers.

Friday night’s event isn’t short of young talent. Headlining the field and quickest in Friday afternoon’s practice is Steve Wallace. Wallace is the son of NASCAR legend Rusty Wallace and is part of his father’s development team.

Eighteen-year-old Brad Coleman enters the field coming off his first ARCA RE/MAX Series victory at Kentucky. Coleman is a development driver for Brewco Motorsports, the Busch Series team that fields cars for David Green, Greg Biffle and Scott Wimmer.

Evernham Motorsports development driver Erin Crocker is also racing at Gateway, along with Dodge Motorsports’ Chase Miller. Miller won the ARCA June event at Pocono.

Kevin Harvick’s Busch Series driver Burney Lamar is racing for Richard Childress Racing’s development driver program and Roush Racing has entered the event with their driver project, Pete Sheppard.

In the mix of these development programs, young ARCA regulars that are hungry to get noticed include, Damon Lusk, Blake Bjorklund, Dexter Bean, Ryan Foster and Justin Allgaier.

Returning to the ARCA RE/MAX Series for the Gateway event is Mark Martin’s Craftsman Truck Series tag-team partner David Ragan. Ragan finished 2^nd in this event last season behind Darrell Waltrip Motorsports’ current driver Joey Miller and just ahead of NASCAR star Ken Schrader.

Veteran ARCA driver Frank Kimmel is on his way to capturing his eighth ARCA RE/MAX Series championship after taking over the points lead a few weeks ago. While his season started off in a slump, he has regained his championship form and should be able to ride off to championship la-la land with only rival Bobby Gerhart trailing close behind. Gerhart held the points lead for the majority of the season, however finds himself 35 points behind Kimmel. Damon Lusk is third in the standings, 375 points behind leader Kimmel.

Joining female driver Erin Crocker in the field at Gateway is Amber Cope. Cope, the niece of NASCAR driver Derrick Cope, will wheel the No. 1 FansCrew.com Ford owned by Andy Belmont.

Catch all the action from Gateway, live at 9pm on SPEED.

Who is your pick to win?