(TOLEDO, Ohio - June 17, 2010) - Some people think Frank Kimmel is the one and only nine-time ARCA Racing Series champion. He certainly carries the title for sure, but there's another nine-time ARCA champ out there; and he's got the trophies to prove it.
Newton, Iowa born-and-bred Larry Clement earned nine ARCA national titles as Kimmel's car owner. Clement, in fact, was the portal - or in this application - the car owner that provided the necessary team and resources for Kimmel's amazing championship reign.
But after sponsorship dried up, Clement backed off his car ownership role following the 2008 season, hopped in his twin-engine airplane and flew back to Fort Dodge, Iowa where he currently resides.
What's he up to these days? Well.......racing, as a matter of fact.
Clement the car owner is also Clement the race driver over the last two years competing on the Great American Stock Car Series (GASS), and with great success. In fact, Clement is the point leader after three events in 2010. (Larry Clement in Victory Lane at Iowa Speedway/Photo-Art Graphics, Rick Bitterman).
GASS is a full perimeter late model division that utilizes a 425-horsepower spec engine. It competes primarily at Iowa Speedway with one on the west coast road course at Portland Int'l Raceway.
"I finished third in the first race this year, won the second one and finished second in the last one," said Clement, who also won three GASS races in 2009.
In addition to driving racecars, Clement is also concentrating on his dealership businesses while trying to figure out how to get back into the ARCA Racing Series.
"I still have all my ARCA cars, the transporter, tractor, equipment, everything. We didn't quit; we just suspended our operation till we could put the sponsorships back together."
Clement was not only the car owner for Kimmel, he was the team's primary Marketing/PR guy, and was responsible for bringing, at times, major league marketing partners to the table, including Advance Auto Parts and the National Pork Producers.
"In all the years I raced in ARCA and the championships we won, I only had three years where I had full sponsorship. We didn't always have the most money by any stretch. And there comes a point when it doesn't make sense anymore. You have to run it like a business."
That is not to say that Clement would not like to get back fulltime into the ARCA Racing Series, because he most certainly would.
"We definitely want to come back, and ARCA's where we want to be, no question about it. We love the ARCA Series. It is absolutely the best value in racing. You know, we never lost a sponsor on performance. Our team led the charts in the Sponsor's Report for 10 years. We lost our sponsors from new hires. New people would come in, do everything different and throw everything out to start over.
"But if we're able to put something together, ARCA's the only place for me. It's a great series and a great value for sponsors - bottom line. And we love the people. And whether we're back racing ARCA or not, that opinion won't change."
In addition to trying to put an ARCA program back together, Clement keeps a sharp focus on his businesses.
Clement sold two GM franchises and two MAC Truck dealerships but still owns interest in three MAC dealerships and is a partner in a Featherlite Trailer dealership. He also buys and sells airplanes. Clement himself has been a pilot since 1976 and has over 11,000 hours of flying, the equivalent to over two million miles. The multi-engine, instrument-rated commercial pilot flies a twin engine Cessna Crusader and a twin engine Beachcraft King Air.
"We've got a couple single engines for short runs around here too. I love to fly. It's what enabled us to grow our business over the years - expand to other states. We wouldn't have been able to go ARCA racing as successful as we did without flying."
And while Clement isn't ARCA racing anymore, he's keeping up with it for sure.
"Hell yes, I follow ARCA. I know who's first and second. And if I'm not somewhere where I can watch live on SPEED, I fire-up my laptop and listen to the streaming audio and watch live timing and scoring. I only have one racing page listed on my favorites - ARCAracing.com. I just click on my favorites, and it takes me right to ARCAracing.com.
"You can't put in as much time and resources as I did in ARCA and just walk away and say, ‘I don't care', because I do. It's why I went to the banquet last year. ARCA means a lot to me; it always will."
Clement is also very eager for ARCA's annual appearance to Iowa Speedway, a track near and dear to the nine time champ.
"I can't wait for ARCA to come to Iowa Speedway. In fact, ARCA's the reason that Iowa Speedway was built."
Clement was also quite instrumental in making the newer state-of-the-art Iowa Speedway a reality.
The reality, however, was only a dream in 1996 when Clement met with developers who were attempting to build a speedway in Illinois.
"I told them if they didn't get what they needed in Illinois, I would try to help them build it in Iowa," continued Clement.
In January of 1998, the decision was made to move the project to Iowa. Three developers, four locations and eight years later, the speedway opened with rave reviews.
"Now I understand why most proposed speedways never get built. It took a lot of hard work and commitment by many people to make it happen. Without the support of the Governor's office - two different ones - and the legislature, the project would have died long before it was moved to Newton.
"Ultimately, the track was built because the Manatt family of Newton and Brooklyn, Iowa, provided the majority of the equity and financed the project."
Manatt is one of the leading contracting companies in the Midwest, with multiple locations in Iowa and surrounding states.
"Very few people have the ability to do what the Manatt's did. They did it because they believed in the project." (Below: Larry Clement's GASS car in Victory Lane at Iowa Speedway/Photo-Art Graphics, Rick Bitterman)
Clement also notes that without the ARCA Racing Series, Iowa Speedway may never have been built.
"ARCA President Ron Drager was the first to commit a race to us," added Clement. "If Ron would have said no to us, we would not have built the track. The ARCA Racing Series is that important. It has a big following out here."
While Clement won't have a car entered in the event at Iowa, he'll be there with a sharp eye on the business of racing.
"Racing is no different than any other business; it doesn't matter what business you're talking about. The key to any successful business is the people. ARCA, in my opinion, has very sound leadership from the top down. They do things the way they ought to be done. I don't agree with all their decisions, but I also know they have reasons for the decisions they make. They have constant decision to make, and they make them, and I respect that. I'm not fond of the green-white-checker finish. I'd like to have the money those have cost me, but I respect their decisions and move on."
Clement, the businessman, also says the economy is better in Iowa than it is as a whole nationwide.
"The economy, nationwide, is not anywhere where it needs to be. The current people in Washington want to undo everything that made this country great for more than 200 years. That's not good. The economy is better, but hasn't improved like it should. We're in unchartered waters with this national debt, and the recovery isn't as strong as it should be at this stage of the economic cycle.
"Fortunately, here in Iowa, the agriculture sector is strong and profitable. Agriculture has tremendous impact on our state. The pork industry is back where the inks the right color. Things in Iowa are better than they are nationwide."
A better economy in Iowa certainly bodes well for the upcoming Prairie Meadows 200 at Iowa Speedway July 10. The ARCA Series event will, for the first time at Iowa Speedway, be part of a double-header weekend with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
"A part of ARCA's success is its relationship with NASCAR. It's been rock-solid over the years - a union that goes back to the very beginning of stock car racing. And that speaks volumes for both organizations.
"If I was racing in ARCA right now, I'd be running Toyotas, at least on the big tracks. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what's going on there. You can't beat ‘em on the big tracks, not right now anyway."
Looking back, Clement reflects on his ARCA accomplishments.
"We realize that ARCA is not NASCAR, but we've done something that no one has ever done in any other stock car series, or in the history of motorsports - win nine championships, eight in a row and second the other year. In fact, even with the other drivers I had before Frank, we finsihed second in owner points. I've finished (in car owner points) first nine times with three second place finishes. That's not too bad.
"Absolutely we're proud of what we did. We didn't always have the biggest budget, but it was always enough to get the job done. We had several teams come in and out-spend us, but they still couldn't beat us.
"When I called Frank to come drive my racecars, I think he had won one or two races in five years; but I also saw that he was doing a lot with very little. So if I could get him in good equipment, I knew big things would happen, and they most certainly did."
ARCA Has Storied History in Iowa
While the Prairie Meadows 200 marks the ARCA Racing Series' fifth appearance at Iowa Speedway, ARCA has enjoyed a long history with the Hawkeye state. In particular, the small town of Keokuk, Iowa, which is located less than 200 miles from Iowa Speedway, has produced 7 former ARCA Racing Series drivers. Among them, 1970 and 1971 series champion Ramo Stott, and 1972, 1973 and 1974 champion Ron Hutcherson, whose brother, NASCAR veteran Dick Hutcherson, won an ARCA Series race in 1962. Other Keokuk, Iowa drivers to race in the ARCA Series include Ernie Derr, who competed in ARCA from 1955 through 1964, 10-time ARCA Series winner Don White, and Lem and Gordon Blankenship. In addition, Story City, Iowa's Bob Hill won 4 ARCA Series races with Larry Clement from '94 to '96 and finished fourth in national championship points in '95.
Despite its longstanding tenure - 58 years and counting - the ARCA Racing Series has only raced in Iowa on one other occasion. The series raced, roadcourse-style, on the streets of Des Moines on July 3rd, 1994 where St. Augustine, Florida's Scott Lagasse won the race by four seconds over Frank Kimmel, Jimmy Spencer, Bobby Bowsher and Gary Bradberry.
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