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WAYNESBURG, PA (Nov. 7, 2001).... Richard Mitchell has suddenly become a
model of consistency on the nations superspeedways. Known for his
aggressive
short-track prowess after winning two consecutive NASCAR Northeast
region
titles, the West Virginia driver will be gunning for his fourth
consecutive
top-10 Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) RE/MAX finish during the
Nov.
17 series finale at the 1.54 mile Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, GA.
Coming off an impressive fifth-pace run in his rookie debut at the
Talladega
Superspeedway last month, Mitchell is hoping to at least duplicate that
performance with his Coach USA/Mountaineer Gaming/Forest River
Motorhomes
Pontiac Grand Prix on the superfast Atlanta oval.
"With it's wide, sweeping turns, Atlanta is one of the fastest
intermediate
tracks we race on," Mitchell said. "Atlanta has two racing-grooves......
with speeds in the mid -to-upper 180s, it should be a wide-open and fast
race."
Mitchell has surprised many veteran ARCA observers with his up-front
finishes
this season.
"We're satisfied with our overall performance this season," Mitchell
added,
"we really expected that it would take a year for us to get comfortable
racing on radial tires at the big tracks. The radials give the car a
different feel compared to the bias-ply tires we were used to running on
at
the short-tracks."
"We have four top-10 ARCA finishes, and just missed in two other races,"
Mitchell pointed out, "we have had a couple of top-fives, and if we
wouldn't
have had those early season transmission and motor problems, I feel we
would
have had a few more up-front runs,"
The Atlanta ARCA 400K (249 miles/162 laps) will conclude the season for
Mitchell and the Mac Hill Motorsports team.
Mitchell's plans for the 2002 season are up-in-the-air at this point in
time.
"We are scheduled to test in December at Daytona," Mitchell concluded,
"and
we plan to run the Daytona ARCA event in Feb. After that our schedule is
still undecided."
The Atlanta ARCA 400 will be televised live by the TNT cable network
beginning at 1:00 (ET) on Sat. Nov. 17. The Performance Racing Network
also
will broadcast the event on its syndicated radio network.
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