Central Illinois SuperChevyStores.com 100

The Central Illinois SuperChevyStores.com 100, formerly Allen Crowe Memorial 100, is an ARCA Racing Series stock car race held annually on the Illinois State Fairgrounds Racetrack during the Illinois State Fair.

Allen Crowe

Born November 12, 1928 in Springfield, Illinois, Allen Crowe died in New Bremen, Ohio on June 2, 1963 from injuries sustained in a Sprint Car race at New Bremen Speedway. Allen cut his teeth at the now defunct Springfield Speedway. He started in Stock cars and moved up fast. He soon became a first class racer, winning the Missouri-Illinois stock car title. He began racing in the USAC Championship Car Series, racing in the 1961 through 1963 seasons with 15 starts, including the 1962 and 1963 Indianapolis 500 races. He finished in the top ten 6 times, with his best finish of 5th in 1962 at Syracuse.[1]

Race history

The first race was held August 25, 1963.[2] That race was won by NASCAR driver, Curtis Turner.[3]

USAC era

USAC's Stock Car division sanctioned the race from the race's inception in 1963, until the series' demise in 1984. 1972's race was an odd occurrence, in that Al Unser won the USAC Stock car race on Saturday, and then won the USAC Championship Dirt Car race the following day.[2] The feat has never been repeated in the years since.

Co-sanctioning

As USAC was downsizing its Stock car division, the 1983 and 1984 running of the Allen Crowe Memorial was co-sanctioned with ARCA.

ARCA era

ARCA took over as sole sanctioning body in 1985, with the race name having different variations during years when there was no sponsor title, such as "Allen Crowe Memorial", "Allen Crowe Memorial 100", "Allen Crowe Memorial ARCA 100", or simply ""Allen Crowe 100". Beginning in 1989, the race was renamed the Coors Allen Crowe Memorial 100. In 1995, it took the name "Pabst Genuine Draft 100", then was known as the "Super Chevy Dealers 100" for 1996, before returning to the original name for 1997. From 1999 to 2001, the race was known as the "Par-A-Dice 100", due to a new sponsor agreement. The race reverted to the "Allen Crowe Memorial 100" (or a variation of) moniker in 2002 and kept it until being renamed the "SuperChevyStores.com 100" for 2014.[4]

Race winners

Year Winner Year Winner Year Winner Year Winner Year Winner
1963 Curtis Turner 1964 Bobby Marshman† 1965 Bobby Isaac 1966 Don White 1967 Don White
1968 Norm Nelson 1969 Butch Hartman 1970 Norm Nelson 1971 Jack Bowsher 1972 Al Unser
1973 Jack Bowsher 1974 Roger McCluskey 1975 Butch Hartman 1976 Ramo Stott 1977 Ramo Stott
1978 Sal Tovella 1979 A.J. Foyt 1980 Terry Ryan 1981 Dean Roper 1982 Bay Darnell
1983 Dean Roper 1984 Bobby Jacks 1985 Dean Roper 1986 Dean Roper 1987 Bob Keselowski
1988 Bob Keselowski 1989 Bob Keselowski 1990 Bob Brevak 1991 Bobby Bowsher 1992 Bobby Bowsher
1993 Billy Thomas 1994 Bob Hill 1995 Billy Thomas 1996 Tim Steele 1997 Tim Steele
1998 Ken Schrader 1999 Bill Baird 2000 Frank Kimmel 2001 Frank Kimmel 2002 Frank Kimmel
2003 Frank Kimmel 2004 Bill Baird 2005 Frank Kimmel 2006 Justin Allgaier 2007 Frank Kimmel
2008 Frank Kimmel 2009 Parker Kligerman 2010 Patrick Sheltra 2011 Chad McCumbee 2012 Frank Kimmel
2013 Brennan Poole 2014 Kevin Swindell 2015 A. J. Fike
  • 1963 – 1982: USAC-sanctioned event
  • 1983 – 1984: ARCA and USAC co-sanctioned event
  • 1985 – present: ARCA-sanctioned event

† – Record for a 100-mile race.[5]

References:[2][5][6][7][8][9]

Tragedies

There have been no deaths in the race attributed to crashes, however Four-time Allen Crowe Memorial 100 winner Dean Roper, whose son Tony Roper was killed in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race 10 months earlier, suffered a heart attack on lap 17 of the 2001 race. Roper's car slowed on the frontstretch, then hit the inside retaining wall. He was unconscious when medical help arrived and later pronounced dead at Springfield Memorial Hospital.[10][11][12] [13]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.freewebs.com/springfieldsspeedway/index.htm Springfield Speedway memories
  2. 1 2 3 http://www.ultimateracinghistory.com/racelist3.php?trackid=2 Ultimate Racing History
  3. ↑ http://www.ultimateracinghistory.com/race.php?raceid=318 Ultimate Racing History
  4. ↑ http://racing-reference.info/tracks/Illinois_State_Fairgrounds
  5. 1 2 http://www.motorsport.com/magazine/feature.asp?C=Special&D=2001-07-31 Motorsport.com
  6. ↑ STEELE EARNS VICTORY IN ALLEN CROWE 100, Bloomington, Illinois Pantagraph published August 19, 1996
  7. ↑ http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=84539&FS=USAC-SC Motorsport.com
  8. ↑ http://arcaracing.com/schedule.cfm?contentid=1229 ARCAracing.com results
  9. ↑ http://racing-reference.info/tracks/Illinois_State_Fairgrounds
  10. ↑ Howard Richman: "Racer Dean Roper died of a broken heart." The Kansas City Star (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service) August 26, 2001
  11. ↑ http://www.stockcarracing.com/thehistoryof/37798_arca_veteran_dean_roper_death/index.html Stock Car Racing magazine
  12. ↑ http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0884855.html InfoPlease.com
  13. ↑ http://stockcarracing.automotive.com/49569/37798-arca-veteran-dean-roper-death/index.html "ARCA Veteran Dean Roper Dies" article provided by Circle Track Magazine
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