TOLEDO, Ohio -- Perhaps no other driver this week at Lucas Oil Raceway will be as busy as Brentwood, Tennessee's Mason Mingus. The 17-year-old rookie will be competing in both the ARCA CRA Super Series and the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards Friday night, July 27.

The soon-to-be senior in high school did the same feat at Winchester Speedway earlier this year, but each series ran its main event on different days. That won't be the case at Lucas Oil Raceway, where everything rolls out in one action-packed, double-header day.

"It'll be a little tougher to do it all in one day," Mingus said. "At Winchester, we raced on two different days, which gave me more time to learn the track. We're going to race back-to-back at Lucas Oil (Raceway), so I'm going to have to learn the track a lot quicker.
"Our main focus is ARCA, but we're there to win both."

The Fatheadz 100 for the ARCA CRA Super Series, scheduled for 7 p.m. Eastern, will precede the Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 for the ARCA Racing Series, live on SPEED at 9 Eastern.

Mingus, whose career-best ARCA finish was sixth at Winchester, also finished ninth at Elko Speedway earlier this season. Mingus drives the No. 32 car in ARCA Racing Series competition for Win-Tron Racing. He'll be driving for car owner Kevin Gardner in the No. 811 Chevy on the ARCA CRA side.

"I'm not concerned about the stamina, and I'm not running for points in either series; so seat-time is most critical now ...... so we're ready to come back and run ARCA fulltime next year.

"In racing both cars at Winchester I was able to learn a lot, which I think will really help this weekend at Lucas Oil. The ARCA cars are a lot heavier, and different to drive. It's all about how you drive the ARCA car. In the CRA car, you can drive in a lot harder and get back in the throttle as soon as you can.

"In the ARCA car, you have to be a lot more patient. You have to back up your corner entry, ease in, and let it turn so you can get back on the gas as soon as possible. In the late model, you get everything you can getting in, and get back in it as soon as possible coming off."

Mingus will be a senior in high school this year at the Franklin Road Academy in Brentwood. While his high school buddies may not be completely up to speed with his racing program, they are certainly well aware that Mingus competes on the school's wrestling team - that would be the Tennessee State Championship high school wrestling team.

Surprisingly, Mingus says there are some valuable comparisons between wrestling your opponent on the mat and wrestling your race car on the track.

"I think wrestling is one of the best things you can do to help you with life and to teach discipline. It's about discipline and focus, and that's what it takes to be successful in wrestling. It's what will make me successful in racing, or anything else for that matter."

Mingus wrestles in the 160-lb. weight class and is the captain of his state championship wrestling team.

"Racing is a team effort for sure, but once you get out on the track, it's all you. It's all in your hands when you get in the car. That's just like wrestling. It takes a lot of discipline and focus whether you're wrestling or racing."

Raceday Schedule Action-Packed with ARCA, CRA
The ARCA CRA Super Series will lead off the day's on-track activities with practice at 12:45 p.m. The ARCA Racing Series follows with practice at 1:35 followed by final practices for each division. ARCA CRA Super Series qualifying is at 4:30 with Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell for the ARCA Racing Series at 5:30. The ARCA CRA Super Series 100-lap race will kick off the racing activity at 7, followed by the Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 finale under the lights at 9.

ARCA Celebrating 60th Anniversary Season
2012 is the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards' 60th Anniversary Season, featuring 20 races at 18 tracks. The complete 2012 event schedule is available at ARCARacing.com.

The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 race tracks in 26 states since its inception. The series has tested the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, visiting tracks ranging from 0.375 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as a left- and right-turn road course in its most recent season. This year, the series visited Alabama's Mobile International Speedway and Minnesota's Elko Speedway for the first time.

Founded by John and Mildred Marcum in 1953 in Toledo, Ohio, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is recognized among the leading sanctioning bodies in the country. Closing in on completing its sixth decade after hundreds of thousands of miles of racing, ARCA administers over 100 race events each season in three professional touring series and local weekly events.