PKory Rabenold Gearing Up to Run ARCA Pocono 200
By Dino Oberto ….. “Keeping Track”
ARCA racing at Pocono Raceway continues to be a great compliment to the weekend of speed at the sprawling 2.5-mile tri oval. The NASCAR Sprint Cup may be the main attraction but the ARCA stars lend themselves to equally great action.
One of the benefits to having ARCA at Pocono is it gives a chance for some of the local talent, which is so widespread throughout eastern Pennsylvania, an opportunity of racing with a big league organization and showcasing themselves in front of the hometown crowd.
This year’s ARCA Pocono 200 will be no different as 18-year old Kory Rabenold of nearby Slatington, Pa, will be one of several Keystone State drivers attempting to run the June 9 race.
Rabenold may not be known to those who follow ARCA but around the Pocono’s and surrounding area he is a very popular standout in asphalt modifieds.
In a short period of time Rabenold went from winning a Pro4 Late Model track championship when he was just 15 then exploded onto the scene with the modifieds at Lehighton’s Mahoning Valley Speedway as well as Mountain Speedway in St. Johns.
“It feels really great to have an opportunity like this to be able to race at Pocono. Making my way up through the ranks at Mahoning Valley has been a great steppingstone for me in trying to work into the big leagues,” said Rabenold who graduates this month from Northern Lehigh High School.
“Looking back at what I learned there and being able to race in my home state for the Pocono 200 will be special.”
What really got him noticed was how well he does in extra distance features that are 75 to 100 laps long. In those events Rabenold has the uncanny ability to drive to the front and either win or be vying for one. That led to a popular fan following.
The talented chauffer then took his show on the road in 2006 when he traveled with the Sunoco Race of Champions (RoC) Tour and walked away with Rookie of the Year Honors.
With the way drivers are continually advancing up the career ladder, Rabenold felt the timing was right for him as well and choosing ARCA is perfect for those plans.
“It really came about from getting to know Dave Marcis, he really helped me out. Brian Kern too, who basically gave me the push being that I’m now 18 and he said it’s time to step it up if I wanted to make a career in racing,” explained Rabenold.
“We ended up hooking up with those guys and then I headed down to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School with Andy Hillenburg. After that we purchased two ARCA cars from him for the Pocono race.”
Pocono will actually be his second time of running with ARCA. He did attempt to make the grid for the May 20 Hantz Group 200 at Toledo Speedway. Although he showed enough speed to make the field, provisional’s for other drivers made it unable for him to race.
“It was a really good experience. We learned a lot about the program and how ARCA works and I also learned a lot about the cars, the reaction time and the handling of them. They’re so much different then a modified,” offered Rabenold on his Toledo test.
Mahoning Valley is a track like no other. A tight circular 1/4-mile that is all about side-by-side racing. Multi-time NASCAR Whelan Modified Tour champ Tony Hirschman is a product of there. Running under such tight quarters teaches drivers all about accuracy in driving skills and Rabenold feels that the lessons learned there will be useful at Pocono.
“Racing at Mahoning, it’s all about patience. Everything there happens quickly and if you’re not on top of your game you can get caught up in a wreck and not even think that you would have been in it in the first place.
“I think I can take what I learned from Mahoning and apply it at Pocono. We’ll be going a lot faster and things happen quickly like they do at Mahoning.”
Pocono will no doubt be an eye-opener especially for someone coming from short tracks and onto a facility of such magnitude.
“The biggest track I’ve driven on thus far has been Thompson (CT) and I feel that the driving school at Lowe’s Motor Speedway helped me out in getting the feel for these bigger tracks,” said Rabenold.
“I’ve been able to get in some laps at Pocono with the Stock Car Racing Experience. Obviously we weren’t up to speed like we will be with the ARCA car but it did give me somewhat of an advantage as far that track is concerned.”
His goal for Pocono will be twofold. First get into the show and then do well from there.
“The main goal for me is to make the race and if I succeed in that I’m hoping that we can at least get a top-10 if I can get up that far. If not I’ll be happy with anything from first to twentieth.”
Rabenold will be using Chevrolets that came from Hillenburg and have motor power from another Pennsylvanian, Scott Ritter of RPM Racing Engines in Lehighton, whose shop is just down the road from Mahoning Valley Speedway.
“We feel we got some great equipment to work with at Pocono. As I said Andy Hillenburg has been a big help. His crew chief for his cars gave us a lot of information to work with and I think with RPM Racing Engines, who built the motors for Bobby Gerhardt to run at Daytona, we’re going to have a lot of steam under the hood.”
That same evening after the Pocono race, Rabenold has been offered a ride at Mahoning. It will be a 75-lap RoC race and one that he would like to not pass up given his past success.
As for the rest of the year and beyond his plans are to stay focused on doing well with ARCA and hoping it will take him to the next level in his career.
“We’ll see how things go first with Pocono. We’ll be back for the August race and also plan to run at Toledo in October. If things do go good well with the Pocono 200 then we may run at Chicagoland and maybe another track in between that time.
“For next year we’re looking to run a full schedule in the ARCA Series or at least try to get to as many tracks as possible through our sponsors. I need to get my name out there and ARCA is a great opportunity for doing that.”
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