WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – With the help of Willie Mullins and Mullins Racing, veteran racer Dale Quarterley is dusting off his driving suit to compete in Friday’s ARCA Menards Series Clean Harbors 100 at the Glen at Watkins Glen Int’l.
Quarterley, who made a name for himself racing in the AMA Superbike series before making a successful transition to stock cars, will make his first start in a NASCAR-sanctioned series since the 2019 season on Friday afternoon.
He’ll do so piloting the No. 3 Van Dyk Recycling Solutions Chevrolet, which is being run as part of a partnership with Mullins Racing.
“When I stopped racing full-time in what was then the K&N Series, I started taking on some outside customer work. I was doing some vintage stock cars and the Mullins family happened to be pitted next to me one weekend at VIR,” said the 60-year-old Quarterley. “In the midst of us running and listening to those guys talk as they tried to make adjustments to their car and make it better, I finally got frustrated and walked over there and offered to help them.
“Since then I’ve helped them in multiple situations and they’ve helped us a few times too.”
Mullins, who is the listed owner of the car, said the opportunity to partner with Quarterley for Friday’s race is a chance for him to work with one of his own personal motorsport heroes.
“This goes back to when I was a little kid and you’d watch the modifieds up in New Hampshire and you’d see Dale Quarterley racing there and then you’d see Superbikes and Dale Quarterley was racing that,” Mullins said. “This is kind of cool to have one of my heroes and me working together a little bit.”
Quarterley is a native of Westfield, Mass., and owns six victories in the ARCA Menards Series East (then NASCAR Busch North Series), including two victories on the road course at Connecticut’s Lime Rock Park. He also owns one NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour triumph, which also came at Lime Rock Park.
In addition to his stock car success, Quarterley is the most successful privateer rider in AMA Superbike history. He secured the AMA Battle of the Twins Title and two AMA Endurance Championships during his career that also saw him win a national AMA Superbike race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1993, which helped him place second overall in the season-long championship.
Mullins firmly believes this is his best chance to lay claim to a victory in ARCA competition, even if it is just as the listed car owner.
“This will be one of my best chances to possibly be a winning car owner at Watkins Glen,” Mullins said “This is going to be something to talk about for years to come. Dale has already run in the top-five when he runs these races, he’s not a slouch inside of a road course car.”
During his career, Quarterley has made 11 starts in East Series competition at Watkins Glen. During those races he earned two poles, three top-five and six top-10 finishes, with a best finish of third on two occasions.
Quarterley, who has made one previous ARCA start during his career, returns to stock car racing at Watkins Glen after a few years away and his goals are the same as they’ve always been: run up front and win the race.
“I at least need to have fun, not just driving, but showing up. Things got to be so difficult but it wasn’t worth doing,” Quarterley said. “Now that NASCAR owns ARCA and the series has, from what I hear, calmed down some, I’m going to go test the waters again.
“I only have one speed. Unless I make myself back off. We go as fast as we possibly can the whole time we’re there.”