Michael Simko

Michael Simko (born May 23, 1981) is an American professional racing driver. He competed in the ARCA Racing Series from 2001 to 2012 with 17 top-ten finishes. He is the son of former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver David Simko.

Racing career

In 2001, Simko would make his ARCA Re/Max Series debut at Toledo Speedway driving the No. 96 Chevrolet, finishing 20th after starting 12th. In 2002, he would make three more starts, one for Bob Schacht at Toledo, one for his own team at Winchester Speedway, and one for Arne Henriksen at Salem Speedway. He would finish sixth at Toledo and Salem respectively. For 2003, he would run five races, finishing eighth at Kentucky Speedway driving for Mark Gibson.

In 2004, he would make seven starts, with six of those starts coming with Schacht, and one coming with Greg Sarff at Chicagoland Speedway, where he would finish seventh. In the following year, he would run 13 of the 23 races of the schedule driving the No. 45 entry for father David Simko. His best finish would come in his last start of the year at Salem, where he would lead 39 laps to finish third in the race. In 2006, he would solely run in a Chevrolet, and would get four top-10's, including a best finish of fourth at Winchester.

Fight and suspension On September 26, ten days after his last ARCA start of 2006 at Salem, Simko was involved in a crash with Don St. Denis on the 112th lap of the Great Lakes Chevy Dealers/Budweiser Glass City 200 at Toledo Speedway. After the crash, Simko climbed out of his car and ran over to St. Denis, who was unable to shut off his car at the time due to a piece of plexiglass that fell by the ignition switch, and made a running jump and landed both feet into the windshield of St. Denis' car. Afterwards, Simko would throw his helmet at St. Denis' car and walk away. St. Denis would then get out of the car and run over to Simko in the infield of the track where the two engaged in a fist-fight with several punches being thrown as race officials tried to break up the fight. Since the series that hosted the event was sanctioned by ARCA, both Simko and St. Denis were suspended indefinitely from all ARCA-sanctioned events. Both Simko and St. Denis would later apologize for said incident and were later reinstated.

Racing return In 2007, Simko would make his ARCA Re/Max Series return at Salem driving the No. 75 Chevrolet for Bob Schacht Motorsports, where he would finish sixth after starting eleventh. He would make another start that year at Toledo, where he would finish third. He would run three more races with the team in 2008, getting a best finish of 11th at Toledo. Simko would drive the No. 27 Chevrolet for Don DeWitt for three races, finishing tenth at Chicagoland Speedway. He would make three more starts for DeWitt over the next two seasons, finishing in the top ten at Berlin Raceway in 2010 and 2011 with eighth and ninth respectively. In 2012, he would run two races, finishing 17th at Iowa Speedway with Hendren Motorsports in the No. 41 Chevrolet, and 14th at Berlin with Venturini Motorsports in the No. 35 Toyota. The latter event would be his most recent ARCA start.

Since his last ARCA start, Simko has recently competed in the CRA Super Series and the CRA Jegs All-Stars Tour.

Motorsports results

ARCA Racing Series (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) ARCA Racing Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Pts Ref 2001 ? 96 Chevy DAY NSH WIN SLM GTY KEN CLT KAN MCH POC MEM GLN KEN MCH POC NSH ISF CHI DSF SLM TOL BLN CLT TAL ATL 148th 130 2002 Bob Schacht Motorsports 75 Ford DAY ATL NSH SLM KEN CLT KAN POC MCH TOL SBO KEN BLN POC NSH ISF 47th 585 Michael Simko 38 Chevy WIN DSF CHI ECC Motorsports 17 Chevy SLM TAL CLT 2003 Bob Schacht Motorsports 75 Chevy DAY ATL NSH SLM TOL 35th 755 Mark Gibson Racing 56 Chevy KEN CLT BLN KAN Bob Schacht Motorsports 75 Pontiac MCH LER POC POC NSH ISF WIN DSF CHI SLM TAL CLT ECC Motorsports 17 Chevy SBO 2004 Bob Schacht Motorsports 75 Chevy DAY NSH SLM KEN TOL MCH SBO BLN KEN GTW POC LER NSH ISF TOL DSF SLM TAL 23rd 1080 39 CLT KAN POC Greg Sarff 38 Chevy CHI 2005 Auburn Racing 45 Chevy DAY NSH KEN MCH KAN KEN BLN POC GTW LER NSH MCH ISF TOL DSF CHI SLM 21st 2195 Pontiac SLM TOL LAN MIL POC Ford TAL 2006 Auburn Racing Enterprises Chevy DAY NSH SLM WIN KEN TOL POC MCH KAN KEN BLN POC GTW NSH MCH ISF MIL SLM TAL IOW 34th 1215 65 TOL DSF CHI 2007 Bob Schacht Motorsports 75 Chevy DAY USA NSH SLM KAN WIN KEN TOL IOW POC MCH BLN KEN POC NSH ISF MIL GTW DSF CHI SLM TAL 62nd 415 Ford TOL 2008 Chevy DAY SLM IOW KAN CAR KEN TOL POC TOL 48th 645 Ford MCH CAY KEN BLN POC NSH ISF DSF CHI SLM NJE TAL 2009 D&B Motorsports 27 Chevy DAY SLM CAR TAL KEN TOL POC MCH MFD IOW KEN BLN POC ISF CHI TOL DSF NJE SLM KAN CAR 74th 355 2010 DAY PBE SLM TEX TAL TOL POC MCH IOW MFD POC BLN NJE ISF CHI DSF TOL SLM KAN CAR 64th 340 2011 DAY TAL SLM TOL NJE CHI POC MCH WIN BLN IOW IRP POC ISF MAD DSF SLM KAN TOL 97th 185 2012 Hendren Motorsports 41 Chevy DAY MOB SLM TAL TOL ELK POC MCH WIN NJE IOW CHI IRP POC 71st 305 Venturini Motorsports 35 Toyota BLN ISF MAD SLM DSF KAN† - Qualified but replaced by Robert Richardson Jr.

CARS Super Late Model Tour (key) CARS Super Late Model Tour results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pts Ref 2020 Michael Simko 45S Chevy SNM HCY JEN19 HCY FCS BRI15 FLC NSH N/A 0 2021 45 HCY GPS NSH13 JEN HCY MMS TCM SBO N/A 0

ASA STARS National Tour (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.) ASA STARS National Tour results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts Ref 2023 Michael Simko 45 Ford FIF MAD NWS HCY MLW AND WIR TOL WIN NSV 77th 36 2024 NSM FIF HCY MAD MLW AND OWO TOL WIN NSV 33rd 80 2025 David Simko 51 N/A NSM FIF DOM HCY NPS MAD SLG AND OWO TOL WIN NSV 84th 5 2026 N/A 45 Chevy NSM FIF HCY SLG MAD NPS OWO TRI TOL WIN NSV NSM -* -*