ARCA series old, varied
RE/MAX racing jump-started many professional careers
The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) was founded in 1953 in Toledo Ohio as a Midwest-based stock car auto racing sanctioning body. ARCA’s founder, John Marcum, had raced against and worked as an official for Bill France Sr., who founded the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) in 1949.
Now in its sixth decade and hundreds of thousands of racing miles later, ARCA is recognized among the leading sanctioning bodies in the country. ARCA administrates more than 100 race events each season in three professional touring series and local events on a weekly basis.
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More than 400 race drivers are licensed by ARCA to compete for more than $3 million in prize money each season.
The division of ARCA racing which is best known and which receives unquestionably the greatest amount of media exposure is the ARCA RE/MAX Series. This series has crowned an ARCA national champion each season since the inaugural season in 1953, and has toured more than 200 racetracks in 26 states since its inception. The ARCA RE/MAX Series is unique in that it tests the abilities of drivers and race teams on the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world. The series annually takes teams to tracks ranging in size from one-half mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as left- and right-hand-turn street and road courses. The race cars are 3,400-pound, full steel-bodied stock cars which closely resemble American manufacturer production stock vehicles rolling off the assembly line.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series brings together a most interesting group of race drivers. Many hope to eventually compete in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, generally regarded as the most lucrative circuit in the world. Others are drivers searching for a series in which to compete to take a step up from weekly competition at one of the some 800 local short tracks now active in the U.S. Still others race strictly as a hobby, and seek a professional series in which to participate.
Drivers on the ARCA RE/MAX Series range from doctors and lawyers to auto mechanics and accountants. A typical field of entrants will include drivers from 15 states and Canada.
Notable drivers who have raced on the ARCA RE/MAX Series and some of their accomplishments follow: Iggy Katona is the only six-time series champion and holds the all-time record of 79 career victories. Jack Bowsher is the only individual to win the ARCA RE/MAX Series championship first as a driver (in 1963-64-65), then as a car owner for his son Bobby (1992 & 1994).
The Bowsher’s are the only father-son driving champions in the 40-year history of the ARCA RE/MAX Series.
Among the drivers who won their first superspeedway race in the ARCA Series are Benny Parsons, Kenny Irwin, Kerry Earnhardt, Adam Petty, Kyle Petty, Mark Martin, Tim Richmond, Michael Waltrip, Tracy Leslie, Joe Ruttman, Ryan Newman, Davey Allison, Ernie Irvan, Rick Wilson, Jeff Purvis and Mike Wallace.
Others who drove in ARCA RE/MAX Series events as an experience toward future professional racing successes include Jeremy Mayfield, Danny Sullivan, Phil Parsons, Lake Speed, Brett Bodine, Alan Kulwicki, Charlie Glotzbach, Darrell Waltrip, Jimmy Spencer, Ken Schrader, Sterling Marlin, Clifford Allison, Ted Musgrave, Jim Sauter, Ron Hornaday and Dick Trickle.
So many drivers in NASCAR Winston Cup racing today competed in ARCA RE/MAX Series events early in their careers that usually two-thirds to three-quarters of the starting field at any given Winston Cup event have ARCA experience.
Well recognized as one of the longest running and most versatile racing series in existence, the ARCA RE/MAX Series sanctions 20-26 events each season.
Among the annual stops are such facilities as Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Pocono International Raceway, Michigan International Speedway, Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Gateway International Raceway, Kentucky Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.