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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, 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,
ARCA is recognized as among the leading sanctioning
bodies in the country. ARCA administers approximately
100 race events each season in four professional
touring series and sanctioned local short tracks
on a weekly basis. Some 400 race drivers are licensed
by ARCA to compete.
In 2001, RE/MAX takes
over sponsorship of the best-known ARCA series.
This series has crowned a national champion each
season since the inaugural season in 1953, and
has toured more than 200 race tracks 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
takes teams to tracks ranging in size from 1/2-mile
to 2.66 miles, 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 that closely resemble
American manufacturer production stock vehicles
rolling off the assembly line.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series
brings together a most interesting group of drivers.
Many hope to eventually compete in the NASCAR
Winston Cup Series. Others are drivers searching
for a series in which to compete to take a step
up from a regional touring series or weekly competition
at short tracks. A typical field of entrants will
include drivers from 15 states and Canada.
Among the drivers who
won their first superspeedway race in the ARCA
RE/MAX Series are Benny Parsons, Adam Petty, Kyle
Petty, Mark Martin, Tim Richmond, Michael Waltrip,
Tracy Leslie, Joe Ruttman, 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, Adam Petty, Ron Hornaday
and Dick Trickle.
Usually two-thirds to
three-quarters of the starting field at any given
NASCAR Winston Cup event have ARCA RE/MAX Series
experience.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series
sanctions 20 to 25 events each season. Among the
annual stops are such prestigious facilities as
Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway,
Pocono International Raceway, Michigan Speedway,
LoweÕs Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway and Atlanta
Motor Speedway.
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