From Benny Parsons to Kyle Petty to Danica Patrick, some of NASCAR’s best drivers have honed their skills racing for a Temperance-based organization.
The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), now in its 60th season, operates Toledo Speedway and Michigan’s Flat Rock Speedway as well as the ARCA Truck Series, ARCA CRA Super Series and ARCA Racing Series, which includes races at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
ARCA organizes about 100 stock car races a year, grooming future NASCAR stars as well as offering regional drivers the opportunity to pursue their passion, said ARCA president Ron Drager.
“I could list you 50 more, but those are examples of people who found their way to where they went by coming through our series,” said Drager, grandson of ARCA cofounders John and Mildred Marcum.
“I’d say two-thirds to three-quarters of any given starting lineup on a Sunday for a NASCAR Sprint Cup race are people who have raced in our tour.”
Former NASCAR driver and ARCA team owner Ken Schrader started racing for ARCA in the 1980s, having already driven for NASCAR.
“A lot of guys work their way through ARCA on the way to NASCAR; I kind of did it ass backward,” Schrader told Toledo Free Press, laughing. “I’m just really a fan of the series. To get the experience of running a big, ol’ heavy car, it’s the best place. You don’t need to learn to drive a 3,400-pound car at 200 mph at Talladega. With ARCA, you can learn at 120 mph at Toledo and work your way up.”
Toledo and Flat Rock are two of about 900 regional racetracks across the country, Drager
said.
“That’s the ground-level grassroots of the sport,” Drager said. “If you aspire to become a professional race car driver at the highest level, we as ARCA feel we offer a very effective and valuable opportunity for a young driver. If you want to race in the Daytona 500, you can race on the same track, in the same type of car, with the people who own the cars that race in the Daytona 500 watching you. That’s an opportunity we offer that nobody else does.”
Ty Dillon, the 20-year-old grandson of NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, was the 2011 ARCA Racing Series champion. This season he is racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
“It’s a great series,” Dillon said of ARCA during television commentary of Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 in Daytona Beach, Fla., ARCA’s biggest race of the season. “You get to come places like this and learn how to race at the tracks you’ll be learning at in the NASCAR rankings.”
While many ARCA drivers are aiming for NASCAR, others compete for decades at the regional level as a hobby, often serving as mentors, Drager said.
“People like the Kimmels, the Venturinis, Andy Hillenburg, Andy Belmont, Mark Gibson, these are people who have won races and championships as a driver in ARCA and have
found their niche,” Drager said.
One up-and-coming ARCA driver is 19-year-old Toledo native Levi Youster. Youster was racing sprint cars at Toledo Speedway when he was spotted by Wayne Hixson, who invited the then-16-year-old to join his Tennessee-based Hixon Motorsports team. Youster moved to Tennessee, but returns to Toledo, where his family still lives, during off-seasons.
Youster’s dream is to drive for NASCAR, but said he would also like to become a team owner and pay forward the opportunity Hixson gave to him.
“He saw potential and really wanted to develop me as a driver and teach me everything he could. He knew I didn’t have as much money as a lot of these kids out here and he gave
me a break knowing I would work for it,” Youster said.
“I think the biggest thing ARCA’s taught me is you can’t let off one lap, you can’t go 80 percent, you have to give it everything you have every time or otherwise you’re not going to do decent.”
The celebration of ARCA’s 60th season is also bittersweet, as Mildred died Jan. 9, shortly before the season opened. After John died in 1981, Mildred continued to operate races at both Toledo and Flat Rock into her 80s and was a daily fixture in the ARCA offices until her death at age 98, Drager said.
“For everybody in the building it was an inspiration. She was part of the sport when it was pretty much open Wild West and was part of helping organize and form the sport,” Drager
said.
“Nobody is crying in their beer because whatever you’re supposed to get out of life on this earth, she got 98 years’ worth and she didn’t leave much on the table. But certainly you can’t help but expect her to come heading down the hallway, peeking around the doorway to see if you’re busy.”
Even though ARCA has been around for six decades, “It’s like agiant secret,” said Don Radebaugh, ARCA communications and electronic media manager.
Drager’s goal is for people to think of Toledo Speedway the way they think of Fifth Third Field, Huntington Center or Savage Arena.
“We take it as a daily challenge to have Toledo Speedway be thought of in the same thought process as the Mud Hens and the Walleye and University of Toledo athletics,” Drager said. “We’re located within city limits and we very much feel like we’re part of the city. We’d like to be considered an entertainment option just like the ball game.”
Toledo Speedway will host the ARCA Racing Series’ Menards 200 on May 20, 2012. The tour will also race at Michigan International Speedway on June 15.
The ARCA Fan Fest is set for 10a.m. May 19, featuring interactive displays, two practices, pole qualifying event and the ARCA Truck Series season opener at 5 p.m. On May 20,drivers will sign autographs on the track at noon, with prerace ceremonies at 1:15 p.m. The race starts at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on SPEED TV at 5 p.m.
Among the racers will be NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Joey Coulter; 2011 ARCA Rookie of the Year Chris Buescher; points leader Brennan Poole; ARCA’s first 15-year-old competitor Erik Jones; past ARCA winners Bobby Gerhart and Mikey Kile; andOhio drivers Youster, Chad Hackenbracht, Jared Marks, Tim Cowen and Tommy O’Leary IV.
For more information, visit the website www.arcaracing.com
