2013-05-29

ARCA to make first appearance at Road America, SCOTT 160 coming June 22

11-ARS-BULLETINS-MASSHEAD
For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 

  

Lorenzen, Waltrip, Schrader, Bowsher, Allgaier all former ARCA road course winners 

   

(TEMPERANCE, Mich.) - The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has often been regarded as one of the most versatile touring series in the world. From Daytona to the dirt, from some classic short tracks to the finest superspeedways, the series has been crisscrossing America for 61 years and counting.

 

The longstanding stock car tour has also been turning right, as well as left, since the 1950s when it made its first appearance on a road course outside of Chicago. Since then, ARCA has staged 16 road course races over the years on a wide variety of circuits across America.

 

ARCA's rich road course tradition will soon continue with a first-ever visit to the renowned Road America road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin June 22. The event, the inaugural SCOTT 160, will serve as the preamble for the same-day NASCAR Nationwide Series Johnsonville Sausage 200.

 

ARCA made its road course debut on the old Meadowdale Raceway road course in Carpentersville, Illinois in 1958. In fact, with the exception of the decade of the 1970s, there's been a road course on the ARCA schedule in every decade since its existence. And the list of ARCA road course winners over the years is impressive to say the least.

 

NASCAR legend Fred Lorenzen won that inaugural 220-mile road course event at Meadowdale on October 19, 1958. Two more events at Meadowdale would follow on August 14th, 1960 when Nelson Stacy, from the pole, steered his way into Victory Lane in the 250-mile race; and then again on July 19, 1964 when Elmer Musgrave, in a Mercury, drove to winner's circle in the 250-mile race. The now defunct Meadowdale course featured an extremely high-banked corner that greeted drivers just past the start-finish line. From there, the course flattened out into a series of right- and left-hand turns, dips and curves that wrapped through the heavily wooded and rural area around Carpentersville.

 

In between the Meadowdale shows, the series made one stop at Virginia Int'l Raceway on April 1, 1962 where Curtis Turner won the 250-mile race in a Ford.

 

The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course showed up on the schedule in 1965 with three-time series champion Jack Bowsher driving to Victory Lane in the 250-mile race on July 25.

 

It would not be until May 18, 1986 before another road course event made its way onto the schedule at the now defunct St. Louis Int'l Raceway outside St. Louis. Bob Schacht won the 200-lap race over Bob Keselowski and Bob Brevak, during which 13 lead changes among four drivers mixed it up along the way.

 

The Heartland Park road course in Topeka, Kansas hosted two ARCA races in the early 90s where Ken Schrader, from the pole, won the Wendy's Big Classic 100 lap race on August 5, 1991. Eight-time Daytona winner Bobby Gerhart finished fourth with Frank Kimmel, making his road course debut, finishing seventh. Dale Earnhardt, Sr, making a rare ARCA appearance, finished 30th after an accident on lap 14 eliminated him from contention. The other race at Heartland Park happened on August 2, 1991 when NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip won the 121-lap race.

 

The Des Moines Grand Prix was the next road course event on the schedule on July 3, 1994. Scott Lagasse, Sr. held off Kimmel and Jimmy Spencer to win the 75-lap race through the downtown streets of Des Moines. Former NFL head coach Jerry Glanville finished ninth. Michael Waltrip is shown as the 14th place finisher.

 

Watkins Glen Int'l hosted the next ARCA road course event on July 7. John Finger won a nail-biter over Blaise Alexander, Kimmel, Robert Burroughs and Art Cross, completing the top-five.

 

While ARCA's road course schedule paused for seven years, it jumped right back on in 2008 when the New Jersey Motorsports Park invited ARCA out for the inaugural New Jersey ARCA 150, a race won by 2008 ARCA champion and current NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Justin Allgaier.

 

From there, road course racing has become a staple on the ARCA tour with annual events at New Jersey where Patrick Long, Casey Roderick, and Andrew Ranger also etched their names into the ARCA history books as road course winners. Ranger, from Roxton Pond, Quebec, has won in consecutive seasons at New Jersey, outdueling Chase Elliott on the final lap in 2012.

 

The Palm Beach Int'l Raceway road course also hosted an ARCA road course race in 2010 where Justin Marks won on Hoosier rain tires during a downpour.

 

Rain or shine, the inaugural SCOTT 160 at Road America for the ARCA Racing Series is ready to set sail on June 22 alongside the NASCAR Nationwide Series for an action-packed stock car double header on the renowned Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin road course.

 

Practice for the SCOTT 160 is from 3:05-5:30 p.m. Friday, June 21. Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell is scheduled to take place Saturday morning at 9:05 a.m.with the SCOTT 160 to follow at 12:45.

 

ARCAracing.com will feature live timing and scoring of all ARCA's on-track activity.

 

For ticket info and more, please visit RoadAmerica.com or call 800-365-RACE.

 

The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is among the leading auto racing sanctioning bodies in the country. Founded in 1953 by John and Mildred Marcum, the organization administers more than 100 events each year in multiple racing series, including the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, the ARCA/CRA Super Series, the ARCA Truck Series and the ARCA Midwest Tour, plus weekly racing at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedways.

 

CONTACT:

Doug Donnelly, ARCA                                   

 

Don Radebaugh, ARCA


ARCAracing.com
ARCAnation.com 

Facebook.com/arcaracing 

Follow on Twitter @ARCA_Racing 

Posted by Marc Patrick Roy at 29.5.13

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