| Assocname: | Automobile Racing Club of America |
| Abbrev: | ARCA |
| Sport: | Stock car racing |
| Founded: | 1953 |
| Aff: | NASCAR |
| Jurisdiction: | United States |
| Headquarters: | Toledo, Ohio |
| President: | Ron Drager |
| Url: | https://www.arcaracing.com/ |
| Countryflag: | USA |
The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is an auto racing sanctioning body in the United States, founded in 1953 by John Marcum. A subsidiary of NASCAR since 2018,[1] the current president of ARCA is Ron Drager, who took over the position in 1996 following the death of Bob Loga.[2] The ARCA Menards Series races stock cars similar to those seen in past years in the NASCAR Cup Series, and indeed most cars used in the Menards Series were previously used in NASCAR. ARCA contains a mix of both professional racers and hobby racers alike, in addition to younger competitors trying to make a name for themselves, sometimes driving as part of a driver development program for a NASCAR team. ARCA Menards Series races are broadcast on Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2 or MAVTV, and they have been previously broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2, USA Network, TNN, Prime Network, CBS Sports Network, NBCSN, TBS and TNT.
ARCA owns both the Toledo Speedway and Flat Rock Speedway. ARCA formerly sanctioned the ARCA Midget Series from 1988 until 2002 and a truck-racing series called the ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series from 1999 to 2016.
John Marcum founded the Midwest Association for Race Cars (MARC) in 1953 as a regional stock car racing series after working as an official for NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. In 1964, the name was changed to the "Automobile Racing Club of America" when the series became national by racing on superspeedways.[3] This ARCA is not to be confused with the organization founded in 1933 with the same name. ARCA started racing at Daytona International Speedway in 1964, during the Daytona Speedweeks, at the request of Bill France Sr., who had raced against Marcum in the 1940s.
The ARCA/NASCAR relationship continues today. The series frequently schedule events at the same track on the same weekend. The ARCA event is frequently the Saturday support race to the Sunday NASCAR Cup event. For several decades, ARCA used older NASCAR Cup race cars at their events, and with the advent of the Car of Tomorrow, teams were able to sell off their older cars to ARCA teams; current NASCAR Cup driver Joey Logano drove in ARCA in 2008, driving veteran NASCAR Cup cars after the Cup move to the COT.[3]
On April 27, 2018, NASCAR acquired ARCA.[4] [5]
In 2019, it was announced that the NASCAR K&N Series East and West would be moved under the ARCA banner as the ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West for 2020.[6]
Former NASCAR drivers, such as Benny Parsons, Kyle Petty (who won the 1979 Daytona ARCA 200, the first race he ever competed in), Ken Schrader and others, have competed in and advanced through the ARCA series on the way to successful NASCAR careers. ARCA has been used throughout its history as a stepping stone for hopeful NASCAR drivers.[7] [8]
ARCA uses a relatively simple point system to determine champions.
Note: