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(LONG POND, Pa.) - Officials from SPEED and the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) have announced an extension of the current broadcast rights agreement that calls for a minimum of 10 ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards events to be televised on SPEED live and/or same-day delayed in 2011.

SPEED will drop the green flag on its 15th season of ARCA coverage at Daytona International Speedway with the 48th running of the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 in February.

“We’re pleased to announce today the extension of SPEED’s broadcast rights agreement with ARCA for 2011,” said Steve Craddock, senior vice president of production and programming for SPEED.

ARCA’s relationship with SPEED reaches back to April 20, 1997, when the network (then Speedvision) covered the ARCA Racing Series race at Salem Speedway. Since then, SPEED has aired a total of 175 ARCA Racing Series events, with today’s Weis Markets 125 from Pocono marking the 176th.

“ARCA and SPEED have invested a great deal over time in our long term relationship,” said ARCA president Ron Drager. “We’re very encouraged that SPEED will continue to be the television home for the ARCA Racing Series, and given the challenging economic climate our industry is working through, we’re especially pleased to be able to make this 2011 announcement at the midway point of the current season.”

This season, the first three ARCA broadcast races – at Daytona, Texas Motor Speedway and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway – enjoyed a 49 percent overall increase among households (1.16 vs. 0.78) and a 75 percent increase in the key demographic of men aged 35-54 years old (1.28 vs. 0.73) over equivalent races in 2009.

Racing star Danica Patrick’s stock car debut highlighted ARCA’s Daytona television coverage, as the 2.3 overall household rating was the highest in series history. The number also represented a network high, surpassed only by SPEED’s annual coverage of the NASCAR All-Star Race from Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. Among men aged 35-54, the 2.75 overall rating was the highest since the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drove a 2.93 rating for the 2005 season opener at Daytona.

“The ARCA Racing Series continues to have a meaningful place on the motorsports landscape,” said SPEED president Hunter Nickell in a statement from the network. “With its front-page storylines from Daytona and its continued solid ratings performance, SPEED feels very comfortable moving forward with this extension and continuing the long-running relationship.”

SPEEDTM, anchored by its popular and wide-ranging coverage of NASCAR, is the nation’s first and only cable television network dedicated to automotive and motorcycle racing, performance and lifestyle. Now available in more than 80 million homes in North America, SPEED, a FOX Sports property, is among the industry leaders in interactive TV, video on demand, mobile initiatives and broadband services. For more information, please visit SPEED.com, the online motor sports authority.

The ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards features 20 events at 17 tracks on its 2010 schedule. The series has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 racetracks in 28 states since its inception. The series tests the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, annually visiting tracks ranging from 0.4 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as left- and right-turn street and road courses.

Founded by John Marcum in 1953 in Toledo, Ohio, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is recognized among the leading sanctioning bodies in the country. Closing in on completing its sixth decade after hundreds of thousands of miles of racing, ARCA administers over 100 race events each season in two professional touring series and local weekly events.

- ARCA Press Release