Two events are scheduled at the demanding, high-banked 0.555-mile oval between Indianapolis and Louisville, Ky. The 91st Salem race in ARCA history will take place Sunday, April 29, with the 92nd following on Saturday, September 15.
Salem Speedway first hosted ARCA in 1955, the third season of ARCA competition.
“ARCA’s history at Salem Speedway stretches back to the MARC era and our earliest decade,” said Ron Drager, president of ARCA. “The fans in southern Indiana and northern Kentucky turn out with great support year after year. We look forward to providing them with the traditional Sunday afternoon show in the spring and our classic Saturday night race in the fall.”
Indiana native Frank Kimmel is the all-time leading winner at Salem, with nine victories. Jack Bowsher is second in history with seven wins. Brennan Poole won at Salem in his first career start in May, and Chris Buescher won in September as part of his charge to the 2011 ARCA Racing Series Rookie of the Year Award.
“We are once again honored to have Salem Speedway represented with two dates on the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards schedule,” said Salem Speedway general manager Richard Deaton. “ARCA has played a very prominent role in the storied history of the famed high banks and we are excited to carry on that tradition in 2012.”
More detailed schedule information for the season will be available shortly. The following race dates for the 2012 ARCA Racing Series schedule have been announced:
February 18 – Daytona International Speedway
March 10 – Mobile International Speedway
April 29 – Salem Speedway
May 4 – Talladega Superspeedway
June 9 – Pocono Raceway
June 15 – Michigan International Speedway
June 24 – Winchester Speedway
July 1 – New Jersey Motorsports Park
July 13 – Iowa Speedway
July 21 – Chicagoland Speedway
August 4 – Pocono Raceway
August 11 – Berlin Raceway
August 19 – Illinois State Fairgrounds
August 26 – Madison International Speedway
September 3 – DuQuoin State Fairgrounds
September 15 – Salem Speedway
October 19 – Kansas Speedway
The ARCA Racing Series will wrap up the 2011 season with the Championship Awards Banquet at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, Ky., near Cincinnati, on Saturday, December 10.
The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards featured 19 events at 16 tracks on its 2011 schedule. The series has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 race tracks in 28 states since its inception. In 2011, the series has tested the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, visiting tracks ranging from 0.4 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as a left- and right-turn road course.
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.
- Automobile Racing Club of America Press Release
