ARCA and New Jersey Motorsports Park officials reached an agreement this week to bring stock car racing’s most versatile series back to the 14-turn, 2.25-mile circuit in southern New Jersey, less than 50 miles south of Philadelphia.
“The ARCA Racing Series has long been recognized for the diversity in the types of venues on the schedule,” said Ron Drager, ARCA president. “Racing at New Jersey again in 2012 once again gives our schedule a full range of venues, also including paved short tracks, superspeedways, intermediate tracks, and the mile dirt state fairgrounds ovals. We’re looking forward to another visit to New Jersey Motorsports Park.”
Entering its 60th anniversary season, ARCA has hosted 15 road course races. The first occurred at Meadowdale Raceway in Illinois in 1958, and Andrew Ranger won in the most recent – his ARCA debut – at New Jersey in May. Ranger, driving a car fielded by Northeast owner Robert Torriere, completed a daring pass over George Miedecke just before the white flag to create one of the season’s most exciting finishes.
Before Ranger this spring, Justin Allgaier (2008), Patrick Long (2009), and Casey Roderick (2010) won ARCA Racing Series events at New Jersey.
“We’re pleased to welcome back the ARCA Racing Series for the fifth consecutive season in 2012,” said Brad Scott, general manager of New Jersey Motorsports Park. “ARCA is such an exciting weekend for race fans in New Jersey, especially this year’s race that came down to the final lap between two road course aces. We hope to feature that same excitement on a new date next year.”
New Jersey Motorsports Park officials are working toward scheduling a lineup of support races to give race fans even more value on the ARCA Racing Series weekend.
Other 2012 races with dates confirmed by the ARCA Racing Series include the season opener at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 18, and ARCA’s first trip to Mobile International Speedway on Saturday, March 10. More detailed schedule information for the season will be available shortly.
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
