A New Racing Series is Born

The American Racing Club to hold its inaugural event on April 10th-11th. The American Racing Club (ARC) kicks off its first season of racing this weekend at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in Southern California. The ARC is the parent sanctioning body of the Northern California Racing Club (NCRC) and its highly successful driver education and “Track Day” event format. Founded in 2001 by Troy Allison and Dave Mills, the ARC-sanctioned NCRC has grown a membership base of 700 active drivers in just three years. Based on the overwhelming response to the NCRC’s format and increasing membership, the ARC has now been developed as the dedicated competition division for the NCRC and the club or professional Open-Wheel, Sportscar, and Sedan racer. “Our motivation in creating the ARC was simple: we wanted to provide high quality and exciting motorsports activities and products to a rapidly growing market of club drivers and pro racers” noted co-founder Allison. “With the ARC, we are building on the fun and professional atmosphere we have established with the NCRC. Some of the other club/pro racing series have lost touch with the times and lost touch with their members; the ARC is meant to incorporate the best parts of those older racing series while introducing a few modern innovations to the club/pro racing concept. We designed the ARC to be an easy fit and transition for the existing SCCA or NASA competitor, and have worked very hard to streamline the organization of the series and strip away as much of the bureaucracy and hassle from our events” said Mills. To support this, the ARC has established online event registration for its competitors, the acceptance of competition licenses, car logbooks, and medical examinations of current SCCA & NASA drivers, and a racing class structure that is the first of its kind. In designing the racing class structure and format, Allison kept a few key things in mind: “the classing system is designed to be competitive, allowing a driver to participate in another race series without making modifications to 2 join the ARC racing series. We created 3 main classes: Sedan A for faster tube-frame chassis and touring cars, Sedan B for slower tube-frame chassis and touring cars, and our Sports Racing and Formula Car class. What makes the ARC unique is that drivers are grouped and classified by their own ability, and not the outright potential of their car.” Using this formula and proprietary algorithm for determining class placement, the ARC and its competitors no longer have to worry about their cars conforming to strict mechanical rulebooks or losing out to drivers with bigger cars and bigger budgets. Mills added: “our goal is to match the driver to the class that best fits their driving experience and lap times. A novice racer with a new Ferrari Enzo might start out in the slower Sedan B class until his speed warranted a promotion to the faster Sedan A group. Based on the speed and skill of the drivers, a fast Spec Miata car could be challenging a tube-frame GT car for the overall win in Sedan A. With the ARC, its driver vs. driver, not car vs. car” The inaugural season of the ARC is set to span 14 races throughout California in 2004 with stops at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, Infineon Raceway (formerly Sears Point), Thunderhill Raceway, and Willow Springs raceway. The NCRC track day & training series will hold an additional 14 events in 2004. For 2005, the ARC looks to expand from beyond California with the ultimate goal of establishing ARC chapters throughout North America. “From the day we started the NCRC, our goal was to sculpt it into a model that could be used for a new, nation wide road racing sanctioning body. Heading into our first ARC event this weekend, we can look at the training ground the NCRC will provide to new and emerging drivers as wanting to graduate to the ARC. Just as the NCRC provides driver coaching for all levels of experience, the ARC also provides driver coaching and racing schools for our competitors,” Allison also noted. “Our instructors and series administrators bring a wealth of experience and abilities to the ARC; the ARC staff range from Indy 500, SCCA, NASA, Vintage, Sportscar and Drag Racing veterans.” The clock for the newest road racing series in North America has started and the ARC is now off and running. To check our progress or for more information about the ARC, please visit our website at www.amracing.org #####