Arena Racing USA is an indoor

motorsports Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and powered aircraft An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the po ...

series founded by former

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

builder Ricky Dennis, son of 1970

NASCAR Rookie of the Year The NASCAR Rookie of the Year Award is presented to the first-year driver that has the best season in a NASCAR season. Each of NASCAR's national and regional touring series selects a RotY winner each year. History of the Award The Rookie of the Y ...

Bill Dennis Bill Dennis (born December 9, 1935) is an American former NASCAR driver and rookie of the year in the Winston Cup Series. Racing career Dennis made his debut at age 26 at the 1962 Capital City 300 in the No. 98 and finished 15th. After three pa ...

. The league “went dark” after the 2016–2017 season, per their website.

History

The concept of arena racing started in 1993, when Ricky Dennis was watching a

Richmond Renegades The Richmond Renegades were a professional ice hockey team in Richmond, Virginia that played in the East Coast Hockey League from 1990 until 2003. The Renegades played at the Richmond Coliseum, which they marketed in later years as ''the Freeze ...

hockey game at the

Richmond Coliseum Richmond Coliseum is a defunct arena located in downtown Richmond, Virginia, with a capacity of 13,500 that was most often used for various large concerts. The arena opened in 1971 and the region is looking to replace the aging facility with a la ...

. The first attempt at creating the series occurred in 1994, but shut down due to financial troubles. In 2002, a second attempt at the series was created. To assist the series with financial backing, Dennis consulted

Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. His son, J. D. Gibbs, ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina, ...

(JGR) owner

Joe Gibbs Joseph Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former American football, football coach. He served as the head coach of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 Washingto ...

, and also added

Interstate Batteries Interstate Battery System of America, Inc., a.k.a. Interstate Batteries, is a US privately owned battery marketing and distribution company. It markets car battery, automotive batteries manufactured by Brookfield Business Partners, Exide Technol ...

president Norm Miller and PACE Entertainment and PACE Motorsports' Gary Becker as investors. To help promote the series, James Ukrop, former chairman of Ukrop's Food Group, was hired as a business mentor for Dennis. JGR drivers

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed "Smoke", is an American semi-retired professional auto racing driver, and former NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. He currently competes in the NHRA Top Fuel class. He is a four-t ...

Denny Hamlin James Dennis Alan Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing. He also co-owns and op ...

and

J. J. Yeley Christopher Beltram Hernandez "J. J." Yeley (born October 5, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet ZL1 for ...

also became investors. Regarding the series, Stewart stated, "I love any kind of racing, but arena racing struck me as something that could really take off. I've raced Midgets and

Sprint Cars Sprint cars are open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval, circular dirt or paved tracks. Historically known simply as "big cars," distinguishing them from "midget cars," sprint car racing is popular primari ...

indoors, and there's definitely an added level of excitement. When I found out you could do the same thing with a half-scale

stock car Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses. It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It originated in the southe ...

, but on a banked track with 14 other cars around you while making laps in 10 seconds, I was in."

Details

Arena Racing uses stock cars half-scale of

Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

cars at long, and can reach speeds up to . They weigh about and have 22-horsepower engines. Events are scheduled in a heat style format, as opposed to NASCAR's format of one long race. Each event consists of a minimum of four races: three main races and a "Top Dog" race. The 2011–2012 Arena Racing season ran from November to April, much of which is the offseason of major series such as NASCAR and

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

. There is currently one venue, the

, which hosted the 2013–2014 season races.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.arenaracingusa.com/ Stock car racing series in the United States Auto racing organizations in the United States Sports in Charlotte, North Carolina Sports in Hampton Roads Sports in Grand Rapids, Michigan Companies based in Virginia Motorsport in North Carolina Motorsport in Virginia Motorsport in Michigan Sports organizations established in 2002 2002 establishments in Virginia Sports in Richmond, Virginia