John Marcum (1913–1981) was the co-founder of ARCA and a NASCAR official from

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

, United States. He raced in the 1930s and 1940s. He owned cars entered in two

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 ...

Grand National Series races with one Top 10 finish.John Marcum owner's statistics
Retrieved February 26, 2008 He was inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1994. Marcum would be inducted into the Dayton Speedway Hall of Fame October, 2010. Marcum first raced as a 14-year-old in his family car after lying about his age.John Marcum
Retrieved February 29, 2008 Marcum raced against

founder Bill France Sr. in the 1940s in open wheel roadsters. After France formed NASCAR in the late 1940s, he hired Marcum as an official, a position that he held from 1949 until 1952.ARCA at 50
; ''Stock Car Racing'' magazine; Retrieved February 26, 2008 In 1953, Marcum created a

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

racing series called "Midwest Association for Race Cars" (MARC) with his wife Mildred in his hometown

. It was a regional stock car racing series, a Northern counterpart to the Southern stock car series of the day, Bill France's

. The first MARC race was at Dayton Speedway, in Dayton Ohio, on May 10, 1953. The series race slightly modified street cars. John Marcum, Blair Rattliff and Tom Cushman would be parts owner of Dayton Speedway in 1958. The series was renamed "Automobile Racing Club of America" (ARCA) in 1964 when it began to race on

superspeedway Oval track racing is a form of motorsport that is contested on an oval-shaped race track. An oval track differs from a road course in that the layout resembles an oval with turns in only one direction, and the direction of traffic is almost uni ...

s. France had contacted Marcum wondering if ARCA would want a race at the

Daytona Speedweeks Daytona Speedweek presented by AdventHealth is a series of racing events that take place during January and February at Daytona International Speedway. Traditionally leading up to the Daytona 500, in 2021 it concluded with the Daytona road cours ...

. Marcum jumped at the chance for national exposure. The ARCA/NASCAR relationship continues today. The series frequently schedule events at the same track on the same weekend. The ARCA event is frequently the Saturday support race to the Sunday NASCAR Cup event. For several decades, ARCA used older NASCAR Cup racecars at their events. Today ARCA's President is the late John Marcum's grandson Ron Drager. John's wife, Mildred Marcum, was an integral part of the organization and worked both in the ARCA office on a regular basis until her death at 98 in 2012.*

References

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Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcum, John 1913 births 1981 deaths NASCAR people NASCAR team owners Sportspeople from Toledo, Ohio Racing drivers from Ohio Racing drivers from Michigan