ARCA Returns to Texas with Testing Tuesday; Rich History in Lone Star State Dates Back to 1958

Written by ARCA News

TOLEDO OH (3-5-10) - It's been 12 years since the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards traveled to the Lone Star State; but that will soon change when the 58-year-old tour heads back to Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas for the running of the Rattlesnake 150 April 16th.

Actually, the ARCA Racing Series is going to get there even sooner with an open test scheduled for this Tuesday, March 9th on the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway.

Currently, more than 20 drivers have signed up for the all day test with track time scheduled from 9:00 AM up through 5:00 PM. Pre-entries for the open test include Brandon McReynolds, son of NASCAR champion crew chief and TV color commentator Larry McReynolds, and Venturini Motorsports with a trio of drivers to include Mikey Kile, Steve Arpin and Alli Owens. Cunningham Motorsports is also coming with two drivers - veteran Tom Hessert and rookie Dakoda Armstrong.

And after Eddie Sharp Racing announced yesterday that Nelson Piquet, Jr. would be returning to the series to run an assortment of superspeedways, including Texas, the son of the three-time F-1 world driving champion Nelson Piquet is also expected to test.

The ARCA Racing Series made one appearance at Texas in September of 1998 where series veteran Mark Gibson held off Bill Baird for the win. Nine-time series champion Frank Kimmel has the one-lap track record at Texas with a speed of 173.393 mph.

Despite having only one previous appearance at Texas Motor Speedway, the ARCA Racing Series' tenure in the Lone Star State reaches back to 1958 when ARCA's southern division raced on a short track in Dallas in March where Roz Howard earned the victory.

The series returned to Texas in 1960 at the now-defunct Meyer Speedway in Houston where Harold Smith won the 100-lap race. Other Texas appearances include Austin Speedway 1962 (Dick Hutcherson race winner), Meyer Speedway 1962 (Ernie Derr race winner), Austin Speedway 1963 (Bob Reynolds race winner), Big H Speedway in Houston (Buddy Ward race winner), San Antonio Speedway 1964 (Earl Balmer race winner), Corpus Christi Speedway 1964 (Earl Balmer race winner) and Big H Speedway 1964 (Ernie Derr race winner).

The series also made an early-season swing through Texas in 1965 where season champion Jack Bowsher swept four consecutive wins at Meyer (twice), Speed-O-Rama in Austin and Go-CC Speedway in Corpus Christi. The series raced in Texas 10 more times from 1966 through 1968 before returning again in 1972 to Texas World Speedway (TWS) where Ron Hutcherson won in a 1971 Mercury. The series returned to Texas World Speedway in 1991 where Bill Venturini earned the victory, and made two appearances at TWS in 1992 where Eddie Bierschwale and Mickey Gibbs picked up wins. Darrell Waltrip won at TWS in 1993. The series would not return until five years later to debut at Texas Motor Speedway in '98.

Charlie Glotzbach, Iggy Katona, Benny Parsons and Les Snow are also former ARCA winners in the state of Texas (1966-1968).

ARCA Open Test Entries, Texas Motor Speedway, (3-9-10)