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Archives 1990-1999

1990: Brevak wins the series championship in Buicks sponsored by Race Glaze and owned by his wife Shelly. Jerry Churchill drives a Chrysler to victory, marking the first Mopar ARCA win since 1979. Jimmy Horton wins unprecedented 5 consecutive ARCA superspeedway races at Daytona, Atlanta, Talladega and Pocono. Loga is promoted to ARCA President, Drager to Vice President. Joe Wells joins ARCA staff as competition director. Bobby Bowsher and Ken Schrader post first wins. Glotzbach joins Katona and Stott as winners of events in 3 different decades and stuns all with a qualifying lap of over 200 mph at Talladega. ARCA adds the Pro-4 Series to its touring series lineup.

1991: Venturini drives Chevrolets sponsored by Amoco and owned by his wife Cathy to his 2nd championship. He joins Bobby Bowsher and Keselowski as the first drivers to earn over $100,000 in a single season. Attendance exceeds 400,000. Texas World Speedway, inactive for years, reopens with an ARCA Series event won by Venturini. Dick Trickle wins at Atlanta, the 750th ARCA Series event conducted since 1953. Stanley Smith, Dave Mader III and Greg Trammell are first-time winners. Kansas becomes the 22nd state to host the series with a road course event at Topeka.

1992: Bobby Bowsher sets an all-time single season team earnings record at $141,277 and becomes the first son to join his father (Jack, '63-64-65) as ARCA Series champion. Posted awards exceeds $2 million for the first time. Keselowski passes the $500,000 mark in ARCA career earnings. Ray Dunlap joins the ARCA staff as media relations director. First-time series winners include Loy Allen Jr., Roy Payne, David Green and Darrell Waltrip.

1993: Tim Steele drives Fords and Oldsmobiles fielded by his father Harold to 3 wins including Talladega and Pocono and 3 poles to win the title in his rookie season. Jeff Purvis wins 3 superspeedway races and poles. Race attendance hits 437,800 and 15 of 19 races are televised with viewership reaching 10 million. First time winners include Steele, Purvis, Harold Fair, Billy Thomas and Jeremy Mayfield.

1994: Bobby Bowsher wins his second driving championship in three years. Purvis becomes the only driver to win 3 superspeedway races in consecutive seasons. A record 20 of 21 races are televised as viewership reaches 12 million. Bob dotter makes 250th career start. Bondo/Mar-Hyde and Hoosier Tire announce major sponsorships. First time winners include STP-Prestone Rookie of the Year Gary Bradberry,Mike Wallace,Frank Kimmel,Scott Lagasse,Randy Churchill,Bob Hill and Scott Neal. Lagasse's win comes in the first ever street race, the Des Moines Grand Prix in Iowa. ARCA founder John Marcum is inducted posthumously into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega along with '68-69 series champ Benny Parsons.

1995: Andy Hillenburg wins his first career event at Daytona, making Ken Schrader the only back-to-back car owner winner in Daytona ARCA 200 history. Hillenburg fields his own cars and wins at Flat Rock holding off Bobby Bowsher and Bob Schacht to become the 5th driver to win the Championship in his rookie season. Bowsher wins 6 Talladega Pole Awards and surpasses $750,000 in earnings. Jack Bowsher ties Iggy Katona as the only 6 time car owner champions in series history. First time winners include Ed Dixon,Hillenburg and Eric Smith. Dixon wins in Nebraska the 24th state to host an ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde event. The Series has sanctioned races at 150 different tracks. All 21 races are televised as attendance hits half a million. Terry Oliger joins as Operations Director.

1996: Tim Steele wins his 2nd series driving championship, driving Harold Steele's HS Die-CIMLINC Ford to 11 victories, the most since 1973, including his 11th career superspeedway win and earning a single season record of over $300,000. Steele also moves atop the career superspeedway laps led chart. An auto accident claims the life of ARCA President Bob Loga, resulting in the appointment of Ron Drager for the top post. Bondo/Mar-Hyde President Terry Merrill extends his company's series title sponsorship through the 2000 racing season. First-time winners are Tobey Butler, Ron Barfield and Joe Bessey. ARCA successfully returns to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the first time since 1964. Attendance for the 25 events exceeds 600,000. Don Radebaugh takes the Public Relations director post vacated when Ray Dunlap moves to ESPN. An alltime high 11 superspeedway events are on the schedule. Lincoln Welders announces multi-year ARCA Midget Series title sponsorship.

1997: Tim Steele rewrites the ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series record book with his 3rd series title, driving to 12 victories in 22 events, the most wins in a single season since 1965. His 30 career wins are 5th alltime. Steele also sets alltime career superspeedway standards in victories (17), Talladega Poles (9) and laps led (1721 in 32 races). First time winners are Mark Gibson, Gary Laton, Mark Thompson and Harris DeVane. New venues for '97 are West Virginia Motor Speedway and Gateway Int'l Raceway. Total attendance reaches a record 619,000 with all series races televised to a record 15.8 million viewers. A record $2.7 million in prize money is awarded. ARCA announces new 4-cylinder truck series, sponsored by ARCA Midget Series title sponsor Lincoln Welders, to run exhibition races in '98 and full series in '99. ARCA prepares for 1998 season highlights including honoring the 1000th event to have been run since 1953 andsanctioning an event in the 25th different state (Colorado) since its inception.

1998: After finishing twice runnerup and 148 career starts later, Frank Kimmel wins first series championship posting 9 victories, 16 top-5s, 19 top-10s and 893 laps led in 14 races in Larry Clement owned Chevrolets. The 14-time ARCA winner also wins his first career superspeedway events at Charlotte, Michigan and Atlanta. First time winners include Kenny Irwin, Kirk Shelmerdine, Adam Petty and Mike Swaim Jr. The ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series reaches major milestone with 1,000th series event at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado. Growth in the series continues under the helm of President Ron Drager with a record total of $2.8 million in posted awards distributed at 22 races in 12 states. Attendance grows to 622,000 with every series race televised to a record 15.9 million viewers. 3-time champion Tim Steele becomes all-time ARCA money winner and 1st million dollar man with career total earnings reaching $1,019,037. ARCA debuts new Lincoln Welders Truck Series with exhibition runs in preparation for inaugural championship season in 1999.

1999: Bill Baird, in only 47 career starts, wins series driving championship after winning rookie of the year honors in ’98 while Ken Schrader was awarded the car-owner championship. Baird posted 5 wins at Atlanta, Salem, Shady Bowl, Flat Rock and Springfield en route to the crown as well as 14 top-5 and 17 top-10 finishes. In addition, Baird led 830 laps in 15 races and won 5 poles. In 21 races, there were 13 different winners as well as eight 1st-time winners including Bobby Gerhart, Baird, Mario Gosselin, David Keith, Blaise Alexander, Robbie Pyle, Jeff Finley and Ron Hornaday. Growth in the series continued with a total of $2,745,605 in posted awards distributed at 21 races in 10 states where attendance grew to 624,000. The ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series debuted with 16 events while the ARCA Auto Value Midget Series completed its 20th consecutive season. ARCA again sanctions weekly event racing at Toledo Speedway, an arrangement which still exists uninterrupted.