Category Archives: General News

1. #46 Brett Arndt
2. #14 Trevor Kobylarz
3. #77 Alex Bright
4. #27 Billy Pauch Jr.
5. #29 Ryan Wilson
6. #92 Brenden Bright
7. #78 Nick Wean
8. #4 Ryan Greth
9. #25 Kyle Spence
10. #99g Justin Grosz
11. #95 Jim Radney
12. #22 Johnny Heydenreich
13. #4x Shelby Harper
14. #11 Eric Heydenreich
15. #33 Danny Stratton
16. #44 Brett Wanner
17. #20 Carey Becker

Rain once again bit the ARDC club as their first race at Big Diamond in 2016 was postponed.  There is good news as it has been rescheduled for May 20, 2016 where ARDC will be the Headliner of the evening!  Hope to see you there!

5/10/2016

Presenting partner Auto Bahn indoor speedway www.autobahnspeed.com/  officially was welcomed to the Harrisburg market today hosting an open house event for area business owners,local and state civic leaders , Harrisburg area professional sports teams and local charitable organizations.

Also present were Autobahn Indoor speedway investment partners and several location general managers

The event was a huge success and the ARDC was represented with cars from Dyke Becker owned Café Waldorf sponsored machine www.cafewaldorf.com/index.html

Along with Wayne Lesher owned Hyper  Chassis sponsored by Liverpool community bank www.liverpoolbank.com

Drivers attending the event were Ryan Greth and Austin Quick

There was a lot of questions about the midgets and you need to check out the Auto Bahn Indoor Speedway if you get the chance

The excessive rain over the past few days and constant rain all day on Friday forced the cancellation of ARDC action at Linda’s Speedway on May 6th, 2016.  Next week on May 13th, ARDC takes their side by side and three wide action to Big Diamond Speedway for their first of two trips there this year.

York Haven, PA

4/30/2016

 Brenden Bright took his second Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic ARDC presented by Autobahn Indoor Speedway victory of the season Saturday night at Susquehanna Speedway but it came with some guessing. Brenden stood behind his #92 midget before the 20 lap feature tools in hand not really sure what changes to make.

“I guess I’ll throw something at it and hope it works,” said Bright. The Collegeville, PA wheelman made the right changes and rode the perfectly prepared Susquehanna Speedway high side to win number two of the young season.

The Steward racing number 33 of Danny Stratton and the Hyper Racing number 4 of Ryan Greth lead the twenty car field to the green with Greth jumping to the early lead. Greth set the pace riding the curb lap after lap until a lap 4 yellow came out for a second place running Stratton due to a mud packed wheel. The lap 5 restart saw Greth continue to pace the field with the action getting hot and heavy behind the leader for the rest of the top five. B. Bright took second on the restart and set his site on the leader while his brother Alex and 2013 ARDC champion Trevor Kobylarz traded slide jobs for fourth position.

Lap number seven saw the 4 of Greth jump the cushion coming out of turn two and that was all Brenden Bright needed to get by and take the lead. Bright would lead the final thirteen laps to beat the rest of the field and the rain.

Behind the leaders saw some great racing with slide jobs between Alex Bright, Trevor Kobylarz, Brett Arndt and Tommy Kunsman. Lap after lap the four drivers showed why ARDC is “side by side and three wide” and some of the most exciting racing on the east coast. Arndt backed up his win at Linda’s with a top three finish with Alex Bright and Tommy Kunsman rounding out the top five.

ARDC Susquehanna Speedway finish: 92,4,46,77,21,5,99,14,29,20,29s,11,4x,74,78,33,95,44,14b,4T

Next Race: Linda’s Speedway on May 6^th

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APRIL 25, 2016

DICK JORDAN

            Officials of the United States Auto Club (USAC), POWRi and ARDC Midget Series today jointly announced a rule which will unify engine platform-specific RPM limits in all sanctioned races, effective May 29, 2016. This commitment to RPM limits constitutes a three-year commitment and any uniform limit modifications will be determined through on-going data analysis obtained through actual on-track racing.

            RPM limits are used in midget racing as a “throttle” to limit the expense of further development of current midget racing engine platforms, save money for car owners with increased time between engine maintenance cycles, and as a means to enable midget racing to welcome lower cost alternatives to current engine platforms in the future.

            The initial RPM limits will be adopted from a USAC sponsored study conducted by ILMOR Engineering and in use for the last four race seasons. These RPM limits can be found posted in the individual series rule books for USAC, POWRi and ARDC. Throughout 2016, additional race data will be collected to further study equivalency power curves among the varying midget engine platforms, including pushrod and overhead cam configurations. This data will be used to determine if RPM limit modifications will be required.

Additionally, all entrants using an EFI branded ignition must use the new EFI “R1” (Red) Ignition Box for all sanctioned races with USAC , POWRi and ARDC. The EFI R1 unit was designed specifically for midget racing and has a limited range of user interface which assures race officials adherence to RPM limit rules and eliminates traction control capabilities through the EFI module.

–USAC–

White-knuckle racing is the only way to describe night number two of Starrcade 2016. Brett Wanner led the ARDC Midgets to the green flag for their 25 lap feature. It would become apparent early that the midgets were going to use every inch of the quarter mile on this night. Wanner lead until he bobbled in turn three and Brett Arndt was able to move into the top spot. Unfortunately for Arndt the pass would not stand because of a yellow flag for Ryan Greth and Jim Radney who were right behind Wanner when he slowed and brought out the yellow flag. On the restart Wanner was able to hold off both Arndt and Nick Wean until lap eight when Arndt passed for the lead again. Once Arndt was out front would wage a battle with Bright and Wean for the top spot as they went 3 wide numerous times over the next five laps. Arndt’s car was much better after a lap 14 red flag for Jamie Spears who flipped in turn 1. After the red Arndt easily became the car to beat while Bright tried to fend off a hard charging Trevor Kobylarz. Ardnt was able to withstand a late race yellow flag to grab his first ARDC Midget win at Linda’s Speedway. Bright came across second ahead of Kobylarz, Wean, and Tommy Kunsman. Brendon Bright, Wanner, Eric Heydenrich, Jimmy Glenn, and Ryan Wilson made up the top ten finishers from the ARDC Midget portion of the Starrcade event. Heat race winners for the Midgets were Alex Bright, Tommy Kunsman, and Ryan Greth.

ARDC Midgets

Heat 1- Alex Bright, Brett Wanner, Jimmy Glenn, Ryan Wilson, Jamie Spears, Kameron Morral

Heat 2- Tommy Kunsman, Nick Wean, Jim Radney, Brenden Bright, Mark Lowrey, Danny Stratton

Heat 3- Ryan Greth, Trevor Koblyarz, Brett Arndt, Eric Heydenreich, Rohan Beasley, Tyler Rivard

Feature

1-Brett Arndt (46)

2-Alex Bright

3-Trevor Kobylarz

4-Nick Wean

5-Tommy Kunsman

6-Brenden Bright

7-Brett Wanner

8-Eric Heydenreich

9-Jimmy Glenn

10-Ryan Wilson

11-Mark Lowrey

12-Rohan Beasley

13-Tyler Rivard

14-Jamie Spears

15-Kameron Morral

16-Jim Radney

17-Ryan Greth

DNS- Danny Stratton

York Haven, PA April 15^th 2016

The first of 8 races at the new Susquehanna Speedway for ARDC showed how exciting the mighty midgets can be with cars on the top, bottom and middle of the perfectly prepared 4/10 of a mile track. In the end it was the ever exciting Brenden Bright of Collegeville, PA choosing the top side to take the 20 lap main.

The Hyper chassis number 95 of Jim Radney lead the field to the green, but it was Tommy Kunsman that won the battle back to the line leading lap one. Kunsman ran the smooth and fast bottom for the next 17 laps as the rest of the field searched for the best line behind him.

Sixth starting Trevor Kobylarz also found the bottom and rocketed to second battling Bret Ardnt and Bright. Kobylarz worked on Kunsman lap after lap but couldn’t sneak by as the fast improving Kunsman made no mistakes hitting his lines perfectly.

After a red flag for the Hyper Racing, WSL number 4 of Ryan Greth, Bright decided to commit to the top side. “I figured I would go up there and see what happens,” Bright said. “It took a while for it (the top side) to clean off.” But when it did Bright started making ground on the leaders. Bright ran harder and harder on the cushion determined to make the passes and with five laps to go passed Kobylarz. On the next circuit he would pull even and make the pass on race long leader Kunsman.

“My car felt really good on the bottom,” stated Kunsman. “I heard someone on the outside of me with 4 to go but it was a little late to change my line”

It wasn’t meant to be for Kunsman as he pulled even with Bright but just didn’t have enough to hang with him. Kunsman would end up a respectable 3^rd place backing up his win in a wingless 600cc sprint at the Linda’s speedway Friday night.

Kobylarz would take second with a last lap pass with Kunsman third. A thrilling run from starting in the last row saw Alex Bright in the Gargulio Racing number 5 come 4^th and Nick Wean rounding out the top 5.

Feature Results for the Hooiser Tire Mid-Atlantic ARDC midget presented by Auto Bahn Indoor Speedway.

1. Brenden Bright #92
2. Trevor Kobylarz #14
3. Tommy Kunsman #21k
4. Alex Bright #5
5. Jim Radney #95
6. Bret Ardnt #46
7. Ryan Wilson #29
8. Danny Stratton #33
9. Justin Grosz #99G
10. Tyler Brehm #20
11. Jamie Spears #74
12. Bret Wanner #44
13. Rohan Beasley #14B
14. Ryan Greth #4
15. Brandon yarlett

DNS -PJ Gargulio

DNS- Austin quick

Notes: Alex Bright had motor issues in his #77 during his heat race.            

Heat winners were Brenden Bright and Danny Stratton

Next race for ARDC is Friday April 22^nd at Linda’s Speedway

Just one look at the ARDC website and you can tell there are changes a brewing.

Since taking the helm in 2015 ARDC president Wayne Lesher and the ARDC board of governors has steered the 77 year old racing organization into a position that they, and many others, believe is the direction needed to be successful in today’s environment.

When I was elected in 2015 I had an idea in my head, Lesher says, but I didn’t really know how to pull it off. I’ve been in business for 16 years and I knew that the ARDC had to operate as a business; I knew if I could reduce the overhead and manage the business properly the rest would fall into place.

One of the first things Lesher said he did was to go over the financials of the organization with ARDC treasurer Jerry Steward. Lesher says, Jerry was in business for many years and he knows how to manage cash flow. I’m a little bit more aggressive and a risk taker then Jerry but his conservative nature makes a good balance between us. I might want to spend a little more on something and Jerry a little less and he makes me prove to him that my idea will work before he concedes.

From an outside perspective 2 of the most notable changes are the 2016 race schedule and list of sponsors. The ARDC has historically been a traveling series Lesher says, but it the past few years it had been more difficult for teams to travel. A lot of our teams are family operations, they have kids and full time jobs and there isn’t a lot of time left over for racing. Traveling as far as we were was just not working. I have traveled all over the United States with my own racing and it wears you out. So Lesher took the schedule and made what he calls “a tighter foot print”

I’ll travel anywhere to race….I love it! But you aren’t going to grow your ranks that way. Lesher says I look at where our market is and picked tracks that were within an hour of the area.

For 2016 the ARDC schedule consists of 23 races at 7 different facilities. All the races are within 1 hour drive of Harrisburg. There was a lot of thought put into our schedule this season Lesher says we have only 2 weekends that we race more than 1 race so it will still allow our teams to be able to do family events, work overtime, etc. and all the tracks are easy to get to from the turnpike, 81 or 83.

If we do have a multi race weekend we have a few week break in between. It just made sense Lesher says we still have a fair amount of racing with nice breaks in between events and they are all easy to get to.

With the schedule set it was now time to court sponsors. Lesher says I knew if I could get our schedule in a tighter area it would make it easier for me to convince sponsors to back the ARDC. I’m in business and spend a lot to market my business. It would be very tough for me to justify using the ARDC to market my business when the races were 3 hours away from where I do business. Because we were now had a more regional presence it made it much easier to find sponsors.

And find them he did. The list of growing sponsors on the ARDC website look like they also are in agreement with the direction of the organization.

Lesher says, I feel very optimistic about the future of midget racing on the east coast. I field calls and emails all the time from people asking about midget racing. We have a few teams renting cars this year so if someone wants to try a couple races before they jump in with both feet it’s a reasonable way for them to do that.

The cost of racing in general and midget racing in particular has been a topic of discussion on social media. That was one of the toughest things to overcome Lesher says. I would hear all the time people say “I would love to race own a midget but I don’t have $30,000.00 to spend on an engine”. That drove me crazy, my car won 3 races in 2015 at a 1/8 mile, ¼ mile and ½ mile track and I paid $12,000.00 for my engine. Brett Wanner who is a front runner with the ARDC and feature winner has $7,000.00 invested in his engine. Of course you can spend any amount you want to but you don’t need to and I have always said your racing will cost you exactly what you have to spend on it and not a penny more. So once I started pointing those things out to folks it definitely helped and the facts have a funny way of putting things in perspective.

Lesher also raised the race payouts for the 2016 season and has instituted incentives for teams that race more often. With being able to increase our sponsorship and reducing our overhead it has allowed the ARDC to put more back into the purse, Lesher says, we are traveling less, paying more and racing at tracks in front of the guys and girls that will buy midgets so we will see what happens.

Visit www.ardcmidget.com for more information