The
ARTGO Challenge Series was a United States
midwest short track racing series that ran from 1975 until 2006.
Many race car drivers have used the ARTGO series as a stepping
stone to get into ASA, ARCA, and NASCAR. A guy by the name of Art
Frigo created the series with the help of Bob Roper and John
McKarns. He came up with the name by taking his first full name and
the last two letters of his last name, coming up with the name
ARTGO.
The
first race was September 7, 1975 which was held at the Grundy County Speedway in Morris,
Illinois
. The
event was won by Tom Reffner. Art Frigo sold the whole series to
John and Sue McKarns in 1979. In 1998 John McKarns licensed the
name to
NASCAR and NASCAR took full control
over the series. The series went through different name changes
with different title sponsors including the RE/MAX Challenge
Series, International Truck & Engine Midwest Series, and
finally the Auto Zone Midwest Tour. Under the NASCAR era the series
had identical rules to three other NASCAR regional series through
the Midwest. NASCAR called it the Auto Zone Elite Division. In
2006, after dwindling car counts and lack of races on the schedule
NASCAR finally shut down the NASCAR Midwest Tour as well as other
three Elite divisions series.
Past ASA Midwest Tour Champions
Past NASCAR/Midwest Champions
Past ARTGO Champions
Future ARTGO History Website
Currently in development is a brand new ARTGO history website. The
website is being built by Matt Record. Record made the original
ARTGO history website which made its debut on the internet on April
5, 2002. The website also covered the racing action of the NASCAR
RE/MAX Challenge Series for 2002 and 2003 season. After the 2003
season the website sat dormant with no updates. This time with the
help of John McKarns, Record has plans to create a new website for
the ARTGO Challenge Series history. Record hopes to have the
website up by September 2008. Record is saying that there is going
to be a lot more stuff on the website than the last one. There is
going to be a lot more stats, photos, stories as well as other
stuff covering the history of the ARTGO Challenge Series. This is
what Record has to say about the new website.
"Back in 2002 I released a website on the history of the ARTGO
Challenge Series. The website got a lot of attention from race fans
from all around the country. The thing is besides covering the
RE/MAX Challenge Series I really didn't put anything new on the
website about the history of the series. The website didn't have a
lot of photos or stories. There was also a lot of spelling errors
in the stats which I nevered fixed. This time around with the help
of John McKarns I hope to make a better website. I also want to get
the fans and race car drivers involved in this website. I really
want this website to be top notch. My goal is to have the website
done before Oktoberfest in October."
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