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NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 27, 2018

THE MODERATOR: Good morning. Thank you for joining us for another great weekend of racing here at Talladega Superspeedway. Joining us for a very special announcement today are Jim France, vice chairman and executive vice president of NASCAR, a member of NASCAR's founding family; and Ron Drager, the president of ARCA, and grandson of ARCA founder John Marcum.
Let's get right to it. Jim, I'll turn it over to you to share the news.
JIM FRANCE: Okay, thank you. And thanks, everyone, for allowing us to have a few minutes of your time here for what for me and I think for Ron also is probably one of the most exciting announcements that we've had in our lifetime.
We've worked together over the years for a long time. As a young kid, I used to spend a lot of time sitting in his grandmother's lap in Daytona. Mildred and John Marcum were partners and friends with my mom and dad in the early days of stockcar racing.
The ARCA organization has been closely associated with NASCAR before there was a NASCAR and before there was an ARCA. Today it's an exciting time that we're making a formal joining of the two organizations.
It's I think a big moment for stockcar racing in America. We've worked together closely for 70 plus years in one form or another. Ron and I have worked together, known each other, through basically all of our motorsports careers.
It's fantastic that we're going to be working together going off into the future here. Both organizations have a great history, great championships. We share a lot of teams and drivers over the years. That will continue in a major way.
A lot of people may not realize this, but Ron and ARCA have been at the forefront of some of the development of trying to bring some efficiencies and cost savings for motorsports teams, stockcar teams in America. NASCAR has a similar effort going. Ron has been a leader in that area. It really allows both companies to go forward working together to try and improve the economics for our teams and our series.
I'll turn this over to Ron here in a second. First of all, it is a wonderful moment.
THE MODERATOR: Jim mentioned the shared history between your family and the France family. Tell us a little bit more about that from your perspective.
RON DRAGER: You have to go back. In the '40s, the Marcum and France families predate NASCAR, predate ARCA. In professional motorsports, I don't know that there's any longer tenure looking back over all these years. For us to have had a working relationship that wasn't a legal document but was a handshake for 67 years I think speaks volumes about NASCAR and their integrity.
We've been blessed to be able to carve our little spot in the sport, our industry position. We work hard at it. We've worked hard to try to do it the best that we can. It's sort of a feeling of fulfillment because it sort of brings it back full circle from when the families were initially working together before there were companies, and now we're able to bring everything back together, join it back together.
Certainly from an ARCA perspective, we're looking forward to it strengthening our series and giving us a way forward.
THE MODERATOR: Jim, knowing that we're still finalizing the final strategy, the future strategy, what does this mean for the future of stockcar racing in the U.S.?
JIM FRANCE: Well, I think taking the two leading groups in this area of motorsports, combining the strengths of Ron's leadership and our NASCAR team, the ARCA officials, that whole organization, what NASCAR can bring and support to that effort.
Ron is going to continue to direct ARCA and operate it as a freestanding organization, so to speak. It will continue with its history and its championships. We'll be working together to develop the next steps. Ron is going to be helping direct that with our NASCAR leadership team.
I think you will see a big boost in a lot of areas, things that NASCAR has been working on, some of our grassroots programs. Ron's efforts in that area will be a significant boost to our stockcar series, both of them, in this country. It's a real value I believe for our fans in both series and throughout our country.
One quick thing here. I don't know how many of you were fortunate enough to know John Marcum during his lifetime, but I would say he's probably the man that taught Humpy Wheeler how to promote races. He was really a promoter's promoter. I still have some silver dollars he gave us when he came to Daytona every year. To have what he started and built joined with what we're doing is a big moment.
Ron, as I said, he doesn't get a lot of credit for things, I don't think, but he's been a leader in bringing some cost savings into motorsports. I believe you can talk to most of the ARCA team owners in paddock that will tell you the same thing, so... It's an important step in our future going forward.
THE MODERATOR: Ron, what can fans expect to see in the immediate future?
RON DRAGER: So 2018 is pretty well set. We're building 2019 as we speak. So from an ARCA perspective, the ARCA Racing Series Presented By Menards, what you see today is what we're going to see tomorrow.
We are trying to make it better, trying to make it stronger. That's a big part of us joining NASCAR, is our ability to make our product the best that it can be, and strengthening it, just bring it together. I mean, I think the industry is stronger together than individually.
THE MODERATOR: We'll take a few questions.

Q. Jim, there have been a lot of rumors about NASCAR selling or looking for an investor. When you buy things, you're doing a lot of consolidation of roles, those rumors are just going to increase. Can you address, does this purchase make you guys any more eligible or more likely to be sold? Where do you see this series in your portfolio?
JIM FRANCE: Well, NASCAR, our business is racing. That's what we're investing in. We've done it all of our lives, and we're going to continue to do it. The relationship with ARCA is just a continuation of that. We've been involved in sports car racing all of our lives. Also we were able to reunite the sports car series and build that. That's the goal here.

Q. The press release talks about through 2019. What is the grand future for the two series, ARCA continuing doing what it's doing? What will this mean for the combined K&N Series or ARCA going forward after that date?
RON DRAGER: Well, I think 2020 and beyond is still a work in progress. Those are conversations we're certainly going to have.
I think from an ARCA perspective, I liken it to we're a small, independently owned company. Our world continues to get more and more complicated and complex. There are times when I feel like I'm a little rowboat out in the middle of the ocean. The ocean liners go by, and they rock the boat. A big storm comes along, and it rocks the boat. So far, we haven't turned over. I want to be on a bigger boat.

Q. My question is about the schedule going forward after next year. Does ARCA anticipate going to the same racetracks or is there a possibility you'll pair you with K&N races?
RON DRAGER: Thanks. Now I get to say we're at Salem Speedway in Indiana, Toledo Speedway in Ohio. The DuQuion and Springfield mile dirts are part of ARCA's history and tradition. Our intention is not to leave that. Our intention is to hold onto that and grab it.
It's a second question about K&N. We have a great deal of respect for what goes on in the K&N East and West. There are quality race teams, drivers and racecars. Our racecars are pretty closely aligned right now. We certainly see a way forward to work together.
Again, just let's try to coordinate our efforts instead of everybody off sort of doing what they do on their own. Let's bring this together and try to coordinate it. We feel like that can make it stronger.

Q. Ron, beginning with the 2020 season, will we see the ARCA headquarters remain in Michigan or see transition to North Carolina? As far as the key players such as yourself, Joe Wells, et cetera, what will we see as far as staff‑wise?
RON DRAGER: '20 and beyond, we're working on that, building it going forward. I think I can speak personally to tell you I own two little racetracks up there and I can't pick them up and move them. I'm pretty sure I'm saying where I'm at.
But we're deeply committed to the future of the ARCA Racing Series. We want it to grow and to stabilize and be a series that carries forward into the future. For us, this is a way forward for the series 2020 and beyond.

Q. Mr.France, can you say where does this rank as far as K&N? Before ARCA was actually in the family, K&N has kind of filled that void a little bit under your umbrella. Will they meld them together or will ARCA replace K&N in the ladder, so to speak?
JIM FRANCE: I think Ron and Steve O'Donnell, Mike Helton, both organizations, are going to work on formulating the '20 and beyond plan. We've got some thoughts at this point. As Ron said, the cars line up well. There's some crossover with teams as it is now. So it's a work in progress right now. We just formalized the first step of it. We'll be developing the plan in the future. Ron's critical to that process.
RON DRAGER: I think I would add, the K&N East and West is a very solid group of team owners and racecars. The schedules that they have are very respectable schedules. What Brandon Thompson and his group have done to build that K&N East and West, there are a lot of quality people that come out of that series. We maybe get to have them, then they continue to move their way forward. From a developmental perspective, we think it's a really important part of the program.
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, congratulations. Thank you.

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