ARDC Midgets

The American Racing Drivers Club began sanctioning midget races and crowning champions in 1940. It paused operations after two seasons for World War II, then returned in 1945 and has been sanctioning events ever since. Along with the NEMA Midgets, they survived the post-war boom of stock car racing and sanctioned midget racing throughout the northeast for decades.

From the 1950’s to the 1980’s, they held events at several New England tracks like Plainville Stadium, Danbury Arena, Waterford Speedbowl, West Haven Speedway, Lime Rock Park and Thompson Speedway in CT; Riverside Park Speedway, Seekonk Speedway, Norwood Arena, Westboro Speedway and the Eastern States Exposition in MA, Lee USA Speedway and Hudson Speedway in NH, the VT State Fairgrounds and Oxford Plains Speedway in ME.

Dutch Schaefer won a record 78 ARDC feature events during his career. Len Duncan won a record 8 ARDC Championships

Since 1988, the only ARDC races in New England have been at Seekonk Speedway (twice each in 1993 and 1994) and Whip City Speedway (once annually from 2000-2002). While they no longer have a presence in New England, the ARDC continues to sanction midget races to this day, with a majority of their events held at Pennsylvania or New Jersey tracks.

ARDC PHOTO GALLERY