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 held on September 7, 1975, at the Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Illinois. The inaugural Wayne Carter Classic was won by Tom Reffner.
Frigo sold the series to John & Sue McKarns in 1979. In 1998 the McKarns licensed the name to NASCAR and NASCAR took full control of 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 AutoZone Elite Division, Midwest Series.
Under the NASCAR era, the series had identical rules to three other NASCAR regional series (Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest). In 2006, after dwindling car counts and lack of races on the schedule NASCAR finally shut down the AutoZone Elite Division.
Richard Leroy Trickle was an American race car driver. He raced for decades around the short tracks of Wisconsin, winning many championships along the way. Trickle competed in the ASA, ARTGO, ARCA, All Pro, IMCA, NASCAR, and USAC.
Richard Allen Bickle Jr. is an American former professional stock car racing driver. Now retired from NASCAR racing, Bickle, who never completed a full season in the NASCAR Cup Series, had a long history in short track racing. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel described him in 2012 as a "stud on the short tracks in the late 1980s and early '90s and a journeyman who rarely caught a break in NASCAR." He won three NASCAR truck races and had a career-best fourth-place finish in the Cup Series in 218 career NASCAR starts.
The American Speed Association (ASA) is a sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States formed in 1968. The Association was based in Pendleton, Indiana, and later in Daytona Beach, Florida. The ASA sanctioned asphalt and dirt tracks in their ASA Member Track program along with racing series in the United States and Canada.
Jim Sauter was an American stock car racing driver from Necedah, Wisconsin. He formerly raced in all three of NASCAR's national series, and is best known for having been a test driver for the International Race of Champions, as well as winning two championships in the Midwest-based ARTGO Challenge Series.
Erik Louis Darnell is an American professional stock car racing driver. He is the grandson of former USAC and NASCAR driver Bay Darnell, who also started three NASCAR races. Darnell formerly drove for Roush Fenway Racing, joining the team in 2005 after being a co-winner on the Discovery Channel program Roush Racing: Driver X, along with David Ragan.
The Slinger Speedway is a quarter-mile paved oval automobile race track with 33-degree banked corners located in Slinger, Wisconsin. The track is billed as the "World's Fastest Quarter Mile Oval." The current track record was set by Jeff Bloom in a 410 extreme winged sprint car on August 21, 2010 at a time of 9.908 seconds. This is the first lap record under 10 seconds on a quarter mile oval track of any type, breaking Anderson Speedway's 10.28 second lap record. Bloom's lap eclipsed the track record set by USAC midget car driver Tracy Hines on May 17, 2008 at an elapsed time of 10.845 seconds. The lap was the fastest ever midget car lap on an asphalt quarter mile track. He eclipsed the long-standing mark of 11.095 seconds set by Tony Strupp's late model on June 12, 1994.
The Wisconsin International Raceway is an asphalt stock car racing oval and dragstrip in the Town of Buchanan, in Outagamie County, just outside Kaukauna, Wisconsin, USA.
The Madison International Speedway (MIS) is a half-mile paved oval racetrack in the Town of Rutland near Oregon, Wisconsin, United States. With 18-degree banked turns, the track is billed as "The Track of Champions" and "Wisconsin's Fastest Half Mile." The weekly program at the track runs on Friday nights under NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series sanction.
The 1999 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was the fifth season of the Craftsman Truck Series, the third highest stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. Jack Sprague of Hendrick Motorsports was crowned champion.
I-70 Motorsports Park, formally known as I-70 Speedway, is a multi-purpose motorsports facility near Interstate 70 east of Odessa, Missouri, USA. The track, first opened in 1969, was open yearly until its closure in 2008.
ThorSport Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team was founded in 1996 as SealMaster Racing and is based in Sandusky, Ohio. Owned by Duke Thorson and his wife Rhonda, it currently fields five teams: the No. 13 for Hailie Deegan, the No. 66 part time for several drivers, the No. 88 for Matt Crafton, the No. 98 for Ty Majeski, and the No. 99 for Ben Rhodes. The team has won three Truck Series championships with Crafton, and one championship with Rhodes (2021). The team is also the longest continually tenured team in the truck series, having fielded at least one truck in every season since 1996.
The Columbus Motor Speedway (CMS) was a 1/3 mile asphalt oval and figure-eight racing track located south of Columbus, Ohio within the town limits of Obetz.
Dells Raceway Park (DRP), formerly known as the Dells Motor Speedway, is a car racing raceway located in the town of Lyndon, in Juneau County, north of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin just off of U.S. Route 12/Wisconsin Highway 16. It is a 1/3 mile asphalt track that is used for stock car racing. The track has hosted races featuring the ARTGO Challenge Series, the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Midwest Series, the ARCA Midwest Tour, the Mid-American Stock Car Series, the Wisconsin Challenge Series, the Must See Racing.com Xtreme Sprint Car Series, Alive for Five Series, TUNDRA Super Late Models, and the Central Wisconsin Racing Association. The track, which opened in 1958, sits on 38 acres (150,000 m2) of land.
The ASA Midwest Tour is a pavement Super Late Model auto racing series based in the Midwestern United States with its headquarters in Oregon, Wisconsin. It was a developmental series of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), and currently of the American Speed Association, along with the CRA Super Series.
Rockford Speedway is a 1/4 mile short track high banked asphalt oval located in Loves Park, Illinois on Illinois Route 173. Rockford Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway are the only racetracks running under NASCAR sanctions in Illinois.
Joe Shear, Sr. was an American stock car racing driver from Clinton, Wisconsin. He won an estimated 350 races in his career, including four of his last five races. Fred Nielsen, Shear's car owner from 1975 to 1984 and 1986 to 1994, said that his team won 250 races and he estimates that Shear won 600 races. He won at least 30 track or touring series championships in his career. Even though he was known as a pavement driver, two of those championships were on the dirt at Freeport, Illinois.
The La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway is a semi-banked asphalt oval racetrack in West Salem, Wisconsin. The outer track is 5/8 mile and the inner track is a 1/4 mile. The speedway has progressive banking in the corners, from 5 degrees on the bottom to 11 degrees on the top. The track was built at the fairgrounds for La Crosse County. It used to host an event on the American Speed Association (ASA) and the ASA Late Model Series before the demise of the series. It currently hosts annual touring events on the ARCA Midwest Tour and Mid American Stock Car Series. It hosts weekly stock car races which are sanctioned by the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. It was the first NASCAR-sanctioned race track in Wisconsin.
Travis Sauter is an American professional stock car racing driver. A regular competitor in several midwestern racing series, he is second on the all-time win list with four Oktoberfest wins at the LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway.
Tyler Brad Majeski is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 98 Ford F-150 for ThorSport Racing, as well as in late model racing. He has also competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, ARCA Menards Series, and ARCA Menards Series West in the past.
The 2019 ARCA Menards Series was the 67th season of the ARCA Menards Series. Christian Eckes of Venturini Motorsports won the championship over teammate Michael Self. Eckes became the first champion since Tim Steele in 1997 to win the title after missing a race during the season.
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