2012 ARLA Elite Series season

The 2012 ARLA Elite Series season was the 39th season of the ARLA Elite Series, presented by Smash Beer. Rip Tyler and Power Steering, Inc. won the championship.

Promotional Video
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Preseason changes
The Elite Series moved to the new car, which resembles that of a dirt late model.

Following the 2011 season, ARLA officials dropped the one team per manufacturer rule that had been in place. Instead, a list of eight manufacturers was announced late 2011.

For the first time, drivers who fail to finish a race (either due to mechanical issues or an accident) will not receive points. Only drivers running at the conclusion of the race will score.

Also, for the first time in 2012, drivers will be able to select which brand of race fuel – either Spirit or Orphanol – their cars will use. (In previous seasons, there was only one fuel brand permitted.) The cars will have a decal located on the fuel filler denoting which brand the team is running.

Schedule
The schedule expanded to 21 events with the addition of a three-race Japanese tour. Several tracks that were on the 2011 schedule lost their dates for 2012, most notably, the endurance race at Dwyer Speedpark was deleted in favor of an event dubbed the Mini Indy 500 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. The race at IRP continued to be an endurance event, but reserve drivers were not required.

Both Daytona and the New York Autoring returned to the schedule.

The Smash Beer 400 was postponed due to a tornado that devastated the area. As a result, the Daytona 300 took over as the season opener. ARLA CEO Jen Walker announced on her Twitter prior to Daytona that the Dallas race was rescheduled to June 9. It was also moved to the Lone Star Supercell in Houston.

Las Vegas Autoring was dropped from the schedule after title sponsor Crystal City Casinos was struck with legal problems. The race scheduled for Las Vegas' date was moved to the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California with Karl's, Inc. stepping up to sponsor the event.

The 2012 Radii Radiators 300 was rescheduled after ARLA CEO Jen Walker had a meeting with teams and Talladega track promoters after it was originally abandoned due to a accident that almost killed Mark Freestone.


 * The blue boxes represent a road/street course race.

2012 Points System

 * 5 bonus points goes to the race's polesitter.
 * 5 bonus points goes to the driver who leads the most laps in a race.
 * If a driver DNFs a race, regardless of position, they will receive 0 points for the race.