American Racing Series (ARS) 1986
The idea of ARS had been to showcase US talent but the first season was won by Italian Formula 3 driver Fabrizio Barbazza driving the Arciero Brothers entry. Kiwi Steve Millen won the opening round but the TrueSports ARS team was shelved after Jim Trueman's death. Millen was forced to drive one of the unloved ARS "house cars" but scored a remarkable win in this car at Mid-Ohio before getting a permanent seat again in the Hemelgarn team. Californian Mike Groff was the quickest of the Yanks: he won two and twice retired from the lead but his decision to prioritise the FSV title - which he lost narrowly to Didier Theys - kept him out of contention for the ARS title. The fourth race winner was Jeff Andretti who had been very quick in FSV in 1985 but disappointed in ARS.
Being an all-new category, ARS had no established teams to draw on and several of the teams that were put together failed to complete the season. Truesports' team was disbanded after Jim Trueman's death but also the teams of Jerrill Rice and Kim Campbell closed for financial reasons. The SCCA's ability to run the series was brought into question when the race at Miami wasn't timed. As some teams had been given time penalties for using too many crew members at pit stops, this meant full results couldn't be issued until a month later.
The races
06 Apr 1986 > Phoenix International Raceway
08 Jun 1986 > Milwaukee Mile
29 Jun 1986 > Meadowlands Sports Complex
20 Jul 1986 > Toronto
16 Aug 1986 > Pocono International Raceway
31 Aug 1986 > Mid-Ohio
20 Sep 1986 > Road America
12 Oct 1986 > Laguna Seca
19 Oct 1986 > Phoenix International Raceway
09 Nov 1986 > Tamiami Park
1986 American Racing Series table
| 1 | Fabrizio Barbazza | March 86A - Buick V6 | 145 pts | 5 wins |
| 2 | Jeff Andretti | March 86A - Buick V6 | 107 pts | 1 win |
| 3 | Mike Groff | March 86A - Buick V6 | 89 pts | 2 wins |
| 4 | Steve Millen | March 86A - Buick V6 | 85 pts | 2 wins |
| 5 | Juan Manuel Fangio II | March 86A - Buick V6 | 69 pts | |
| 6 | Billy Boat | March 86A - Buick V6 | 67 pts | |
| 7 | Tommy Byrne | March 86A - Buick V6 | 62 pts | |
| 8 | Sammy Swindell | March 86A - Buick V6 | 40 pts | |
| 9 | Cary Bren | March 86A - Buick V6 | 38 pts | |
| 10 | Jerrill Rice | March 86A - Buick V6 | 37 pts | |
| 11 | Albert Naon Jr | March 86A - Buick V6 | 37 pts | |
| 12 | Brad Murphey | March 86A - Buick V6 | 33 pts | |
| 13 | Nick Fornoro Jr | March 86A - Buick V6 | 30 pts | |
| 14 | Ross Cheever | March 86A - Buick V6 | 26 pts | |
| 15 | Stan Fox | March 86A - Buick V6 | 23 pts | |
| 16 | Steve Bren | March 86A - Buick V6 | 17 pts | |
| 17 | Dave Simpson | March 86A - Buick V6 | 17 pts | |
| 18 | John Graham | March 86A - Buick V6 | 12 pts | |
| 19= | Scott Wood | March 86A - Buick V6 | 12 pts | |
| 19= | Kim Campbell | March 86A - Buick V6 | 12 pts | |
| 21 | Jim Busby Jr | March 86A - Buick V6 | 11 pts | |
| 22= | Davy Jones | March 86A - Buick V6 | 10 pts | |
| 22= | Gary Rubio | March 86A - Buick V6 | 10 pts | |
| 24= | Desiré Wilson | March 86A - Buick V6 | 8 pts | |
| 24= | Ian Ashley | March 86A - Buick V6 | 8 pts | |
| 26 | Rich Rutherford | March 86A - Buick V6 | 7 pts | |
| 27 | Guido Daccò | March 86A - Buick V6 | 6 pts | |
| 28 | Jan Thoelke | March 86A - Buick V6 | 4 pts | |
| 29= | Jack Miller | March 86A - Buick V6 | 3 pts | |
| 29= | Bobby Fix | March 86A - Buick V6 | 3 pts |
The points system used was novel: the SCCA's preferred 20-16-14-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 system for the top-12 places, but with an extra point for pole position and another for the driver leading the most laps. The table shown here is from On Track 22 Dec 1986 p62. See also Gordon Kirby's review of the season in Autosport 1 January 1987 pp30-31.