Atkinson Racing Enterprises (A-R-E) is a father and son racing team located in Oak Harbor, Ohio. The team began as a go-kart racing team racing on asphalt ovals in the stock flat-head classes. During their first racing season in the summer of 2000, the team stayed close to home only participating in the Friday Night Oval Track series at Fremont Raceway Park. When the season was all said and done, A-R-E finished third in driver points and third in owner points. In 2001, A-R-E expanded their racing horizons participating in the Fremont Raceway Park point championship, the Buckeye Karting Championship (BKC) series, and select events with the Premiere Karting Association at the Toledo Speedway. The team was able to finished 2nd in both the Fremont and BKC point standings. In 2002, they competed in both Fremont and BKC series, and also ran the World Karting Association (WKA) Ohio Speedway Pavement Divisional Series. To add further challenge in 2003, A-R-E added an additional kart to the stable with an over-head valve engine primarily raced in the WKA Divisional races, and also the initial WKA National race in 2004. Late in the 2003 season, A-R-E purchased their first midget racecar. The team competed in the Wolverine Outlaw Winged Midget Series (WOWMS) during the 2004 race season. The series used United States Auto Club (USAC) legal cars with spec tires to reduce the cost of racing for smaller teams. The tracks were all pavement and the cars were allowed to have wings. A-R-E won the hard charger award two times, and was awarded the "Little Big Guy" award at the end of the year. For the 2005 season, a new TCR midget chassis was purchased. A-R-E again raced in WOWMS making strong showings with the new car picking-up their first midget heat race win at Kalamazoo Speedway. Also, A-R-E tried some non-wing racing by participating in the USAC National shows at Toledo Speedway and Mansfield Motor Sports Park. During the off-season, A-R-E made many modifications to their TCR chassis to make it a dedicated pavement car along with winning an Eagle sprint-car chassis at the Kear's Speed Shop Open-House. The 2006 season was looking promising for the team. Until, during an early season practice session, an engine failure occurred. The engine was not able to be repaired in time to participate in any 2006 racing. The team wasn't able to complete the sprint-car in time for the 2007 season, so the midget was raced. A new wrinkle was introduced with the midget as well since the Wolverine Outlaw Series removed the wings from the cars. The team finished its highest point position in WOMS yet, bringing home a 6th place standing out of 32 drivers. A-R-E also finished a career-high in a midget feature race of 2nd at Springport on June 23rd. Also, out of 7 races, they recorded 5 Top-10 finishes. For the 2008 racing season, the team worked hard to complete and race the brand-new Eagle 410 sprint-car. Unfortunately to accomplish this, A-R-E had to run a limited schedule. Out of 3 midget races, we earned 3 Top-10 finishes, and were able to get the sprint-car on the track for the final 3 Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series (HOSS) races. In 2008, we logged precious laps and seat-time in the sprint-car building positive momentum for 2009. The 2009 season brought one last midget race with the USAC National cars in Columbus, OH. The rest of 2009 brought more seat-time in the sprint-car with the HOSS and Auto Value Super Sprint (AVSS) series. The 2010 season had many ups and downs by receiving accident damage about every other sprint-car race. However, we did finish the season with a B-Main win. Our first sprint-car win! In 2011 we were able to get our first Top 10 finish in USAC competition. In 2012 and 2013, we were only able to race the sprint-car once each year due to travel costs and other circumstances. At the end of the 2013 season, our focus shifted. The sprint-car equipment was sold, and we acquired and open-wheel modified. We were not able to race the modified in 2014, but we did get valuable practice laps. The 2015 season was a learning year with the modified at Sandusky Speedway since it was a completely new style of racecar to set-up and drive. The 2016 season looked to be a promising year both personally and with the modified. In April of 2016, Chad and his wife, Lindsey, welcomed their first-born into the world; however, the whole family was not able to make it out to any races in 2016. The 2017 season started off somewhat slow for the team, but they were able to finish strong with many laps led in heat races and some Features. The first modified race victory proved to be allusive though. The 2018 season was again rather short after a mechanical failure the first race of the season; however, the team was able to pick up heat race wins both nights of the Hy-Miler Nationals. The joy was short lived though because the car broke and hit the wall during the 2nd night Feature, ending the season. For 2019, a brand new Impala modified was put together and ready to do battle. However, unseasonal rains cancelled many early races, and then an illness kept the team sidelined. In July, Chad and Lindsey welcomed their second son, so racing was put on hold for a little bit. A-R-E will again be focusing on competing in the modified at Sandusky Speedway in 2020 with an eye on the track points. However, during the COVID pandemic lock-down, Chad suffered an accident at home which required surgery to repair his wrist. Chad is looking forward to getting back on track in 2021.


Team Members:

Chad Atkinson-21 years of service as team owner, driver, engineer, webmaster

Dave Atkinson-21 years of service as team car chief, crew chief, transport driver, parts designer

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