ARCA In Trouble?

[ancrdave]

Was just looking at the qualifying results for the ARCA race at Michigan... Just 25 cars took time (28 are entered)...
Ryan Blaney won the pole with a speed of 190.986 mph, just over two mph faster than the second qualifier Brennan Poole...
Now look at this... The slowest qualifier posted a lap of 140.875.. over 50 mph slower than the pole! Most of the field is well off the pole speed...The race last week at Pocono was terrible with very little competition at the front of the field and many of the cars were more like rolling road blocks...
The cost of fielding a competitive car is just not hurting the short track racers now... ARCA used to bring 50+ cars to Michigan because many of their drivers considered it their "home" track as ARCA is more of a Midwestern organization. Most of those drivers have either closed up shop or enter very few races now...
The Nationwide race has just 38 cars on the grounds, two short of the 40 car limit (and it was 43 last year) and the Sprint Cup race will send only one car home this week...
On the other end of the spectrum, the first two races of the Indiana Midget Speedweek saw fields of 38 and 45 respectively on a Wednesday and a Thursday night at Gas City and Putnamville (dirt tracks) and WOO drew 43 cars at 34 Raceway in Iowa last Friday...

[Frasson118]

Penn-Can Speedway in PA had 67 of the 358-Mods and 30 of the 602 Crate Sportsman on Wednesday night.... and this was after the original Tuesday night rained out.

[Beach Bum]

I really think the short ARCA fields have a lot to do with the Cup affiliated "driver development" teams that have been dominating the last few years. There's no way for the traditional ARCA guy to compete with them. Look how Frank Kimmel, an experienced guy that is surely a proven talent, has struggled the last couple of years.

[luke81]

I think ARCA has been in trouble for a long time. They haven't had many quality fields in years. Most of the cars are either affiliated with a Cup team or rent-a-rides for kids with a rich daddy who thinks they're going to be the next Cup star. 1/3 of the Michigan field is 20mph off the pace. ARCA doesn't publish payouts but the word is that they're pathetic, with some races paying less than 1000$ to start. I've known a few people who have taken a swing at some ARCA racing, notably Blaise Alexander who died at Charlotte. ARCA is a joke. The series has no ability to stand on its own. But they can't get the whole schedule on TV to allow the teams to try to find real sponsors. Most of the races have field fillers driving cars in worse condition than local street stocks. I remember standing in the garage at Pocono looking at cars that had bodies held together by random groups of tape, rivets, bondo and a little hope. Cars that were clearly built as short track cars with fenders bashed in and sides wrinkled so badly they weren't even close to the templates. For the same money (or less) as a front running Arca operation you could run a dirt late model operation and run for big money multiple times every year, instead of crisscrossing the country running for peanuts every time out.

[Matt Albee]

Yeah, but a dirt late model doesn't get to race at DIS, Talladega, and Springfield.

[Groundpounder]

I remember standing in the garage at Pocono looking at cars that had bodies held together by random groups of tape, rivets, bondo and a little hope.

Well, a few years ago, Bondo was the title sponsor...

You need an ARCA series for all of the reasons you say, rich kids or others can go racing, etc. for less of a financial commitment. There aren't too many other places to get big track experience to see if you like it and could make a jump to the big time with a little less cut throat competition along the way. Many of the situations you describe sound like NASCAR in it's early days.

Actually, weak fields could be an incentive for a few more guys to try their hand at it.

[zerofor]

Arca has had problems for a number of years

The main one being lack of corporate dollars.At one point about 20 years back they had several seasons where they ran only a handfull of races.To be a frontrunner the financial investment requires much the same as a Nascar truck,but the payouts are far less.Arcas base is Toledo Ohio and the majority of the teams have traditionally hailed from the midwest,so just the travel part is a strain on many of those teams,most of whom are low buck operations.The home track of Arca,Toledo Speedway,had itself been closed for several seasons at one point and There was a rumor i heard last year at Attica Speedway in Ohio that the track was in trouble again.

[oldtimer]

Toledo Speedway has never been closed ever, other than for the winter! Tracks been in operation annually since 1960 and is one of the top short tracks in the nation, as ARCA continues to pour money into the thriving track. They just last year installed several high rise sections of speedway seating, which was removed from MIS, who can't fill the seats anymore. It a beautiful track which has no plans of closure.

[zerofor]

I stand corrected

Toledo Speedway has never been closed ever, other than for the winter! Tracks been in operation annually since 1960 and is one of the top short tracks in the nation, as ARCA continues to pour money into the thriving track. They just last year installed several high rise sections of speedway seating, which was removed from MIS, who can't fill the seats anymore. It a beautiful track which has no plans of closure.

Toledo Speedway has remained operating for its entire existance.I misspoke about it being closed for a period,that was in fact Mt.Clemons Michigan that had closed and had NEVER reopened.The rumor about it being in trouble last year was told to me at a race at Attica in June 2012.I havent been to Toledo since 1980 so no idea what was fueling that rumor.Other than possibly because Toledo runs on friday which can be hard to draw a crowd..(even though it was no problem for Atticas dirt that particular night)

[luke81]

Yeah, but a dirt late model doesn't get to race at DIS, Talladega, and Springfield.

That's very true, and it's part of the problem. A lot of the current field fillers in ARCA are one car operations. They're taking that one car from Daytona to little short tracks to the dirt mile and then to a road course (if they're even bothering to run all of the races). And all that does is create a field of uncompetitive cars.

[Matt Albee]

That's very true, and it's part of the problem. A lot of the current field fillers in ARCA are one car operations. They're taking that one car from Daytona to little short tracks to the dirt mile and then to a road course (if they're even bothering to run all of the races). And all that does is create a field of uncompetitive cars.

Just the way racing ( real racing ) used to be. Some guys had lot's of money, factory help, big sponsor, or all of the above. But the little guy was still able to build a car and go racing in an almost national series on a budget.
I always thought that taking one car to Daytona and then racing the same car the following weekend at Salem or Springfield was pretty impressive.
I think ARCA is a far better training ground than Nationwide because you have to become very adaptable as a driver and as a crew to race ARCA.

[palmbayer]

I know for a fact that one major reason in ARCA's decline is the endless supply line of old cup and nationwide cars has run out. The pre COT cup cars are,for the most part, all gone. While some of the major teams build cars, most can't. When the GEN 6 car becomes legal, the car count will go back up.

[nscarfan99]

Need to run better tracks

ARCA needs to stay away from tracks like Pocono, hell even the cup series is going to drop a race there for another at Vegas. ARCA needs to shadow the truck series and the CUP owners need to step up and use ARCA as a training ground for there development drivers. Would love to see ARCA run at lakeland,FL and Orlando speedway...hell would be great to see them run at Bowman Gray, get back on short tracks.

[sport603]

It would be nice to see ARCA run Lakeland except there isn't a track there anymore.

[Woody]

got to agree with ground ponder now is the time for a driver to brake in to arca due to the short fields .yes you have to battle the cup teams but for the money spent there instead of local late model racing ,unfortunatly ,you can get a real value for your dollar . if you work with Mark Grundem with arca marketing he can help you partner up with some of there major players example would be a oppertunity to get a local mfg. a interview with Menards Then you as a racer would have something to offer this mfg> in your sponsership proposal.Ive done this my whole life and been on championship arca teams . this is how you move up in this game .after seeing the feild at Elko I said to myself "self there is a oppertunity here " I think Wally & Brian Finney have seen it. just sayen Woody