As someone who helps out a local ARCA team that only runs Talladega, I’ll agree with you Darian that a lot of family teams had to shut down once ARCA switched to Gen-6, which sucks. One of the main things I loved about ARCA is that it had the family team feel.
That last gasp of equipment when the cup teams were fire selling Gen 4 stuff at the start of the COT was such an amazing moment in ARCA, but I think everyone knew it was the start of the end for those times. Got to talk to Chris Buescher a bit about his ARCA championship season. For that year his team had a unique chassis for every race, all of it previous cup level equipment.
As a worker for one of the ARCA teams ( Brad Smith) I can indeed confirm that not only the officiating but also the series as a whole is a complete circus
Arca died when they went to the composite body. It pretty much ended the days of utilizing old cup Gen 4 chassis (I know they're still out there, there are just far less of them). While it was supposed to be a cost saving measure it just seemed to drive smaller teams out entirely
To be pretty honest, it's unfortunate that ARCA has declined massively due to rising costs, low car counts and the somewhat questionable driving standards...
@@wormuel I was just about to say the same thing. My driving in NASCAR Dirt To Daytona at age 9 was better than how these guys in ARCA drive, and I always went the wrong way in Dirt To Daytona, or I'd just take Dale Jr's car to Bristol and would try to wreck everyone else out of the race.
The red flag pit stops really take the interest out of it for me. I get why they’d do it as a developmental series, but with lackluster racing and no pit strategy it can be tough to watch.
The last ARCA race I watched was so dumb, I felt like my brain cells were melting with every corner. I eventually just turned it off about halfway through.
There has definitely been a lack of respect in ARCA. These drivers always tear up equipment every week and we unfortunately can’t do anything about it.
@@BlackFlagsMatter No problem. I mean I understand that they had to get things moving as soon as possible but It's still stupid. What happened at Springfield was REALLY dumb on ARCA's part. Couldn't they just tell the people who run the concert to wait for a few more minutes?
The CARS Tour is definitely a better option for developing talent at a grass roots level compared to modern ARCA. The fields are way more competitive, and they all drive with respect, like you mentioned. At the Throwback 276 at Hickory a few weeks back, there was an amazing battle for the win between Conner Hall and 15 year old William Sawalich, and they never touched each other. Look at the talent coming from there too, like Josh Berry for example. Also you have guys like Layne Riggs and Kaden Honeycutt who are making select truck starts.
I fully gave up on this series at talladega this year, they had their best plate race in the last 5 years and they decided to end it early for scheduling conflicts even tho they could’ve finished it just fine, it was an awesome race with side by side racing barely any train and ARCA just went guess were done, truly a joke of series
I feel like you did a good job of capturing the history - which is appreciated. It's easy to just berate what's there now with no context. It used to be if you wanted to be the next Cup superstar, they told you to go beat Frank Kimmel first and then we'll talk. If you dig a little, the guys that did are likely still around at a top level and the guys that couldn't...well...aren't. The veterans and the small family teams are what's missing today. You always had what's there now but there were the additional components - and that mix is what made it awesome to watch and attend, ARCA brakes or not. You take a guy like Scott Speed who had raced F1 but never been on dirt before - he's backing off at the flagstand at Springfield and a local dirt late model guy is blasting past. I think there should also be some focus on the EAST series and the WEST series. The EAST series was similar - names like Stefanik, Leighton, and Craven came from there. The West series was really solid also. Cup goes to Sonoma and ten West teams make the show. The worst part for me is I feel like we're losing the great history of these series because of what is there today. Younger fans scoff and turn their nose up - but these all were really great series with rich history and lots of talent at one time. And given the right circumstances and a different climate - could all be again...
I remember how great Chase Briscoe’s last (championship) ARCA series was. They played every race on some low rent antenna station, and I watched every race.
I was going to do a video on this but didn't know how to frame it without being attacked by... certain types of NASCAR fans. On a whim I looked up the career of Amber Balcaen; she's wrecked out of 50% of ARCA races this year. A comment on TheDirty heavily implied she ran in the same circles as ex-Monster Jam driver Ami Houde, who was notorious around the Winnipeg MB area for... anything but driving. I basically discovered that like Ami, Amber's entire career is nonsensical. Her own Wikipedia page is a timeline of progressing up the auto racing ladder, by doing absolutely nothing. Each stint in a given series is described on Wikipedia as "failed to qualify for most events" or "she finished 20th and 19th in her only starts." The lone late model race she won, was a 7-car sportsman late model race at a CARS Tour event in which three cars finished on the lead lap. This was somehow enough to gain both funding and licensing approval to run ARCA. This person wouldn't be able to make it into your average iRacing league being this bad. Part of me wonders if NASCAR operates as a sort of auto racing equivalent to the Harlem Globetrotters, and they intentionally let literal bums into cars whose sole purpose is to act as a sort of Washington Generals for the "key drivers" to just blow by and embarrass.
I hate to sound like seargent Masson but it's probably because the teams that hire her are banking on getting attention for hiring a female driver that and/or she's got drew dollar money
So that’s why Xfinity and Trucks mostly consist of bums who wreck cars with funding behind them. Because NASCAR allows these losers in race cars and expect them to develop as the “future” of the sport without any reliable licenses or something. All you just need to do is show up and boom, you’re license is ready. Joke series. ARCA will die off in a couple of years, trucks are a joke and if Herbst barely backs his way into a win it will tell you everything about how dead Xfinity will be and the lack of talent in the lower leagues, especially when bums who run dogshit in trucks (Perkins and Wright) can easily find rides in Xfinity, meanwhile the 2018 truck champion is out of a job. Talent is bought, not earned.
I wouldn't be surprised if we see another wave of teams trying to import open wheel and sports car talents. Once Kvyat, Raikkonen, or any future Project 91 drivers have had a taste, I'm sure they'll be back for more.
You forgot to mention the 15-20+ laps under caution too. The literally take forever cleaning up either debris, fluid, or wrecked car on the track. My dad always complains about it.
I’m for converting ARCA into something else. NASCAR doesn't need it as a development series. That’s what Xfinity, Trucks, and, most importantly, the Advance Auto Parts Weekly Racing Series are for. To my mind, it would benefit fans, tracks, sponsors, and manufacturers most to turn ARCA into a nationally touring strictly stock series - any make or model; gas, electric, or hybrid; just limited to the three most recent production years and outfitted with the standard racing safety features. Let’s put the stock back in stock cars and see drivers race what we actually drive!
What about the Modified Tour? I know it’s been in New England for awhile since their modern era in 1985 but they should grow outside out of their comfort zone but they did grow outward to Bristol and Iowa at one point in time... but I hope they race on North Wilkesboro down the road... they also raced at Richmond and Martinsville a couple times and that wasn’t not too shabby racing... and sometimes I wonder how many drivers in the modified Series rank up? Steve Park did it Geoff Bodine did it and a few others...
It's simple, it's dying and they don't care about it anymore. ARCA was great back in the 90's and early 00's, now in today's ARCA days it's boring, package is absolutely horrible on Superspeedways, Rules are dumb as hell, and ARCA BRAKES!
As a fan of touring car racing in addition to NASCAR, the decline of ARCA reminds me a lot of the decline of DTM & the World Touring Car Cup formerly known as WTCC. Like ARCA, both of these series have suffered from veteran drivers retiring and mainstay teams leaving or going out of business entirely especially if manufacturer support ceases. In fact the current version of the DTM is more like a European version of IMSA than its original touring car roots with only factory teams competing which is sad to see. As for WTCR, its decline hasn't been helped by the fact that the top team & defending champion has withdrawn from the series in the middle of this season in protest of poor quality tires (in their words) being provided to the teams by the FIA, resulting in what was an already slim field of 15 cars on the grid being cut down to 10.
I would say the massive drop in car count is because of the $ figure that it takes to run ARCA. The thing is, it cost ALMOST the same to go truck racing that it takes to go ARCA racing. So a lot of these kids would much rather just make the jump to trucks. Plus for the family owned teams, the payout awarded isn't even close to what it takes to go racing. I think the only way this gets resolved is if the payout becomes more, or the price to go racing comes down. Otherwise they're just going truck racing.
Have a friend who runs Ixfinity and Trucks here and there. Asked him about running ARCA, which he ran some East races when it was called K@N, He said it Trucks cost as much as ARCA to race. So there's one reason.
I think what's really bad is the fact that this year ALONE, Talladega was called 8 laps early for the Xfinity race, Pocono started at like 6:00 and was shortened due to darkness, and this weekend's crash ended the race early not for the crash, but apparently for a SAMMY HAGAR CONCERT!?!?
Well that's on the county in Illinois. The county government made that decision. Money talks. The ARCA race at Pocono was called due to darkness cause the track owner refuses to add lights and cause of NASCAR practice/qualifying earlier that afternoon
ARCA is a fine series for driver development the problem is the majority of these kids aren't going to develop because they are talentless hacks from the get go and that will never change.
Product of the “youth movement” in nascar mixed with rich parents who think their kid is the next Jeff Gordon this is what happens when series start lowering standards and age requirements a kid at 17-18 needs to develop more in late models , mods , and sprint cars and learn more maturity and respect before being handed the keys to a hundred thousand dollar race car at Daytona or talladega if they can’t win at a local short track and they definitely don’t belong in these cars regardless if mommy and daddy has the money or not
@@91Redmist ARCA (under a new owner) could rescue, a little, what StockCAr was like before "entertainment" (until 1994). The calendar is already perfect, it would be enough just to remove the bumpdraft and the car a little higher. ruclips.net/video/hFGxvI1Rtzs/видео.html
@@91Redmist well, apart from Alex Bowman obviously. It's really shame current gens were videogame generation instead of "Sports, Sex, Rock'n Roll, Real stuffs and Bully boy" generation.
Nascars decline as a whole created the ARCA of today. Stockcar racing is still popular enough to sustain a healthy xfinity and truck grid, however the ARCA series below has simply been pushed out of the marketplace.
I seen ARCA in person during Charlotte weekend……….I have seen enough. This serious needs some big reforms maybe combine the main east and west. Focus on short tracks. Get a car suitable for safety and affordable for small teams. Hammer down bad drivers with tougher rules if veterans are in drought not to police the whipper snappers for this series only. It’s not my best idea but if you got something better your hired in ARCA
like what are we actually doing here with ARCA? because at this point it needs to have a mercy kill preformed on the series... especially when you look at the 18 Joe Gibbs car where last year Ty Gibbs dominated in that car and now Drew Dollar is constantly trying to reconfigure every track they go to by knocking the wall down
I would appreciate an episode about Brad Smith. A great guy, he follows me on Instagram too, probably the only fan from Italy😂 but He's racing in ARCA since 1988. Next race is gonna be his 400th start. IN HIS CAREER, HE DID 2 TOP 10S AS HIS BEST RESULTS, IN 2020 AND 2022. Is this enough to make him an "ARCA Bust"?😅
Not gonna sneeze at someone coming off their best series points finish 23 years into their career. Man is there through the attrition, gotta respect that
Ok thank you. Asking that because I was referring to the results and it's one of the most curious cases I've ever seen in motor racing, especially because in the last years somehow he puts himself always in the top 10 in the final standings.😂 @@dennyhamlinnascar6346
I went to the arca race in elko this year and surprisingly there was no arca brakes moments, there was a couple spins in turns 1 & 2 and that was it for the cautions not including competition cautions Sadly what you said was true Arca has gone off the deep end
ARCA West has actually been on a slight rebound in recent years, but I do agree that the main ARCA series could really benefit from having a veteran presence, though I'm not sure how that's possible in this day and age. ARCA East will be gone before the decade ends.
I feel like one of ARCA's biggest problems is the lack of a consistent TV schedule. NBC's few USA races are all tape-delayed and air at random times of the day between reruns of Chicago PD and SVU. FS1 at least is available on most providers and airs the races live alongside the rest of their NASCAR coverage. As for MavTV, they apparently air the races live, but I would not know because its not on Cox. Also, I don't know about MavTV, but the latter two never seem to promote the races, with FS1 barely acknowledging it whenever they announce their weekend schedule.
My wife and I stayed for the ARCA West race after the Xfinity race at PIR. Needless to stay, we didn't stay too long. It was very monotonous with not even ten entries.
Arca east is alotta rich kids and not competitive. Arca west goes to alotta cool tracks and has great races. Still a few rich kids but still competitive
I wish NASCAR didn’t buy ARCA…. That made ARCA worse. I also wish the Gen 6 bodies weren’t in ARCA too. That ddi not help either. I miss the days when ARCA was its own grassroots series and didn’t get bought by NASCAR. It’s the days when ARCA drivers respected each other when they were racing. Even tho I LOVE ARCA and watch it religiously, it’s a shame to see how ARCA is today :( Incase if ARCA ever dies, I’ll continue to watch it and enjoy every moment of the sport!
You can tell Phil Parsons hates this. I was an ARCA fan for a very long time. You are correct, it would help to have an older driver but none of these drivers will last long enough.
My favorite thing to do while watching ARCA is seeing how many laps down can Brad Smith go during any race. He has been doing some S&P the last handful of races, but by god he is so slow when he is on track. At Charlotte, at the halfway mark (Lap 50 of 100), he was somehow on the lead lap due to getting the free pass a few times. The last half of the race went caution free. Parker Chase was a bunch of laps down due to a electrical fire at the start of the race. Parker almost passed Brad on track for position at the end of the race. Brad finished 7 laps down and Parker 8 Laps down. Another 5 to 8 laps, Parker would have passed him on track for position no problem.
Biggest example of the failure arca has become the fact that Ken Shraeder Racing Won 7 races and ran up front in every single race and raced for the win and won the championsiop with Austin Theriault but couldnt afford to keep Austin another year and forced Ken Shraeder Racing to close
Between Shraeder, Sheltra, and Mitchell. It seems that its a coin flip for the Arca championship winning team to survive if they dont have a presence in a larger space. The math just doesn add up
I'm definitely a believer the CARS tour is the place to be for a young driver right now. Just too much great competition and experience you'd get out of it.
What I called Traditional ARCA needs to run the exact car rules of the Ixfinity Series except running the General tires and older bodywork. Similar to the past where cup teams didn't qualify for a race ran ARCA and ARCA teams who try to qualify for said cup race.
As soon as NASCAR bought ARCA and the cars switched to Gen 6, it all went downhill from there. Sure, get with the times, get modern... but did people forget to look at the series' history? It was literally meant to be a certain type of series. The memes of "ARCA brakes" and stuff already long existed before the recent years, but they weren't nearly as laughable in a sense. Now, it's just a bunch of kids getting fed without obvious control from their (very likely) rich parents or owners, and if they tear a car up, it doesn't matter one bit. Absolutely zero gratefulness when compared to those who use(d) the series as their way of paying the bills. Those who worked their arse off to get to the series. Like, come on. I understand if some of them do actually care, but for what is being visually shown, it's embarrassing and a disgrace to the past. It's also incredibly hilarious how bad the superspeedway races are now. Talladega actually had a chance of a decent finish, but nope, Daniel Dye decides to do a 2001 Bobby Labonte. Has anyone noticed the tone of the commentators in races nowadays as well? They all sound like they secretly hate being there. Nothing against them, especially Jamie Little, but there's a noticeable lack of enthusiasm, and I don't even blame them if what I'm saying is somewhat true. Go figure, when they gotta cancel a race for a concert, someone gets nearly KILLED. ARCA is a legitimate cesspool.
Hey I don’t know how interested you’d be in making a video on a topic like this, but maybe look into Us Legend cars, as they are sorta the feeder to the feeder series’. There is a lot of drama, track politics, and “bando brakes” which was what got me thinking that maybe you would cover this. Even if you don’t make a video, I feel the need to explain the bando brake phenomenon because I find it hilarious as my friends and I have coined the term. Basically, bandoleros have a solid rear go kart axle, with a relatively large disc brake being the only brake on the car. So, when one kid spins out, being 8-12 year old kids, they instantly stand on the brake pedal, only to have the brakes lock up the rear tires, and more times than not send themselves spinning into the wreck instead of missing it. The result of this is one kid spins, a few miss him, then a few more cars back you get 2-5 more bandos piling into the wreck! It is really funny to watch… except when half of those cars need to be fixed by you😅😂
The ARCA Series has became a NASCAR owned infested shell of it's former self where less and less competition went away and only had 5 cars Full Time on a yearly basis
My first two nascar races were when I was much younger(I’m only 16) that we got into for free. We knew Michael Self who was one of the drivers. This was at talladega. In one race which ended up being the closest in arca history we were so damn annoyed because they kept doing overtime. They couldn’t seem to do a single lap. Self ended up finishing like 3rd in that race and was stuck in the back for the longest time so good to have him rally back.
ARCA is further proof that these kids need to be taken out of equipment like this completely and there has to be a return to gentleman racers AND grassroots everymen. People with some damn sense and respect.
I mostly agree with your analysis. Being from Toledo and old enough to remember the MARC to ARCA transition. From the 1960s up to the COT the NASCAR/ARCA chassis rules were the same. Many small time ARCA teams bought old NASCAR cars and raced them. In the early years of NASCAR at MIS a lot of low dollar teams didn't make the trip up to MIS, so there were always several ARCA teams that would be in the NASCAR MIS races. The same thing happened at the early NASCAR races at Pocono. When NASCAR went to the COT many ARCA teams wound up with the old NASCAR cars, but eventually the supply got used up. ARCA developed their own car design and many of the old established teams couldn't afford the new stuff so they got out. This opened the door for guys like Gibbs, Childress, Penske and others to come in with their "development" drivers. These were mostly kids - in Childress case, Austin and Ty Dillion - and they didn't have to worry about wrecking their cars or anyone else's. Ty Gibbs was the 2021 ARCA champion and Joe Gibbs the owner's champion. Gibbs probably could've bought most of the the other ARCA teams with what would be pocket change to him. ARCA made some changes to try to help, like the common Ilmor engine, but it was too late to save the series. ARCA used to have a Super Late Modified series a Truck Series and even a Midget Series. All of those are gone now that NASCAR owns it. (ARCA ended the midget sanction after the 2000 season. Our team was the proud 1997 ARCA Midget Series Champion with veteran drive Jerry Nemire in the # Sweet 16.)
Kimmel retired, was the last of the career drivers and they lost their leadership behind the wheel. Similar to the truck series now. Crafton is keeping the series together by a thread. The worst advertising was Nascar's "names are made here" crap, and turning those series into junior leagues. Now they have become diaper leagues
The problem is there is plenty of blame to go around. -How about Frank Kimmel, impressive accomplishment but also turns people off when one driver is so dominant. -Venturini Motorsports have usually three cars out there and they are often better than everyone else. -Cup teams the latest being Gibbs who come into the ARCA series with all their resources. I was at Iowa last year and Ty Gibbs was whining about people saying he was a platinum spoon kid and that he is no different than any other driver yet I don't think any of the other drivers had a Bombardier CRJ700 business jet sitting next to the racetrack at the airport to take them home. -The Gen-6 cars, etc. Is there hope for the ARCA series? NASCAR selling it to someone who wants to make it a success? But then again the cost to run it is probably just too high today.
I never paid any attention to ARCA but I heard they were going to my local track which is Memphis International Raceway. Me and my buddy got us tickets. I saw Ty Gibbs dominate thar race and Hallie Dergan got 6th I belive but the race was so pathetically boring. I wanted to watch some racing and support my local track. But the oval facility is awful. The grandstands in turn 1 are just straight up rusty and abandoned. My area was not one to care about covid crowd capacity restrictions. Cause ya didn't need them! There were only about 300 people in the stands. I think it was even a championship race for the east division.
3:42 I'll admit, knowing now that everyone was ok, that I laughed when I saw this again. It looks like something out of a b-movie or something xD. It's like The Blob, except it's a giant pile of cars.
Request Good Seasons/Ok Seasons/Decent Seasons/Mediocre Seasons/Winless Seasons, Decent Seasons: Austin Dillon 2022, Decent Seasons: Martin Truex 2022, Ok Seasons: Brad Keselowski 2022, Good Seasons: Ross Chastain 2022, Good Seasons: Daniel Suarez 2022, Decent Seasons: Bubba Wallace 2022, Mediocre Seasons: Kevin Harvick 2022 The Only Good Moment Is Winnin Michigan & Richmond, Good Seasons: Tyler Reddick 2022 Decent Seasons: Chase Briscoe 2022 Decent Seasons Dale Earnhardt Jr 2013
My big issue is there are so few good cars and driving talent. There are some but most of these drivers are to be honest bad and are seeing arca "dieing" and move up too quickly to fill seat There not ready for full time
And now Van Alst can’t afford to race after a no talent Toyota “prospect” who will never be heard from in 3 years dumped him and may never race again after his only Xfinity race. And now Munitz who’s 2nd in points is out of funding even with the publicity he’s brought in the sport. How can NASCAR say this series is healthy???
ARCA racing was a stock car series by itself with old stock cars(cup cars) with Katona, Parsons, Kimmel, Steele and others were the established racers. When the ARCA series decided to do away with the steel bodies older stock cars from the series to the gen 6 type stock cars. Older ARCA teams going by the wayside except for Venturini whom they still fielded their Toyotas but others I have no idea and unfamiliar. Car counts were even worst from more than 30 cars years ago to now less than 25 cars today. The current ARCA series isn't what it used to be. Not surprised about the driving standards in ARCA, young drivers think its ok to knock someone out of the way causing big crashes. Talladega was an example of that.
I don't pretend to be an ARCA historian, but it seems like people are getting into ARCA with little to no racing experience at all. Maybe it's always been that way outside of some of the mainstays but it's just not good racing now. I don't know what the qualifications process is to race in ARCA....but it doesn't seem to be enough.
I'm of the opinion that the transition to Spec Composite bodies is what hurt ARCA the most. All of the family-owned/operated teams that would run in this series because they could buy older cars for cheap went away, and the older stars went away.
Composite Bodies happened. Cars are too slow at Daytona and Talladega Only even bother keeping up with ARCA because of Brad Smith. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't bother
ARCA used to be decent racing. Now that its a "NASCAR" series I think they should rebrand their series. Make ARCA strictly a road racing/course series, Trucks nothing bigger than a mile and a half. Then XFINITY drops to about 26-28 races at more CUP similar tracks. Xfinity is becoming ARCA and needs to have something the other series don't. Road racing has become more popular in stock cars so a road racing series might actually take off and maybe attract open wheel guys to stock cars. Trucks are fun a short tracks and dirt so that will be a good entry into NASCAR and boost ratings. Then XFINITY will actually feel like a step up and the next step to cup.
I wish there was a way to get more cup guys involved, I recently only watched the watkins glen race because brandon jones was entered and the dirt race because Buddy was in it. I know busch wacking is a taboo subject, but damn those series need eyes!
Truth be told, I don’t know how to change this. My uncle took me to many ARCA races in the early 2000s. That feeling I got back then has never returned.
To further your point on the Late models and Super Late models. There was a 15 year old kid racing in the CARS throwback race at Hickory called William Sawalich and he was respectful, competent, fast and even when he got into some banging with Connor Hall, it was just some bumper shoving and door banging with both drivers coming out of it singing each other's praises for a good race. ARCA just seems like a self feeding toxic environment at this point
As of now, ARCA this season only has FOUR full-time drivers (Love, Van Alst, two rookies in garbage equipment). The East series (where half of the races are combined with main ARCA) only have THREE full-time drivers. One driver has Gibbs equipment. And the West doesn't have a SINGLE full-time driver as of now with 2 months to go till the season opener. Half of the ARCA West field shut down this offseason on top of all that. How is ANY team making money off of this dump? What a DISASTER.
I got to go to the Elko Race this year, my very first stock car race. I got to meet a few drivers and they were all so cool, I even got to go in Nick Sanchez’s hauler! I could also be spotted in the pre race broadcast getting an autograph from Rajah Curuth!!!
Taylor Gray had the cell phone incident and crash not Tanner.
Apologies.
People over-reacted. It was just Daytona which a monkey can drive.
Was preparing to comment that but you corrected it for me. Still dumb as hell btw.
Yeah I was thinking, "Doesn't he mean Taylor?"
was that former NHRA driver Johnny Gray in that argument with the other dad?
@@gothard5 I would only assume so. His son is literally Taylor Gray.
As someone who helps out a local ARCA team that only runs Talladega, I’ll agree with you Darian that a lot of family teams had to shut down once ARCA switched to Gen-6, which sucks. One of the main things I loved about ARCA is that it had the family team feel.
which team?
What team?
It used be 40 cars now days not so much
@@Avelyn_Band multiple teams
That last gasp of equipment when the cup teams were fire selling Gen 4 stuff at the start of the COT was such an amazing moment in ARCA, but I think everyone knew it was the start of the end for those times.
Got to talk to Chris Buescher a bit about his ARCA championship season. For that year his team had a unique chassis for every race, all of it previous cup level equipment.
As a worker for one of the ARCA teams ( Brad Smith) I can indeed confirm that not only the officiating but also the series as a whole is a complete circus
but a circus is professional.
Actual circuses are offended by you using circus as a term for #ARCAOfficiating.
You've done some stuff for Brad Smith too? That's sweet! Where did you work for him at?
Congrats to Brad's 400th start!
Harsh from you to that people.
Arca died when they went to the composite body. It pretty much ended the days of utilizing old cup Gen 4 chassis (I know they're still out there, there are just far less of them). While it was supposed to be a cost saving measure it just seemed to drive smaller teams out entirely
The body has nothing to do with the chassis. Plenty of the chassis out there are still gen4
There is a mix of gen 6 and gen 4 on the grid so that’s not really too huge of a factor on that end the gen 4 chassis still live even today
@@racerlord2329 they aren't allowed to run gen 4 bodies anymore.
@@4_14_fan he said chassis, not body!
Good analogy would be Covid restrictions shutting down Mom & Pop local stores nationwide but allowing the big box chains to operate as normal.
To be pretty honest, it's unfortunate that ARCA has declined massively due to rising costs, low car counts and the somewhat questionable driving standards...
“somewhat questionable driving standards” is a severe understatement
@@wormuel I was just about to say the same thing. My driving in NASCAR Dirt To Daytona at age 9 was better than how these guys in ARCA drive, and I always went the wrong way in Dirt To Daytona, or I'd just take Dale Jr's car to Bristol and would try to wreck everyone else out of the race.
The red flag pit stops really take the interest out of it for me. I get why they’d do it as a developmental series, but with lackluster racing and no pit strategy it can be tough to watch.
How many teams can afford a pit crew anymore
The last ARCA race I watched was so dumb, I felt like my brain cells were melting with every corner. I eventually just turned it off about halfway through.
There has definitely been a lack of respect in ARCA. These drivers always tear up equipment every week and we unfortunately can’t do anything about it.
ARCA used to be a serious series. There's a reason guys like Frank Kimmel stayed in for so long. Shame to see what's come of it :/
Yep. The bs in ARCA is probably the main reason for why he doesn't make a return.
To be fair, the man is in his sixties now. I think that ship has long since sailed.
That Watkins Glen ARCA race was really entertaining though
I'm amazed you didn't talk about races being cut short because of events happening minutes before it's scheduled start.
Oh wow that’s right.
Thanks for bringing it up in the comments.
@@BlackFlagsMatter first crash Andy farr 1994 the other was in daytona 2004 those i remember
@@BlackFlagsMatter No problem. I mean I understand that they had to get things moving as soon as possible but It's still stupid. What happened at Springfield was REALLY dumb on ARCA's part. Couldn't they just tell the people who run the concert to wait for a few more minutes?
@Tyler Mathis oh i'm wrong
The CARS Tour is definitely a better option for developing talent at a grass roots level compared to modern ARCA. The fields are way more competitive, and they all drive with respect, like you mentioned. At the Throwback 276 at Hickory a few weeks back, there was an amazing battle for the win between Conner Hall and 15 year old William Sawalich, and they never touched each other. Look at the talent coming from there too, like Josh Berry for example. Also you have guys like Layne Riggs and Kaden Honeycutt who are making select truck starts.
I fully gave up on this series at talladega this year, they had their best plate race in the last 5 years and they decided to end it early for scheduling conflicts even tho they could’ve finished it just fine, it was an awesome race with side by side racing barely any train and ARCA just went guess were done, truly a joke of series
I feel like you did a good job of capturing the history - which is appreciated. It's easy to just berate what's there now with no context. It used to be if you wanted to be the next Cup superstar, they told you to go beat Frank Kimmel first and then we'll talk. If you dig a little, the guys that did are likely still around at a top level and the guys that couldn't...well...aren't. The veterans and the small family teams are what's missing today. You always had what's there now but there were the additional components - and that mix is what made it awesome to watch and attend, ARCA brakes or not. You take a guy like Scott Speed who had raced F1 but never been on dirt before - he's backing off at the flagstand at Springfield and a local dirt late model guy is blasting past. I think there should also be some focus on the EAST series and the WEST series. The EAST series was similar - names like Stefanik, Leighton, and Craven came from there. The West series was really solid also. Cup goes to Sonoma and ten West teams make the show. The worst part for me is I feel like we're losing the great history of these series because of what is there today. Younger fans scoff and turn their nose up - but these all were really great series with rich history and lots of talent at one time. And given the right circumstances and a different climate - could all be again...
Went from a proper developmental series with young guys and veteran racers that kept their equipment clean - to just an absolute mess.
I remember how great Chase Briscoe’s last (championship) ARCA series was. They played every race on some low rent antenna station, and I watched every race.
I was going to do a video on this but didn't know how to frame it without being attacked by... certain types of NASCAR fans.
On a whim I looked up the career of Amber Balcaen; she's wrecked out of 50% of ARCA races this year.
A comment on TheDirty heavily implied she ran in the same circles as ex-Monster Jam driver Ami Houde, who was notorious around the Winnipeg MB area for... anything but driving.
I basically discovered that like Ami, Amber's entire career is nonsensical. Her own Wikipedia page is a timeline of progressing up the auto racing ladder, by doing absolutely nothing. Each stint in a given series is described on Wikipedia as "failed to qualify for most events" or "she finished 20th and 19th in her only starts." The lone late model race she won, was a 7-car sportsman late model race at a CARS Tour event in which three cars finished on the lead lap.
This was somehow enough to gain both funding and licensing approval to run ARCA. This person wouldn't be able to make it into your average iRacing league being this bad.
Part of me wonders if NASCAR operates as a sort of auto racing equivalent to the Harlem Globetrotters, and they intentionally let literal bums into cars whose sole purpose is to act as a sort of Washington Generals for the "key drivers" to just blow by and embarrass.
I hate to sound like seargent Masson but it's probably because the teams that hire her are banking on getting attention for hiring a female driver
that and/or she's got drew dollar money
So that’s why Xfinity and Trucks mostly consist of bums who wreck cars with funding behind them. Because NASCAR allows these losers in race cars and expect them to develop as the “future” of the sport without any reliable licenses or something. All you just need to do is show up and boom, you’re license is ready. Joke series. ARCA will die off in a couple of years, trucks are a joke and if Herbst barely backs his way into a win it will tell you everything about how dead Xfinity will be and the lack of talent in the lower leagues, especially when bums who run dogshit in trucks (Perkins and Wright) can easily find rides in Xfinity, meanwhile the 2018 truck champion is out of a job. Talent is bought, not earned.
I wouldn't be surprised if we see another wave of teams trying to import open wheel and sports car talents. Once Kvyat, Raikkonen, or any future Project 91 drivers have had a taste, I'm sure they'll be back for more.
Make the Video anyway. Don't worry about the Simps.
And because of ARCA's downfall, that girl is 6th in points or something
S I X T H
You forgot to mention the 15-20+ laps under caution too. The literally take forever cleaning up either debris, fluid, or wrecked car on the track. My dad always complains about it.
I’m for converting ARCA into something else. NASCAR doesn't need it as a development series. That’s what Xfinity, Trucks, and, most importantly, the Advance Auto Parts Weekly Racing Series are for.
To my mind, it would benefit fans, tracks, sponsors, and manufacturers most to turn ARCA into a nationally touring strictly stock series - any make or model; gas, electric, or hybrid; just limited to the three most recent production years and outfitted with the standard racing safety features. Let’s put the stock back in stock cars and see drivers race what we actually drive!
What about another space for "Late Model Sportsman" series?
What about the Modified Tour? I know it’s been in New England for awhile since their modern era in 1985 but they should grow outside out of their comfort zone but they did grow outward to Bristol and Iowa at one point in time... but I hope they race on North Wilkesboro down the road... they also raced at Richmond and Martinsville a couple times and that wasn’t not too shabby racing... and sometimes I wonder how many drivers in the modified Series rank up? Steve Park did it Geoff Bodine did it and a few others...
@@Mister_Matt_X Ryan Preece as well.
I’d argue Arca west is actually really good rn. Racing is pretty close but more importantly clean
Even the schedule is good
@@JoshODay wait, there’s 3 different arca series?
Say wasn't that the series Kevin Harvick competed in before the busch series?
@@xavierjuno4572 And the truck series, back when that was just getting started.
@@JoshODay so ARCA West series raced mostly on west coast areas like Nevada and California?
It's simple, it's dying and they don't care about it anymore. ARCA was great back in the 90's and early 00's, now in today's ARCA days it's boring, package is absolutely horrible on Superspeedways, Rules are dumb as hell, and ARCA BRAKES!
As a fan of touring car racing in addition to NASCAR, the decline of ARCA reminds me a lot of the decline of DTM & the World Touring Car Cup formerly known as WTCC. Like ARCA, both of these series have suffered from veteran drivers retiring and mainstay teams leaving or going out of business entirely especially if manufacturer support ceases. In fact the current version of the DTM is more like a European version of IMSA than its original touring car roots with only factory teams competing which is sad to see. As for WTCR, its decline hasn't been helped by the fact that the top team & defending champion has withdrawn from the series in the middle of this season in protest of poor quality tires (in their words) being provided to the teams by the FIA, resulting in what was an already slim field of 15 cars on the grid being cut down to 10.
Its been rough seeing DTM go from bespoke to gt3 cars. I mean i like gt racing but its not the same
1970s through early 2010s ARCA was great. Especially the 90s... Fight me... I have many heroes from this series. Tim Steele was the man
90s ARCA races were fantastic. I wouldn't miss them when I knew they were on.
My favorite ARCA decade was the 90s.. sadly I wasn't around to appreciate it
WeBeRacin' ownedan A
R.C.A. team in the 90s. Two cars two motors ,2 Haulers and a pit cart
$100,000
I would say the massive drop in car count is because of the $ figure that it takes to run ARCA. The thing is, it cost ALMOST the same to go truck racing that it takes to go ARCA racing. So a lot of these kids would much rather just make the jump to trucks. Plus for the family owned teams, the payout awarded isn't even close to what it takes to go racing. I think the only way this gets resolved is if the payout becomes more, or the price to go racing comes down. Otherwise they're just going truck racing.
Have a friend who runs Ixfinity and Trucks here and there. Asked him about running ARCA, which he ran some East races when it was called K@N, He said it Trucks cost as much as ARCA to race. So there's one reason.
I think what's really bad is the fact that this year ALONE, Talladega was called 8 laps early for the Xfinity race, Pocono started at like 6:00 and was shortened due to darkness, and this weekend's crash ended the race early not for the crash, but apparently for a SAMMY HAGAR CONCERT!?!?
With that last one, I guess ARCA couldn't finish racing at 55.
Well that's on the county in Illinois. The county government made that decision. Money talks. The ARCA race at Pocono was called due to darkness cause the track owner refuses to add lights and cause of NASCAR practice/qualifying earlier that afternoon
ARCA is a fine series for driver development the problem is the majority of these kids aren't going to develop because they are talentless hacks from the get go and that will never change.
Product of the “youth movement” in nascar mixed with rich parents who think their kid is the next Jeff Gordon this is what happens when series start lowering standards and age requirements a kid at 17-18 needs to develop more in late models , mods , and sprint cars and learn more maturity and respect before being handed the keys to a hundred thousand dollar race car at Daytona or talladega if they can’t win at a local short track and they definitely don’t belong in these cars regardless if mommy and daddy has the money or not
@@brandon42054 I like the concept of ARCA (quite reminiscent of the Usac Stock Car of the 70s). Even for having 2 bodies ( Gen6 and Gen4 ).
The video game generation goes stock car racing.
"Wait, there's no reset button to get a new car?"
@@91Redmist ARCA (under a new owner) could rescue, a little, what StockCAr was like before "entertainment" (until 1994). The calendar is already perfect, it would be enough just to remove the bumpdraft and the car a little higher. ruclips.net/video/hFGxvI1Rtzs/видео.html
@@91Redmist well, apart from Alex Bowman obviously. It's really shame current gens were videogame generation instead of "Sports, Sex, Rock'n Roll, Real stuffs and Bully boy" generation.
Nascars decline as a whole created the ARCA of today. Stockcar racing is still popular enough to sustain a healthy xfinity and truck grid, however the ARCA series below has simply been pushed out of the marketplace.
I seen ARCA in person during Charlotte weekend……….I have seen enough. This serious needs some big reforms maybe combine the main east and west. Focus on short tracks. Get a car suitable for safety and affordable for small teams. Hammer down bad drivers with tougher rules if veterans are in drought not to police the whipper snappers for this series only. It’s not my best idea but if you got something better your hired in ARCA
like what are we actually doing here with ARCA? because at this point it needs to have a mercy kill preformed on the series... especially when you look at the 18 Joe Gibbs car where last year Ty Gibbs dominated in that car and now Drew Dollar is constantly trying to reconfigure every track they go to by knocking the wall down
I agree with you about the Drew Dollar thing,Drew apparently hates going in circles so that's why he runs into them so much
I would appreciate an episode about Brad Smith. A great guy, he follows me on Instagram too, probably the only fan from Italy😂 but
He's racing in ARCA since 1988.
Next race is gonna be his 400th start.
IN HIS CAREER, HE DID 2 TOP 10S AS HIS BEST RESULTS, IN 2020 AND 2022.
Is this enough to make him an "ARCA Bust"?😅
he's driving for his own team though...
There's an interview video with Brad Smith. It's very good.
no, because he's never been hyped tbh so he never fit the definition of a Bust. Plus he's a owner/driver
Not gonna sneeze at someone coming off their best series points finish 23 years into their career. Man is there through the attrition, gotta respect that
Ok thank you. Asking that because I was referring to the results and it's one of the most curious cases I've ever seen in motor racing, especially because in the last years somehow he puts himself always in the top 10 in the final standings.😂
@@dennyhamlinnascar6346
I went to the arca race in elko this year and surprisingly there was no arca brakes moments, there was a couple spins in turns 1 & 2 and that was it for the cautions not including competition cautions
Sadly what you said was true
Arca has gone off the deep end
ARCA West has actually been on a slight rebound in recent years, but I do agree that the main ARCA series could really benefit from having a veteran presence, though I'm not sure how that's possible in this day and age.
ARCA East will be gone before the decade ends.
I personally love having a dumping ground for whiny teenagers with rich dads to wreck each other silly. keeps it out of xfinity series and up
The problem is....that mentality has found its way into Trucks and Xfinity
I feel like one of ARCA's biggest problems is the lack of a consistent TV schedule. NBC's few USA races are all tape-delayed and air at random times of the day between reruns of Chicago PD and SVU. FS1 at least is available on most providers and airs the races live alongside the rest of their NASCAR coverage.
As for MavTV, they apparently air the races live, but I would not know because its not on Cox.
Also, I don't know about MavTV, but the latter two never seem to promote the races, with FS1 barely acknowledging it whenever they announce their weekend schedule.
My wife and I stayed for the ARCA West race after the Xfinity race at PIR. Needless to stay, we didn't stay too long. It was very monotonous with not even ten entries.
Arca east is alotta rich kids and not competitive. Arca west goes to alotta cool tracks and has great races. Still a few rich kids but still competitive
I wish NASCAR didn’t buy ARCA…. That made ARCA worse. I also wish the Gen 6 bodies weren’t in ARCA too. That ddi not help either. I miss the days when ARCA was its own grassroots series and didn’t get bought by NASCAR. It’s the days when ARCA drivers respected each other when they were racing.
Even tho I LOVE ARCA and watch it religiously, it’s a shame to see how ARCA is today :(
Incase if ARCA ever dies, I’ll continue to watch it and enjoy every moment of the sport!
iT mAdE iT wOrSE… they going into bankruptcy lol and wouldn’t be able to watch it all
Nascar bought arca because Arca went to irredeemable dogshit
You can tell Phil Parsons hates this. I was an ARCA fan for a very long time. You are correct, it would help to have an older driver but none of these drivers will last long enough.
ARCA should raise the age limit to 21.
@@chada75 I like the idea of going to late models to reduce costs and get more people racing
My favorite thing to do while watching ARCA is seeing how many laps down can Brad Smith go during any race. He has been doing some S&P the last handful of races, but by god he is so slow when he is on track. At Charlotte, at the halfway mark (Lap 50 of 100), he was somehow on the lead lap due to getting the free pass a few times. The last half of the race went caution free. Parker Chase was a bunch of laps down due to a electrical fire at the start of the race. Parker almost passed Brad on track for position at the end of the race. Brad finished 7 laps down and Parker 8 Laps down. Another 5 to 8 laps, Parker would have passed him on track for position no problem.
Brad Smith is the J.D. McDuffie of ARCA.
ARCA needs to go back to pre composite body Gen 6 cars. It actually had competive racing that way.
Too late now. If they never switched, they might’ve been okay.
Biggest example of the failure arca has become the fact that Ken Shraeder Racing Won 7 races and ran up front in every single race and raced for the win and won the championsiop with Austin Theriault but couldnt afford to keep Austin another year and forced Ken Shraeder Racing to close
Between Shraeder, Sheltra, and Mitchell. It seems that its a coin flip for the Arca championship winning team to survive if they dont have a presence in a larger space. The math just doesn add up
I'm definitely a believer the CARS tour is the place to be for a young driver right now. Just too much great competition and experience you'd get out of it.
There are veterans in ARCA
Brad Smith
Wayne Peterson
Alex Clubb
Bryan Dauzat
Jason Kitzmiller
Brian Kaltreider
Sean Corr
D.L Wilson
and they are all S&P operations run with at least 2 guys.
I think Super Late Models are the best alternative to ARCA. They’re probably less expensive and they even got higher horsepower than a Cup car.
Venturini dunking on Drew Dollar never gets old 😂😂😂
What I called Traditional ARCA needs to run the exact car rules of the Ixfinity Series except running the General tires and older bodywork. Similar to the past where cup teams didn't qualify for a race ran ARCA and ARCA teams who try to qualify for said cup race.
As soon as NASCAR bought ARCA and the cars switched to Gen 6, it all went downhill from there. Sure, get with the times, get modern... but did people forget to look at the series' history? It was literally meant to be a certain type of series. The memes of "ARCA brakes" and stuff already long existed before the recent years, but they weren't nearly as laughable in a sense. Now, it's just a bunch of kids getting fed without obvious control from their (very likely) rich parents or owners, and if they tear a car up, it doesn't matter one bit. Absolutely zero gratefulness when compared to those who use(d) the series as their way of paying the bills. Those who worked their arse off to get to the series. Like, come on. I understand if some of them do actually care, but for what is being visually shown, it's embarrassing and a disgrace to the past.
It's also incredibly hilarious how bad the superspeedway races are now. Talladega actually had a chance of a decent finish, but nope, Daniel Dye decides to do a 2001 Bobby Labonte. Has anyone noticed the tone of the commentators in races nowadays as well? They all sound like they secretly hate being there. Nothing against them, especially Jamie Little, but there's a noticeable lack of enthusiasm, and I don't even blame them if what I'm saying is somewhat true.
Go figure, when they gotta cancel a race for a concert, someone gets nearly KILLED.
ARCA is a legitimate cesspool.
Cant help but think the turning point for arca was when stenhouse and scott speed crashed at Toledo. It’s been all downhill since haha
Hey I don’t know how interested you’d be in making a video on a topic like this, but maybe look into Us Legend cars, as they are sorta the feeder to the feeder series’. There is a lot of drama, track politics, and “bando brakes” which was what got me thinking that maybe you would cover this.
Even if you don’t make a video, I feel the need to explain the bando brake phenomenon because I find it hilarious as my friends and I have coined the term.
Basically, bandoleros have a solid rear go kart axle, with a relatively large disc brake being the only brake on the car. So, when one kid spins out, being 8-12 year old kids, they instantly stand on the brake pedal, only to have the brakes lock up the rear tires, and more times than not send themselves spinning into the wreck instead of missing it. The result of this is one kid spins, a few miss him, then a few more cars back you get 2-5 more bandos piling into the wreck! It is really funny to watch… except when half of those cars need to be fixed by you😅😂
The ARCA Series has became a NASCAR owned infested shell of it's former self where less and less competition went away and only had 5 cars Full Time on a yearly basis
it's so bad even Brad Smith can get a Top 10
There are 12+ cars in arca on a full time basis
@@AlonsoRules brad smith isn’t a bad driver. In fact, he’s probably the cleanest backmarker out there
@@vortexchaos70 backmarker
My first two nascar races were when I was much younger(I’m only 16) that we got into for free. We knew Michael Self who was one of the drivers. This was at talladega. In one race which ended up being the closest in arca history we were so damn annoyed because they kept doing overtime. They couldn’t seem to do a single lap. Self ended up finishing like 3rd in that race and was stuck in the back for the longest time so good to have him rally back.
if NASCAR wants to turn ARCA into an electric car series, i'd have no problem with it
ARCA is further proof that these kids need to be taken out of equipment like this completely and there has to be a return to gentleman racers AND grassroots everymen. People with some damn sense and respect.
And those who had the passion to go fast, even former street racers
Don't forget that in either 2018 or 2019 I can't remember the Thompson east series race had to be CANCELLED because only 8 cars were entered.
They had 11 cars on the West Series at Evergreen Speedway in 2021.
The ARCA series should be given the "Old Yeller' treatment.
The ARCA Menards Series on iRacing is Flourishing right now haha
ARCA is basically just Great Value NASCAR
I mostly agree with your analysis. Being from Toledo and old enough to remember the MARC to ARCA transition. From the 1960s up to the COT the NASCAR/ARCA chassis rules were the same. Many small time ARCA teams bought old NASCAR cars and raced them. In the early years of NASCAR at MIS a lot of low dollar teams didn't make the trip up to MIS, so there were always several ARCA teams that would be in the NASCAR MIS races. The same thing happened at the early NASCAR races at Pocono.
When NASCAR went to the COT many ARCA teams wound up with the old NASCAR cars, but eventually the supply got used up. ARCA developed their own car design and many of the old established teams couldn't afford the new stuff so they got out. This opened the door for guys like Gibbs, Childress, Penske and others to come in with their "development" drivers. These were mostly kids - in Childress case, Austin and Ty Dillion - and they didn't have to worry about wrecking their cars or anyone else's. Ty Gibbs was the 2021 ARCA champion and Joe Gibbs the owner's champion. Gibbs probably could've bought most of the the other ARCA teams with what would be pocket change to him.
ARCA made some changes to try to help, like the common Ilmor engine, but it was too late to save the series.
ARCA used to have a Super Late Modified series a Truck Series and even a Midget Series. All of those are gone now that NASCAR owns it. (ARCA ended the midget sanction after the 2000 season. Our team was the proud 1997 ARCA Midget Series Champion with veteran drive Jerry Nemire in the # Sweet 16.)
Kimmel retired, was the last of the career drivers and they lost their leadership behind the wheel. Similar to the truck series now. Crafton is keeping the series together by a thread. The worst advertising was Nascar's "names are made here" crap, and turning those series into junior leagues. Now they have become diaper leagues
Also, The ARCA East and West needs it's own video. Make them run Late Models
Exactly. There’s no point in running those expensive cars on those tracks.
Arca Dad's be like "Come at me brah!!" 5:58
Who remembers the Goody's Dash Series? You member? I member!
ARCA West is hands down the best out of 3 ARCA series. Would recommend it. But I still love ARCA despite its current state.
There are veterans in arca, how dare you disgrace Brad Smith like that
I went to the Dover race this year and It was the most lackluster thing in the world I believe there's only like 11 car
The problem is there is plenty of blame to go around.
-How about Frank Kimmel, impressive accomplishment but also turns people off when one driver is so dominant.
-Venturini Motorsports have usually three cars out there and they are often better than everyone else.
-Cup teams the latest being Gibbs who come into the ARCA series with all their resources. I was at Iowa last year and Ty Gibbs was whining about people saying he was a platinum spoon kid and that he is no different than any other driver yet I don't think any of the other drivers had a Bombardier CRJ700 business jet sitting next to the racetrack at the airport to take them home.
-The Gen-6 cars, etc.
Is there hope for the ARCA series? NASCAR selling it to someone who wants to make it a success? But then again the cost to run it is probably just too high today.
FS1 Ruined how it. Even besides the racing it has just been presented as a joke and something to laugh at
I never paid any attention to ARCA but I heard they were going to my local track which is Memphis International Raceway. Me and my buddy got us tickets. I saw Ty Gibbs dominate thar race and Hallie Dergan got 6th I belive but the race was so pathetically boring. I wanted to watch some racing and support my local track. But the oval facility is awful. The grandstands in turn 1 are just straight up rusty and abandoned. My area was not one to care about covid crowd capacity restrictions. Cause ya didn't need them! There were only about 300 people in the stands. I think it was even a championship race for the east division.
3:42 I'll admit, knowing now that everyone was ok, that I laughed when I saw this again. It looks like something out of a b-movie or something xD. It's like The Blob, except it's a giant pile of cars.
I think I saw a former Robby Gordon car drive through that wreck unscathed. (looked like the car he used on the superspeedways in 2003 until July.)
Request Good Seasons/Ok Seasons/Decent Seasons/Mediocre Seasons/Winless Seasons,
Decent Seasons: Austin Dillon 2022,
Decent Seasons: Martin Truex 2022,
Ok Seasons: Brad Keselowski 2022,
Good Seasons: Ross Chastain 2022,
Good Seasons: Daniel Suarez 2022,
Decent Seasons: Bubba Wallace 2022,
Mediocre Seasons: Kevin Harvick 2022 The Only Good Moment Is Winnin Michigan & Richmond,
Good Seasons: Tyler Reddick 2022
Decent Seasons: Chase Briscoe 2022
Decent Seasons Dale Earnhardt Jr 2013
Once the ability to use old cup cars in ARCA ended, the series was doomed. That was really the beginning of the end
My big issue is there are so few good cars and driving talent. There are some but most of these drivers are to be honest bad and are seeing arca "dieing" and move up too quickly to fill seat There not ready for full time
And now Van Alst can’t afford to race after a no talent Toyota “prospect” who will never be heard from in 3 years dumped him and may never race again after his only Xfinity race. And now Munitz who’s 2nd in points is out of funding even with the publicity he’s brought in the sport. How can NASCAR say this series is healthy???
back then it was _ARCA brakes…_
now it is *A R C A b r e a k s .*
Good pun
The problem is it has gotten too expensive to race in Arca. Maybe try to make it more like a super late model car or closer to thatcost
@9:48 the 10th place car is 12 laps down 🤦♂️
Funny how acra braking has really become a thing to expect in this series. Shitty how it's gotten to be this way
I heard last season was supposed to have ended last year, but unfortunately they have trouble getting stopped.
ARCA racing was a stock car series by itself with old stock cars(cup cars) with Katona, Parsons, Kimmel, Steele and others were the established racers. When the ARCA series decided to do away with the steel bodies older stock cars from the series to the gen 6 type stock cars. Older ARCA teams going by the wayside except for Venturini whom they still fielded their Toyotas but others I have no idea and unfamiliar. Car counts were even worst from more than 30 cars years ago to now less than 25 cars today. The current ARCA series isn't what it used to be. Not surprised about the driving standards in ARCA, young drivers think its ok to knock someone out of the way causing big crashes. Talladega was an example of that.
What kind of cars are arca driving now, is it just gen 6 with bigger splitters and spoilers?
I don't pretend to be an ARCA historian, but it seems like people are getting into ARCA with little to no racing experience at all. Maybe it's always been that way outside of some of the mainstays but it's just not good racing now. I don't know what the qualifications process is to race in ARCA....but it doesn't seem to be enough.
And we can all agree 💯 that Drew Dollar is the reason the ARCA series has failed
Even since the mid 2010s this series has stumbled severely.
I'm of the opinion that the transition to Spec Composite bodies is what hurt ARCA the most. All of the family-owned/operated teams that would run in this series because they could buy older cars for cheap went away, and the older stars went away.
Composite Bodies happened.
Cars are too slow at Daytona and Talladega
Only even bother keeping up with ARCA because of Brad Smith. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't bother
Notice how much the commentators have to justify "Arca Brakes" by saying the drivers had "Nowhere To Go".
do trans am next! the hidden gem of stock car racing.
Rebrand it as a V6 compact series.
Like the old dash series.
CARS Tour is the new breeding grounds for young racers.
That and the APC United Late Model series + Pinty's
ARCA used to be decent racing. Now that its a "NASCAR" series I think they should rebrand their series. Make ARCA strictly a road racing/course series, Trucks nothing bigger than a mile and a half. Then XFINITY drops to about 26-28 races at more CUP similar tracks. Xfinity is becoming ARCA and needs to have something the other series don't. Road racing has become more popular in stock cars so a road racing series might actually take off and maybe attract open wheel guys to stock cars. Trucks are fun a short tracks and dirt so that will be a good entry into NASCAR and boost ratings. Then XFINITY will actually feel like a step up and the next step to cup.
I wish there was a way to get more cup guys involved, I recently only watched the watkins glen race because brandon jones was entered and the dirt race because Buddy was in it. I know busch wacking is a taboo subject, but damn those series need eyes!
Frankie Muniz just placed P1 on practice
Watched the first 8 minutes in peace, but atleast I made it into a Black Flags Matter and the title didn’t have the word “Bust” in it
Truth be told, I don’t know how to change this.
My uncle took me to many ARCA races in the early 2000s. That feeling I got back then has never returned.
To further your point on the Late models and Super Late models. There was a 15 year old kid racing in the CARS throwback race at Hickory called William Sawalich and he was respectful, competent, fast and even when he got into some banging with Connor Hall, it was just some bumper shoving and door banging with both drivers coming out of it singing each other's praises for a good race.
ARCA just seems like a self feeding toxic environment at this point
It’s seems around 2008 everything changed fast
As of now, ARCA this season only has FOUR full-time drivers (Love, Van Alst, two rookies in garbage equipment). The East series (where half of the races are combined with main ARCA) only have THREE full-time drivers. One driver has Gibbs equipment. And the West doesn't have a SINGLE full-time driver as of now with 2 months to go till the season opener. Half of the ARCA West field shut down this offseason on top of all that. How is ANY team making money off of this dump? What a DISASTER.
ARCA and the regional series should've stuck with the Composite Gen 4 bodies.
I got to go to the Elko Race this year, my very first stock car race. I got to meet a few drivers and they were all so cool, I even got to go in Nick Sanchez’s hauler! I could also be spotted in the pre race broadcast getting an autograph from Rajah Curuth!!!
I think someone like Sammy smith or Ty Gibbs are examples of survivors of the modern arca that are actually talented
Don't forget about Taylor Gray and Nick and also rajah Caruth
@@MoltenRage41 true
Menards Demolition Derby Series. That makes more sense
Also BFM You should have added The somona Incident as example because that was so stupid
Also Hailee Deegan had a good quote on this
“If you have a bad day, you run 5th-6th, if you have a good day, you have a chance to win”