DAYTONA BEACH — ARCA has always been a stepping stone to NASCAR racing. Some of NASCAR’s greatest racers got a feel for big tracks thanks to the Automobile Racing Club of America, based in the Midwest.
Now that ARCA is part of the ever-growing NASCAR family, its role in racing won’t be changing and that is a good thing.
Over the last decade, ARCA has become a proving ground and incubator for trying new ideas to advance stock-car racing either on the technical or cost-saving levels.
NASCAR and ARCA worked hand-in-hand on the composite body idea. Instead of using stamped steel pieces, ARCA’s cars are made of molded sections.
NASCAR started using composite material in its K&N Pro Series East and West, and allows some composite bodies at some Xfinity and Truck Series races.
“The composite bodies are really forgiving,” driver Todd Gilliland said during Saturday’s ARCA test at Daytona International Speedway. “They are really forgiving. If you get hit, the body pops back out.”
Specifically, composite bodies are 12 different pieces that attached to a flange. The material is a mixture of fiber glass and carbon fiber.
“Teams can do their own body work and if the car needs repair, they can remove the damaged pieces and put pieces on,” ARCA vice president Mark Gundrum said. “The body is more expensive than a steel body but the replace parts are so much cheaper.”
ARCA went to a crate engine a few years ago and it has provided many benefits, including a flat fee for the motor, built by Ilmor Engineering.
“Buying an older NASCAR Cup car was kind of cheap,” Gundrum said. “Getting a good motor was costly. You had to go to Roush Yates or Childress to lease a motor.
“We reached an agreement with Ilmor and felt like a team could cut its motor costs more than half without giving up performance or durability.”
Fast forward to 2018 and Ilmor’s NT1 engines were being offered to those in the Camping World Truck Series, now known as the Gander Outdoors Series.
“There are some subtle differences with Ilmor’s ARCA 396, but not much,” Gundrum said. “We went down that path as a cost-containment program.
“We don’t want to be the industry leader in these technologies. That engine was built as a need by our competitors. It’s a credit to Ilmor, who built these motors.”
The third-party engines are allowed in any type of Truck Series entries including Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota. ARCA-style engines are legal in the Truck Series, but an Ilmor Truck Series engine is not allowed in ARCA.
“The hope is, some day, it’s the same piece and you can swap it back and forth,” Gundrum said.
While ARCA has been the proving ground for trying new technical aspects of racing, it has always been a training series for up-and-coming drivers.
One of the first to break out of ARCA and make it big in NASCAR was Benny Parsons, who captured the NASCAR Cup Series championship in 1973.
The former Detroit cab driver got NASCAR’s other big prize, a Daytona 500 victory, just two years later.
Parsons was famous for his racing but gained even greater notoriety as a television racing broadcaster.
Kyle Petty made his big-time, stock-car debut by winning the Lucas Oil ARCA 200 in 1979, driving a hand-me-down Dodge from his father, Richard Petty.
Kyle Petty, who now works for NBC Sports, won eight Cup Series races during his driving career.
Following in his father’s footsteps is Todd Gilliland, whose father, David, competed in the Cup Series full-time from 2007 to 2015. He made one Cup start in 2018.
Todd Gilliland holds the ARCA Racing Series record as the youngest winner in its history. He won a short-track race at Toledo Speedway at the age of 15 years, 2 days old.
“Kids are racing at a younger age,” Gundrum said. “Now when a driver turns 15, they have been racing for 10 years, like quarter midgets and go-karts. We’ve had to adapt to the fact the world has changed and our drivers are ready to race in a bigger car at an earlier age.”
Gilliland is now 18 and eligible to compete at big tracks, such as Daytona, where he will run in the ARCA 200 and NASCAR Truck Series races.
“We are just doing the ARCA test and race at Daytona to get the ball rolling with our team,” Gilliland said. “I had my truck crew chief and spotter here just to get gelled together.
“This is the same team I had last year. This year, I hope it’s a much easier learning curve and this lets us start a little earlier.”
FASTEST SPEEDS: Leilani Munter, from Rochester Minnesota, turned the fastest speed during the two-day ARCA test at Daytona. Her No. 55 Toyota was clocked in the draft at 184.064 mph on Friday. Natalie Decker, Eagle River, Wisconsin, who wheels the No. 54 Toyota, turned the fastest lap Saturday. She produced a lap of 181.921 mph in Saturday morning testing.
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