By Vincent Delforge, Special to Kickin’ the Tires
Created in 1954, the West Series will begin its 70th season on March 10, 2023 and already the fourth under the aegis of the ARCA. This race that will take place at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, AZ will be combined with the national ARCA Menards Series (Race No. 2).
The 2023 season will have 12 races, one more than last year, spread between March and November when we will return here to Phoenix for the final. This is not the first time the West Series season will have 12 races. It will be the 7th time in history. The first time in 1985 and the last in 2010, the year of the third and last championship won by Eric Holmes.
Since last year and the championship won by Jake Drew for Bob Bruncati’s team, Bruncati Sunrise Ford Racing, there have been many changes. Indeed the off-season has revealed its share of surprises. We are going to present here the main novelties concerning the racing calendar as well as those concerning the teams.
2023 Schedule
As in previous years Phoenix Raceway, AZ and Irwindale Speedway, CA will host the West Series twice. The Portland International Raceway road course in Oregon loses one of its two races. On the other hand, it is the great return of Shasta Speedway at Anderson, CA as well as Madera Speedway in the eponym city in California.
There will therefore only be two road races instead of three in 2022. In addition to the one in Portland, there will be the traditional race in Sonoma, CA.
Evergreen, which last year hosted the 1000th race in history, will improve its own record with a 62nd race, which makes this track the most visited of all time by the West Series.
As far as newcomers to the calendar go, it’s actually a comeback. Indeed the Shasta Speedway has already hosted 14 races in the past between 1967 and 2015 and the Madera Speedway seven races between 1973 and 2009.
| Date | Track (length and type) | Location | Race name | |
| 1 | March 10 | Phoenix Raceway (1 mile paved oval) | Avondale, AZ | General Tire 150 |
| 2 | April 1 | Irwindale Speedway (.5 mile paved oval) | Irwindale, CA | NAPA Auto Parts 150 |
| 3 | April 22 | Kern County Raceway Park (.5 mile paved oval) | Bakersfield, CA | Kern County 150 |
| 4 | June 2 | Portland International Raceway (1.967 road track) | Portland, OR | Portland 112 |
| 5 | June 9 | Sonoma Raceway (1.990 road track) | Sonoma, CA | General Tire 200 |
| 6 | July 1 | Irwindale Speedway (.5 mile paved oval) | Irwindale, CA | Irwindale 150 |
| 7 | July 29 | Shasta Speedway (.375 mile paved oval) | Anderson, CA | Shasta 150 |
| 8 | August 19 | Evergreen Speedway (.646 mile paved oval) | Monroe, WA | Evergreen 150 |
| 9 | September 30 | All American Speedway (.333 mile paved oval) | Roseville, CA | NAPA Auto Care 150 |
| 10 | October 13 | The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (.375 mile paved oval) | Las Vegas, NV | Star Nursery 150 |
| 11 | October 21 | Madera Speedway (.333 mile paved oval) | Madera, CA | Madera 150 |
| 12 | November 3 | Phoenix Raceway (1 mile paved oval) | Avondale, AZ | Phoenix 100 |
2023 Teams and drivers
The physiognomy of the paddock will change somewhat this year since we will no longer see the blue and orange cars of Bruncati Sunrise Ford Racing. As a reminder ; Bob Bruncati decided to end his adventure in the West Series after 19 seasons at the end of last year. But his cars found refuge with his friend Tim Huddleston of High Point Racing. For the moment only Trevor Huddleston has been confirmed full-time. But the team should enter two cars for the whole season and even a third during a few races.
For the first time since 2014, Bill McAnally Racing will have just one full-time driver with 2022 rookie Tanner Reif. However, the team will indeed have two cars in all the races. The second being shared between Cole Moore and debutant Eric Johnson, Jr.
In total there will be 17 cars announced full time. But for many of them, their wheel will be shared by two or more drivers, such as Nascimento-Joiner Motorsports, Last Chance Racing or Bill McAnally Racing. Among the 12 drivers announced as full-time will be veteran Todd Souza, for whom this will be his last full-time season.
Below is the 2023 team chart. Drivers from the National ARAC Menards Series who will only be present in the combined race on March 10 are not included in this table unless it is already confirmed that they will participate in at least one other West Series race.
We will go into more detail driver by driver in the race preview article of the first race of the season in Phoenix.
| 2023 ARCA MENARDS WEST SERIES TEAM CHART | ||||||
| # | Driver | Team | Owner | Crew chief | Make | Infos & sponsors |
| 04 | Ethan Nascimento
Bubba Nascimento |
Nascimento-Joiner Motorsports | Eric Nascimento | Mike Nascimento | Toyota | -full time with different drivers including Ethan Nascimento and Bubba Nascimento |
| 05 | David Smith | Shockwave Racing | David Smith | Brandon Carlson | Toyota | -Full time
-Shockwave Marine Suspension Seating Note: technical alliance with Naake-Klauer Motorsports |
| 2 | Sebastian Arias | REV Racing | Max Siegel | Jamie Jones | Chevrolet | -Sonoma, Phoenix 2
– Brady IFS |
| 4 | Ethan Nascimento
Bubba Nascimento |
Nascimento-Joiner Motorsports | Eric Nascimento | Ty Joiner | Toyota | -full time with different drivers including Ethan Nascimento and Bubba Nascimento |
| 5 | Jacob Smith | Jerry Pitts Racing | Jerry Pitts | Charlie Wilson | Toyota | -Sonoma, Irwindale (July), LVMS Bullring, Madera
-TBA |
| 7 | Takuma Koga | Jerry Pitts Racing | Jerry Pitts | Jerry Pitts
Car chief: Denny Moyer |
Toyota | -Full time
-RISE UP, Laundry / GR Garage Takatsuji / T3R / Loop Connect / Yamada Infra Tecnos / Lobster Tools / Koshi No Kanbai Brewery / Toyota Enterprise |
| 11 | Chris Lowden | Lowden-Jackson Motorsports | Chris Lowden | Tony Jackson
Car chief: Christopher Jackson |
Ford | -Part time (ovals)
-Blue Valor Whiskey / Stoney’s / CountryAFRadio.com |
| 12 | Kyler Keller | Jerry Pitts Racing | Steve Bohanon | Jerry Pitts | Toyota | -Full time
-TBA |
| 13 | Todd Souza | Central Coast Racing | Kelly Souza | Michael Munoz | Toyota
Ford |
-Full time
-Central Coast Cabinet |
| 14 | Davey Magras | Davey Magras Racing | Davey Magras | Zach Magras | Chevrolet | -Sonoma, Portland, Phoenix 2
-Advanced Autoworks / Koerner Racing Engines / Penumbra Engineering LLC / ALTRA Collision |
| 15 | Sean Hingorani | Venturini Motorsports | Billy Venturini | Dave Leiner | Toyota | -full time
-Gearwrench -Alliance with Jerry Pitts Racing |
| 16 | Tanner Reif | Bill McAnally Racing | Bill McAnally | John Camilleri | Chevrolet | -full time
-NAPA Auto Care |
| 19 | Cole Moore
Eric Johnson, Jr. |
Bill McAnally Racing | Alex McAnally | Mario Isola | Chevrolet | Moore: -All oval races
-BBB Industries / JM Environmental -Johnson, Jr.: -Sonoma, Portland -TBA |
| 22 | Ryan Roulette | Triple R (Ryan Roulette Racing) | Ryan Roulette | Chris Greaney | Ford | -7 races including Phoenix1, Sonoma, Phoenix 2 and 4 TBD. The objective is to do the 12 races.
– Bellator Recruiting Academy -in partnership with Last Chance Racing |
| 25 | Conner Jones | Venturini Motorsports | Billy Venturini | Kevin Reed, Jr. | Toyota | -Phoenix 1, Phoenix 2
-PepperJack Kennels / Jones Utilities |
| 27 | Bobby Hillis, Jr. | Fierce Creature Racing | Bobby Hillis, Jr. | Ed Ash
Ralph Byers |
Chevrolet | -Full time
-First Impression Press |
| 32 | Dale Quarterley | Quarterley Racing | Dale Quarterley | Alex Quarterley | Chevrolet | -Sonoma, Portland
-Van Dyk Recycling Solutions |
| 33 | P.J. Pedroncelli | P.J. Pedroncelli Racing | P.J. Pedroncelli | Rodd Kneeland | Chevrolet | -part time, Sonoma, Madera, Shasta, Roseville
-Select Mobile Bottlers |
| 39 | Andrew Tuttle | Last Chance Racing | Andrew Tuttle | Taniesha Tuttle | Ford
Chevrolet |
-Full time
-VFW / DAV |
| 41 | Tyler Reif | Lowden-Jackson Motorsports | Chris Lowden | Tony Jackson
Car chief: Ron Norman |
Ford | -Full time
-Gen Components, Vegas Fastener Manufacturing, Stoney’s, CountryAFRadio.com |
| 46 | RJ Smotherman | Lowden-Jackson Motorsports | Chris Lowden | Tony Jackson
Car chief: Rip Michaels |
Ford
Chevrolet |
-Full time
-Stoney’s / CountryAFRadio.com Note: Chevrolet for short track |
| 50 | Trevor Huddleston | High Point Racing | Tim Huddleston | Travis Thirkettle | Ford | -full time
-HPR, YouRaceLA |
| 52 | Ryan Philpott | Philpott Racing | Ryan Philpott | Chuck Dozhier | Toyota | -Sonoma
-TBA |
| 54 | Joey Iest | Naake-Klauer Motorsports | Mike Naake | Mike Naake | Ford | -Part time TBA
-TBA |
| 55 | Toni Breidinger | Venturini Motorsports | Billy Venturini | Cayden Lapcevich | Toyota | -Phoenix 1, Phoenix 2
-TBA |
| 66 | Eric Rhead | 66 Rhead Racing | Al Jones | Roxi Gabbard | Chevrolet | -part time (TBA)
-TBA |
| 68 | Rodd Kneeland | Rodd Racing | Rodd Kneeland | Tony Caputo | Chevrolet | -Sonoma, Portland
-Rodd Renovations Inc. |
| 77 | TBA | Performace P1 Motorsports | Joe Nava | Dave McKenzie | Toyota | -TBA (Full or part time)
-Jan’s Towing |
| 80 | Brian Kamisky | Derek Copeland Racing LLC | Brian Kamisky | Derek Copeland | Toyota | -part time (TBA)
-TBA |
| 85 | Jim Weiler
Joey Brasil Vince Little Josh Fanopoulos |
Last Chance Racing | Andrew Tuttle | Darrell Herzog
Josh Fanopoulos |
Chevrolet | -full time
-TBA -Note: program for each driver to be confirmed -Weiler: Sonoma, Portland, Roseville |
| 86 | Tim Spurgeon | David Racing | Tim Spurgeon | Mike David | Chevrolet | -Part time, Sonoma
-Kleenblast |
| 88 | Bradley Erickson | Naake-Klauer Motorsports | Mike Naake | Tony Caputo | Ford | -full time
-L&S Framing |
| 93 | Caleb Costner | Costner Weaver Motorsports | Caleb Costner | Darrell Phillips | Chevrolet | -Phoenix 1, Sonoma, Phoenix 2
– Innovative Tiny Houses |
| ? | TBA | High Point Racing | Tim Huddleston | TBA | Ford | -full time
-TBA |
| ? | TBA | High Point Racing | Timm Huddleston | TBA | Ford | -part time
-TBA |
| ? | Dean Thompson | Venturini Motorsports | Billy Venturini | TBA | Toyota | -Phoenix 2
-TBA |