By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
With the announcement that NASCAR has purchased the ARCA Racing Series, Kickin’ The Tires reached out to owners and drivers that compete or have competed in ARCA about this acquisition.
Here is what they had to say:
“I don’t know. It could be good, it could go wherever. We don’t really know. I think it is cool. It’s obvious that they are showing interest in all of us coming up right now. We will see where it goes. I don’t think it can do any bad. I don’t know what the plans are. I think maybe if they combine K&N and ARCA that they can grow car counts, it could do good. I like ARCA a lot more because we do pit stops.” Sheldon Creed, ARCA driver for MDM Motorsports
“I just found out about that. I think it will be pretty good. Obviously their three series are pretty stout. What I hear what they are going to do is add K&N and ARCA together, which I think is a great idea. It will up car counts and hopefully more competition will come in. The NASCAR name is a lot bigger. All in all, I think it’s great.” Zane Smith, ARCA driver for MDM Motorsports
“It’s a mixed emotion thing for me. This has been an ARCA family forever. It’s sad to see it change. I think everybody probably knew that it was coming as the older group of NASCAR people go out and retire, that’s the people who has always dealt with the ARCA deal. I think it is a fitting situation. Ron (Drager) has two race tracks in Toledo and Flat Rock that he can focus on. It’s a hard deal chasing this circus around everyday. I am happy for him and if that was the right descion for him and his family, that was the right thing to do. We will still have a place to race and maybe just have a different banner.” Frank Kimmel, 10-time ARCA champion
“I think it is a good move. I certainly hope they can combine things on the K&N and ARCA side. I am assuming that is the ultimate goal with this move. Those cars are so similar at this point. I hope they can intertwine and race on each others tracks. I certainly think this is a good move. I think there is one too many series in the chain of everything. By combining them, I hope it gives good car counts and shows because I think separately they gave great shows. If we have a great car count between the two of them, I think it will be great for the whole sport.” Matt Tifft, ARCA driver from 2013-2017, NASCAR XFINITY Series driver for Richard Childress Racing
“I guess none of know for sure how that is going to affect us. NASCAR is an amazing racing organization. They have done a great job for the sport. ARCA has been around for a long time. I hope we can keep a lot of the same things we have instilled here through the years. I hope we stay in our roots and stay at a lot of the tracks we are going to and keep the same people because I feel like we have something special going on. I am glad to be a part of it. This is an exciting new adventure for all of us.” Billy Venturini, Owner/General Manager for Venturini Motorsports