Wild crash in the ARCA race today with video & pics

[TruckDriver]

This is crazy... All the way to the parking lot, and into the parked cars!  

There is 2 videos, one of the crash, and one after the crash, and more pictures too.

http://www.popularspeed.com/will-kimmel-parking-lot-crash-arca-mobile-2015/

[JB400]

Maybe, it's time for ARCA to follow in Nascar's footsteps and use their gen 6 chassis.

Although they claim no damage to the truck, it looks like the hitch is bent.

[Drache]

So why is there no wall or anything else closer in to stop a vehicle before it even got close to the parking lot? 

[Stevearino]

ARCA will be moving to the gen6 chassis soon. Lucky for them they will be skipping the CO body phase and going right to the Gen 6 body styles with composite bodies for tracks under a mile.

[John_Kunkel]

Looks like he forgot the first rule of roundy-pounding....TURN LEFT !!!! 

[440]

I too can't believe there is no tire barrier or anything either.. Amazing

[Aero426]

ARCA will be moving to the gen6 chassis soon. Lucky for them they will be skipping the CO body phase and going right to the Gen 6 body styles with composite bodies for tracks under a mile.

The composite bodies look very nice.    I will not miss the old "Twisted Sister" cars with the wildly asymmetric bodies. 

[Ponch ®]

ARCA will be moving to the gen6 chassis soon. Lucky for them they will be skipping the CO body phase and going right to the Gen 6 body styles with composite bodies for tracks under a mile.

Do ARCA teams run "old" (used) Cup / Busch Nationwide Xfinity cars or do they build their own with similar but series-specific specs?

[Aero426]

ARCA will be moving to the gen6 chassis soon. Lucky for them they will be skipping the CO body phase and going right to the Gen 6 body styles with composite bodies for tracks under a mile.

Do ARCA teams run "old" (used) Cup / Busch Nationwide Xfinity cars or do they build their own with similar but series-specific specs?

ARCA has been running the old Cup chassis design used prior to the introduction of the COT.   I guess we would call that Gen IV. 

[Ponch ®]

ARCA will be moving to the gen6 chassis soon. Lucky for them they will be skipping the CO body phase and going right to the Gen 6 body styles with composite bodies for tracks under a mile.

Do ARCA teams run "old" (used) Cup / Busch Nationwide Xfinity cars or do they build their own with similar but series-specific specs?

ARCA has been running the old Cup chassis design used prior to the introduction of the COT.   I guess we would call that Gen IV. 

Oh ok. So are they literally using retired Cup cars? Whats the main difference? Less powerful engines?

[TruckDriver]

Less power and they as of right now, are still using the old cup car body style (before the COT car).


This is one of he current cars

[Aero426]

Starting in 2015, ARCA has been phasing in a spec McEngine built by Ilmor.   It is a GM based LSX engine that would be optional to run in all bodies.    About $35k to buy it.  Can race 1200-1500 miles before refresh.   $10 to 15k to rebuild it.     It is a sealed fuel injected engine.   Teams don't touch it.     

More about it here.

http://www.enginelabs.com/news/ilmor-396-arca-engine-saves-money-lays-off-engine-builders/

[TruckDriver]

I'm sure Napscar will be watching this move too. 

[Highbanked Hauler]

Starting in 2015, ARCA has been phasing in a spec McEngine built by Ilmor.   It is a GM based LSX engine that would be optional to run in all bodies.    About $35k to buy it.  Can race 1200-1500 miles before refresh.   $10 to 15k to rebuild it.     It is a sealed fuel injected engine.   Teams don't touch it.     

More about it here.

http://www.enginelabs.com/news/ilmor-396-arca-engine-saves-money-lays-off-engine-builders/

   Its coming back up the pipe, spec engines,bodies, tires and I am sure other stuff that is being taken out of the hands of the teams. Cars will be a spec.  body with a manufactures decal set on it,  WAIT it is already isn't it.  Pretty soon it will be a DRIVER can swipe  their credit card and get a race team and car for the day.

[Ponch ®]

Starting in 2015, ARCA has been phasing in a spec McEngine built by Ilmor.   It is a GM based LSX engine that would be optional to run in all bodies.    About $35k to buy it.  Can race 1200-1500 miles before refresh.   $10 to 15k to rebuild it.     It is a sealed fuel injected engine.   Teams don't touch it.    

More about it here.

http://www.enginelabs.com/news/ilmor-396-arca-engine-saves-money-lays-off-engine-builders/

  Its coming back up the pipe, spec engines,bodies, tires and I am sure other stuff that is being taken out of the hands of the teams. Cars will be a spec.  body with a manufactures decal set on it,  WAIT it is already isn't it. Pretty soon it will be a DRIVER can swipe  their credit card and get a race team and car for the day. :rotz:

is that a bad thing though? ARCA and the like are supposed to be feeder series and a good channel for drivers to enter the sport (or start moving up from the local tracks) . Two of the biggest barriers of entry to the sport are the cost and logistics of starting a team from scratch, so if one has enough $ to "rent" a car to race, it may open some doors for them later on.  Assuming, of course, that the governing body maintains some reasonable standards for driver qualifications.

[Highbanked Hauler]

  Ponch,  What I am looking at is How long before NASCAR owns everything ? They already own most of the tracks and dictate everything to do with the cars, no testing now.  I surely don't know but  as changes happen I wonder.

[Mike DC]

  
I don't see why people fight the idea of NASCAR being totally spec anymore.  


"Run whatcha brung, staying within this list of general specs" <-- it didn't work very well in the 1940s, everyone just liked the idea of it.  (And Bill France liked being able to indirectly influence things.)  Now after 70+ years of technical development that concept is absurd.  

It's like trying to run a pro ball sport with no entry draft, no trade restrictions, and no salary caps.  It worked fine for the local teams back when we were 10yo kids didn't it?  



I like the 1940s ideal of NASCAR better than the IROC formula too.  

But that's not what NASCAR is today.  Now it's about 80% IROC and 20% richest-team-wins.  Faced with this scenario, doesn't 100% IROC sound better?  

[Ponch ®]

 
I don't see why people fight the idea of NASCAR being totally spec anymore.  

Because they're not "Stock" cars anymore. They haven't been for 40+ years, tho at some point they resembled production vehicles.

But there's two ways of looking at it. Either you are a fan of the cars and you want to root for a Chevy/Ford/Dodge, or you are a fan of racing, in which case it doesn't matter. If NASCAR goes full spec, I won't care as long as the cars are still going fast, because that is what I find exciting about it.

the "I don't like NASCAR because they're not stock cars" argument is all semantics and makes as much sense as hating football because the ball doesn't get kicked as much as in football (soccer)

[JB400]

   What I enjoy the most of racing is the combination of driver's talent and engineer's talent.  The crew had a set of basic rules, and had to come up with ways to get the advantage.  The driver then had to take that car and get it in victory lane.  Luck was the only wild card factor.  Best car/ crew won most of the time.

  Right now, Nascar has gotten off of this format.  The engineers can't pull too many tricks and the drivers are pretty much just robots out there.  Best car doesn't always win.  Last weeks race was proof of that.  Busch or Harvick should have won.  It's just which crew chief makes the right decision at the end that gets the win.

  Spec racing just stinks all around.

[Ponch ®]

  What I enjoy the most of racing is the combination of driver's talent and engineer's talent.  The crew had a set of basic rules, and had to come up with ways to get the advantage.  The driver then had to take that car and get it in victory lane.  Luck was the only wild card factor.  Best car/ crew won most of the time.

  Right now, Nascar has gotten off of this format.  The engineers can't pull too many tricks and the drivers are pretty much just robots out there.  Best car doesn't always win.  Last weeks race was proof of that.  Busch or Harvick should have won.  It's just which crew chief makes the right decision at the end that gets the win.

 Spec racing just stinks all around.

On the other hand, when, let' say #48 gets caught "pulling tricks" to "get the advantage", they are called cheaters who only win because they have more money to build faster cars and wind tunnels, and blah blah.

It really boils down to whether NASCAR fans would rather complain about rich teams "cheating" and not being about the driver or about all the cars being too much alike with no room for creativity?

[JB400]

It's the tricks of the 48, as well as of the 43, 21, 9, 24, and the others that evolved the sport.  Spec racing doesn't evolve, it gets boring and dies out until the next gimmick gets introduced.  This is where the Sprint Cup series is at right now. 

[Mike DC]

   
People want the best-built car winning as long as they like the driver/team running it.  

When the wrong driver/team has the best car for months on end then everybody bitches.  They're cheating.  They have an unfair financial advantage.  It's all money these days and a real racer can't win on skill anymore.  NASCAR is lazy about catching/restricting them.  This sport sucks.  It's NASCAR's own fault ratings are in the toilet.  Etc.  

[Ponch ®]

   
People want the best-built car winning as long as they like the driver/team running it.  

When the wrong driver/team has the best car for months on end then everybody bitches.  They're cheating.  They have an unfair financial advantage.  It's all money these days and a real racer can't win on skill anymore.  NASCAR is lazy about catching/restricting them.  This sport sucks.  It's NASCAR's own fault ratings are in the toilet.  Etc.  

The same people who are always whining about Jimmie and Chad being cheaters who are ruining the sport are often the same people who reminisce so fondly of Smokey Yunick putting a basketball in the gas tank or his mythical "7/8's" Chevelle and call him an innovator and genius.