Merge puts drivers into fast lane
Stock-car drivers have golden ARCA opportunity
By Todd Kimberley, Calgary Herald Published: Sunday, January 27, 2008
Craig Ball's group of gearheads have suddenly found themselves on a very intriguing merge lane.
Craig Ball, president of the Newalta Late Model Challenge Series the past two years, was approached in September by ARCA West about a merger. He's now ARCA West's director of Canadian racing.Ball, president of the Calgary-based Newalta Late Model Challenge Series, announced Friday that his Western Canadian stock car circuit would combine with ARCA West in 2008.
The new product is the ARCA West Late Model Challenge Series - and it's got plenty of opportunity up around the bend.
"The Reader's Digest version of what this means? We're kicking a barn door open," said Ball on Sunday, "and it'll mean a straight line for Canadian racers to really have a legitimate chance at making a career out of racing.
"We're making a major stride here. The opportunities are unbelievable."
ARCA West, which runs its super late-model division in Washington, Oregon and Montana, is a division of the Automobile Racing Club of America, the oldest sanctioning body in the States.
"Uniting the Newalta LMCS with the ARCA West Late Model Challenge Series will strengthen the ARCA brand and late-model racing in the (U.S.) northwest," said Richard Michaud, president of ARCA West, based in Merced, Calif. "We're excited about the opportunities this merger presents."
Not much is expected to change, schedule-wise, in either series this summer.
But in 2009, Ball said the goal is to hold four crossover events - two here, two there - and crown a border challenge champion.
The former Newalta series, which rose from the ashes of the Western Racing League in 2006, is the largest touring stock-car loop in Western Canada, and the fastest group of stock cars from coast to coast.
Its technical and procedural rule books are similar to those of ARCA West, which will make for a relatively painless merger.
And for any of Western Canada's young left-turners who want to make it south of the 49th parallel, the dream suddenly doesn't sound so impossible.
"ARCA and NASCAR have deeply rooted connections. There's a very good working relationship there," said Ball, now ARCA West's director of Canadian racing.
"Every (Sprint) Cup team out there has an ABC driver development program - ARCA, Busch, Cup.
"Last year, we had a Canadian racer (Ryan Fisher of Surrey, B.C.), who'd been with the Newalta Series in 2006, who did a pair of ARCA Re/Max races. He's been testing at Daytona and Talladega, and he's lined up for a Busch ride this year.
"This is some of what I'm getting at," added Ball.
"No more fuddling around in all the different Canadian divisions, finding a truckload of cash and taking an attempt. It's a legitimate, straight shot."
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