On Sunday. Feb. 5, the NASCAR Cup Series stars will duke it out in the exhibition Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The inaugural event at the Coliseum was a roaring success, watched by 4.28 million viewers.
At the historic venue, over 50,000 people enjoyed the racing on the quarter mile. With so much fanfare, why shouldn’t there be a support series event at the track, specifically the ARCA Menards Series or ARCA Menards Series West?
It’s a great idea in theory. The iconic stadium has hosted nighttime football games before, so there could be an ARCA or ARCA West race there on Saturday night. It truly would be fulfilling #ARCANightinAmerica.
Diving into the nitty gritty details, if this theoretical idea would come to fruition, it would likely be an ARCA West race, not a main series race. Per series entitlement sponsor Menards’ contract with ARCA, a certain number of main series races must be held within the Menards footprint. Because there are no Menards retail locations in California, or out west for that matter, it would be difficult to add the Coliseum to the main series schedule. As such, ARCA West would be the host series.
“As a race fan, I think it would be awesome,” ARCA Communications Manager Charles Krall tells Frontstretch. “The energy that is at the Coliseum was surprising how energized the whole event was last year. It kind of feels the same way here in 2023. As a race fan, I could use more of that, I think it would be great.
“From the ARCA perspective, yes, it would be cool for ARCA to share that platform. And remember, for about 40 years, ARCA shared Daytona International Speedway with the Clash. We ran on the same day. So, it wouldn’t be totally unprecedented.”
Two ARCA owner/drivers are also supportive of the idea.
“I am 100% for it,” Willie Mullins says. “If West went out to the Coliseum to race, I would be out there racing with them. I love the idea; I know it’s very far-fetched for that to ever happen, but I am for it.
“It’s the LA Coliseum. It’s the Bowman Gray Stadium of the west. It’s so special. In your lifetime, you only get to go to so many special tracks. Daytona is a special track, there’s a couple of them that are and the LA Coliseum has so much history that it would be an unbelievable event to attend.”
“I think it would have the potential for being a huge event for ARCA on that stage,” Greg Van Alst agrees. “I would do everything I…
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