Mitch Calvert
Fort Frances native Steve Arpin finished in 11th-place on Saturday at the Pocono 200 in Long Pond, Penn.—his latest race on the ARCA RE/MAX Series.
Arpin had the seventh-fastest time in practice, but the bulk of qualifying was rained out Friday so Arpin started 14th based on owners’ points.
He worked his way up and led the race for four laps in the early going before eventually dropping back to 11th.
“It was a learning experience,” Arpin remarked. “Pocono is one of the most unique and toughest tracks to drive on the whole circuit.
“It’s basically a triangle with three distinct turns, and three distinct handling characteristics on each corner,” he explained.
“The part that we struggled with is that you have to give up one corner to make sure you are good on the other two corners.”
Arpin said a slight adjustment they had made prior to race time actually worked against them.
“We were really good in practice, but were struggling on [turn] one a little bit, so we made some changes to the car and we tuned on that before the race to help us with one,” he noted.
“It helped there, but we sacrificed three as a result.
“[Turn] three comes out on a mile-long straightaway, so when we lost our momentum on three, it really gave us a struggle.
“It would’ve been better to struggle with one,” he admitted.
Arpin also said they’re still losing too many spots while on pit row.
“But we’ve got a bunch of guys in there now who are coming around, so we’re close there,” he added.
The 11th-place showing was Arpin’s second-best result on the ARCA circuit since a 10th-place finish in the Carolina 200 at Rockingham Speedway back in April.
Joey Logano, a regular on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series who was using the ARCA race as a tune-up, took the checkered flag ahead of Justin Lofton.
Patrick Kilgerman finished third.
Arpin did say Saturday’s race helped work out some kinks that have plagued him and his Eddie Sharp Racing team all year long.
“The best part was we really narrowed in on lots of stuff that’s been taunting us all year setup-wise,” he enthused. “Best part of the weekend was the amount of information we required, and we’ll take that with us.”
Next up on the ARCA circuit is the Racing for Wildlife 200 at the Michigan International Speedway this Friday (June 12).
“We tested at Michigan a few weeks back, and we had a good strong test there and are looking forward to it,” Arpin said. “I think we were fourth in practice when we tested there.
“We just have to make sure the performance in practice transfers over to the race,” he stressed.
The two-mile, ‘D’-shaped Michigan International Speedway offers different challenges from Pocono—notably when it comes to speed.
“At Pocono, we were going into the corners at 200 miles per hour, and at Michigan we’ll be going in at 205-210 [m.p.h.],” Arpin noted.
The 25-year-old said the hard work on and off the track will start to pay off on the scoreboard sooner than later.
“We’re still shooting for this first top five [finish], and it’s going to happen eventually,” he reasoned. “Stuff is eventually going to go our way.”
In related news, a bus being organized here by Brenda Kellar to head down to Newton, Iowa for the ARCA RE/MAX Series Prairie Meadows 200 on July 10-11 to watch Arpin is in limbo.
“There’s still lots of seats available, so the quicker people can commit to me on whether or not they are going to go, the better,” Kellar stressed.
“We’ve got a price of $210 [U.S.] if we can get at least 35 of the 45 seats sold, but we aren’t close yet.
“I have to be able to let the hotel and the bus know,” she added.
“It’s a little discouraging, but I can’t make it go if there’s only 10 or 15 seats sold,” Kellar said.
She added those interested should sign up through her at 274-1206 within the next week if they hope to get on board.
“The sooner, the better; within the next three or four days would be perfect,” she noted. “A lot of people like to leave it until the last minute, but I can’t afford to wait that long.”
