Dan Falloon
Even though Steve Arpin is the one with his name on the trophy, he’s still quick to use “we” when talking about his win Sunday at the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 at Salem Speedway in Salem, Ind.
“It’s been a long time coming, and we finally pulled it off,” enthused Arpin.
“It was pretty cool.”
The win was Arpin’s first on the ARCA circuit, where he is entering his second season.
He noted the entire race was a convincing performance, He led for 137 of the 200 laps, and was in that position when the checkered flag came up.
ARCA’s website stated Arpin passed Joey Coulter on Lap 142 and didn’t look back for the rest of the race.
“We started on the outside pole and we led the first 80 laps, I believe,” Arpin recalled.
“But we were really good in the shorter runs at the start of the race,” he added.
Arpin passed along credit to his pit crew, who he felt made the right decisions each time he pulled in.
“The car started to go tighter and tighter throughout the run as the tires wore out,” he noted.
“As the race went on, the first pit stop of the race, my crew chief picked up a couple adjustments on the car just to make sure of the direction we wanted to go.
“We went off for another run, and it was better, just not quite enough,” he added.
“It was the right changes, and we ran about fourth or fifth that whole run.
“We came in for the final pit stop and made some bigger changes, and just went more aggressive in the direction we’d already went,” Arpin continued.
“They made the perfect calls because the car just drove like a Cadillac. . . probably the last 70 or 80 laps to go in the race.”
Arpin said a good pit crew makes the driver’s job loads easier, stressing the driver just can concentrate on racing if the car is running smoothly.
“It really made me look good because I could do whatever I needed with the race car and the race car let me do it, so that was a pretty cool feeling,” he enthused.
Arpin felt his No. 55 car was in tip-top shape heading into the weekend, and it held together into Sunday.
“When we unloaded off the truck yesterday [Saturday] in practice, we were really good,” he remarked. “We were second in practice, the first round out, and stayed there all day long.
“We qualified second and just, thankfully, we weren’t second in the race.
“It was a great race car right from the get-go, all weekend long.”
To celebrate the victory, Arpin gathered the whole crew together and recognized they were just as excited as he was.
“After the race, we were just with all the guys,” he noted. “There were so many people involved in this thing and that’s something that often gets overlooked in motorsports—a whole bunch is what happens behind the scenes.
“There were probably 20 or 30 guys at the track with us this weekend, and we just . . . celebrated with them because it’s as much of a win for them as it is for me.
“It’s a pretty cool day, where we just really had a good time.”
Arpin maintained that even though a driver’s acknowledgements of others may come off as insincere at times, he recognizes the value of his pit crew to his success.
“The whole team over here, it’s just incredible,” he lauded.
“You always hear drivers get out of the car and thank the team and this and that, and it kind of sounds like it’s all rehearsed all the time,” he admitted. “But what people don’t realize is the driver’s got the easy job.
“These races, each and every race that’s won is won in the shop during the week, so these guys deserve all the credit.”
The win also vaulted Arpin into a first-place tie atop the driver standings with Justin Marks. Both drivers have 635 points through three races.
“We’re trying to be as smart as we can and making sure we’ve got top-five each and every week,” Arpin stressed. “Everything we did this weekend is everything we can do to win the points championship.
“We led the most laps, we won the race.
“We could have qualified a little bit better and got us a few more bonus points for qualifying, but it’s still early in the season, and we’ve got to keep our heads on straight and just keep on digging all year long,” he reasoned.
“We’ve got to keep this up and can’t take them for granted,” he stressed.
“These wins are hard to come by, and we’ve got to make sure not to get lazy and think that they’re just going to start falling our way and happen on their own.”
Arpin’s first year on the ARCA circuit was a tumultuous one as he switched from Eddie Sharp Racing to Venturini Motorsports in mid-season.
He admitted that his time was ESR was a struggle but it came together when he joined Venturini, posting his best results of the year.
“This has been a long time in the works,” Arpin remarked. “We came over here to Venturini Motorsports and they’re just such good racers.
“[Crew chief] Billy Venturini really took me under his wing, and he just teaches you so much about the sport and about what needs to be done and what it takes to succeed in the sport,” he said.
A major part of what Venturini has passed along is helping Arpin adjust from dirt track racing to the ARCA circuit, which Arpin explained he had to adjust nearly all he knew.
“There’s so much difference,” he noted. “Pretty much everything I thought I knew about racing I had to throw out the window and start all over.
“Typically, that’s going to be a really long learning curve but Billy’s kind of taken that learning curve and spiked it up in a real hurry to make sure it happens in the time I’ve got here to prepare me properly and give me a chance to get to the next level.
“Dirt races were 25-30 laps, sometimes a 50-lapper, and now we’re racing 200 and 300 lap races,” Arpin said. “It eats at you mentally, and one of the biggest parts of the deal is keeping your head in the game.
“So Billy’s really helped me with that a bunch, too.”
Arpin’s previous career best was a fourth-place finish at the Pennsylvania ARCA 200 at Pocono Speedway last Aug. 1.
His highest finish this season had been a fifth-place showing at the Tire Kingdom 150 in Palm Beach back on Feb. 27.
Arpin will be back in action this Friday night at the Rattlesnake 150 at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
