Dodge Says Goodbye to ARCA Menards Series after 30 Years at Lucas Oil Raceway

With the departure of the Gen-4 steel body racecars from the ARCA Menards Series following the final short track race of 2019 at Lucas Oil Raceway on October 5, it will also be the swansong for Chrysler products in the series – at least for now.

Dodge’s involvement in the ARCA Menards Series resumed in 1989 when the Chrysler Corporation looked to the series to develop the LeBaron, which it hoped could be used in the NASCAR Cup Series. The car, which didn’t quite meet all of NASCAR’s body dimension criteria, was approved for competition in ARCA and Canadian Jerry Churchill debuted the car at Talladega in 1989. He qualified an impressive eighth, led two laps, but we swept into a crash after 52 laps and finished 28th.

Churchill scored the LeBaron’s first top-ten two races later at Pocono when he finished sixth.

The LeBaron’s first win came in dramatic – if not controversial – fashion when Churchill led the first 93 laps of the ARCA Kil-Kare 125 at Xenia, Ohio’s Kil-Kare Speedway in April 1990. He was passed by Bob Keselowski on lap 94, but was able to get back around him – with some contact – ten laps later. But on lap 114, Illinois driver Eric Smith moved Churchill to lead the next 29 laps. On the white flag lap, Chuchill gave Smith the boot and scrambled the top ten. Churchill went to victory lane but was met by several angry drivers and teams.

In 1991, long-time Mopar loyalist Bob Keselowski transitioned from General Motor products, including a Chevrolet Beretta that was built to compete against the Lebaron, into the Chrysler. He debuted the car at Pocono and immediately parked the new car in victory lane, leading 17 of the race’s 60 laps.

The Black Bandit would earn victories at Michigan and Pocono in 1992 and then his final career ARCA Menards Series win at Springfield in 1993 driving the LeBaron.

With the success in the “new cars” on the superspeedways, short track racers also transitioned into Mopar-powered late models with the LeBaron, including Joe Hawes who competed in the ARCA Late Model division at Flat Rock Speedway.

The LeBaron transitioned out of the series in the mid-1990s, the last loyalist to the now aging body style Michigan-based owner Charlie Newby.

The LeBaron was replaced by the new Dodge Avenger body style. The car was used on the short tracks by another Mopar loyalist, Roger Blackstock.

The Avenger scored one ARCA Menards Series win, coincidentally at Kil-Kare in 1999, when Ohioan Robbie Pyle dominated the field by leading 92 laps on the way to victory. Blackstock also had a great night, earning his career-best finish of third.

The Avenger was the Dodge body of choice through 2000.

In 2001, the Chrysler Corporation officially re-entered the NASCAR Cup Series with the Intrepid. There were teams that ran the Intrepid in 2001, but the car first found success, and victory lane, with Chad Blount, at Michigan in 2002.

From there, the flood gates opened.

Dozens of drivers would win races in the Gen-4 Dodge, many of whom had ties with driver development programs with Cup Series teams. One driver that raced Dodges throughout her limited time in the ARCA Menards Series and had success was Erin Crocker Evernham. She earned five pole awards in 25 starts, including one at Daytona in 2007. Scored a total of 12 top-five and 16 top-ten finishes with a career-best second on three occasions.

Dodge left stock car racing when the Gen-6 body was approved. At the same time, its lone team – Penske Racing – switched back to Ford leaving Dodge with a racecar that no one wanted to race. The company left the sport, but many of its Gen-4 cars continued on in ARCA, unsupported by the factory.

Since Dodge has not participated in Cup racing since 2013, there is no Gen-6 body for the Charger meaning there is no composite body for the Dodge that teams could elect to use in the ARCA Menards Series. And since there is no composite body, Dodge’s run in the ARCA Menards Series ends when the steel body era ends at Lucas Oil Raceway on October 5.

There are two teams that have used the Dodge body on the short tracks in 2019 – Wayne Peterson Racing with drivers Tim Richmond and Alex Clubb, and Eric Caudell’s self-owned team. Richmond has given Dodge its best finish of the season, eleventh at Toledo in May.

Dodge drivers still hold race records at active ARCA Menards Series tracks. Tom Hessert’s 2014 winning average speed at Salem Speedway, 95.736 miles per hour, has stood for five years. Alex Bowman’s winning speed at Winchester in 2012, 81.430 miles per hour, was matched by Kyle Benjamin in 2017 but still stands as well.  Dodge cars hold the qualifying records at Iowa Speedway, Steve Wallace at 137.357 miles per hour set in 2006, Kansas Speedway, Alex Bowman at 184.546 miles per hour in 2012, and Andrew Ranger set a pair of track records at Road America and New Jersey Motorsports Park in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Dating back to Chrysler’s official re-entry into ARCA in 1989 through its final win by Parker Kligerman at New Jersey Motorsports Park in 2016, a total of 41 drivers have won a total of 83 times in a Mopar. Kligerman leads the way with ten wins in a Dodge. Ryan Hemphill and Bob Keselowski each have six, Joey Miller has five, Chad Blount, Steven Wallace, Michael McDowell, Tom Hessert, Andrew Ranger, and Alex Bowman each have four, Shelby Howard, Casey Mears, Brian Keselowski, and Dakoda Armstrong all have three, Patrick Sheltra has two, and Jerry Churchill, Robbie Pyle, Casey Atwood, Reed Sorenson, Kvapil, Dawayne Bryan, Chase Miller, David Stremme, Cale Gale, Phil Bozell, Blake Bjorklund, James Buescher, Scott Lagasse, Ken Butler, Chad McCumbee, Bryan Clauson, Matt Hawkins, Justin Lofton, Justin Allgaier, Patrick Long, Justin Marks, Robb Brent, Casey Roderick, Matt Merrell, and Blake Jones each have a single win driving a Dodge.