{"id":99413,"date":"2025-01-02T08:32:24","date_gmt":"2025-01-02T16:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=99413"},"modified":"2025-01-02T10:11:35","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T18:11:35","slug":"my-new-years-resolution-run-my-first-arca-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/my-new-years-resolution-run-my-first-arca-race\/","title":{"rendered":"My New Year’s Resolution: Run My First ARCA Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"My<\/h2>\n

Strap in for a front-row seat to my moonshot: competing in a nationally televised stock car race.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hi, I\u2019m Cam. You might recognize me as the guy who has been covering NASCAR and IndyCar for the past year here on RacingJunk, as well as digging deep into the classifieds to find \u2013 and share \u2013 compelling race cars for sale. I\u2019m also a racer myself. I\u2019ve loved racing since I was a kid, but it wasn\u2019t until adulthood that I had the resources to pursue it.<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, I\u2019ve been able to improve my skill set thanks to some very generous friends. Back in the glory days of the \u201860s, \u201870s, and \u201880s, it wasn\u2019t uncommon for \u201cgentlemen racers\u201d like myself to make the occasional appearance in the highest levels of racing, thanks in no small part to sponsorship gleaned from personal relationships \u2013 with a little bit of dumb luck thrown into the mix. I may be a few decades late to that particular party, but I\u2019m going to have a go at it anyways.<\/p>\n

Every year around this time, people make a list of New Year\u2019s Resolutions in an attempt to better themselves and their standing in life. This year, I\u2019m making just one \u2013 I\u2019m going to attempt to run the ARCA Menards Series race at Watkins Glen on August 8, 2025. To do this successfully, I\u2019ll need to secure sponsorship \u2013 as well as hone my body and mind into a fine-tuned racing machine. I intend to bring you, the RacingJunk readers, along for the ride, every step of the way, from my search for sponsorship to walking you through my licensing procedure. I’ll be your modern-day George Plimpton<\/strong><\/a> at 170 MPH.<\/p>\n

The first step of my journey is already complete. I\u2019ve secured a ride with Kimmel Racing<\/strong><\/a>. Kimmel Racing, run by Will Kimmel<\/strong>, is a family business. Started in 1949 \u2013 one year after NASCAR itself \u2013 Kimmel Racing has been successful through multiple generations of the Kimmel family. Will\u2019s uncle, Frank Kimmel, is the most successful driver ever in the ARCA Menards Series, winning an incredible ten championships. It\u2019s a big seat to fill, and I hope I can do right by them when the green flag drops in August. Before you ask, yes, I will be in the #69 car.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to race with one of the most legendary organizations in ARCA racing. I\u2019m eager to share this journey with you and give you an inside look at how American stock car racing works at the national level. If there\u2019s anything in particular you\u2019d like to learn more about, let me know \u2013 I\u2019ll be happy to write about it in a future column. Until then, have a happy and safe new year!<\/p>\n

Photos: Jeremy Bryner and Nash Read<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Strap in for a front-row seat to my moonshot: competing in a nationally televised stock car race.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":99415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3470],"tags":[4399,11383],"class_list":["post-99413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-arca","tag-cameron-van-derhorst"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/JB2_3825.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-pRr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99413"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99421,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99413\/revisions\/99421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}