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An ARCA MODEL by MR NASCAR Richard Mitchell's 2002 COACH USA ARCA Pontiac!

The Arca series actually has a history almost as full as NASCAR, with many drivers such as Benny Parsons, cutting their teeth in that series, before moving to greater glory and exposure in NASCAR. The darker side of ARCA is cars as powerful and fast as NASCAR, pilotted in many cases by drivers less experienced or skilled than their NASCAR counterparts, and it gained a reputation for some pretty horrific incidents. That seems to be less the case these days, as increasing professionalism has seeped down to that level.

The model you see here is Richard Mitchell's 2002 COACH USA Pontiac. The kit used was the standard issue Revell Pontiac. In fact, this car came to be in likely the same way many ARCA cars come to be: I had an old Kyle Petty body, painted up in his 1999 Charity Ride colours, but I had messed up the paint job, and started over on a new body. This one sat around for three years, before I decided to convert it to an ARCA car. Similarly, many ARCA cars began life as WC cars.

The body was simple, altho I did rework the tail end to match reference pics provided by Josh Rowell, whose idea it was to do this decal set. The challenge was tracking down all the unique sponsors, mostly over the internet, and harvesting logos for the model graphics. About the only logos shared with the WC cars are those in front of the front fenderwell. I was particularly pleased with the REMAX for the windshield top strip, the fender contingency decals, HOOSIER on the rear spoiler, and the HOOSIER markings for the tires. These are what really sets this one apart from normal NASCAR models!

Decal application was very easy, as the whole body was white. I provided on the sheet the option for the open grilles on the front, or partly closed with green duct tape as seen in reference shots.

Once it was finished, I cleared it with Tamiya TS13 (light coats from rattlecan heated in tap water...) and had a different model, one from a NASCAR feeder series, to add another dimension to my collection.

So.. who is Richard Mitchell, you ask? Well, according to HIS WEBSITE, Richard is a 36 year-old Mech Engineering grad from West Virginia University, who has 42 feature wins. He began racing dwarf cars in 1995, and has worked his way up to the ARCA series, with a few forays into the BGN series, in a Monte Carlo, number 56, also sponsored by Coach USA in 2002.

I have only seen the car once, in an ARCA race last fall from Talladega on the tube. According to the ARCA website, he finished 24th in the Series in 2002, entering 6 of 22 races with 2 top 5's and 5 top 10's. Frank Kimmel, of course, is the BIG GUN in that series right now, winning the series in a commanding way...

However, if you were to extrapolate Richard's points in 6 races over the entire 22-race series, he would have finished 4th overall, between Jason Jarrett, and Chase Montgomery!... Go, Richard!!

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