Brad Arnold Is Ready To Go Racing

Column By: RANDY KANE / RPW – BECHTELSVILLE, PA – Brad Arnold is ready to go racing.

Practice day at Grandview Speedway is only some three weeks away and the April first opening night race at that Bechtelsville based third-mile high-banked dirt track is just a month away, but the 24-year-old race veteran is itching to get behind the wheel.

“Everything is basically done on the race car,” revealed Arnold. “All we’ve got to do is install the motor and we’re ready to go racing. We’re having a brand-new open Sportsman engine built at Van Industries, which is located in Birdsboro, and we’ll keep our crate motor we used last season as a spare this year. Van Industries has built several Sprint Car engines in the past, but this is their first attempt at building a Sportsman engine. All the parts going into our engine are brand-new to start the season.”

Again, in 2017, the Kenhorst racer will run the full season at Grandview, wheeling his Bicknell chassied WEEU Radio 830AM backed No. 830 Sportsman mount. A season earlier Arnold had a feature triumph and finished up with a solid seventh in the season-long Sportsman standings.

“Last year,” Arnold explained. “We were set down for two weeks at Grandview and we decided to try running a couple of races at Big Diamond for those two weeks. We ended up blowing our engine and picked up the crate. Had we not lost those two Saturday nights, we’d easily have had a top three finish in the points. I believe that. I feel we can improve by running the full season this year. I’d like to chase a possible track championship, but we will have to see how everything shakes out, I guess?”

Arnold began his racing career in a Quarter Midget at the age of eight. By the time he turned 15, Arnold moved on to a Slingshot. In 2011, Arnold climbed aboard a Stage One Modified and the next season he advanced into a self-owned Sportsman ride. That next year, Arnold made the decision to jump into a 358 Modified, which was a self-owned entry running weekly at Big Diamond in Forestville.

“I used to travel to Big Diamond, Grandview and Susquehanna Speedway (Newberrytown) when I was younger and I always had the desire to race the bigger 358 Modified division,” submitted Arnold. “I started out thinking about running with a 358 Modified car at the age of 17. A lot of guys had raced a Slingshot with me and they graduated into a crate racer. It was just too much to haul to New Jersey every weekend and a lot of my friends talked me into running with a 358 Modified, instead. I figured why not? That’s where I was headed anyway. Running with the bigger cars, we felt you wouldn’t get wrecked too often. They know what it takes. We bought a car and went racing.”

After running as a Big Diamond regular the first few years, Arnold decided to jump to running at Grandview as a weekly regular, which is where he always dreamed of going, eventually. In 2015, Arnold got collected in a wild multi-car front straightaway wreck and destroyed his ride. Eventually, Arnold returned as a Sportsman division campaigner and raced all of 2016 in that division.

“I bought the car and my dad owns the truck and trailer, so, I guess, I am listed as the owner and driver,” Arnold was saying. “We might travel a little in 2017 running some middle of the week events, plus I’d love to get back to racing a little at Bridgeport Speedway (New Jersey) again sometime. We’ll see how that weekly racing stuff goes first and see if traveling makes any sense from there. I picked up some additional sponsorship deals and we would return to 358 Modified racing again, honestly, if we find a full-time tire sponsor for a 358 Modified ride. I can’t afford to put tires on and race a 358 Modified weekly on my current racing budget. The new season’s only a month away and it’s getting closer, fast. I’m ready to go racing.”