ARCA WEST: Huffman officially takes the green flag as brake issues prevent him from completing a full lap
by Ben Schneider / LASTCAR.info Staff Writer
PHOTO: Brock Beard / @LASTCARonBROCK
Tony Huffman finished last for the 1st time in his ARCA Menards Series West career in Friday’s General Tire 200 at Sonoma Raceway when his No. 0 L&T Lawn Service / Camping World Chevrolet fell out with brake issues on the opening lap.
The finish came in Huffman’s third West Series attempt, although it was recorded as his first official race start.
A crew chief for Bobby Hillis, Jr.’s Fierce Creature Racing team, Huffman has planned to get behind the wheel as a driver for a second FCR entry in every ARCA West race so far this season, save for the season-opening race combination race at Phoenix. Through three attempts, Huffman has yet to officially complete a lap in his “less than” 0 car, the “<” symbol used by Hillis over the years to represent the team’s shoestring budget. At Kern, Huffman joined the field for the pace laps but appeared to pull into the infield immediately, as Racing-Reference.info ruled his entry a “Did Not Start.” Huffman received the same ruling last week at Portland - a crew member blamed a power steering issue for Huffman’s inability to turn a lap at the first of two back-to-back road courses.
Per a tweet from Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, 32 cars appeared on the initial entry list. Due to the withdrawal of Tanner Reif’s No. 88 Naake-Klauer Motorsports Ford, only 31 started the race. While Huffman’s was the only entry not to record a lap time in practice, only 25 of the 31 drivers turned a lap in qualifying on Friday. The six who did not - Takuma Koga, Eric Johnson Jr., Dave Smith, Huffman, Travis McCullough, and Tim Spurgeon - all lined up on provisionals in 26th through 31st respectively.
At the beginning of the race, Huffman again pulled off the starting grid to run the pace laps, though there were signs of trouble almost immediately as his car spun in Turn 3 on the final lap before taking the green. While Huffman rejoined the track without any visible damage, he was unable to catch up to the field by the time the field took the green, crossing the line to begin his first lap about 20 seconds after the rest of the field. Huffman then pulled into the pits at the end of the opening lap, stopping in his pit box just short of the start-finish line before climbing out of his car.
Huffman being interviewed by Brock Beard shortly after getting out of the car.
(PHOTO: Ben Schneider / @bcschneider53)
When asked by Brock Beard what the problem was with the car, Huffman said “I’m having no brakes. I have no brakes going into the corners or anything, so I decided to pull off because I’m not going to damage the car or myself.” Huffman also confirmed the brake issue was the cause behind the turn 3 spin. “We thought we had the problem solved, but it didn’t fix it.”
After Huffman pulled in on Lap 1, Ryan Philpott was the next to drop out of the race - a broken axle forced him into the pits after completing just one lap. Portland last-place finisher Todd Souza’s bad road course luck continued, as mechanical trouble caused him to be the third retirement from the race after completing nine laps. Souza also takes the lead of the LASTCAR Drivers’ Championship in the West Series by being the only last-place finisher this season with another Bottom Five finish. Hillis became the fourth driver to pull out, running 12 laps before he retired with suspension issues, parking his No. 27 right in front of Huffman’s No. 0. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Caleb Shrader, who appeared to lose power on track before pulling off into the carousel - Racing-Reference.info lists “handling” as the reason for his DNF.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
31) #0-Tony Huffman / 0 laps / brakes
30) #52-Ryan Philpott / 1 lap / axle
29) #3-Todd Souza / 9 laps / mechanical
28) #27-Bobby Hillis, Jr. / 12 laps / suspension
27) #6-Caleb Shrader / 14 laps / handling
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST OWNERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 4 of 12)
1st) Kennealy Keller Motorsports, Nascimento Motorsports, Central Coast Racing, Fierce Creature Racing (1)
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 4 of 12)
1st) Toyota, Chevrolet (2)
2nd) Ford (0)
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Click HERE throughout the 2024 ARCA season to view the full drivers’ standings for both the ARCA Menards Series and its East and West divisions. You can also find the manufacturers’ and owners’ standings for all three series HERE.
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 4 of 12)
