A familiar, yet unfamiliar face will grace the ARCA Menards Series garage area this season.
Those who watched the sitcom “Malcom in the Middle” or the “Agent Cody Banks” movies, will probably recognize this driver.
Frankie Muniz, the actor in those beloved Hollywood productions, is set to blaze a new trail in his career.
After last week’s announcement that Muniz will go full-time ARCA racing with Rette Jones Racing, it brought plenty of buzz to the series ahead of its season-opening race next month at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway.
While the news may come as a surprise for some, it was a lengthy process for Muniz to get to this point.
“I definitely have mixed emotions. I’m extremely excited to be here,” Muniz said. “We have talked about for literally almost a year and a half. We kept thinking that I was going to be on track a lot sooner than I was. But there are so many factors that have to be put into place to put a program together, and the program that I want to put together. I didn’t want to just jump in any car and run one race. I want to go out there and be as competitive as I can and give myself every advantage I have.
“I’m really throwing myself off the deep end by even joining the ARCA Menards Series. I don’t have a of stock car experience, I don’t have a lot of oval experience,” Muniz continued. “So I wanted to find the right fit where I know I’d have a team behind me that is eager to help teach me as much as I need to learn. I feel like I’m ready. We’ll see what happens.”
Despite a completely new field of work for Muniz, his prior experience competing in the Champ Car Atlantic Series alongside the likes of Indy car stars James Hinchcliffe and J.R. Hildebrand in the early 2000s helped spark his interest in making racing a career.
“I think a lot of people don’t know that I have raced a lot in my past, granted it was 10-15 years ago,” Muniz said. “I had an IndyCar ride lined up for 2010. I was a pretty serious racer. But it’s been so long.”
A career in open-wheel racing looked to be on the horizon until an injury to his back, hand and ankle during the 2009 Atlantic Series season left Muniz on the sidelines longer than he expected.
“It really was a matter of I just took longer to heal than I thought. By the time I was ready to get back in the car, not that you have to essentially start over, but I missed an entire season,” Muniz said.
Muniz stepped away from racing for a number of years.
“I got an opportunity to be in a band, I know that sounds crazy, I played drums and I was touring the world playing drums,” Muniz said. “A lot of things have just sort of taken over my life. I dove in 100 percent.”
An immediate question comes to mind with the news — what reignited this passion for racing after more than a decade on the outside?
“When I had my son 19 months ago, it honestly made me go like, ‘What am I? Who am I? Who do I want to be to my son? What do I want him to see me doing, reaching a goal?’
The desire to make his son proud flipped the switch on Muniz’s mindset — he was committed to go racing.
“I felt like, ‘I want to be a race car driver.’ That’s what I’ve always said,” Muniz said. “ I felt like I was the most comfortable doing, of all the things I’ve gotten to do.
“It’s tough. Now that I’ve gone back racing, I go, ‘Man, why did I wait so long?’”
With a full-time ride in place, Muniz will embark on his rookie season at age 37. While he’s not at the typical age to begin a career in racing, the determination to be successful is higher than ever.
“Now, realistically, I’m old to be getting started in the stock car world. In that same sense, it motivates me that I’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity that I have, today,” Muniz said.
“I don’t have time to waste. Hopefully that helps the progression go a little quicker. Because I have the motivation, I’m in the right mindset.”
The right mindset is the first of many steps for Muniz, who has a laundry list of items to adjust to inside the race car.
“Obviously just getting comfortable in the car. I’ve only tested an ARCA car I think twice. I’ve got a lot to just get comfortable there and I’ve got to do it quickly,” Muniz said. “I’ve never been to any of the race tracks, so I can’t take past experience except Mid-Ohio (Sports Car Course). I can’t take past experience and go, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve been there.’ Even just how to get on the pit lane, how to get out. Those things that you don’t really think about until you’re there.”
A test session last week at Daytona gave Muniz some much-needed track time with his new team. After a full day of on-track action, Muniz was 10th quick.
Gaining confidence in the draft at superspeedways such as Daytona is something Muniz checked off his list during the session.
“Learning how to draft, learning how to race a stock car. It’s a totally different experience than racing an open-wheel car,” Muniz said. “But I learned a lot in the few races I did out on the West Coast in late models this year. I’m going to take that.
“I’m eager to learn. I’m eager to listen to people and take as much advice as possible,” he added. “I’m ready for the challenge and, hopefully, at the end of the season if we have a conversation like this, I can say, ‘I successfully got through those hurdles, I’m ready to progress, or come back next year and be even better.’”
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