INDIANAPOLIS – AR Bodies is looking towards the future of asphalt late model racing by introducing the 2020 Camaro Revolution body.
The body, which debuted Thursday morning at the PRI Trade Show in Indianapolis, Ind., makes AR Bodies the second body manufacturer in the industry to introduce an updated asphalt late model body in as many years. Five Star Race Cars also introduced a new asphalt late model body last year.
The body is built using the same greenhouse as the current AR Bodies ABC bodies that are already on the market. AR Bodies will offer a re-skin kit to racers that will cost less than $2,000, as well as a body kit for competitors who prefer to buy a completely new body. A new body will cost between $3,000 and $4,000.
“The greenhouse, which is the roof, the glass, the cowl panel is the ABC original piece,” said Norm Desjardins, an AR Bodies distributor based in the Northeast. “If a guy is hanging this re-skin kit at home, he’s got that to go off of. The heights of the doors will be the same, the heights of the fenders, quarter panels. They have to go in the same place in order for things to fit. The jigsaw puzzle is almost solved before you even start.
“We’ll bring it in under $2,000 for the re-skin kit. We’re trying to keep the cost of the bodies down,” Dejardins continued. “We’ll offer a whole body as well and the price will be comparable to what we offer now, which is anywhere from $3,000 to $4,000 for a complete brand new body. Brand new pieces and many of the accessories that you need.”
Desjardins confirmed that while the re-skin kit is designed to fit ABC-approved kits previously sold by AR Bodies, the body design itself has not been approved by the ABC Body Program Advisory Committee.
“There are two of us who are major players in manufacturing bodies,” Desjardins explained, referencing Five Star Race Cars. “We have tried to work through with the ABC Committee to get something similar to this approved and haven’t met with any success. We’ve got to do business. We’ve got to offer what the racer wants. That’s what we’ve tried to achieve here without breaking the bank.
“We just felt that we had to produce something that has the updated look. Just popular demand really,” Desjardins said. “We’ve tried to stay with ABC and work with ABC over the years as much as possible, but when they said that they were going to come out with a new body next year (in 2021), we just couldn’t wait that long.”
Despite not having the backing of the ABC Body Program Advisory Committee, AR Bodies indicated that a number of race tracks and sanctioning bodies have already approved the Revolution body.
According to AR Bodies, those who have approved the new body include the American-Canadian Tour, the CARS Tour, the Northwest Super Late Model Series and the Granite State Pro Stock Series. Several weekly race tracks, including North Carolina’s East Carolina Motor Speedway, California’s Madera Speedway and Indiana’s Anderson Speedway, among others, have also approved the new body style.
“It (the list of those that have approved the body) changes every day,” Desjardins said. “For instance, I learned today that Seekonk (in Massachusetts) is going to approve it. I know Madera has approved it out on the West Coast. White Mountain Motorsports Park up in New Hampshire, Thunder Road, those are off the top of my head. It grows every day.”
The body that was on the show floor Thursday at the PRI Trade Show was the first Revolution body off the production line. Desjardins said that AR Bodies plans to have the body available for purchase by late January or early February.
“We’re looking at the end of January or the first of February, which is certainly plenty of time to hang a whole body or to just do a re-skin,” Desjardins said. “It’s really only a three or four day process.”