Born to a family of Italian immigrants, Butch Arciero and his brothers understood the value of hard work. A lifetime of commitment to that landed him in the Hall of Fame. Butch was inducted in the Off Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2019. Butch is why we say; legends live at ORMHOF.org. Be sure to tune in on your favorite podcast app.
3:23 – my mom was on the last ship that came out of Naples to the US before they stopped all the shipping when the war broke out
13:26 – “Listen, Frank, if you get good grades next semester, I’m going to give you a present.”
20:13 – my dad always wanted to own a race car
27:23 – Well shoot, I can compete with these guys, and then start winning
32:07 – I remember everybody telling me, if you’re in an area with lots of people, watch for booby traps
43:14 – One of the things with me, if I’m going to do something, I don’t just want to do it, I want to be able to win.
57:25 – I’ve got one more story I have to tell, it happened in Mexico….
Special thanks to ORMHOF.org for support and sponsorship of this podcast.
Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
Born to a family of Italian immigrants, Butch Arciero and his brothers understood the value of hard work. A lifetime of commitment to that landed him in the Hall of Fame. Butch was inducted in the Off Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2019. Butch is why we say; legends live at ORMHOF.org. Be sure to tune in on your favorite podcast app.
3:23 – my mom was on the last ship that came out of Naples to the US before they stopped all the shipping when the war broke out
13:26 – “Listen, Frank, if you get good grades next semester, I’m going to give you a present.”
20:13 – my dad always wanted to own a race car
27:23 – Well shoot, I can compete with these guys, and then start winning
32:07 – I remember everybody telling me, if you’re in an area with lots of people, watch for booby traps
43:14 – One of the things with me, if I’m going to do something, I don’t just want to do it, I want to be able to win.
57:25 – I’ve got one more story I have to tell, it happened in Mexico….
Special thanks to ORMHOF.org for support and sponsorship of this podcast.
Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
[00:00:01.060] -
Welcome to Conversations with Big Rich. This is an interview-style podcast. Those interviewed are all involved in the off-road industry. Being involved, like all of my guests are, is a lifestyle, not just a job. I talk to past, present, and future legends, as well as business owners, employees, media, and land use warriors, men and women who have found their way into this exciting and addictive lifestyle we call off-road. We discuss their personal history, struggles, successes, and reboots. We dive into what drives them to stay active and off-road. We all hope to shed some light on how to find a path into this world that we live and love and call off-road.
[00:00:46.130] -
This episode of Conversations with Big Rich is brought to you by the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. The mission of the Hall of Fame is to educate and inspire present and future generations of the off-road community by celebrating the achievements of those who came before. We invite you to help fulfill the mission of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. Join, partner, or donate today. Legends live at ormhof.org.
[00:01:15.980] - Big Rich Klein
On this week's episode of Conversations with Big Rich, I'll be speaking with "Butch" Frank Arciero.
[00:01:22.360] - Big Rich Klein
He is the second of three generations of racers, a 2019 Ormhof Inductee. He's also a member of the Ormhof Board of Directors, and a super nice guy that has been just a pleasure to get to know. And here we go. Frank Arciero. It is great to finally get you on this interview for this podcast. I know we've been working on this for a month or so, and I really appreciate you spending the time. I know you're a real busy man, but I really appreciate you coming on and spending the time. So thank you for being here.
[00:02:00.280] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Well, thank you, Rich, for asking me to come on, and I really, truly appreciate it. I appreciate all you do for our sport of off-road racing, even though this interview is personal and what have you. But you do a tremendous amount for ORMHOF, and we need more people like you to be able to grow what we're trying to do and accomplish.
[00:02:20.910] - Big Rich Klein
Well, thank you. I'm the new guy, so I have all the energy. It's all new to me.
[00:02:25.610] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
For sure.
[00:02:27.830] - Big Rich Klein
So let's start off. Where were you born and raised?
[00:02:33.170] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
I was actually born in Culver City, California, 1946. And my dad and mom had moved here from Detroit. And my dad worked for a concrete gentleman that built houses in Torrance. The name is Tony Padevano. And then my dad lived in, had a duplex and bought a duplex in Culver City, and I was there for, when I was born, probably maybe another six or seven months. And then he moved to Montebello, California. And I basically is where my roots began is in Montebello.
[00:03:13.820] - Big Rich Klein
okay. And Your dad, he immigrated from Italy to the United States when he was 14. Is that correct?
[00:03:23.350] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
That's correct. Both him and my mom both immigrated out here. They were on, I think my mom was on the last ship that came of Naples to the United States before they stopped all the shipping and all the passenger ships when the war broke out.
[00:03:38.640] - Big Rich Klein
Oh, wow. I'm glad they got out of there.
[00:03:44.070] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yeah, Exactly.
[00:03:47.510] - Big Rich Klein
Imagine what life would have been like if there had been no World War II and that you would have grown up in Italy.
[00:03:59.130] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yeah. No, I You know what, Rich? I swear to God, I do think about that once in a while. And I mean, I just I had the great opportunity. Well, actually, my dad took us back there a couple of different times, and I think '61, and then I think about the latter part '69 or 70. But I had the opportunity to take... And Ryan and Robert, my two boys and my daughter Jacquelyn, they've been back there with us, too. But I was able to take the entire family, not only Ryan, his family, Jacquelyn and her family, and Robbie and his family, and me and my wife, and we all went back to where my mom and dad were born. We were in Rome, and they were about halfway between Rome and Naples, out of a community called... My dad was out of a community called Casino. Monte Casino was a big deal during the war. There was a monastery up there. My mom was about maybe four miles over the hills into a little community called Atina. And I was able to take everybody back there. And we visited both places. The thing for me was the Grand kids.
[00:05:16.070] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
They never got to meet other than Presley, which is the oldest grandchild. I've got seven of them, and they never got to meet their grandfather, and none of them met their grandmother. She had passed. My mom passed away in in '99. So anyhow, long story short, I had the opportunity, and we went to both hometowns, and the kids just listening to them and having them look at where they lived and what they did. I mean, two of the boys the middle one, or the second oldest, Luke and his son, I mean, his brother Rocco, they were standing there by my dad's house, and they looked at me, and they called me Yappie, not grandpa. They called me Yaptie. For some reason, the oldest one couldn't say something. So I got stuck with Yappie. So they go, Yappie, he says, This is where my great grandpa lived. And I go, Yeah, right here. And he says, Well, man, he says, Where's the drinking fountains? I said, There's no drinking fountains. I said, What they had to do is they had They walked down, the mom had to walk down, get the water out of the river and bring it back up.
[00:06:19.520] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
And that's how they cleaned themselves and drank. And then the other one goes like this. And it was in July. So it was like 190 something degrees. So Luke says, Well, how about, didn't Can they have air conditioning? I go, Yeah, they did. I said, Look up here. I said, See that little hole in the wall? I said the air would come through, come blowing up during the streets and go through that little wall. And then that's how they got cooled down. Because you got to be kidding me. It was just to see there. And so I say to myself, what would I have done back then? I don't know. I mean, it was just these things work out for... God has a reason why everything works out. But it would have been, I'm sure a really interesting lifestyle and an interesting life.
[00:07:06.320] - Big Rich Klein
Absolutely a lot different.
[00:07:10.150] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Absolutely. That for sure, for sure.
[00:07:12.060] - Big Rich Klein
So when you were growing up, and what did the family do for entertainment? I know your dad worked in construction, but those younger years as a family, did you guys go camping or out into the desert? Or what did your family enjoy?
[00:07:34.310] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Well, basically, it was like a work schedule. My dad worked like six, seven days a week. So it was really where we had a lot of time together. I didn't see him very often, other than on Sundays when we went to church and what have you. But he had a passion in regards to visiting relatives that had migrated out here, too, immigrated into the United States also. So we had a bunch of relatives that lived down in the torrance area and what have you. And on Sundays, that's what we do. We just pack up. My dad would take us down and visit our relatives, and we'd learn about them and what they did and how they got here. And then my dad, he worked for, like I said, a guy named Tony Padevano. And then he started his own business in the concrete business. And he started doing concrete foundations for a lot of the builders in Southern California. He became one of the biggest subcontractors of concrete in Southern California area. And then his big passion as we grew up was, well, let me step back. Sure. One of the things that we did is he loved to invest in properties, okay?
[00:08:51.310] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
And he wanted to grow things. He always he had a green thumb. And so our deals on weekends was he bought a piece It's a property, 160 acres in Lancaster. And we used to go out there on weekends and clear the land. That's what our our our deal was. He'd bring a grader out there and he'd drive it and we'd supply the gas and the water and put it in there and do all the cleaning up around the property and what have you. And that's what we did. So it was a learning process in regards to I guess his big deal was to try and make sure that we learned what was, how do I say it, the value of work, the value of hard work and what you can accomplish.
[00:09:43.670] - Big Rich Klein
Right. And I think that those generations that immigrated into the United States came from, obviously, a different lifestyle, but it was about work, and family was around church on Sundays. If you look back at the movies and stuff like that, they learned at a very young age that you had to work to survive. And once they immigrated to the United States, those immigrants were really the foundation of the growth in the United States, no matter what country they've come from. And I think that's very honorable. And maybe as we get, as the generations go on, we lose some of that, where we fall more into the typical United States type thing, where there's more vacation time and stuff like that. But I think back on to some of the stories that I've heard about some of my relatives that immigrated in the early 1900s and late 1800s, and it was all about what they could do to better their life by having more money and being able to do things like that. So that all related to work. Kids went to work high school years was, it was spent working.
[00:11:18.120] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yeah, no, I concur with you 100 %. Me and my brother Albert, I mean, I had a younger brother, Robert, who passed away in early 2000. And And myself and my brother Albert and us, Albert and myself, were basically, we used to race together and everything else. So we grew up knowing what hard work was. And that's all we, I mean, then weekends, like I said, that's what we did. We worked All the time. And it made me appreciate what my dad actually went through, even though sometimes I was, how do I say it? I was mad that I didn't... I played a lot of sports in school, in high school, grammar school. He very seldom had the opportunity to come because he was working. But then after growing up, I realized that's what he wanted to do, is make sure he took care of his family. Unfortunately, if it took being away a little longer than natural, than normal, then it's going to be for the better of everybody. But it was, and I agree with you. I mean, it's just In today's environment, I just wish that a lot of these kids had the same opportunities that we had growing up.
[00:12:36.500] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
I think they would think a lot differently of how life is now and what we can do and not do.
[00:12:44.340] - Big Rich Klein
Right. Hopefully, we can instill those into at least our portion of those generations, those work ethics and set the priorities. I look at my kids and my grandkids. And I see that happening. So that makes me happy. Where I see other families where I'm wondering like, wow, that's free range parenting.
[00:13:12.520] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Exactly. I agree. I agree. I agree.
[00:13:17.140] - Big Rich Klein
So you said you played sports in school. How were you as a student?
[00:13:26.490] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Actually, that's a good question. When I was In grammar school, we went to... Actually, we were first noon in Montebello. There was no Catholic schools, and so we went to a public school for kindergarten, I think first grade. And then they built a church, Maracus Middle in Montebello, and they built a school, too. My second year was in Catholic school. I think between second grade and maybe fourth grade, I really wasn't a real good student. I don't know why. Maybe just wandering off and what have you. I remember we had nuns. They were the Sisters of Charity. I remember one nun took a liking to me. She had pulled me aside three or four times about getting my grades up and what have you. She promised, she said, Listen, Frank, you get a good grades in this next semester, and I'm going to give you a present. I go, Oh, my God. I busted my butt and I got A's and B's, and she gave me a present. It was a Bible. So I mean, just from that standpoint and going forward, my grades started becoming better and better. And from then on, I was a good student.
[00:14:49.470] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
I mean, all through the balance of grammar school and high school, I got good grades. And I was always a goody two shoes to the teachers because I was always looking for that present.
[00:15:00.700] - Big Rich Klein
Why?
[00:15:00.890] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
I don't know. No, not yet. Exactly. For the present.
[00:15:05.600] - Big Rich Klein
So then what sports did you play?
[00:15:09.010] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
I played football, baseball, basketball, and through grammar school and high school, and a couple of years in college. Oh, nice.
[00:15:18.820] - Big Rich Klein
Okay. And what was your major in college?
[00:15:23.350] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
It was actually started out as an engineer major because my dad wanted me to get into the business. And so I went to Long Beach State. In my second year of Long Beach State, my dad was building a big apartment complex in Montebello. He had bought some land, and part of it was residential houses, and there was two or three big apartment buildings. The first apartment building that had a, how do I say it? High rise, three-story apartment building with an elevator. And so during During the summertime is where we work. I played baseball on the weekends, and then during the week, I'd work over there in the summertime before school started again. What happened was there was a strike, and there were some problems on the job site. And so my dad fired the superintendent and told me, he said, Okay, now I want you to finish running this job because we need to get this apartment done. I said, Okay. I figured it was going to be done by, I think we started school, what, in I remember. And unfortunately, we were having some issues. And so I didn't go back to school.
[00:16:41.910] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
I finished that project, got it done. And then from there, he put me in charge of other projects. So I had two years of college and the rest of it was working for the company, for my dad's company, then on.
[00:16:56.010] - Big Rich Klein
Well, that's good schooling as well. I mean, it It wasn't like you just dropped out and went surfing or something like that. You were learning the trade from the inside out.
[00:17:08.430] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yes, that's exactly right. That's exactly right. Because I was first digging ditches, foundations, and then from there, like I said, this one here, I got into there and I got to be able to learn how to... He did all the bidding and what have you, but give me copies of the contracts so I know who's going to do the cabinet work and who's going to do the balances of whatever we're going to do to finish the project up. And I learned quite a bit. I mean, a lot. So it was really a great education for me.
[00:17:35.850] - Big Rich Klein
And how long did you stay in construction?
[00:17:39.500] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
My whole life, I'm still in it. Ever since then, my dad started. We started a company called RCR On Sons. Actually, to step back, my dad, first deal, he started. He was a concrete contractor. And then my uncle Phil, his brother, was in the Korean War. When he got out, my dad had offered him a position and some interest in the concrete company. So my uncle took it over from there. And then in, I think, early or mid '60s, we started a company called RCR on Sons, which was a corporation that stock was owned by myself, my brother and my dad. And he branched out and we started building houses. We did a tremendous amount of building in the Whittier area, in the Roland Heights, La Marada, all over the place. And then just start building from then on, just kept going. And that's what we're doing now. We're not as big now because things have changed in that industry. Oh, yeah. Tremendously. But we do other things. I mean, we're doing a big project right now in Riverside, and I've got two other partners, Jim Guthrie and Bud Felkamp, who are Buds in the Hall of Fame.
[00:18:56.040] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
And Jim is an ex-off-road racer. And we've got a pretty project in Riverside we're doing right now.
[00:19:02.040] - Big Rich Klein
Excellent. And so I read that your dad, I believe, was involved with the Championship Auto Racing Team, CART?
[00:19:15.710] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yes.
[00:19:17.030] - Big Rich Klein
How did that all evolve? From contracting to... Was that a passion of his? Was it Automobiles?
[00:19:25.590] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Automobiles was a passion with his. When he came, like I said, when he came to this country, He lived in Detroit for two years and then moved to California and went to work for a gentleman named Tony Padevano. Tony was a big builder, like I said, in the torrance area. I built thousands and thousands of houses after the war and what have you. Tony was his hometown. He was born in Italy, and his hometown was probably five or seven miles from where my dad was raised. And he went to work for Tony, became real good friends. And Tony was in the automobile racing. The saying goes back in those days that Mr. Padevano had more Ferraris in the United States than Mr. Enzo Ferrari had in Italy.
[00:20:13.350] - Big Rich Klein
Oh, wow.
[00:20:13.580] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
And he My dad used to go to the races and said, one of his dreams, because he always told us, is one of the things I always wanted to do is own a race car. So after he had told Tony he wanted to start his own company. So Tony said, fine. So he left, started his own company and did the work for Tony, did the foundations and what have you in the houses that Tony had built. And then my dad bought a two liter Ferrari and actually drove it in a couple of club races. Back then, the SCCA was the head club racing. And then the insurance company found out and told my dad, you can't drive a car and be insured for what you're doing. So my dad hired a driver. His name was Bob Drake, who drove the two liter. And then my dad sold that and bought a 4.9 Ferrari, a full-fledged race car. And Bob Drake drove that, I think, one or two races. And then somebody had come to my dad and says, Hey, listen, I have a young kid that's pretty good, and I think he would fit well with you.
[00:21:21.500] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
And his name is Dan Gurney. Oh, wow. And so my dad says, Fine. So they took him to a test in Willow Springs. And Dan got in the Ferrari and went around, came back in, and changed some tires, went back out, and said it beat the track record by three seconds or something. And so my dad hired him. So Dan drove the 4.9 Ferrari for two or three years until that was like '58, '59. And then in '60, he went back to England and met with Mr. Colin Chaplin. And my I had bought a Lotus 19, brought it out here, and then Dan drove that and said, One race is all over the United States. Then he went to Indy in 1950. I think it was like '58 or '59. He bought a car, and the car he bought was one that Billy Vukowitch had got killed in. And he bought it, and a guy named Shorty Templeman was driving it. Unfortunately, he didn't qualify because my dad, at that time, wanted to run the car, but he wanted to put a Maserati motor in it, and they were having problems with the pistons burning for whatever reason.
[00:22:48.090] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Or rods, I'm sorry, the rods going away. So anyhow, long story short, he didn't qualify. So he sold the car and then bought, I'd say between 60 with the sports cars, and then up until maybe the late early '80s, and then he bought another champ car. The CART organization was actually run by USAC at one time. And then a bunch of the drivers, I mean, the owners were upset at the rules and regulations that USAC had. So they broke away and they started CART. And my dad was one of the founding Fathers of Cart. Wow. And it was from there, he stayed there for years and years. And then we got out of it. And I think it was like 2000, early 2000. He decided the funding and everything else was getting so expensive that he wanted to do other things with the money and and decided to buy some land and build a winery.
[00:23:57.990] - Big Rich Klein
There you go. Safer.
[00:24:00.010] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yeah, exactly.
[00:24:03.490] - Big Rich Klein
That's great. I was way into racing, especially the Indy-style cars. I remember all of that with the separation and and cart, and then everything that's happened over the years with that. That's great. Wow. Cool.
[00:24:25.340] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yeah. No, he loved it. Like I said, he loved racing. And then when we got involved in off-road racing, he liked it. And so he said, I have a friend. My dad had a good friend of his that he met through building. He was the President of a savings loan called Southern California Savings and Loans. And he told me, he said, Me and Albert, he said, Listen, I want to buy a car and I want to build a two-seat car so I can bring... His name was Ken Childs, Mr. Childs. He loves racing, too. I want to race off-road races with him. So we bought a two-seater, we bought a Funco, and he raced that a couple, I think two or three times.
[00:25:06.980] - Big Rich Klein
Great. So let's talk about how then you got into racing. I mean, obviously you're around a racing family at that point, but especially off road.
[00:25:19.820] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yeah, well, being involved in the racing part of it, when I was working out in the field as Learning the concrete part of the business. We had a job out in near West Lake Village, a concrete job we were doing. And the gentleman that was the superintendent for the developer who was building it out, we became friends. He wanted to talk to me all the time at lunchtime because he knew my dad was involved in racing. Anyhow, his name was Larry Denevitz, and he did some off-road racing. He told me, he said, Frank, I started... Prior to that, I was racing desert motor cycles. Me and my brother, we did that for five or six years and really love doing it. At this time, there he says, Hey, I have a car. If you guys are interested, it was 1972. And he says, If you're interested, I'm selling it. I came home. I told Albert, and I said, You want Are you interested in buying this car? I said, Yeah, let's go look at it. He said, Let's go look at it. So we drove out there to Larry's place, and it was a home-built car.
[00:26:39.760] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
It wasn't like a Funco or a Chinowith or something. It was just a home-built off-road car. We said, Yeah. We made a deal with them. We bought it, and we raced it. Their first race was in Palmdale. I don't know what happened. We broke or something. Then our second race was actually the Mint 400, the year that Parnelly won it in 1973.
[00:26:59.430] - Big Rich Klein
Wow.
[00:27:00.210] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
That just projected us out to say... We raced that car two races, and then we said, Hey, this is... The car didn't really... It had issues with the way it was built and what have you. We sold it and then bought a Funco and started racing off road with Funcos.
[00:27:21.300] - Big Rich Klein
That is great.
[00:27:23.780] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yeah, I know. I know. It's how things happen. Somebody opens the door for you and you look at it and you like it and you start it. But I tell you what, off road racing, like I said, I've been involved in, when I say involved, with my dad, my brother. My brother did more. He actually worked on the Indy cars and those cars during the course of summer times when we were out of school. I played baseball and what have you, so I wasn't involved in that. But still, from a standpoint of watching and growing up with the sport and then also having the opportunity to race in off-road racing, it really opened up my eyes. I mean, the first two or three years, I think it probably took us four years before we went to race, it It was just a mind... It was just something you're saying to myself, Man, these guys are going so fast. It was like we couldn't keep up until you have that one opportunity to have a good vehicle, and now all of a sudden things turn around and it opens the door and you start saying, Well, shoot, I can compete with these guys, and then start winning.
[00:28:39.590] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
And it was a great, great, great deal. I tell you, off-road racing, to me, is the hardest form of racing around because you have a lot of different things that you have to go through versus in a pavement racing. You know how many turns you have. You got a road course or in the flat oval, going around, what have you. But off-road racing, man, you run into so many different things. And it really opened our eyes. And I truly loved it. I mean, it was a challenge, and it was something that we really enjoyed, both me and my brother.
[00:29:17.130] - Big Rich Klein
So then your second race, you said was the Mint 400, but it took you about four years to where you guys won your first race. Do you remember that first win?
[00:29:30.900] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yes, it was a racing. There was an organization out of Fresno called AMSA, AMSA, and they had races. They raced at California city. And then also there's some, what do you want to call it short course races in Fresno and Tularia and those areas. But this one in Cal City was a full-fledged desert race. It was cool to us because we owned like 3,000 acres in Cal City. We were farming all the time. We're in the alfalfa business also. So it was, how do I say it? It turned out really great for us to be able to be competing in something that we had some dealings in property up there, too. But anyhow, long story short, it was the first race, and we won. It was a 300-mile race. And at that time, we finally were able to have two cars, one for Albert and one for myself. And then I won that race three years in a row. So that started us as knowing that we can compete.
[00:30:42.340] - Big Rich Klein
When was your first race in Baja?
[00:30:45.870] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
First race in Baja had to be... We were scared to go down there because we weren't really understanding, going down in the Mexico and what have you. But I'd say it was 19... Okay, I'd say probably '80, maybe '81, '82 would be our first race in Baja, maybe. Okay.
[00:31:07.340] - Big Rich Klein
And what was that experience like for you being that first time and then knowing that you had some trepidation going down there?
[00:31:16.230] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
It was totally different. I mean, once we got down there and got a lot of help from a lot of our people that we raced against in regards to giving me experiences of where to go, what to do, and what have you, It was eye-opening. It was like, Hey, why are people hesitant in coming down here? I tell you what, it was just unbelievable. We had a great time, and unfortunately, we didn't finish the first two or three races down there, but it opened our eyes as to knowing we can go down there, have a good time, and the people are really friendly and very cordial.
[00:31:55.630] - Big Rich Klein
What's your most memorable story or incident from being in Baja?
[00:32:07.150] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Got it. There's a ton of them. I swear to God. When I had the opportunity to race with a PPI, Cal Wells, my teammate was Ivan Stewart. Everybody knows him. We pre-ran down there, I mean, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles pre-run. I guess From a racing standpoint and from a pre-run standpoint, pre-running, we had a lot of deals that we ran across some people and run across people in certain areas that you say, What the hell they're doing down here? Then from a racing standpoint, just, I guess, how do I say it? What would be the... I think if there was one, it was when I was racing the Class 4 truck for McPherson. And I remember we started in Sonata, and I think it was the 500, and we went out near the cement factory and near some houses. And I remember everybody telling me prior to this, if you're in an area and you have a lot of people there. Be careful because there might be some a booby trap. Well, this one here, it was, I don't know, it was right on a road next to a house, and these guys dug a hole that had to be 15, 20 feet long and about 15 or 20 feet wide and about 4 feet deep.
[00:33:35.080] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Coming out of a turn and hitting that thing and just dust flying all over the place and not knowing where I was. But I don't know. I mean, it's a good question. I don't have any one particular deal that happened to be down there, to be honest with you.
[00:33:53.740] - Big Rich Klein
Okay. Typically, somebody will say, well, it's this win. Everybody What I found is with the races that I put on and the rock crawls that I put on, is everybody's favorite event is the one that they won. But the best stories always seem to come out of the people that didn't win, the ones that struggled. Is there a particular race that you had that you can remember that was just a struggle to try to complete or maybe you didn't complete, that everything just seemed to be against you?
[00:34:29.760] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Well, I mean, from a standpoint of everything being against you, I mean, from the terrain and stuff, but not really. I mean, I've had some... From a standpoint of having tremendous, let's say, bad luck, or if you want to call it bad luck, I mean, there's a couple of instance. I remember the one in particular is the thousand that went from Insanada. I'm sorry. Yeah, from Insanada to La Paz when we started that year, I can't remember what year it was. I was teaming up with Bob Gordon. Me and Bobby were teammates for many years after I drove Toyota, the truck. I remember that race. We started, and I was going all the way down to Ignacio and gave the car to Bob and Ignacio. I remember our big issue with that car that we drove was ringing pinions. It was just a deal where you had to be very careful with the I remember taking that car, and I don't remember where we started, wherever we started, I think eighth or 10th two-seater. By the time we got down the Coast, we were the first car on the road. I gave the car to Bob in Ignacio.
[00:35:49.850] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
We were the first car on the road, and we had like, I'm going to say this and you're going to laugh at me. We had close to an hour lead on the second place car. And the second place car happened to be, I think Ivan had some problems. So we had passed him. And the second place car was Doug Fortnson and Ryan Thomas. They were behind us an hour. So I remember Bob gone, and now we're coming down and coming over into Constitution and coming down the hill. And we're radioing the BFG pits as to, where is Gordon? Where's Gordon? And one of the pits said, Well, he had just passed us. So I knew he was getting in the Constitution. By the time we got there, he had already gone by us. So we were going farther down south. And we got to a point we stopped and trying to get a hold of Bob, get a hold of Bob. We finally got a hold of him, and the ring of pinion had gone out. So he had got a guy to tow him out and bring him back onto the highway. And we had the pre-runner, which had the same tranny.
[00:36:59.390] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
So we were taking the tranny out and put the tranny back into the race car and get Bob to go again. And here comes Doug Fortin, pulls up, and I'll never forget this. He pulls up and he goes, What's the matter? And I said, Well, we had a ring of pinion. He says, Well, no wonder you had a ring of pinion problem. I said, What do you mean by that? He said, Well, shit, you had an hour lead and you're running the car too hard. And I said to myself, I was ready to just punch him, and I didn't want to punch him. I'm saying, Let me tell you something, if I took my driving suit off and showed you my right leg where it's black and blue from my co-driving smacking me and telling me to short shift all the time. I would have probably believe you, but we were taking care of that transmission like nobody would. So we got back into the car and Bob finished, and we finished third. But that was, how do you say it, when things go against you, a truly sad situation because we had that race one.
[00:37:55.710] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
We had that race one. Yeah.
[00:37:58.450] - Big Rich Klein
That's what happens. It's It's the terrain, it's the equipment, it's the personnel, it's the people that are around. I mean, the weather, there's so many different factors to try to pull off a win, especially in Baja, that you almost have to have everything fall into place for you.
[00:38:19.760] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Well, that's for sure. I mean, they say, the luck and everything else. You have to have a certain amount of luck, but you're totally right in regards to everything around you between you, the driver, the co- driver, and all the personnel that you bring down there that helps you out, each pit and everything else. I mean, all that has to mesh together to be able to go down and hopefully everything goes good. And if everything goes good, the chances of a good finish are really high. Right.
[00:38:50.340] - Big Rich Klein
And so you guys, you and your brother still race sports cars?
[00:38:57.190] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Well, actually, Albert has three or four vintage cars, and he races those, and he bought a Lotus 11. I think it's 1959 Lotus 11. And I drove those at, I drove it probably eight or nine times at different vintage car races. And then he still does. He has that in a Porsche and a Lister that he drives. And in The main event that we used to go to all the time was the Rolex one in Laguna Seca, and it's in August. Unfortunately, the last three years, it's the same weekend as Ryan's, my son's race, the Vegas to Reno. Albert just goes up there, and I haven't driven the car in the last two years. But we did do the Nora Race. The first inauguration was 2010, and And me and Bob, Bob called me and asked me if I'd like to do it, and I go, heck, yeah, with the two- seat car that I was talking about. And we've done it ever since. I think there's like two years that we did. We didn't do it last year because something came up and we couldn't do it. So last year we did it, it was 2021, I think.
[00:40:20.090] - Big Rich Klein
Okay, and now you're racing it this year?
[00:40:25.080] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
No, I'm not. I was going to race it. And unfortunately, I got a slight tear in my right shoulder rotator cup. And with that type of shifting, what have you, my arm, I think it would have probably torn it more. So I decided not to. But I'm going to do it one more time next year and see if we can... We won that race overall two times in our class, seven times. It's totally I mean, if anybody wants to get involved in off-road racing and they have any issues in regards to a traditional race of the 500, the 1,000 of San Felipe and what have you, they should do this race. It's a four-day event, five-day event now. Let me tell you something, it's something where they can open their eyes to what happens down in Baja and have an opportunity to race in the same courses that we race on over the years and be a little more mellow. It's not a point-to-point and balls-out type race. It gives you an opportunity to really appreciate what's done in Mexico. I've got a friend of mine that works here at our office. He's got his own business, where we lease him some space.
[00:41:48.670] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
He's building a car, and he wants to... He asked me, Where can I go test this? And I said, Your great opportunity is to go down to the Nora race. So he's going down there this year to race it.
[00:41:58.320] - Big Rich Klein
And one of your family friends, somebody, you know. Robbie Gordon is now running Nora, isn't he?
[00:42:06.200] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yeah, Robbie bought the rights to the Nora deal, and he is the head honcho now, I guess. But now, Robbie, actually, his son, Max, who's really, really talented, raced with us in, this is '23, was last year, '22. I think '22 was the last one. So he raced with us in '22. And unfortunately, we had an issue with the motor, but we got it fixed. I think we finished third in class. But Robbie came down and did the first up to San Felipe, and then he had to go to China the following two days or three days after that. So he stopped, and then Max went all the way down with us. And he did a great job. He did a great job.
[00:42:52.600] - Big Rich Klein
Excellent. Well, he comes from good stock, that's for sure.
[00:42:56.750] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
No, I'm telling you. I know exactly. Exactly. That's exactly right.
[00:43:01.860] - Big Rich Klein
So in 2019, you were inducted into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame, Armoth. And what was that like for you?
[00:43:14.880] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
It was totally surprised the hell out of me. It was a great honor to be able to be inducted. I I don't know how to say it. You go through life and you have a lot of things, maybe a lot of goals to set yourself up and try to accomplish. And one of the things with me is always, if I'm going to do something, I want to do it. I don't want to do it just to do it. I want to do it to be able to compete and win. When my son, actually, he's the one that put everything in. And When I got the call from Mark, actually, Mark called me, and I was just totally flabbergasted. I said, You got to be kidding me. It's an honor, truly honor. I mean, with all the people that are there, all the names of the great people that before me. It was something that I'll cherish for a long time. I had my entire family there, which also made it a really great event. I'll cherish that for the rest of my life.
[00:44:30.470] - Big Rich Klein
While you were on stage and receiving your honor, did you choke up?
[00:44:38.920] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Oh, yeah, for sure, Rich. I couldn't. In fact, I swear to God, I was going The year before, not 2018, Bob Gordon, because he had passed away. I was supposed to go up to, how do I say it, do the introductions for Bob. And I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. So Robbie and my son Ryan went up and did it as a duo. And then when this happens to me, and I'm going, oh, my God, what am I going to do? I I mean, I just I was just about ready to have Ryan come up with me and stand next to me. And if something happened, read the balance of what I have here, Ryan, because I don't know if I could be able to get through it. But it was emotional. It was really emotional. I did do I bit my tongue and I made it through.
[00:45:32.450] - Big Rich Klein
So there you go. There you go. I remember the ceremony. I've been going to the induction dinners. Well, since one of the I don't remember the exact year, but it was when it was in Pomona. And from that one, I walked by it one time because we were there for the Off-Road Expo in Pomona. We walked by and I was like, what is going on here? And then found out what it was. And then the next year we attended and haven't missed one since. And then being asked to be on the board was awesome. And it's been a pleasure to serve with yourself. And Especially with Mark. Mark is a real go getter and just will not... When he does something, like you said, you like to win. You look at the book, the MacMillon, the big blue book that he put together. Wow. The guy is very thorough. He's very effective at everything that he does. And it's been a great pleasure working with you guys.
[00:46:45.340] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Oh, I'm telling you, we wouldn't be where we're at right now. I mean, step back. The founding fathers of Romhoff, and when Rod took it over and what they did, and then seeing You have so much to work with, and it's a growing pain. The growing pain is the toughest one because you don't think you're accomplishing a lot. But I tell you what, you start adding up little and little. And then when Mark stepped into the program and started doing what he was doing. I mean, look at last year and the year before. I mean, my God, record numbers. I mean, it just blows me away when you go there. I mean, some of these events are bigger than, I want to say Things that you see these movie stars and stuff on these programs, on TV and what have you. Way bigger than that. Way bigger than that. I mean, it's just amazing what he's done. He's a great guy. He was a great competitor, man. One of the things I remember when you talk about racing And as you say to yourself, who are the two or three guys that you need to compete against?
[00:47:48.830] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Who are the two or three guys that you need to make sure that you can keep up with them and possibly beat them? Mark was at the top of the list. Ivan was at the top of the list for those vehicles they were driving. And it was just like, those are the guys you got to beat. And when you beat them, you beat the best. Right.
[00:48:06.690] - Big Rich Klein
And it's an honor to do that.
[00:48:09.310] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yeah. For sure. I mean, I tell you what, it's just... I don't know. I wish I could talk like my son talks in regards to getting points across because I talk and then I stray away from what I'm trying to think. I mean, I'm I'm not really good at talking, and I wish I was. But I mean, I would be, I mean, I'd love to be able to go out and sell Ormoff to a million people. I mean, I mean, there's, if everybody knew what Ormoff was doing and how they were doing it, we'd have more people involved than you can probably shake a stick at.
[00:48:50.410] - Big Rich Klein
Well, we are in a growth mode. And, hopefully that as people listen to your story and Mark MacMillan's story and the people that I've interviewed and get more of a feel for who the people are that have been inducted. When I was first going to the Ormhoff Inductions and getting introduced to Ormhoff, I looked up there and saw all these names that I saw in the magazines or in the newspapers, and that were legends and going, wow, this is really cool. And But you don't know them. You only know what's been put in front of you. And so that's my goal, is to put more information in front of people, and hopefully that'll attract more people into joining Ormhoff and being part of what we're trying to do. And that's to preserve the legacy of our lifestyle.
[00:49:57.170] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
I truly agree. I truly agree. I mean, like I said before, everything has a growth mode to it. I don't care. Club racing, in a motorcycle racing, NASCAR racing, Indy car racing, off-road racing. But if you look at off-road racing compared to all these other forms of racing, there is nothing more How do I say it? There is nothing more that has a family value. Everything else in today's environment is all dollars a cent driven. I don't care where it is or how you do it. Off-road racing has some lost that appeal as of yet to family members. You get 90 % of the people that race off road racing, their families are down there helping them put stuff together, pitting all the logistics and everything else.
[00:50:57.960] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah, that ain't happening in Nascar or Indy.
[00:51:00.510] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
No, no, that's all gone. All that stuff is gone. I mean, even in the car racing and the sports car racing back when my dad was doing it. There's still, if something happened to our car, you'd have the guy next pit over in Mr. Pensky or somebody else say, Hey, what do you need? I need to blah, blah, blah. They give it to you and you go. Today, you don't even talk to them. They had the cars are covered. You can't see them. It's just there's no... What do you call There's no camaraderie. Camaraderie, that's what I'm trying. There's no camaraderie no more. It's all dollars and cent driven. And I'm just hoping that... I don't think off road will ever get that way, but you can see it, and I've seen it Over the years in all the forms of racing that I've been involved with, like I told you. But off road, I tell you what, that family value is there and it'll stay there from now until eternity. And what we need to do as a group is to keep that momentum going. And my grandkids, I take them out to the races when we're out here watching my son Ryan race.
[00:52:06.480] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
They all come to the mint race. They all go to Vegas, to Reno, and getting them to understand what's going on and perpetuate this as each generation comes on. Off road will never change. You always have the obstacles and everything else out in the desert. And those are the things that are challenging for us to fix something that we can beat that. We can beat the terrain and not have the terrain beat us. And it takes a family to do that.
[00:52:36.210] - Big Rich Klein
Very well said. Very well said. So what would be your advice to somebody, say, like the guy that's in your building that's getting ready to race, building a car, and you told him to go race, Nora. Say somebody walked up to you and said, Mr. R. Ciero, how do I get into racing or what do I need to do to be successful at racing? What would your advice be?
[00:53:04.090] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Well, my advice would be, first of all, do you have... I mean, you want to do racing, off-road racing. Have you ever been to an event? Okay, to see what it really takes. And I'd say, if you haven't, then what we need to do is let's go to a race, I mean, a local race someplace, the Barstool or someplace else, so you can understand what's going on. And then, if you've never driven an off-road car and you still want you want to do that, then my suggestion is you start at a lesser class, maybe a Class X, or even now they're expensive, but I mean, X or one of the other lower classes and get a feel for it. Or the other thing is, since Nauru came on board in 2010, that is a great stomping grounds for people to get their feet wet into off-road racing and go down And it's not, how do I say it? I mean, you're not stressed out or anything.
[00:54:08.630] - Big Rich Klein
It's not such an endurance race.
[00:54:11.040] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
No. And you got one day, you sleep, next day you go and you go down to the finish and you see what it's about and then make a decision as to what class or what you want to do. I mean, unfortunately, in today's environment, Rich, trophy trucks are multimillion dollar programs, and it's really difficult for the average person to do that. So we've got a lot of classes in off-road racing that they can come out and they can build a car and compete. And that's what my view would be, is the first go out and understand what you're getting into, and then build something that you can compete with. And then as you go, you start building relationships with BFG, Toyota, Bridgestone, or somebody that sees your talent and can help you to the next step, and then to the next step, and then to the next step. You can't just do it overnight.
[00:55:07.640] - Big Rich Klein
True. So one last question. How did you get the nickname Butch?
[00:55:17.770] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
To be honest with you, I mean, everybody asked me that question. All I can say is my name was Frank and my dad's name was Frank. So when my mom used to get mad at my dad and say something about Frank, I'd get up and I think she's yelling at me So she decided one day we went in. I needed a haircut. I was playing football, pop corner football, I think, or something. And she said, I need to get a... At that time, they wanted you to get a Mohawk, or not a Mohawk, but cut your hair off like in the army. And then she looked, Hey, that's it. They call it a Butch haircut. And she was like, I'm going to call you now. I'm going to call you Butch. So now when I call Frank, you don't have to step up because that's your dad.
[00:55:57.710] - Big Rich Klein
So that's how you became known as Frank?
[00:55:59.980] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
That's I got it. Butch, yeah, exactly. Excellent. I have to say, in the '60s, I was born in '58, so it was mid '60s, late '60s, and my hair was long, like most kids in the San Francisco Bay Area or California were.
[00:56:20.730] - Big Rich Klein
I can remember my mom saying, Hey, you're on your way down to go get a haircut? I said, Yep. And she goes, I heard of this new haircut called a You should get one of those. Well, I wasn't thinking too smart because a burrow's hair is not long, right?
[00:56:40.110] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Sure, no.
[00:56:41.560] - Big Rich Klein
So I go in, my buddy is with me, my buddy Jeff is with me, and he's sitting there right across from the barber's chair, and the guy goes, You sure you want this cut? And I said, Yep. And he just started in the middle and just took it right down. I mean, I was 12, maybe, 13. And Jeff laughs to this day about that haircut because it was emotional for me.
[00:57:10.260] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
No, I don't doubt that. It was very emotional.
[00:57:11.810] - Big Rich Klein
All my hair was gone.
[00:57:14.840] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Oh, my God. No. So I know. I tell you, when I got that bitch, too, I was saying to myself the same thing. I figured, okay, it's still going to be a little bit, but no, it was down to nothing.
[00:57:24.300] - Big Rich Klein
Exactly. Exactly.
[00:57:25.780] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yeah. And listen, I want to interject one other Sure. One thing in regards, you asked me about a time and a situation, but when you had asked me, you asked me, did it occur, if it occurred, when it occurred in Mexico. I have a good story, and I'd like to just tell you. The story is this. The first race we had in the mid-400, me and my brother, we went out, did our pre-run, and then we go to the driver's meeting. We're sitting in the driver's meeting, and it's me, my brother, and my dad happened to go with us to the driver's meeting. And so the walk gets through with the driver's meeting and what happens. So we're getting up, ready to walk out, and here comes Parnelly. He walks over, and my dad said, Hey, Parnelly. Because he had driven for... He drove the Lotus 23, I think, a couple, two, three times prior to that year that we raced. And so my dad knew him pretty well. So my dad said, Parnelly, he says, What are you doing? He said, Well, I'm here. He knew I was racing, what have you. He says, Well, what are you doing here?
[00:58:38.200] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
He said, Well, my two sons are racing. He said, They are? He goes, Here, Albert, this is Parnelly Jones. Butch, this is Parnelly Jones. How are you doing, Mr. Jones? This is blah, blah, blah. So first thing Parnelly says is, Okay, who's driving the car? So Albert says, Well, I'm starting. He said, What's your starting number? He said, My number is, I think at the time, I think we were 96. And Parnelly in that race was, I think, 118 or 120 or something like that. And then it was just the draw. You can have a Baja Bug start. You have a Class X car, a Class I car, and it was just a draw. So we're at those numbers. So Parnelly is at Albert and he goes, Hey, he says, Okay. He says, Listen, he says, When I come up to you, he says, I'm going to honk. And then I'm... No, he says, I'm going to honk. And then I'm going to tap you, and then I'm going to push you out of the way. And that's all going to happen within three seconds. So Albert's look, he's going, Oh, my God. So he said, Good luck, and he leaves.
[00:59:53.910] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
So Albert, he couldn't sleep that night. He was getting up and he figured out, okay, he was getting in the car. And now he's worrying. The race started. I'm trying to think of the road that goes up over the hill when you get in the... What the hell's the name of that? Anyhow, it started right outside of town, and then it went over and it came near state line and then back over the hill and what have you. So Albert's going, Oh, my God. So he's worried now. He gets in the car, takes off. So now all he's thinking about is Parnelly Jones coming up to him, right? So after about 15, 20 minutes or whatever the hell he's in the car, all of a sudden he hears Parnelly coming. He heard the horn and he can hear the noise in that car. So he pulls over and Parnelly goes by. So Albert goes, Oh, thank God. So now he's starting to concentrate on the race. He goes another about three miles and he sees Parnelly on the top of this Baja bug or whatever. His car is on top of him. And Albert goes, Oh, shoot.
[01:01:00.320] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
And he goes, Shit, now he's going to have another chance to come get me. So Parnelly gets in the car and gets back out and takes off and wins the race. So now in 2010 for the Nora Race, we're starting the race in Mexicali. Over the years now, between then and now, Parnelly and Albert are not doing well, but him and Albert are good friends, really good friends. They used to a lot of vacations together and everything else. So Parnelly now is the grand marshal for the Nora race, and he's got his pre-runner that he's going to race, and he's the first man off the line. So I'm sitting there after the driver's meeting, and Parnelly is sitting over there next to Walker and their bullshit. So I walk over to him and he said, Hey, Parnelly, hey, Butch, what are you doing? I said nothing. I said, How are you doing? He was good. I said, hey, Parnelly, where are you starting? And he said, I'm the first car off the road. I said, You are? I said, I said, I think we were the 89th car off the road. And I said, hey, okay.
[01:02:07.430] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Listen, Parnell, he said, hey, listen, Parnelly. He said, when I get up to you, I'm going to honk, I'm going to hit you, and then I'm going to push you out of the way. And that's all going to happen within three seconds. And he looked at me. He looked at me and he said... And then all of a sudden it clicked on him. That's what I said. I said to myself, Hey, now I got the chance to do this. But that That was a cute story. I thought that was really cool.
[01:02:34.720] - Big Rich Klein
That's the stories I'm looking for. That's awesome.
[01:02:38.530] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
Yeah. That's great. Well, all right.
[01:02:42.860] - Big Rich Klein
Well, Butch, Frank, our Ciero, I want to say thank you so much for spending the time and getting this interview done. I really enjoyed it. I had a smile on my face the whole time. And I'm looking forward to meeting you in person. I've sat by your guys's table a couple of times during the previous events, but at the gala this year or some other event. I hope to be able to get a chance to shake your hand.
[01:03:14.510] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
I will for sure. I mean, you come up, you grab me or whatever. I'd love to meet you personally, too. And thank you for all you're doing for being on the board and all the stuff you're doing for Arm Off. And together, we're all going to get the arm off to the next step. I agree. Next level for sure.
[01:03:31.040] - Big Rich Klein
There you go. All right. Thank you, Butch. And have a great day the rest of your day. We'll see you.
[01:03:36.750] - Frank "Butch" Arciero
You too, Rich. Thank you so much. Okay. Have a good time. All right.
[01:03:39.570] - Big Rich Klein
Take care. All right. Bye bye. Bye. Well, that's another episode of Conversations with Big Rich. I'd like to thank you all for listening. If you could do us a favor and leave us a review on any podcast service that you happen to be listening on, or send us an email or a text message or a Facebook message, and let me know any ideas that you have, or if there's anybody that you have that you think would be a great guest, please forward the contact information to me so that we can try to get them on. And always remember, live life to the fullest. Enjoying life is a must. Follow your dreams and live life with all the gusto you can. Thank you.