ARCA: Josh Williams Talks Season, Biggest Influence, and Expectations for 2017

Josh Williams, a 23-year old ARCA Racing Series driver from Port Charlotte, Florida, got into racing by watching his father run numerous races throughout his childhood life up until 2007. He, unfortunately, never raced his dad throughout his entire career, but just growing up with him in the industry was really cool to Williams.

Williams made his ARCA Racing Series debate in 2010 at the age of 16 at Palm Beach International Raceway. Since then, and 100 career ARCA Racing Series starts later, Williams biggest influence throughout his career would be his father.

“He raced for a long time and was really successful and taught me a ton,” Williams told Speedway Digest. “Pretty much taught me everything I know about driving a racecar and things like that. So he’s been a really big influence to me.”

Williams entered the 2016 ARCA Racing Series season with momentum after a strong season in 2015. The young racer finished the year with six top five and 15 top 10 finishes through 20 races and ended the year third in points. Breaking that barrier and getting into victory lane was a mindset for the Florida native and he would do just that in 2016.

Williams would park his No. 6 Southwest Florida Cable Construction Chevrolet in victory lane at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway and Madison International Speedway. He would finish 2016 with five top five and 11 top 10 finishes and finish fourth in points.

“Fortunately, we got two of those, we would like to have more, but I guess two is better than not having any,” said Williams when asked about his expectations going into 2016 and his two wins. “But, you know, just really trying to progress, just trying to be better and better every year. We’re really successful for what we are and what we have”

Building a better notebook and establishing setups is just one of the things Williams had wished he had done differently in 2016. “Our biggest thing is building that notebook and getting those notes to be better. Each race, establishing what setup you need to have going into that race track. With these new bodies and stuff, and the Ilmor Motor, the weights have changed some since last year, we’re still learning this composite body because we didn’t run them much last year.”

Williams isn’t exactly sure what the outlook is for 2017, but winning even more races and the championship at the end of the season is something they wanna do if they run another season of ARCA. Williams feels that these goals going into 2017 are doable for their small operation.

Williams will exit the 2016 season with two victories, 13 top five and 48 top 10 finishes throughout his entire ARCA Racing Series career. He also had two career starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series at Michigan and Kentucky. He also attempted the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July, but did not make the field in the 40-car lineup.

Brett Winningham
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