Joey Arrowsmith

 

 A father and son duo that makes a great team !

 

 Joey Arrowsmith stated that the GTO he currently has is the first car he raced professionally, but It all started with his father. Joey went on to say that they didn't see eye to eye when it came to what they liked. He is a muscle car go as fast as you can guy, where I was into mini-trucks and low-rider's.

 After Joey had his own kid he started going back to the track with his father again and fell in love with it all over again. The two have been going strong for 9-10 years now side-by-side racing. 

 

  
                                                                                                               This is Joe's 6th full year behind the wheel. 

Joey got licensed by Frank Hawleys drag acing school in Reading, PA and received his super gas license with them. He then crossed over into Comp Eliminator and went up to Brainerd on a Test-N-Tune day so he could get his feet wet with the GTO.  They made two 1/8 mile passes that day and the starter said it was like Joey has driven that car his whole life, which definitely gave him the confidence boost he needed to go head first into this. 

 

 Joey states that although the GTO is the only car he ever raced, he has helped his father with anything he could while growing up. Just a few of the cars I can remember him having was a 1992 Don Ness Lumina, a 1932 street rod roadster, a Chevy Berreta, and a Chevy Monza. 

 The car we run now is a 2006 Pontiac GTO built by Jerry Haas. It’s a Chevrolet block and I usually have my rpm launch set to around 6500 RPM. It shifts around 10,400 RPM and crosses the finish line at 10,800 RPM.

 The power plant is only 296-cubic inches, but it is a splayed valve headed engine that breaths deep, which is key to making power. It's serviced by Jim Evans of Rolla Competition engines in Rolla, MO.  The engine is naturally aspirated with old school dual carbs. It also features a 5-stage dry-sump oil system, a Comp Cams camshaft, Jesel rockers, Pac valve springs and splayed valve CFE heads. 

It makes roughly 880 H.P. and came just shy of making 3-hp per-cubic-inch. Backing up the high-winding small-block is a 3 speed automatic transmission. 

Joe runs it in F/AA trim right now, but can cross between F/AA and G/AA depending on the tracks and air for the weekend.  Joe's best time in F/AA is a 7.66et @ 176.78MPH.

 

 We asked Joe where he likes to race and this is what he said:

 We usually start off in Florida every year, we live in MN so its nice to escape the cold in the winter.  Most years we race at Orlando and Gainesville and then hit a track on our way back home like in Georgia, This year it will be the division-5 double in St. Louis, MO and then we concentrate on a few races closer to home. In the D5 schedule we like Tri-State Raceway in Iowa, Brainerd divisional and national event and we love going to the D6 race in Billings, MT.  Every year we try and go somewhere new that we haven't been. Last year we made it out to Boise, Idaho for the divisional race and the year before we went all the way out to Seattle, Washington for the national and came home with the Wally!

My favorite track is a toss up between Orlando and Billings.  I really enjoy going to the Divisional races at the smaller tracks vs a national event.  Orlando is nice because it starts the year off for us and the weather is nice but Billings is just in the middle of nowhere and they treat you so well that it makes us go back every year!

 

 

 

As of now I have 15 #1 qualifiers to my name, I'm a 3x national record holder, Ive won two national events and 3 divisional events. And I finished 8th nationally in 2021.

 

I have a couple tracks left I have to get my dad to, One is Maple Grove near Reading, P.A. and the other is Pomona C.A.  My goal will be to get him to one of those this year if I get the correct funding in order.  We are going to concentrate more on the D5 schedule this year as we've never tried to go after it.

  

 For Joe's day job he's a regional supply chain technician for Airgas. He covers all of ND, MN and Western W.I. for all of our vending solutions. His other hobbies include mountain biking, model railroading, Scale model building and working on and cruising in the hot rods.  Joe & his wife to be Elli have a 1967 Camaro and a 1975 corvette that they enjoy driving around when they can.

Joey thanks his Father for trusting him driving the car. He does all the hard work of driving our rig across country and I get to fly in and drive. My mom for always helping out when she can. My fiancé Ellie for never being afraid to jump in and change a rear end or transmission when needed and the kiddos Chloey and Mack.  Jim evans for always giving me a top grade engine and being a phone call away whenever I need a questioned answered.  Ross's diesel repair in  Boise, Idaho,  Muttlys hot rod shop in MN, Red line Oil, and the in laws Donna and Sam for always backing me whenever possible! 

                                                                 Photos courtesy of Joey Arrowsmith 2025