AR Bodies made it public this weekend at Martinsville Speedway that they are designing a Gen 6 body similar to the New Body Five Star Bodies Camry, Camaro, and Mustang.
Five Star Bodies released to the public their version of the Gen 6 Late Model Stock Car body today for the first time. The body is set to be legal in the Myrtle Beach 400 at Myrtle Beach Speedway and the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park next month.
AR Bodies could potentially debut their Gen 6 body at the PRI Show in Indianapolis, IN in December. Though they wouldn’t commit to a time frame because the body changes would still need to be approved by NASCAR Whelen All-American Series officials.
AR Bodies isn’t planning to revamp the entire body either, they plan to offer a reskin kit with a new hood and deck lid but allowing teams to use the greenhouse that they currently have. This move will save racers considerable money over the new body offered by Five Star.
Five Star’s new body will cost the racer just shy of $3,200 for a new black or white body while the AR Bodies upgraded reskin package is likely to cost under $1,500 though AR Bodies has not set a price yet.
AR Bodies representative Brian Hall sat down with PRW Chassis owner Roger Johnson on his weekly podcast “The Grind” to discuss the new body option. Hall explained that the company got behind on designing this new body because of health issues with AR Bodies owner Jerry Criswell but they are now working feverishly on it.
“NASCAR has asked us to design our version of this Gen 6 Late Model Stock body,” Hall said. “I’m proud to tell you that we are currently working on that. We are working on the car, some very exciting news for the racers. Everybody was upbeat about what I was telling them. We are planning to use the existing greenhouse, the windshield base, and the deck filler in our design.”
Hall says it’ll have the Gen 6 look but will also save the racer money.
“It will have the Gen 6 look totally,” Hall continued. “It was the most racer friendly option that we could do. We are racers and we look at it from a racing standpoint. We have got to do something to help a racer. What it does is the simple fact of most teams can install a re-skin kit and cut a hood. Most teams can pull that off. The plan we have in place versus having to mount a whole body, most teams can’t do that.”
Five Star Bodies has their new Gen 6 body on the market today and approved to race already at NASCAR sanctioned tracks for season-ending events. AR Bodies is hoping to get their version approved and available to the racers before the start of the 2020 season.
More details will be forthcoming on the new option from AR Bodies when the design is finished and approved by NASCAR Whelen All-American Series officials. We will have those details when available.
