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.
TRANSCRIPT
[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. READ MORE
