Hall of Famer Skip Arp
Wins on Hall of Fame Night
(September
23, 2023) Skip Arp of Georgetown, Tenn. cruised to his
third straight Topless Outlaws Dirt Late Model Series presented
by Stanley Best Heating & Air feature win in as many events
on Saturday night at Smoky Mountain Speedway. (MRM
Racing Photo)
On a beautiful sunny Saturday, the first day of fall - thirty-seven
Topless Late Models, representing five states checked in at Smoky
Mountain Speedway to compete for the $3,000 to win event. Thirty
two had previously checked in on the original date of July 8th
before heavy rains cancelled the show. Only twenty-three of those
original cars showed back up which means fourteen additional drivers
came to compete on Saturday.
Arp proved to be the fastest car in PPM Racing Products time
trials, Group-A with a blistering lap of 14.405 which would’ve
been the second overall fastest time in the Carolina Sprints (14.274)
which was also in action on Saturday at SMS. Riley Hickman of
Ooltewah, Tenn. clocked the fastest time in Group-B with a 14.821.
Once the feature rolled out onto the track, fireworks filled
the night sky as a bright half-moon hovered overhead. Once the
green flag fell, it would be short lived as caution waved before
one lap was complete for the stalled 2X machine of Anthony White
of Clinton, Tenn. in turn one. He retired to the infield after
starting 8th. The 24 of Anthony White Jr. also retired before
the first lap was scored after he started 10th.'
Once the green flag flew for the second time, Arp pulled away
from his teammate, third-starting Bobby Giffin of Maryville, Tenn.
with Hickman in third. The second caution waved on lap seven for
the P1 machine of Andy Pickelsimer of Ooltewah, Tenn. who spun
in turn two after he started 17th by virtue of winning B-Main-1.
Hickman was able to outduel Giffin for the second spot on the
ensuing Dixie-Double File restart with Arp once again pulling
away by a comfortable margin. The best battles on the track were
for positions four through seventh as Chad Alley of Clinton, Tenn.
Jensen Ford of Johnson City, Tenn. Topless point leader Jordon
Horton of New Tazewell, Tenn. and Jordon Rodabaugh of Soddy Daisy,
Tenn. swapped positions back and forth as track conditions allowed
for multiple grooves of racing.
Just as Arp was approaching the rear of the field, yellow waved
again on lap twelve for a stalled 90J of Jason Trammel of Mascot,
Tenn. in turn four. He would retire at this point after starting
15th. Arp again pulled away with Hickman and Giffin still second
and third with Alley, Ford and Horton rounding out the top six.
The fourth and final caution waved on lap eighteen for a stalled
44J of John Ownbey of Cleveland, Tenn. who had a right rear flat
and chose to retire at this point after he started 7th and was
still running in the top ten at the time of the flat.
The final twenty-two circuits would see Arp pull away by as far
as a straight-a-way from Hickman, who pulled a few car lengths
away from Giffin. Several cars would retire to the infield before
the checkers waved, which meant Arp would be able to avoid having
to negotiate lapped traffic and went on to record his third straight
Topless Outlaws win dating back to Crossville Speedway on September
2nd and Mountain View raceway on September 9th. The battle for
fourth was won by Jensen Ford and Jordan Rodabaugh rounded out
the top five.
“First of all I can’t thank Beaver (car owner Stanley
Best) enough for giving me such an easy car to drive and all those
guys who work on it, Robbie, Cole, Jeff and Donnie, I can’t
thank ‘em enough” stated Arp from victory lane underneath
loud cheers from the crowd. “I’m telling you, just
put the steering wheel in your hand and steer it is pretty much
all I had to do. I want to say congratulations to all of the Hall
of fame inductees. I was inducted several years ago and it is
still an honor and I want to say welcome to all of you”.
George Loux came from midpack to win the Carolina Sprint Tour
feature race. Ben McCall took the early race lead and seemed to
be in firm control of the race. A late race caution set the stage
for a final shootout that would see Loux overtake McCall and pull
away in the final two laps to take the win.
The mini late models took to the track with Bryan Funk and Selena
Byrge on the front row. Funk quickly took the lead and Chase Teague
quickly moved into second. The lead duo remain in close contact
throughout most of the race. Teague pressured Funk for the lead
past the halfway point. As the leaders worked slower traffic,
Teague dove inside of Funk in turn 3. Fun made contact with the
slower car and spun out. Teague became the leader and cruised
to the win.
Topless Outlaws Late Model Series 1. 31-Skip Arp[1]; 2. R1-Riley
Hickman[2]; 3. 97-Bobby Giffin[3]; 4. 83 Jensen Ford[5]; 5. 66-Jordan
Roadabaugh[9]; 6. 27-Brad Berry[19]; 7. 16-Chad Alley[4]; 8. 56H-Jordan
Horton[6]; 9. 23-Layne Clifton[14]; 10. C11-Cody Courtney[16];
11. 44-Chase King[11]; 12. D5-Drew Collins[12]; 13. 11B-Eli Beets[21];
14. 14W-Kyle Courtney[23]; 15. 777-Mike Skelly[22]; 16. 28-Kelvin
White[24]; 17. 44J-John Ownby[7]; 18. 90J-Jason Trammel[15]; 19.
26-Trevor Parker[20]; 20. 29-Rusty Ballenger[13]; 21. 84-Ryan
Tims[18]; 22. P1-Andy Pickelsimer[17]; 23. 2X-Anthony White[8];
24. 24-Anthony White Jr[10]
Carolina Sprint Tour 1. George Loux; 2. Rich Wisdo; 3. Ben McCall;
4. Robert Tyler; 5. Brianna Lawson; 6. Jake McLain; 7. Johnny
Petrozelle; 8. John Frutchey; 9. Alan Brown; 10. Sean Vardell
Mini Late Models 1. 6C-Chase Teague[3]; 2. 000-Joey Tucker[4];
3. 28-Bryan Funk[1]; 4. 75-Fred Schneider[6]; 5. 12S-Selena Byrge[2];
6. 7-Ryan Hawn[7]; 7. 4H-Scott Randolph[9]; 8. A27-Ethan McCarter[5];
9. (DNS) 12-Blake George
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