ARCA Truck final points & Flat Rock release

FINAL 10 ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series championship points race are:
1. Robbin Slaughter (2765) 2. Bill Withers (2715) 3. Chad Guinn (2670)
4. Johnny Witham (2655) 5. (r)Brett Oakley (2625) 6. Tully Esterline 7.
Jack Weethee 8. Dave Reeb 9. (r)Mark Otting 10. (r)Darren Jones.

SLAUGHTER SEALS SECOND ARCA TRUCK CHAMPIONSHIP AS GUINN GRABS FLAT ROCK
FANFARE FLAT ROCK, MI  9-22-01
by Wendy Wellman

A fourth place finish at Flat Rock Speedway this past Saturday night was
enough for 2000 ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series champion Robbin
Slaughter to capture the title again, for the second consecutive year.
The Columbus, Ohio driver’s third-place qualifying effort and top-five
finish were a strong end to another winning season.

“I think I’m sort of numb,” Slaughter said. “You know, I was nervous all
week but once I got to the race track I felt good. And then with Bill
(Withers) sitting on the pole, there was a little pressure. We knew what
we had to do. We knew that if the truck was okay, then we would be fine
in the points. The crew, as usual, worked their butts off.”

On the road to the 2001 championship, Slaughter tallied three wins, two
pole awards, 11 top-10 finishes and seven top-fives in the Carmen’s
Vacuum-Napa Auto Parts Ford. After winning last year’s ARCA truck crown,
Slaughter overheard a comment made by two-time ASA champion Gary St.
Amant.

“He said that Mike Eddy had remarked that anybody can win one title, but
you really haven’t established yourself until you win your second
title,” Slaughter said. “After I heard Gary make that comment last year,
I had been feeling pretty good about winning just one. But now we’ve got
two, well maybe we’ve established ourselves a bit, I hope. I really have
to thank Carmen’s Vacuum Sales, Napa Auto Parts, Ed and Company racing
chassis, Hooker Engines, my crew chief, Tom Cumbow, my crew, Mike, Don
and Debbie Porter, my daughter Niki, who didn’t get to come to the races
much this year, but she wrote articles for us to put on our website, Amy
Cumbow, they all played a part in our success. I couldn’t have done it
without them.”

Not to be overshadowed, the 2000 ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck series
rookie of the year Chad Guinn snatched his 10th career feature victory
at Flat Rock, keeping him at the top of the all-time winners list for
the series.

“Well it’s about time,” said Larry Guinn, Chad’s father. “We finally had
a little bit of luck go our way. For the last four races, we’ve had
nothing but bad luck, and finally tonight something went our way. I feel
bad for (Brett) Oakley for getting a flat, but that’s just the kind of
luck we’ve been having.”

While in third place, Guinn grabbed the lead on lap 42 of the 50-lap
feature after Oakley blew out a tire and Withers, running in second, got
caught up behind him.

“It happened so fast,” said Chad Guinn. “I just saw Brett get sideways,
and Bill seemed to hit the brakes to avoid rear-ending him, and I just
went underneath both of them and stood on it and the truck went. This
definitely makes up for the last four weeks of us having bad luck.”

“It was the outstanding Tom Hooker engine that did it, I’m telling you,”
said Guinn’s crew chief, Chuck Carroll. “We plan on coming back stronger
next year, with two trucks, spare motors, the whole deal. We have to
thank BFI, Tom Hooker engines, Northland Collision, Made in Toledo
Clothing Wear, and Larry and Vicki Guinn.”

Old Milwaukee Pole Award winner Bill Withers took second place at Flat
Rock and second in the championship points battle. Not too shabby for
the 1999 ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series champ from Columbus, Ohio.

“I am pretty happy with the finish,” Withers said. “We did all we could,
we went out and qualified first. The truck was really good. We just got
bogged down behind Oakley, and I was too close to him when he got his
flat to make a move. Then Chad got me. I’m kind of glad it’s over, the
pressure’s gone now.”

Withers attributes much of his success to skilled engine builder Bud
Wachholz, of Columbus. His Mannings USA-Hall Electronics Ford ran on the
same Wachholz engine all year long, and Withers also won the 1999
championship with Wachholz.

“We put a timing belt on it, that’s all we did all season,” Withers
said. “I have to thank Justin and Leslie for coming along with me, Scott
and his wife, Jan, and Mannings, the company Scott works for, who helped
finance us all year.”

The 2001 ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series rookie of the year, Brett
Oakley, finished 14th at Flat Rock after leading the most laps and
taking Cloyes Gear Halfway Leader honors. The Middletown, Ohio driver
qualified sixth in the Marflex Products-Tegtmeyers Trail Sales-HB
Products Ford, working his way up to the lead by lap nine. A blown tire
ended his run early at lap 42.

“Everybody gets frustrated, the difference is, when you’re on a
volunteer fire department, you see people lying in cars half-dead,” said
Oakley, a firefighter. “You deal with that on a day-to-day basis, so
life is not that bad. I come out here and have a good time, no matter
how bad or how good it is, because look at the people who have it really
bad. I’m proud to say I’m a part of ARCA.”

Rounding out the rest of the field at Flat Rock, Fort Wayne, Indiana’s
Pete Wormcastle took third place, earning Ed and Company Hard Charger
honors after qualifying eighth in the Preferred Incorporated Painting
and Roofing-Witwer Racing Chevy. Following Slaughter at fourth was
rookie Mark Otting, of Plainwell, Michigan, at fifth in the
Westfalia-Surge-Prosilac One Step Ford, recording his fourth top-10 and
his best qualifying effort of the season at second place.

Canton, Michigan’s Paul Hahn snagged sixth in his PPG Certified First
Network Quality Rated Auto Body Repair-Hahn’s Collision-Fox Auto
Parts-Eversole and Associates Ford, while racing veteran Jack Weethee,
Grove City, Ohio, finished seventh in the Weethee Builders-Amerihost
Inns-Den’s Auto Ford. The Pennzoil-National Auto Lube Ford of Piqua,
Ohio’s Jeff Speakman followed at eighth, while newcomer Eddy Adams,
Sheffield Village, Ohio, was ninth in the Nemire Enterprises-The
Bootless Joe Show-Lakeside Auto Parts Ford.

Five-time ARCA truck feature winner Johnny Witham, of Hamilton, Ohio,
took tenth in the West Park Food Distributors-Pate Fab Shop Ford, while
Toledo, Ohio’s John Kasmierski finished 11th in the Sonic Racing Ford,
the last truck on the lead lap. Lone Toyota competitor Norman Weaver
grabbed 12th in the Jasper Import Engines-Fasttrucks.com Toyota after
the Clarksburg, West Virginia driver crashed during practice and could
not qualify, starting the race at the rear.

The Accurate Logistics-Avon-Hytek Material Handling-Custom Staffing Ford
of Dave Reeb, Pataskala, Ohio, was 13th, followed by rookie champ Oakley
at 14th and Greenville, Ohio’s Stan Maitlen at 15th in the ARC
Abrasives-Don’s Body Shop Ford. Pettisville, Ohio driver Tully Esterline
was 16th in the Spangler Candy Company Dum Dum Pops Chevy after a crash
on lap 29 sent him into the wall, while handling problems sent Darren
Jones, of Fairfield, Ohio, to 17th in the Pusch’s Restaurant Ford. In
his first ARCA showing, Ron Wells finished 18th in the Weiler Welding
Ford of Eugene Crase, Dayton, Ohio. Crase reported that Wells will be
competing full-time in the ARCA truck series in 2002.

The 2001 ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series competitors will be honored
with trophies, monetary and contingency awards at a banquet at the
Radisson Hotel, Toledo, on Saturday, Nov. 10, with the ARCA Auto Value
Midget Series.

Series notes

- Last year’s ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series rookie of the year, Chad
Guinn, started wearing a Superman T-shirt underneath his racing suit
this year. Why? “Because he’s Superman!” said his crew chief of
six-years and number one fan, Chuck Carroll.

- Only one non-points race remains on the ARCA truck schedule- Saturday,
Oct. 6 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

- Six new track records have been set this season by ARCA truck drivers
including 2001 ARCA truck series rookie of the year Brett Oakley, who
blasted the old record of 21.14 seconds at Illiana Motor Speedway with a
time of 21.02. Other 2001 record-setting drivers include Johnny Witham,
15.545 at Dixie Motor Speedway, 17.139 at Toledo Speedway; Jack Weethee,
17.270 at Crystal Motor Speedway; and Jeff Speakman, 14.434 at New Paris
Speedway.

- The 2000 rookie of the year, Chad Guinn, holds tight to first place on
the all-time series winners listing with 10 victories. Other current
ARCA competitors on the list include Slaughter (8), John Witham (5),
David Clay (3), and six drivers with one each: Tully Esterline, Paul
Hahn, Dave Reeb, Jeff Speakman, Jack Weethee, and Bill Withers.

CONTACT: ARCA PR (734) 847-6726