RPW Exclusive: Jimmy Phelps Was Both Lucky & Good To Win Third Career Outlaw 200 At Fulton

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – FULTON, NY – It was a tale of two main events Saturday night at the Fulton Speedway during the 33rd running of the Outlaw 200…before the midway break, and after it. In the end, though, Jimmy Phelps didn’t care as he was the one hoisting the $20,000 first place check when the night was over, capturing the crown jewel event for the third time.

Phelps assumed the lead with roughly 75 laps remaining in the feature event and wasn’t seriously challenged the rest of the way. Erick Rudolph came home second while Lebanon Valley Big Block Modified Champ Brett Hearn completed the podium.

“We had a great car all race long,” Phelps said after the race. “Obviously the track got locked down in the first 100 laps and hats off to the officials for making the decision to make this place racy again during the break. Before that it was probably a snoozer for the fans and wasn’t a lot of fun for us but the people that stuck around for the second half got to see a pretty good race.”

Officials took almost 45 minutes to work on the race track between the two segments to try and make the track more than it had been. They watered and graded the speedway surface for longer than the designated 15 minute break to try and build some more grooves into it. The plan worked as the competitors were nearly 1.5 seconds faster per lap once the green flag fell again on lap 101.

Early on in the event, the dominant car was the #6 of Mat Williamson. Williamson took the lead before the race was 10 laps old from pole sitter Robbie Bellinger looked as if he was on a Saturday night cruise. That was until lap 70 when, under caution, Williamson’s machine pulled up lame in turns one and two and came to a rest.

With the string of lengthy cautions to that point, many believed that he had run out of fuel. However, that wasn’t the case as the car was towed back to the pits from the rear bumper. Something had let loose in the rear end.

The driver who took over the top spot after Williamson’s misfortune was Danny Johnson in the Graham Racing #21J. Johnson led to the halfway break and look, as well, like he had a strong Troyer machine, but he too was bit by the bad luck bug when he slowed with a flat tire, handing the lead to Phelps.

Phelps’ Teo Pro Car was on rails from that point on, easily lapping into the top 10 by the time the checkers flew. The former Fulton Speedway regular stepped away from the track this year to focus on Big Block Modified racing, but he was ecstatic to win the big one on Saturday night.

“Right now, everything is good for us,” he said. “We’ve been running up front. We’ve been knocking on the door but we weren’t getting the wins I think we were capable of getting. However, running top five, running top three or top two made me feel like it was around the corner. Wins are hard to come by and Fulton 200 wins are real hard to come by. We’ve lost a ton of them but now we’re starting to get a few of them and it feels really good.”

Jimmy was lucky enough to get into the redraw after his heat race and drew the seventh starting spot. He worked his was up into contention through the first quarter of the event and was in the right place at the right time when it counted.

“After watching the last consolation race, we were nervous that track position was going to be huge and it was,” Phelps said. “Fortunately we got some good restarts and got ourselves up in good company where guys were running each other pretty clean. We went into the break hoping to stay third and once they started to work on the track, I said ‘well, have a really good race car and now we’re going to get to prove it.’ It was just a great night.”

For second place finisher Erick Rudolph, coming away with a second place finish in the Outlaw 200 was a great momentum booster heading into the week of racing that is ahead.

“The first half of the race, it was pretty dicey out there,” he said. “It was more of a one-lane track but the officials did a great job with the surface for the second half and there were multiple lanes of racing. It was a lot of fun.”

Rudolph fought hard with Danny Johnson for a good portion of the race and it could have been a good race between the two of them and Phelps if Danny hadn’t had his troubles.

“Jimmy was a little better than us and if Danny stuck around he looked like he was pretty strong too,” Rudolph said. “I’m just really proud of my team for getting us a podium finish in the Outlaw 200.”

Brett Hearn came home third in the Madsen #20 machine and even though he’s not run many events at Fulton, he is a former winner of the Outlaw 200, and really enjoys the speedway.

“When the track rubber’d up early in the race, it made it difficult to make those passes,” Hearn said. “We were still able to get from 18th to sixth by the break, but I didn’t know what was going to happen when they scraped the track and that made it a little more interesting second half of the race.”

Even with the little amount of racing he’s done at the track, Hearn has a good time every chance he gets to run the place.

“I haven’t really won a lot of races here or even run a lot of races here but I love this place,” he said. “It a very fun race track to run and the 200 is always a blast. So to come out of here with a good finish and the car in one piece, I’m happy and now it’s on to Oswego.”

It was also an interesting set of circumstances for Hearn in between the two segments. The midway break was scheduled to be only 15 minutes for teams to work on their cars. Hearn was the first car ready to go at the track entrance when that 15 minutes was up. However, officials had decided to take time to improve the surface, so Hearn decided to go back to his pit.

One problem, he decided to back up so he could make the swing and from where he was, he ran into a pace vehicle which was backed up on the hill. The true kicker of this story is the pace truck was that of his Friday night home, the Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

“I’m sure I’ll hear about that,” Hearn said with a laugh after learning it was Lyle Devore’s vehicle he hit.

Fourth in the 200-lapper was Stewart Friesen who came from DEEP in the 44-car starting field and fifth was Tim Sears Jr.

It seems as if the bad luck bug from last weekend at Fonda followed the Mike Payne Racing team and Billy Decker to the Outlaw 200. On the first lap of his heat race, Decker tried to split the difference between Jimmy Phelps and Scott Boudinot. Contact was made and Decker’s car began to bounce at a 45-degree angle, flipping over several times.

The team relied on a past champion provisional to get into the race so they worked extra hard to get the car right. Even BRP’s Randy Williamson and ‘The Kid’s Other Kid,’ Mandee Pauch, were helping the Payne crew to get the car ready.

Decker started shotgun on the field and was moving along pretty well but ended up pulling off before the 50-lap mark and calling it a night.

(32nd Annual SUNY Canton Outlaw 200) – JIMMY PHELPS, Erick Rudolph, Brett Hearn, Stewart Friesen, Tim Sears Jr., Max McLaughlin, Rob Bellinger, Tom Sears Jr., Todd Root, Mike Mahaney, Pat Ward, Peter Britten, Ron Davis III, Ryan Arbutnot, Glenn Forward, Kyle Coffey, Willy Decker, Jack Lehner, Andrew Ferguson, Garett Rushlow, Matt Hulsizer, Mitch Gibbs, Yan Bussiere, Danny Johnson, Larry Wight, Joe Shields, Billy Whittaker, Randy Shantel, Danny Varin, Mat Williamson, Justin Wright, Chris Hile, Mario Clair, Tyler Trump, Nick Krause, Billy Dunn, Steve Paine, Alan Johnson, Jeff Sykes, Michael Parent, Tyler Meeks, Tim Fuller, Billy Decker, DQ – Roy Bresnahan.

5 Qualify. 2 to the redraw.

(Heat 1) – Tim Sears Jr., Erick Rudolph, Pat Ward, Larry Wight, Justin Wright, Billy Whittaker, Joe Shields, Rick Regalski, Nate Higgins, Brian Murphy, Tim Harris.

(Heat 2) – Peter Britten, Danny Johnson, Matt Hulsizer, Yan Bussiere, Mario Clair, Randy Shantel, Nick Nye, Tyler Thompson, Andrew Ferguson, JR Hurlburt, Rich Riggs.

(Heat 3) – Ryan Arbuthnot, Mat Williamson, Michael Parent, Tom Sears, Danny Varin, Roy Bresnahan, Jack Lehner, Tyler Trump, Ryan Jordan, Rick Richner, Tim Murphy.

(Heat 4) – Jimmy Phelps, Max McLaughlin, Chris Hile, Tyler Meeks, Mitch Gibbs, Garett Rushlow, Tom Keyes, Scott Boudinot, DJ Forbes, Joe August, Billy Decker.

(Heat 5) – Tim Fuller, Mike Mahaney, Billy Dunn, Ron Davis III, Willy Decker, Jeff Sykes, Brett Tonkin, Mike Trautschold, Lee Dewitt, Steve Marshall.

(Heat 6) – Rob Bellinger, Kyle Coffey, Brett Hearn, Glenn Forward, Steve Paine, Todd Root, Alan Johnson, Stewart Friesen, Chad Phelps, Rocky Warner, JJ Courcy.

Three Qualify

(Consolation 1) – Billy Whittaker, Randy Shantel, Joe Shields, Andrew Ferguson, Nick Nye, JR Hurlburt, Nate Higgins, Rick Regalski, Tyler Thompson, Tim Harris, Brian Murphy, Rich Riggs.

(Consolation 2) – Roy Bresnahan, Tyler Trump, Garett Rushlow, Jack Lehner, Tom Keyes, Ryan Jordan, Rick Richner, DJ Forbes, Tim Murphy, Scott Boudinot, Joe August.

(Consolation 3) – Todd Root, Jeff Sykes, Stewart Friesen, Nick Krause, Alan Johnson, Brett Tonkin, Mike Trautshold, Chad Phelps, Steve Marshall, JJ Courcy, Lee Dewitt, Rock Warner.

(Hoosier Tire Hard Luck Award) – Danny Johnson

(Hard Charger – Drum of VP Racing Fuel) – Stewart Friesen.