Looking Back: Harris DeVane’s Improbable, Incredible Atlanta Victory

It was, all things considering, the most improbable of finishes to go down as one of the most thrilling in ARCA Racing history.

It ended with Harris DeVane, Frank Kimmel and Andy Hillenburg three-wide across the finish line at Atlanta Motor Speedway as they took the checkered flag to the Reese’s 400 nearly simultaneous to close out the 1997 ARCA Menards Series season.

The records will show DeVane, a 34-year-old driver from Cuthbert, Georgia, broke through for his first career win on Saturday, November 15.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said DeVane after driving to Victory Lane in the No. 33 Bob’s Candy/Georgia Peanut Ford for car owner C.L. Jones. “It’s great to win at home, too.”

RACING-REFERENCE: 1997 Reese’s 400 Race Results

It was known then as the ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series, and the race was the first on the newly reconfigured 1.54-mile oval. The event itself was a precursor to the first time the Cup Series would take to the new surface the following day.

The lead-up to the finish was a slow boil: Weather cancelled qualifying and while fans bundled up, the constant threat of rain made every trip for the leaders down pit road dicey if the race didn’t resume. Frank Kimmel reported a miss in his engine early on, seemingly taking him out of contention, and Gary Laton led 36 laps and was seemingly en route to the win in the closing stages.

And then, everything changed.

With seven laps to go, Laton slowed and then collided with the wall.

“Gary Laton just hit the wall, just hit hte wall. The leader is in the wall.”

The ’97 ARCA Series finale just took a DRASTIC turn 🤯

Watch with us on Facebook. Trust us, you don’t want to miss this finish.

💻 → https://t.co/0DzTUQcTzF pic.twitter.com/76C9fajTwt

— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) March 27, 2020

Kimmel and Ed Berrier stayed out, while the next six cars came down for tires.

On the restart of a two-lap dash to the finish, Kimmel took off while Berrier dropped back like a rock.

Just as Kimmel appeared to have the race in hand, first Hillenburg and then DeVane moved into contention. Hillenburg closed fast and drifted to the outside on the white flag lap. As Kimmel tried to keep the bottom and force Hillenburg to go around him, he moved up just enough for DeVane to sneak through.

The final laps of the 1997 finale from @amsupdates … WOW! 😲

“Here comes Hillenburg like he was shot out of a canyon!!!”

“Three wide, they are door-to-door for the stripe … who will it be?” pic.twitter.com/cauPBmhR3H

— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) March 27, 2020

“We had nothing to lose, we were the last car on the lead lap, let’s go get two tires,” said DeVane in post-race. “Last couple times we were loose. We put two rounds of wedge in and two tires, and it paid off.

“It feels great, it’s been a long time coming.”

Kimmel would settle for second, followed by Hillenburg – who spun into the wall just past the finish line. Mike Ciochetti and Berrier finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

To that point, the 35-year-old Kimmel had five career wins and 1997 matched his best career championship finish of second.

Over the next two decades, Kimmel would become the most successful driver in ARCA Racing history. He picked up an additional 75 wins and 10 championships. Outside of his streak of eight straight titles between 2000-07, he finished in the top four in points every year between 1997-2014.

RACING-REFERENCE: Frank Kimmel | Harris DeVane

DeVane ran five more ARCA races in 1998, with a best finish of fourth at Atlanta in August. He crashed out of the 1998 fall race and finished 28th. He failed to qualify for two NASCAR Cup Series events that year, including a wreck in qualifying for the Atlanta fall race. He passed away in 2018 at age 54 after a brief illness.

The race was also notable for the driver who wasn’t in it.

Then 29-year-old Tim Steele is listed as a WD (withdrawal) on the official race results. The Coopersville, Michigan, driver had already clinched his third ARCA title in four years when he crashed during a Cup test session at Atlanta.

While Steele won his ARCA return in June of 1998 at Pocono, and collected 10 more wins through 2001, effects from the injury sidelined a once-promising career. His ascension to the Cup Series never materialized and, after running a handful of ARCA races each season from 2002-06, he stepped away from the sport.

RACING-REFERENCE: Tim Steele and the Crash That Changed Him | Tim Steele Career Statistics