Photo – Buggy1Boy YouTube

Mike Skinner finished the 1995 season by nearly winning the ARCA season finale at Atlanta. He was already coming off a championship season in the inaugural season of the NASCAR SuperTurck Series presented by Craftsman.

Richard Childress Racing entered Skinner in the No. 3 for the 1996 ARCA opener and he picked up right where he left off. Skinner put the No. 3 car on the pole with a speed of 189.382 mph. Starting alongside him was Tim Steele, who won three straight ARCA races to finish the 1995 season.

Known as “The Gunslinger,” Skinner led the first ten laps, before being overtaken by 1993 winner Jeff Purvis. He would then lead the next 30 laps as the race saw a long green-flag run. Skinner, Purvis, and Steele emerged as the drivers to beat.

A late caution bunched up the field, setting up a five-lap shootout.
Skinner led the field to the green. Later that lap, Purvis made a daring three-wide move on the backstretch as he and Steele both got by Skinner.
Purvis continued to lead, with the “Man of Steele” lurking behind.

The highlight of the day happened on the last lap, as Bob Hill had a spectacular flip.
The leaders raced back to the line, and Jeff Purvis became a two-time winner of the Daytona ARCA race.

Purvis would go on to win two Busch Series races for Phoenix Racing in 1996, as Tim Steele collected his second ARCA Series championship. Phoenix Racing went on to win the Daytona ARCA race again in 1997, this time with Andy Hillenburg.

1996 Daytona ARCA 200 Top Ten
1. #1 Jeff Purvis (second win at Daytona)
2. #16 Tim Steele (1996 ARCA champion)
3. #3 Mike Skinner (won pole and led 41 laps)
4. #52 Andy Hillenburg (two-time Daytona winner)
5. #94 Ron Barfield Jr. (grabbed his lone ARCA victory at Michigan in June 1996)
6. #50 Jeff McClure
7. #32 Mark Stahl
8. #75 Bob Schacht
9. #66 Mark Thompson
10. #85 Bobby Gerhart

Notables
14. #46 Bob Hill (had a flip on the last lap)
29. #02 Frank Kimmel
33. #12 Frog Hall (an interesting name)