Skip Arp collection

A longtime East Tennessee dirt racing team owner who fielded cars for multiple Hall of Fame drivers for more than 20 years died Wednesday at River Grove Health and Rehabilitation Center in his hometown of Loudon, Tenn. Ralph Eugene Curtis was 83.

Curtis, known as Butch, owned and operated Curtis Equipment Sales, a construction equipment supplier whose name was emblazoned on some of the era's fastest Dirt Late Models with Tootle Estes, Bill Corum and Skip Arp the team’s longest tenured drivers. Among other drivers with at least brief stints in Curtis-owned cars were H.E. Vineyard, Steve Smith, Rick Aukland, Larry Moore, Dale McDowell and Brett Miller. He also sponsored Scott Bloomquist, Freddy Smith and other standout drivers.

“I’ve never seen a man more devoted to racing and helping drivers,” Curtis’s daughter Katrina Hatfield said, her voice breaking. “He could have had the worst week and as long as he got to take off for the racetrack, he was a happy man whether they won or lost.”

Arp (pictured above with Curtis), a Hall of Famer along with Estes, Vineyard, Aukland, Moore and McDowell, drove for Curtis in the prime of his career from 1988-2001 that included most of his 14 Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing series victories. Arp was also the “right-hand man” for Curtis beyond racing, Hatfield said.

“I was honored to drive for him, but mostly honored and grateful for the great friendship we had,” Arp said. “He was like a second dad to me and was always so good to me and Janice. He and Wanda always treated us like their own kids. We always felt like family by him and his family.”

Curtis never raced dirt cars, but in his “younger rebellious” days was a drag racer, Hatfield said. He first fielded a dirt car for Estes with Amos “Rudd” Thearp serving as a mechanic. Next was Corum and a series of other drivers.

Curtis, along with Doug Sopha, also had stints co-owning 411 Motor Speedway and I-75 Raceway.

Mostly a behind-the-scenes, silent supporter, “when he quit racing, we hated it because he was grumpy,” Hatfield recalled. “He may not have been a race car driver, but he was a true man of dirt track racing.”

Curtis suffered a stroke in 2019, later sustained a broken hip and “just never was the same” with his health declining in the past year, Hatfield said.

Besides his daughter, he's survived by son Scott Curtis, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. His wife Wanda Faye Curtis died in 2018.

The funeral is noon Saturday, June 13, at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Loudon with visitation two hours prior; a graveside service follows at Mount Zion Baptist Church Cemetery.