Grant Papp

"My victory was short-lived....I lost those five dollars later that night after I couldn't bounce a ping-pong ball into a mug of beer about 20 feet away."

- Grant Papp, recalling his 1984 ARLA win and his bet.

Grant Richard Papp (born November 11, 1955) is a North Carolina carpenter that made headlines when he won the ARLA Elite Series race at Rockingham in 1984 despite having never even driven a race car before.

1984
Papp claims that he entered the ARLA race at Rockingham in 1984 because his friends bet him 5 dollars that he couldn't win the race. According to Papp, one of his friends had a wealthy uncle that helped him rent a car from Paul Sweeney. Papp qualified 17th in the 32-car field, and worked his way to the front of the field due to high attrition among the leaders. Papp held off Sweeney on a restart with 9 laps remaining to take the win and his friend's 5 dollars.

2011
Papp did not race again until 2011, when he competed in the Elite Series race at Talladega after his friends made another bar bet, this time raising the stakes to 10 dollars. Again leasing a car from Sweeney through Pearson-Sweeney Motorsports, Papp ran up front for much of the race, but was passed for the second spot on the last lap by eventual winner Allie Riggs, and eventually finished 10th, and was forced to pay up the 10 dollars.

2017
Papp re-emerged at the end of the 2017 season to settle another bet, with the stakes doubled once again to 20 dollars. Papp continued to show impressive speed as he finished runner-up in the second stage, but came up short in the final stage to the more experienced Jim Kidd.

TM Master Cup
He attempted to qualify for the 2011 Round of Indianapolis in the #61 Pearson/Sweeney Motorsports Car, but failed to make it past the final qualifying race.