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Fast track Milton teen stays the course to professional racing career By HANNAH YAHNE | hannah@appenmedia.com
RORY MALLOY/PROVIDED
Luke Yarbrough sits in his pro late model racecar Dec. 7 on the track at Five Flags Speedway in Florida. This model is the first race car he bought at a price point between $40-50,000, which is low for stock cars, Yarbrough said.
MILTON, Ga. — Luke Yarbrough was driving electric Power Wheels cars before he could walk, so his parents weren’t surprised when he began racing cars at 13. His journey was humbling at the beginning, racing quarter midget cars against drivers who were 5 to 7 years old in the rookie classes. Yarbrough progressed to racing legend cars at 15, which he said was a big step up. “I remember being really happy that I got to join a team,” Yarbrough, now 19 years old, said. There was a big disadvantage when it was just him and his dad as the pit crew. Now, they had a level playing field, with professionals working on his car to make it faster. Yarbrough races every weekend, whether in a legend car or the pro late model car he has advanced to. Moving up from legend cars, Yarbrough’s family committed to the sport and bought their first pro late model car. “It’s eye-opening to see the kind of equipment and … procedures that the high-level teams have,” Yarbrough said.
See RACING, Page 20
Area graduates competing in the CFP By ANNABELLE REITER annabelle@appenmedia.com NORTH METRO ATLANTA — Teams are gearing up for the College Football Playoff with the first games taking place Dec. 19, and their rosters include plenty of players from North Metro Atlanta. The Southeastern Conference is the most popular in this region of the country for top high school players to attend for college, and it also coincidentally has the
most teams in the playoff. The University of Alabama has two familiar names, senior defensive lineman LT Overton, a Milton graduate, and Vito Perri, a linebacker and redshirt junior from Alpharetta. The University of Oklahoma brought in one Cambridge graduate from the transfer portal in tight end Carson Kent. Kent played for Kennesaw State for two years before becoming a Sooner. Ole Miss has a pair of high school
rivals that have figured out working together after playing against each other just two seasons ago in a 70-year rivalry: Sophomores Mark Trigg Jr., a linebacker from Roswell, and Wyatt Smalley, a tight end from Milton. The Georgia Bulldogs tally up with the most players from Appen Media’s coverage area, with three graduates each from Westminster and West Forsyth High School.
County forecasts property tax hike for 2026 expenses ► PAGE 4
See FOOTBALL, Page 18
SAM SAM DIVITO DIVITO
404.803.5999 404.803.5999| |Sam@HOMEgeorgia.com Sam@HOMEgeorgia.com
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