10/1/2018
Inside Line Promotions
Swindell Seeking to Score Record Third Straight Short Track Nationals Title
(Photo by DB3 Imaging)
Inside Line Promotions – PLYMOUTH, Wis. (Oct. 1, 2018) – Sammy Swindell is looking to become the first driver to win three consecutive Short Track Nationals titles this weekend when I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., hosts the 31st edition of the marquee event.
Swindell swept both his preliminary night and the main event each of the last two years. Last season’s victory gave him five Short Track Nationals crowns, which is an event record. Swindell also became only the fourth driver in the storied history of the event to earn back-to-back wins. No driver has recorded three in a row, which is Swindell’s mission this Friday and Saturday when he will drive for A.G. Rains.
“Since we’ve been so good there we want to go there and keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing,” Swindell said. “The car should be good. With that format you have to get some breaks and be in the right place at the right time.”
Swindell piloted a sprint car for Thone Motorsports last weekend during an IRA Sprint Car Series doubleheader at Plymouth Dirt Track. The action began on Friday when Swindell qualified fifth quickest.
“We just picked up this motor and went out in warmups and it didn’t quite seem right,” he said. “We made a change or two, but didn’t know what it was. When we went out for qualifying they could really hear it. We found out we had a spark plug that wasn’t firing. We changed that and went out and won our heat race.”
That earned a spot into the feature redraw for Swindell, who pulled the No. 4 to start the A Main on the outside of the second row.
“Right away I was third and the guy who was leading it wound up spinning after he got racing with the guy in second,” he said. “When he spun around I barely clipped him with the right rear when he was doing a 360. That put me in second. It didn’t take long for me to battle for the lead. I got by him finally and didn’t hear or see him for a while. We got to traffic and it was like a wall. Most of the guys are on the bottom, but there’s some that run real wide and turn down. There were five or six cars in a wad. I went to the top, but it’s hard to make any ground there, especially with a guy coming out to the wall and then turning straight down. It brought the cars behind me to me. The guy running second decided to turn right. There’s a cushion and curb down the frontstretch and it ran me onto that. It was greasy and the right rear bumped the wall and went flat. It broke the Jacob’s Ladder, too.”
The incident midway through the race resulted in a DNF for Swindell, who wrapped up the weekend at Plymouth Dirt Track on Saturday. He timed in 11th quickest in qualifying and finished second in a heat race. Swindell rallied from 12th to sixth in the A Main to garner the Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars.
“Being a small track it was hard to pass,” he said. “The bottom was probably just about as good as the top because the top is so far around and so flat. On the restarts I was able to pick guys off that would not get going right away or miss the bottom. It didn’t take long to get to traffic and then they were just on the bottom and just enough to be in the way. The guys in front of me were all on the top so it was the only place to go. We got the most that we could given the circumstances.”
The sixth-place result was Swindell’s 33rd top 10 of the season.
QUICK RESULTS –
Sept. 28 – Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis. – Qualifying: 5; Heat race: 1 (3); Feature: DNF (4).
Sept. 29 – Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis. – Qualifying: 11; Heat race: 2 (1); Feature: 6 (12).
SEASON STATS –
54 races, 8 wins, 25 top fives, 33 top 10s, 36 top 15s, 39 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday and Saturday at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., for the 31st annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals with the ASCS Mid-South Region
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.SammySwindell1.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/1sam91
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Acme Graphix & Design
Acme Graphix & Design is a graphic and design company owned by sprint car driver A.G. Rains. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/Acmegraphixanddesign/.
“Acme Graphix has been doing all my graphic stuff, decals, banners for the trailers, etc., for a long time,” Swindell said. “A.G. has race cars and knows how things should go together. I can call him up and say I need something and he gets it done.”
Swindell would also like to thank Whitacre Glass, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, FK Rod Ends, CP Pistons, High Performance Lubricants, Simpson Race Products, Sweet Manufacturing, Schoenfeld Headers, W&B Service Company, Griffin Fishing Charters and Lodge, South Bay Partners, MyRacePass and Inside Line Promotions for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
Article Credit: Inside Line Promotions
Submitted By: Shawn Miller
