(Photo by Brandon Young Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – HAUBSTADT, Ind. (May 4, 2015) – Sammy Swindell powered to his first top five with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series since last July on Saturday at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55.
Swindell’s fifth-place result at the high-banked track in Pevely, Mo., marked his fifth top five of the season and his second in a sprint car owned by Donnie Cooper.
“We’re still kind of learning some things on it, but the car was pretty good,” Swindell said. “We made some changes for the dash and it was the wrong way to go, so we went back in the other direction and the car was really good.”
Swindell, who opened the event by qualifying 13th quickest and winning a heat race to advance into the dash, lined up on the inside of the fourth row for the main event after finishing seventh in the dash.
“I was able to move up through the whole feature,” he said. “On one restart I was able to drive through the middle and take the lead.”
Swindell led a couple of laps just after the midpoint of the 40-lap feature before falling back to second.
“I was running second and we got in some traffic and it didn’t work out in my favor,” he said. “I got held up and lost a spot. Then we developed a leak in one of the power steering lines. On a restart I couldn’t move the wing forward because the fluid was almost out and the power steering didn’t work quite as well as it would have. I was able to salvage a top five, but I think if I could have had the wing forward a little more I would have at least held on to a top three.”
Swindell and Cooper ventured to Tri-State Speedway on Sunday for another World of Outlaws event, which began with Swindell timing in 28th quickest during qualifying.
“The car wasn’t quite right and I didn’t make a very good lap,” he said. “When you put the two together that’s what it is. There were a lot of other good cars back there where I was at.”
Swindell ended sixth in a heat race to miss locking into the main event by one position. However, he rallied from eighth to fourth place in the Last Chance Showdown to transfer into the back of the main event.
“We had a good run through there and I was trying to get by a guy for ninth,” he said. “He kind of changed his line and I ran out of room. I caught the right front wheel and it turned me around. I did a 360 and kept going without losing all the spots and had to work through it again.”
The contact just after the midpoint of the race dropped Swindell, who started 24th, almost a dozen positions. He was able to maneuver back to a 13th-place result.
“We definitely had a car that was going to run in the top 10 and maybe the top five, but that one incident put us back,” he said. “That’s just part of racing.”
QUICK RESULTS –
May 2 – Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely, Mo. – Qualifying: 13; Heat race: 1 (1); Dash: 7 (7); Feature: 5 (7).
May 3 – Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind. – Qualifying: 28; Heat race: 6 (7); B Main: 4 (8); Feature: 13 (24).
SEASON STATS –
8 races, 1 win, 5 top fives, 6 top 10s, 7 top 15s, 7 top 20s
UP NEXT –
TBD
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.SwindellMotorsports.citymaker.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/1sam91
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Sweet Manufacturing
Sweet Manufacturing was incorporated in 1978 with the basic concept of providing racers with steering products that would offer a competitive advantage. All of its products have been designed and built using the experience and knowledge gained from Randy Sweet’s 50-plus years of racing competition, plus continuous input from the nation’s top drivers, engineers and chassis builders. For more information, visit http://www.SweetMFG.biz.
“Sweet Manufacturing has developed one of the best steering gears out there and they are dedicated to continue improving all the time,” Swindell said.
Swindell would also like to thank John Christner Trucking, J. Davidson Scrap Metal Processors, Energy Release, High Performance Lubricants, Simpson Race Products, FK Rod Ends, Sweet Manufacturing, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, HRP Wings and Schoenfeld Headers 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.
- Shawn Miller on May 04, 2015
- Article Date: 5/4/2015 by Inside Line Promotions