(Photo by Joe Orth Photos)
Inside Line Promotions – HURON, S.D. (June 21, 2015) – There were several bright spots last week for Sammy Swindell and the Jason Johnson Racing team, which competed in a trio of World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series events in three different states.
The competition began last Wednesday at Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids, Minn., where the World of Outlaws debut had been delayed one day because of weather. Swindell, who was making his first appearance at the track, kicked off the action by setting a new track record and qualifying the quickest.
“It was real good to start the night,” he said. “The car was good and I made a really good lap. I think my second lap would have been a little better, but I got a little greedy with the curb and had to get out of the gas. After that we struggled with the car being too tight.”
Swindell finished fifth in a heat race and sixth in the dash to line up on the outside of the third row for the main event. He battled inside the top 10 for most of the feature before ending with a 12th-place result.
“We tried some things and never really put the whole program together,” he said. “However, some of things we learned from that helped us at Grand Forks.”
The team ventured to River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., on Friday, when Swindell qualified fourth quickest around the bullring before advancing from third to win a heat race and lock himself into the dash.
“We qualified decent,” he said. “We just didn’t have enough gear in the car. We won our heat from third, which seems to be pretty hard to do these days. We got off there just a bit in the dash, but that gave us a direction for the main.”
Swindell lined up on the outside of the second row for the main event after placing fourth in the dash.
“It was pretty good through the middle of the feature,” he said. “I was running fifth and felt like I was faster than the cars in front of me. We were all right on top of each other. One time I was running the top in turns three and four and it was pretty thin on the edge. The car in front of me had been running the bottom to the middle and moved up at the last moment to go around a lapped car. I couldn’t see where the line was and I got right on top of it getting in and just slid over the edge. As the rear wheels dropped off the track it spun around. It was just something that happens sometimes. You have to be aggressive to pass people and I was trying to stay after it and just missed by about four inches.”
Swindell rallied from the back of the pack to post an 11th-place result.
The week wrapped up on Saturday at Dakota State Fair Speedway, where Swindell made his debut by qualifying 15th quickest and finishing fifth in a heat race to lock into the 15th starting position for the main event.
“The track was kind of wet in hot laps and we needed to change gears for qualifying,” he said. “The track picked up a lot of speed. We just didn’t have the gear to make that speed. It was unfortunate because it put us back the rest of the night.
“Through the middle section of the feature the car was pretty good. Then it got really, really loose and wouldn’t drive forward the last third of the race. All the spots that I gained I gave back. It’s really hard to find a good balance sometimes.”
Swindell ended with a 14th-place result.
He will conclude his tenure with Jason Johnson Racing this week with World of Outlaws events on Wednesday at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich., Friday at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa, and Saturday at Beaver Dam Raceway in Beaver Dam, Wis.
QUICK RESULTS –
June 17 – Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids, Minn. – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 5 (4); Dash: 6 (6); Feature: 12 (6).
June 19 – River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D. – Qualifying: 4; Heat race: 1 (3); Dash: 4 (5): Feature: 11 (4).
June 20 – Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron, S.D. – Qualifying: 15; Heat race: 5 (5); Feature: 14 (15).
SEASON STATS –
16 races, 1 win, 5 top fives, 9 top 10s, 14 top 15s, 14 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Wednesday at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich., Friday at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa, and Saturday at Beaver Dam Raceway in Beaver Dam, Wis., with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.SammySwindell1.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, Schoenfeld Headers and Driver Websites 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 Jun 21, 2015
- Article Date: 6/21/2015 by Inside Line Promotions