Sammy Swindell drove LaVern Nance’s sprinter to victory at the World of
Outlaws race at Eagle Raceway.
Swindell flew past Steve Kinser on the 15th lap of the 35-lap World of Outlaws sprint car feature and steadily pulled away to his 26th feature win of the season.
“I was sure about our gamble, but I had my moments of doubt,” Swindell said after his win before 2,300 race fans.
Even though Swindell experienced problems during his heat race, he still felt his gamble would pay off.
“I was sure I was right about choosing the extra-dry tires, but I started to think we made a mistake after we couldn’t make up the speed in the early going of the feature.”
“Then, all of the restarts and all the extra laps made my prediction come true, and the track got super dry.”
“That’s when we started moving.”
The feature race, carrying a purse of $12,500 according to a National Speedways Contest Association spokesman, was slowed by seven restarts.
Swindell caused one of the restarts when he stalled his engine on the second lap after skidding to a stop to avoid a stalled car in front of him.
Five laps later, former Lincoln resident Doug Wolfgang, who had worked his way up to second-place, was out of the race after flipping on its side when a slower car pulled in front of him on the third turn.
On the next lap, Swindell, who was in seventh, stalled again. He was penalized and sent to the rear of the 18-car field for the restart.
Four more restarts later, Swindell had improved to second place and finally, on the 15th lap, passed Kinser on the inside of the fourth turn.
“We were running fine but those restarts just gave trouble time enough to catch up to us,” Kinser explained. “My car started getting loose and we just couldn’t run as fast as Swindell.”
The victory for Swindell moved him within a win of three-time defending points champion Kinser and this year’s point leader, Wolfgang.
Cliff Woodward finished third in the feature followed by Bob Hop in fourth and Sammy’s younger brother Jeff Swindell in fifth.
Results –
Heat #1 – Glen Hughes Jr., Denver, Colo.
Heat #2 – Sammy Swindell, Bartlett, Tenn.
Heat #3 – Steve Kinser, Bloomington, Ind.
Feature –
1. Sammy Swindell
2. Steve Kinser
3. Cliff Woodward, Kearney, Mo.
4. Bob Hop, Mendota, Minn.
5. Jeff Swindell, Memphis, Tenn.
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