By Tony Veneziano
Dodge City, KS- June 11, 2010- Sammy Swindell remembers his first trip to Dodge City Raceway Park in 2004 very vividly. After crossing the line first, he came up two pounds light at the scales after running out of the fuel, thus snatching the victory away from him. He returned to the track for the first time since then last year, picking up a couple of Top-10 finishes as he continued his quest to pick up that elusive win at Dodge City. He was finally able to score that victory on Friday night in thrilling fashion over Joey Saldana before a very larger crowd as Boot Hill Casino & Resort Presented the opener of the Boot Hill Showdown.
Swindell made up a lot of ground on Saldana in lapped traffic late in the going and was able to dive under him coming off turns three and four on the 28th lap to take the lead. Saldana fought back on the next lap and charged back by Swindell on the high side of turn two, with Swindell again powering off the low side of turn four to be officially scored the leader at the stripe. He ran a smooth line on the last lap to pull away by about a half-second to score his first World of Outlaws win of the season aboard the Big Game Treestands Maxim and his first triumph with the series since 2006.
“We’ve been close in a lot of them this year, so it’s good to finally pick one up,” said Swindell “We definitely had the best car tonight and just had to bide our time. I got a little backed up at the start and had a few guys run into some water down there and I got myself behind some of the lapped cars at the wrong time, but we were still able to run them down pretty easy. I just didn’t want to run out of time and almost did. I guess you could say I played it perfect, but it was a little bit close.”
Swindell started fifth and fell back to seventh early the race before steadily working his way back to the front in lapped traffic. He got around Donny Schatz on the sixth lap to move back into the Top-Five. He worked on Jason Sides for a couple of lap before taking the fourth spot from him. Kerry Madsen was next on the horizon and Swindell passed him on the 13th circuit for third and found himself in second just two laps later charging past Paul McMahan, before setting his sights on Saldana.
“I was killing guys on the bottom in (turns) three and four and Joey (Saldana) couldn’t stick down there,” noted Swindell. “I don’t think he ever for sure saw the line I was running, and he ran up in there too hard and slid across and I knew if I hit my marks I would go by easy. I had to make the last lap and run well in the line where I wanted to be and I knew there wasn’t anybody as quick.”
Swindell entered this weekend with four Top-Five finishes with the World of Outlaws in 2010 including a podium run last weekend at Knoxville Raceway. He joined the Big Game Motorsports team earlier in the year when Terry McCarl was injured and had been knocking on the door to scoring his first series win of the season.
“We’ve been close,” shared Swindell. “Last year I don’t think we had everything we needed at the right time. Now we have a good car and a good crew and things are going well. They are giving me what I need and it shows. If they give me what I need, we’re going to have a quick car.”
The race began on Friday night with Paul McMahan leading from the pole, with the caution flag waving for a first lap spin by Steve Kinser, leading to a complete restart. On the second start McMahan again charged to the lead in turn one with Joey Saldana quickly coming from sixth to fourth on the opening lap and moving into second by the fourth go-around. Saldana took the lead from his teammate on the sixth lap charging around the high side of turn two.
Saldana, who led 23 laps, wound up second in the Budweiser Maxim to earn his series leading 17th Top-Five finish of the season. He extended his lead in the series standing to 30 markers over Jason Meyers he chases his first title. Saldana began the night by turning the fastest lap in time trials.
“You just have to be perfect,” noted Saldana after the race. “We had a good car and got to the lead from sixth. You just have to do everything right and not make a mistake. We had a car good enough to win and made a mistake with a lapped car and lost the race. These races are tough and everyone is extremely fast and if you make even a little mistake they capitalize on it.”
Jason Sides came home third on Friday night to earn his 10th Top-Five finish of the season aboard the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim. Sides fell back to fifth in the middle part of the race and got around Paul McMahan for fourth with eight laps to go and then got around Kerry Madsen for the final podium spot just a lap later.
“The car was a little free at the start, but came on really good late in the race,” said Sides. “We sure can’t complain with a third-place finish. It’s another strong run for us and we had a good car at the end tonight.”
Madsen, who started on the front row, came home fourth in the Halls Haulage KPC to earn his second Top-Five finish of the season with the World of Outlaws as he continues to mesh with the Hall Motorsport team, which has him reunited with veteran crew chief Sonny Kratzer, with whom he had a couple of World of Outlaws wins with, in the past.
“We had a pretty good race car,” said Madsen. “I don’t think we had anything for the leaders, but it was a good run. I’m pretty happy to bring it home in the Top-Five. That was the goal and we’ll come back tomorrow night and try again.”
Jason Meyers came from 11th to finish fifth in the GLR Investments KPC, with Sam Hafertepe Jr. in sixth in the G.H. Plumbing Maxim. Donny Schatz wound up seventh in the Armor All J&J.
Steve Kinser rebounded from a first lap spin to charge through the field to come home eighth in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim, without a single caution the rest of the way, as the 30-lapper went green-to-checker in just under 10 minutes following the caution on the initial start.
Jac Haudenschild was ninth piloting the Owens-Corning Fiberglass XXX, with Paul McMahan, who led the first five laps, rounding out the Top-10 in the Great Clips Maxim.
The World of Outlaws wrap up their stay in Dodge City on Saturday, June 12 as Boot Hill Casino & Resort Presents the finale of the Boot Hill Showdown.
BOOT HILL SHOWDOWN NIGHT #1 NOTES
•FAST QUALIFIER: Joey Saldana paced the 25 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 3/8-mile oval at 12.733 seconds at 106.024 mph. For his qualifying effort, Saldana earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Sammy Swindell (4), Donny Schatz (3), Jason Sides (2) and Paul McMahan (1).
•DODGE CITY RACEWAY PARK QUALIFYING WINNERS: Kerry Madsen, Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Donny Schatz won heat races. Paul McMahan won the dash.
• FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 24 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature events held in 2010. The winners include: Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, Tri-State (Okla.) Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway and I-96 Speedway), Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, I-55 Raceway and Eldora Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Paducah International Raceway and Knoxville Raceway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park and Jackson Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park and The Dirt Track at Charlotte), Jason Sides (Houston Raceway Park and Tri-City Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway), Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway), Sammy Swindell (Dodge City Raceway) and Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway).
•3/8-MILE WINNERS: Dodge City Raceway Park is a high-banked 3/8-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced three times on a track that size this season. The winners include: Jac Haudenschild (Paducah International Raceway), Jason Meyers (Tri-State-Okla. Speedway) and Sammy Swindell (Dodge City Raceway Park).
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Boot Hill Showdown; Dodge City, KS; June 11, 2010
Qualifying
1) 9-Joey Saldana 12.733
2) 1-Sammy Swindell 12.765
3) 15-Donny Schatz 12.834
4) 7S-Jason Sides 12.881
5) 91-Paul McMahan 12.900
6) 14-Jason Meyers 12.919
7) 3-Kerry Madsen 12.938
8) 11-Steve Kinser 12.962
9) 6-Danny Lasoski 12.978
10) 7-Craig Dollansky 12.993
11) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 13.005
12) R19-Jac Haudenschild 13.065
13) 11K-Kraig Kinser 13.092
14) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 13.113
15) 63-Chad Kemenah 13.158
16) 22-Brian Ellenberger 13.239
17) 1X-Gary Lee Maier 13.244
18) 2B-Ben Gregg 13.315
19) 4X-Toni Lutar 13.323
20) 72-Steven Richardson 13.742
21) 15k-Kerry McAlister 13.854
22) 81AU-Gavin Punch 13.872
23) 36-Jason Martin 14.110
24) 91X-Taylor Milton 14.155
25) 33-Kris Miller 14.564
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)- Starting Position [#]
1) 3-Kerry Madsen[2]
2) 7-Craig Dollansky[1]
3) 9-Joey Saldana[4]
4) 7S-Jason Sides[3]
5) 22-Brian Ellenberger[6]
6) 11K-Kraig Kinser[5]
7) 4X-Toni Lutar[7]
8) 81AU-Gavin Punch[8]
9) 33-Kris Miller[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)- Starting Position [#]
1) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[1]
2) 11-Steve Kinser[2]
3) 91-Paul McMahan[3]
4) 1-Sammy Swindell[4]
5) 1X-Gary Lee Maier[6]
6) 72-Steven Richardson[7]
7) 36-Jason Martin[8]
8) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)- Starting Position [#]
1) 15-Donny Schatz[4]
2) R19-Jac Haudenschild[1]
3) 14-Jason Meyers[3]
4) 6-Danny Lasoski[2]
5) 2B-Ben Gregg[6]
6) 63-Chad Kemenah[5]
7) 91X-Taylor Milton[8]
8) 15k-Kerry McAlister[7]
Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – Starting Position [#]
1) 91-Paul McMahan[2]
2) 3-Kerry Madsen[1]
3) 15-Donny Schatz[4]
4) 7S-Jason Sides[3]
5) 1-Sammy Swindell[5]
6) 9-Joey Saldana[6]
7) 11-Steve Kinser[7]
8) R19 -Jac Haudenschild[10]
9) 7-Craig Dollansky[8]
10) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[9]
A-main (30 laps) – Starting Position [#]
1) 1-Sammy Swindell[5] [$10,000]
2) 9-Joey Saldana[6] [$5,000]
3) 7S-Jason Sides[4] [$3,000]
4) 3-Kerry Madsen[2] [$2,700]
5) 14-Jason Meyers[11] [$2,500]
6) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[10] [$2,200]
7) 15-Donny Schatz[3] [$2,000]
8) 11-Steve Kinser[7] [$1,800]
9) R19-Jac Haudenschild[8] [$1,600]
10) 91-Paul McMahan[1] [$1,450]
11) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[19] [$1,300]
12) 63-Chad Kemenah[14] [$1,200]
13) 11K-Kraig Kinser[13] [$1,100]
14) 2B-Ben Gregg[17] [$1,000]
15) 6-Danny Lasoski[12] [$950]
16) 22-Brian Ellenberger[15] [$900]
17) 7-Craig Dollansky[9] [$850]
18) 4X-Toni Lutar[20] [$750]
19) 1X-Gary Lee Maier[16] [$725]
20) 81AU-Gavin Punch[22] [$700]
21) 72-Steven Richardson[18] [$700]
22) 15k-Kerry McAlister[21] [$700]
23) 91X-Taylor Milton[23] [$700]
24) 33-Kris Miller[24] [$700]
Lap Leaders: Paul McMahan 1-4, Joey Saldana 5-27, Sammy Swindell 28-30
KSE Hard Charger Award: Lucas Wolfe
Penske Power Position Award: Ben Gregg
World of Outlaws Championship Standings through June 11
1. Joey Saldana 3353
2. Jason Meyers 3323 -30
3. Steve Kinser 3314 -39
4. Jason Sides 3192 -161
5. Donny Schatz 3178 -175
6. Paul McMahan 3038 -315
7. Lucas Wolfe 3023 -330
8. Danny Lasoski 3012 -341
9. Jac Haudenschild 3000 -353
10. Craig Dollansky 2978 -375