Racing Legend to Run for Auto Value Super Sprints Rookie of the Year in 2012

avss auto value super sprints

From Super Sprints PR

The Auto Value Bumper to Bumper Super Sprints proudly announces Randy Sweet will be competing for Rookie of the Year honors during the 2012 season. Having such a veteran competitor like Sweet join the AVSS family speaks volumes for the type of competitors the series’ continues to demand.

Sweet, the 65 year old champion racer from Kalamazoo, Michigan, started racing in 1963. In the late 1960’s he drove Super Mods and continued to develop and build his own cars. In the 1970’s Randy drove cars for owners Miniat and Obie. Sweet’s racing accomplishments speak for themselves. In 1978 Sweet set a record for the world’s fastest half-mile lap at Winchester Speedway in Indiana. Sweet has won the late model championship at Berlin Raceway in 1975, ’94, ’95, ’99. In 1992 Randy broke records on every track he raced on and won 19 of 22 features that year. So why a switch to the ultrafast Super Sprints after 46 years in racing? “A few years ago, I had to park the Late Model because I was having heart problems and had to get that figured out. Now I am healthy, but I have gone from 6’3” to 6”0 and from 240 pounds down to 180 pounds. I just figured I’ll give AVSS a whirl” Sweet said.

While he will be running his first full season with the Super Sprints, Sweet is no stranger to open wheel cars, or sprints for that matter. “I’ve ran Super Mods and Late Models all over the country. I have also raced non-wing pavement sprints with the old Thursday Night Thunder series”, said Randy. Sweet will run a Dowker-Diablo chassis with a Dowker power plant, as he mixes business with pleasure. “I have known Butch (Dowker, of Dowker Engines) a long time. I am looking forward for the opportunity to race the new cars as well as do some testing with the cars and the steering components as well.” Sweet Manufacturing, the company Randy owns, develops all types of steering products, from Rack and Pinion versions for stock cars (Sprint Cup to the local sportsman classes), as well as products for the new Sweet sprint car product line. “We have been making products for Kasey Kahne Racing with the World of Outlaws for a few years, focusing on the steering components and wing sliders, now we are going to work on the pavement side of the sport”.

Sweet loves the high speed tracks, such as Midwestern hot spots like Winchester, Salem, Berlin Raceway in Grand Rapids and Thompson Speedway. Sweet, always a fan of the high down force Super Sprints, was determined long ago to prove a theory of aerodynamics which he felt would allow a racer to perform far beyond ordinary stock cars, even on heavier cars. In 1982 he took a stock car and built a plastic wall down the left side and applied other aerodynamic features to the system. Sweet set a record of 14.01 seconds for a half-mile track.

Sweet Manufacturing will be the main sponsor of the #1 Super Sprint, which is a familiar logo to the AVSS family. Sweet Manufacturing has been a loyal AVSS sponsor for many years. Sweet will also be sponsored by Hoosier Tire, the official tire of the Super Sprints.

The core Super Sprint drivers are looking forward to racing Randy Sweet and competing against a Hall of Fame driver. Sweet is a driver that has conquered many driving disciplines and has went fast engineering race cars for a long time. Look for Randy Sweet and his familiar #1 on a Super Sprint at an AVSS track near you this summer!