From Inside Line Promotions
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (Oct. 24, 2016) – Kevin Swindell has a new venture within the racing industry.
He is an owner of a winged sprint car team, which has recorded a pair of fifth-place finishes during its first two events.
“I’ve been piecing together stuff all year wanting to do something,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to put a sprint car together my way. I’ve slowly able to piece it all together. I was more or less shooting for next year, but they were wanting to race this year so we hustled it up.”
Swindell completed the team the day of the Midwest Open Wheel Association’s season finale – Oct. 15 at Jacksonville Speedway in Jacksonville, Ill. Spencer Bayston was tabbed to pilot the 410ci winged sprint car as the Swindell Speed Lab backed team kicked off the action by qualifying eighth quickest.
Bayston then finished second in a heat race to lock into the eighth starting position for the main event.
“The first night out with a brand new car and a brand new team, I was trying to be as careful as I could and still drive as hard as I could,” he said. “It was one lane on the top. I was able to pass a couple of guys early and got one more midway through the race in traffic. It was a solid night.”
Bayston finished fifth to give the team momentum entering the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions season finale last Saturday at Atomic Speedway. Bayston timed in 29th quickest overall and fifth in his group, which was only one spot shy of making the inversion and starting on the pole of a heat race.
He placed fourth in the heat to lock into the 18th starting position for the main event.
“With the start of the night we had and everyone working hard to get me comfortable and the car right it was a great feeling to do well,” he said. “I learned a lot and I think we all learned a lot. It was a hammer-down track because they had a lot of rain. You could make the top work so I went up there and got some clean air and was able to circle around the majority of the guys I passed. I think we went 18th to sixth in the first 10 laps.”
Once again, Bayston rallied to post a fifth-place result as the team passed 13 cars in the main event.
“It’s been good,” Swindell said. “We got through Jacksonville with no problems, nothing loose and no leaks. Sometimes with a new car that’s tough to do. Atomic was rough and everything went all right. We had a couple of things pop up and we got those handled. They turned over 15 cars the other night and we weren’t one of them. That was a success in itself.”
Bayston will also drive the car Nov. 3-5 at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., for the 29th annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires.