Sammy Swindell beats Eliason and Macedo at 34 Raceway for 27th career All Star victory

 

WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa (July 29, 2018) – Sammy Swindell is 62-years-old and still winning.

Exactly one year after earning his last Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory in West Lebanon, N.Y., “Slammin’” Sammy Swindell wins again with America’s Series, this time earning a $5,000 payday during action at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa. For Swindell, the All Star victory bumps his career total to 27 with the Series, forced to outduel Fresno, California’s Cory Eliason during the later stages of the 30-lap program to do so. The 34 Raceway victory was a first-ever for the Germantown, Tenn., native during All Star competition.

Cory Eliason held on to finish second with the All Stars to earn a first-ever podium finish with the Series, followed by Carson Macedo, Cale Conley, and Kerry Madsen.

“I think I’m the oldest person to ever win one of these races,” an elated Sammy Swindell said in victory lane, driver of the Thones Utility Construction/No. 59 sprint car. “We pulled this car out of the trailer tonight and didn’t touch a bolt on it. We won one now. We’ll work to improve from here.”

Sammy Swindell’s march to the front took patience and persistence. Starting from the outside of row two, Swindell completed the first eight circuits in the exact same position as he started. Traffic came into play quickly around the 3/8-mile, high banked oval which allowed Swindell to close the gap on the top three. Utilizing lapped cars, the former World of Outlaws champion was able to battle by Jackson and Knoxville winner, Kerry Madsen, to take the third spot officially on lap nine. Just one circuit later, the main event’s first caution appeared forcing the field to mold back together.

It was not until when caution flags reappeared that Swindell was able to make a bid for the second spot, ultimately driving by the familiar No. 7K of Cale Conley as the pair raced down the backstretch on lap 17. Halting Swindell’s obvious momentum in traffic, caution flags reappeared on lap 18, once again forcing the field to bunch back together.

Now on the tailtank of the Roth Motorsports entry of Cory Eliason, green flag conditions returned with Swindell now in hot pursuit of the top spot. The pair raced one-two for the next eight circuits in clear air, but traffic came into the picture soon thereafter. As Eliason reached the tail of the field to complete lap 26, Swindell made his move, actually peeking underneath the No. 83 as the pair battled into turn one. A drag race down the back straightaway resulted in Swindell’s favor, taking the lead officially with a slider between turns three and four on lap 27.

Although one last caution appeared with two circuits remaining setting up a green-white-checkered restart, Swindell was untouchable, sailing off to score the All Star victory in front of a packed-house by 1.25 seconds.

“We were kinda tight at the beginning, so as the laps continued to go down, the car was getting better,” Swindell continued. “We still have a few kinks that we need to work out.”

The Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will enjoy a pair of off-weekends before returning to competition on Friday evening, August 17, at the Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, New York; the first of three consecutive events in the Empire State. Action will continue on Saturday evening, August 18, at the Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, followed by a stop at the Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon on Sunday, August 19. The trio of New York stops will open an August schedule that includes eight events across three states, four of which in Pennsylvania on August 23-26.

Contingency Awards/Results: 34 Raceway – Sunday, July 29, 2018:
Arctic Cat All Stars at 34 Raceway
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 32 Entrants
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Sammy Swindell – 12.797 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Cale Conley – 12.288 seconds (2nd Quick)
Ford Performance Heat #1: Joey Saldana
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Austin McCarl
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Carson Macedo
Mobil 1 Heat #4: Sammy Swindell
JE Pistons Dash #1: Cale Conley
Wix Filters Dash #2: Cory Eliason
Classic Ink USA B-Main: Ryan Smith
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Sammy Swindell
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Jac Haudenschild (+9)
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 24-Rico Abreu, 12.675; 2. 35V-Jamie Veal, 12.759; 3. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 12.815; 4. 26-Joey Saldana, 12.867; 5. 15-Bobby Mincer, 12.990; 6. 70-Dave Blaney, 13.008; 7. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 13.085; 8. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 13.456

Group (B)
1. 11-Ryan Smith, 12.590; 2. 4-Parker Price-Miller, 12.672; 3. 25-Jake Blackhurst, 12.707; 4. 2KS-Austin McCarl, 12.770; 5. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 12.852; 6. 3K-Tim Kaeding, 12.863; 7. 21au-Jordan Brazier, 12.949; 8. 12-Lynton Jeffrey, 13.391

Group (C)
1. 39-Spencer Bayston, 12.376; 2. 13-Paul McMahan, 12.382; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 12.414; 4. 3G-Carson Macedo, 12.699; 5. 35-Tyler Esh, 12.740; 6. 14-Tony Stewart, 12.855; 7. 5H-Sammy Walsh, 12.963; 8. 51J-Ryan Jamison, 13.362

Group (D)
1. 83-Cory Eliason, 12.236; 2. 7K-Cale Conley, 12.288; 3. 59-Sammy Swindell, 12.434; 4. 98-Carl Bowser, 12.576; 5. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 12.582; 6. 29-Willie Croft, 12.598; 7. 50-Bill Balog, 12.753; 8. 49-Josh Schneiderman, 12.780

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 26-Joey Saldana [1]; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen [2]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [4]; 4. 35V-Jamie Veal [3]; 5. 70-Dave Blaney [6]; 6. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [7]; 7. 10H-Chad Kemenah [8]; 8. 15-Bobby Mincer [5]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 2KS-Austin McCarl [1]; 2. 25-Jake Blackhurst [2]; 3. 4-Parker Price-Miller [3]; 4. 22-Brandon Spithaler [5]; 5. 3K-Tim Kaeding [6]; 6. 11-Ryan Smith [4]; 7. 21AU-Jordan Brazier [7]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 3G-Carson Macedo [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 3. 39-Spencer Bayston [4]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 5. 14-Tony Stewart [6]; 6. 35-Tyler Esh [5]; 7. 5H-Sammy Walsh [7]; 8. 51J-Ryan Jamison [8]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 59-Sammy Swindell [2]; 2. 98-Carl Bowser [1]; 3. 83-Cory Eliason [4]; 4. 7K-Cale Conley [3]; 5. 29-Willie Croft [6]; 6. 3-Jac Haudenschild [5]; 7. 50-Bill Balog [7]; 8. 49-Josh Schneiderman [8]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 7K-Cale Conley [1]; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen [2]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel [3]; 4. 26-Joey Saldana [4]; 5. 3G-Carson Macedo [5]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 83-Cory Eliason [2]; 2. 59-Sammy Swindell [1]; 3. 2KS-Austin McCarl [4]; 4. 98-Carl Bowser [3]; 5. 25-Jake Blackhurst [5]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 11-Ryan Smith [2]; 2. 3-Jac Haudenschild [1]; 3. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [4]; 4. 10H-Chad Kemenah [8]; 5. 5H-Sammy Walsh [7]; 6. 50-Bill Balog [5]; 7. 49-Josh Schneiderman [9]; 8. 15-Bobby Mincer [10]; 9. 35-Tyler Esh [3]; 10. 21AU-Jordan Brazier [6]; 11. 51J-Ryan Jamison [11]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 59-Sammy Swindell [4]; 2. 83-Cory Eliason [2]; 3. 3G-Carson Macedo [9]; 4. 7K-Cale Conley [1]; 5. 2M-Kerry Madsen [3]; 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel [5]; 7. 26-Joey Saldana [7]; 8. 4-Parker Price-Miller [12]; 9. 24-Rico Abreu [13]; 10. 2KS-Austin McCarl [6]; 11. 14-Tony Stewart [18]; 12. 39-Spencer Bayston [11]; 13. 3-Jac Haudenschild [22]; 14. 13-Paul McMahan [14]; 15. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [23]; 16. 22-Brandon Spithaler [16]; 17. 29-Willie Croft [17]; 18. 25-Jake Blackhurst [10]; 19. 35V-Jamie Veal [15]; 20. 11-Ryan Smith [21]; 21. 98-Carl Bowser [8]; 22. 10H-Chad Kemenah [24]; 23. 70-Dave Blaney [20]; 24. 3K-Tim Kaeding [19] Lap Leaders: Cale Conley (1-4), Cory Eliason (5-26), Sammy Swindell (27-30)

All Star Circuit of Champions Driver Standings: (after 7/29/2018)
1. Aaron Reutzel – 3712
2. Carson Macedo – 3708
3. Chad Kemenah – 3694
4. Jac Haudenschild – 3538
5. Dave Blaney – 3510
6. Paul McMahan – 3508
7. Parker Price-Miller – 3466
8. Cale Conley – 3244
9. Brandon Spithaler – 3002
10. Carl Bowser – 2998

Category: Iowa