Eldora
Experience Drives Sammy Swindell to Preliminary Feature Victory
Rossburg, OH — April 7, 2006 — By Chris Dolack, VP Public Relations
Experience always figures to be a key part of any victory at Eldora Speedway,
and Friday night it was no different.
In an event pitting the stars of the
It marks the second time this season Swindell has driven the Forbrook
Motorsports Mopar-powered Volcano Joe’s Coffee/Wirtgen Maxim to the
Danny Lasoski in the Roth Motorsports Eagle chased Swindell to the finish as
Joey Saldana improved two spots to grab fifth in the Mopar-powered Central
Merchant Services JEI while Craig Dollansky continued his impressive
performance of late by setting quick time in the Karavan Trailers Maxim and
posting a sixth-place run.
Chad Kemenah charged from 16th to finish seventh in the Underground Utilities
Inc. Eagle with Brooke Tatnell in the Garlic Jim’s Pizza/Castrol Eagle, Jason
Solwold in the City Wide Insulation Maxim and Terry McCarl in the
Threatening skies led only to a brief rain delay with time trials nearly
complete, forcing the qualifying session by rule to be re-run so each car had
an equal chance to post laps on a comparable racing surface.
With the field dialed-in for the main event, it was Swindell who got the jump
at the green flag and he never looked back. After two early red flags, for
Eldora veterans Kenny Jacobs and Jac Haudenschild, Swindell settled in at the
front and powered his way to victory in the 25-lap feature to earn a spot in
Saturday’s dash.
Swindell was smooth through traffic, catching the tail end of the field with 11
laps complete. Lasoski tried to close the gap but not until Swindell’s machine
began to struggle with failing brakes, throttle issues and radiator trouble was
he able to cut the deficit. All the while Swindell continued to carefully pick
his way through the field on a track that is predictably unpredictable.
“You have to make sure you’re up far enough so that somebody is going to see
you when you go to pass,” Swindell said. “There were a couple of times I had to
wait, but most of the time I was catching guys just right where it really
wasn’t holding me up at all. I think there were only two cars that forced me to
change my line a little bit or slow down just a bit until we got to the end. We
ripped a brake line off. We ripped a radiator out. We were pretty fortunate
just to finish. I ran up on a couple of guys when they got together and the
throttle didn’t come back and there weren’t any brakes. I was lucky that there
was enough room to get right on the outside and bleed off a little bit of speed
because there wasn’t anything I could do. From that point on, probably the last
five laps, I had both feet on the floor because there weren’t any brakes and
the throttle wouldn’t go down or come up. When we got the checkered flag, I
just shut the switch off. I was able to get back a little bit and give myself a
little bit of room. It was a good thing it was stuck at that point so it ran
fast enough to make it.
“It wasn’t wide open, but it was close. The problem was that you needed to work
the throttle a little bit when you hit the ruts and I couldn’t do that. I knew
it was getting close to the end because they gave me the five-to-go. I hoped I
had a bit of a lead because I tried to ride it out. I was a sitting duck. I
couldn’t go faster and I couldn’t go slower. I was just fortunate that I got
into some open track where I could just run laps by myself. It was good enough.
I saw somebody right there at the end, but once I got past the checkered flag I
just turned the switch off. That was the only way I could stop.”
Meanwhile, Schatz and Kaeding rewarded the hearty crowd as they ran different
lines into the 24-degrees of banking in each corner. Kaeding put his car on the
cushion while Schatz had been locked into the bottom groove all night long.
Schatz made the bottom work to finally clip Kaeding for third on the final lap.
“We’re locked in for Saturday and that’s all we wanted to do,” said Schatz, of
Like Swindell, Schatz was having his own issues with his car and was forced to
fight through them in order to increase his advantage in the
“I think if we can ever solve the issue where it quits shifting from fourth to
seventh gear, that’s what it feels like it’s doing, we’ll be fast on the
bottom,” Schatz said. “It’s cool out and sometimes you just can’t get enough
fuel to them. My car was good down there. The bottom is a little more
forgiving. It gained us a lot of spots in the heat but it hurt us in the dash.
In the feature I got myself into third-place from sixth. It’s one of those
deals where it helped us and hurt us, but Saturday night is where we want to be
up front. We’re going to work hard and see if we can get our problems
straightened out coming off the corner. It’s not terrible, but it’s just not
the way it should be. I’ve never had a motor feel like it’s shifting from
fourth to seventh gear before. I’m just not giving the right input.”
In the end, Swindell credited his vast racing knowledge at Eldora, especially
in less-than-favorable weather conditions, for the victory.
“I think it’s experience,” Swindell said. “This place is all about the momentum
and keeping the speed up, keeping the car under you and the tires on it. It’s a
little intimidating. It’s pretty fast and we run close to the wall. You’ve got
to have confidence in the car and know that you can run right to that point and
not wreck. A lot of guys aren’t comfortable getting that extra foot of the
racetrack that maybe I think I can get.”
With conditions expected to be quite different for Saturday’s main event, it’s
likely all the experience gained from Friday might not come into play. Then
again, it’s Eldora and every lap adds to the learning curve.
“I’ve never been here when the wind was this way,” Schatz said. “You felt like
you had a 900-pound guy sitting on the nosewing all night long. The car just
buried in the racetrack. Everybody went around there fast, even up on the hill.
The wings are really working because the wind was blowing. It was a little
different than Vegas because at Vegas you get more of a side wind but at Eldora
it just affected the cars all night long from the performance of the engine,
you’d get a big burst of air. It was a little unique and Sammy is generally
good in these conditions and they’ve got their motors running really good for
this place. We’ve got kind of an all-around program. We’re excited about it.
This is probably not our best motor by any means. If that’s the worst
performance we’ll have with this motor, I’m happy.”
Following the two-night show at historic Eldora Speedway, the
The
ELDORA
• FAST
QUALIFIER: Three cars from the end of time trials, a steady rain forced the
qualifying session to be halted. The rain stopped within 10 minutes and by rule
all cars had to requalify, which they did with one green-flag lap. Craig
Dollansky paced the 45-car field in the Karavan Trailers Maxim with an AMB
i.t.-timed lap around the 1/2-mile oval in 13.043 seconds at 138.005 mph.
Because it was a preliminary feature, no time trial points were awarded, nor
was there any lap leader bonus in the feature. Dollansky established the track
record on
“Definitely we’re happy,” said Dollansky, a Mean 15 racer from
• PRELIM WIN: Sammy Swindell on Friday night at Eldora Speedway captured
the
• VICTORY PARADE: Donny Schatz’s victory Saturday night at I-55 Raceway
was his third
• HALF-MILE WINNERS: Eldora Speedway is a high-speed, half-mile oval.
The
• QUALIFYING EVENTS: Kraig Kinser powered his way to victory in the
first dash while Danny Lasoski motored to the checkered flag in the second
dash. … Terry McCarl captured the B-main. … Heat race winners included Kraig
Kinser, Joey Saldana, Randy Hannagan and Donny Schatz.
• ON TELEVISION: The Outdoor Channel will air at 8 p.m. (ET) on April 12
the
• ON THE WEB: The Official
• UP NEXT: Following the two-night show at historic Eldora Speedway, the
• LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they
can experience the excitement of the
• SPONSOR SUPPORT: The
Qualifying
1) Craig Dollansky, Karavan 7, 13.043
2) Jason Solwold, Carnahan R19, 13.057
3)
4) Donny Schatz, Schatz 15, 13.108
5) Sammy Swindell, Forbrook 5, 13.128
6) Kenny Jacobs, Woodring 19J, 13.161
7) Terry McCarl, McCarl 24, 13.185
8) Danny Lasoski, Roth 83, 13.206
9) Kraig Kinser, Kinser 11, 13.238
10) Tim Kaeding, Kinser 11K, 13.244
11) Brooke Tatnell, Rush Racing 8, 13.284
12) Greg Wilson, Warnimont 20W, 13.297
13) Justin Henderson, Oswalt D1, 13.314
14) Daryn Pittman, Titan Racing USA 21, 13.316
15) Joey Saldana, Kahne 9, 13.332
16) Butch Schroeder, Jessup 7K, 13.332
17) Brock Mayes, Mayes 11B, 13.343
18) Chad Kemenah, Kemenah 15K, 13.351
19) Stevie Smith, Smith 19S, 13.387
20)
21) Rob Chaney, Martin 36, 13.395
22) Randy Hannagan, TH Racing 1X, 13.399
23) Bill Rose, Rose 6, 13.415
24) Ryan Coniam, Miller 2X, 13.416
25) Shane Stewart, Rudeen 26, 13.431
26) Tim Shaffer, Parsons 6, 13.434
27) Jac Haudenschild, Wright 35, 13.440
28) Chad Blonde, Blonde 5B, 13.474
29) Kevin Swindell, Swindell 1, 13.489
30) Barry Ruble, Ruble 63, 13.519
31) Nick Smith, MPHG 81, 13.536
32) Ron Blair, Blair 35B, 13.537
33) Dion Hindi, Hindi 11D, 13.560
34)
35) Ryan Myers, Myers 56R, 13.570
36) Becca Anderson, Woodring 19, 13.580
37) Jeremy Campbell, Campbell 10C, 13.616
38) Tim Hunter, Morrison 0, 13.637
39) Mike Brecht, Warnimont 20M, 13.653
40)
41) Paul McMahan, Stewart 20, no time
42) Brandon Martin, Martin 11M no time
43) Paul May, may 71M, no time
44) Mike Miller, Holbrook/Wood 8X, no time
45) James Mosher, Mosher 12M, no time
First Heat Race (8 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Kraig Kinser
2) Craig Dollansky
3) Danny Lasoski
4) Kevin Swindell
5) Butch Schroeder
6) Shane Stewart
7) Jeremy Campbell
8) Ryan Coniam
9) Brock Mayes
10) Dion Hindi
11) Paul May
Second Heat Race (8 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Joey Saldana
2) Chad Kemenah
3) Tim Kaeding
4) Jason Solwold
5) Bill Rose
6) Terry McCarl
7) Paul McMahan
8) Tim Shaffer
9)
10) Tim Hunter
11) Barry Ruble
Third Heat Race (8 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Randy Hannagan
2) Brooke Tatnell
3) Stevie Smith
4)
5) Jac Haudenschild
6) Daryn Pittman
7) Kenny Jacobs
8) Nick Smith
9) Ryan Myers
10) Mike Brecht
Fourth Heat Race (8 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Donny Schatz
2)
3) Rob Chaney
4) Sammy Swindell
5) Greg Wilson
6) Justin Henderson
7) Chad Blonde
8) Becca Anderson
9)
10) Ron Blair
First Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined inside first 6 rows of
A-feature)
1) Kraig Kinser
2) Sammy Swindell
3) Craig Dollansky
4) Joey Saldana
5) Brooke Tatnell
6)
Second Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined outside first 6 rows of
A-feature)
1) Danny Lasoski
2) Tim Kaeding
3) Donny Schatz
4) Jason Solwold
5) Greg Wilson
6) Butch Schroeder (DNS)
B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Terry McCarl
2) Daryn Pittman
3) Kenny Jacobs
4) Shane Stewart
5) Justin Henderson [$150]
6) Tim Shaffer [$125]
7) Brock Mayes [$100]
8) Nick Smith [$100]
9) Jeremy Campbell [$100]
10) Chad Blonde [$100]
11) Tim Hunter [$100]
12) Dion Hindi [$100]
13)
14) Paul McMahan [$100]
15) Ron Blair [$100]
16) Paul May [$100]
17) Barry Ruble [$100]
18)
19) Becca Anderson [$100]
20) Ryan Myers [$100]
21) Ryan Coniam (DNS) [$100]
22) Mike Brecht (DNS) [$100]
23) James Mosher (DNS) [$100]
24) Brandon Martin (DNS) [$100]
25) Mike Miller (DNS) [$100]
A-main (25 laps)
1) Sammy Swindell [$5,000]
2) Danny Lasoski [$3,000]
3) Donny Schatz [$2,500]
4) Tim Kaeding [$2,200]
5) Joey Saldana [$2,100]
6) Craig Dollansky [$2,000]
7) Chad Kemenah [$1,800]
8) Brooke Tatnell [$1,600]
9) Jason Solwold [$1,500]
10) Terry McCarl [$1,300]
11)
12) Butch Schroeder [$1,100]
13) Kraig Kinser [$1,000]
14) Greg Wilson [$700]
15) Daryn Pittman [$600]
16) Shane Stewart [$600]
17) Kevin Swindell [$600]
18) Randy Hannagan [$600]
19) Bill Rose [$600]
20) Stevie Smith [$600]
21) Rob Chaney [$500]
22)
23) Jac Haudenschild [$500]
24) Kenny Jacobs [$500]
Lap leaders: Sammy Swindell 1-25
Rk. / Driver / Driver Points / Team Points / $ / Back / Wins / Top 5 / Top 10
1 / Donny Schatz /
1200 / 1200 / $51,150 / 0 / 3 / 6 / 6
2 / Joey Saldana / 1149 / 1149 / $31,100 / -51 / 1 / 4 / 7
3 / Terry McCarl / 1129 / 1129 / $22,300 / -71 / 0 / 5 / 6
4 / Daryn Pittman / 1114 / 1114 / $18,250 / -86 / 0 / 4 / 7
5 / Brooke Tatnell / 1101 / 1101 / $20,100 / -99 / 0 / 2 / 5
6 / Craig Dollansky / 1099 / 1099 / $18,800 / -101 / 0 / 2 / 6
7 / Jac Haudenschild / 1088 / 1088 / $18,750 / -112 / 0 / 3 / 5
8 / Chad Kemenah / 1048 / 1048 / $23,200 / -152 / 1 / 2 / 5
9 / Greg Wilson / 1030 / 1030 / $11,800 / -170 / 0 / 0 / 3
10 / Jeremy Campbell / 1029 / 1029 / $14,900 / -171 / 0 / 1 / 3
11 / Justin Henderson / 999 / 999 / $11,200 / -201 / 0 / 0 / 2
12 / Randy Hannagan / 998 / 998 / $13,060 / -202 / 0 / 3 / 3
13 / Sammy Swindell / 880 / 880 / $26,350 / -320 / 1 / 2 / 6
14 / Kaley Gharst / 863 / 863 / $6,650 / -337 / 0 / 0 / 0
15 / Bill Rose / 826 / 826 / $5,760 / -374 / 0 / 0 / 0
16 /
17 / Kevin Swindell / 752 / 752 / $9,000 / -448 / 0 / 0 / 2
18 / Dion Hindi / 723 / 723 / $3,330 / -477 / 0 / 0 / 0
19 / Rob Chaney / 685 / 955 / $9,760 / -245 / 0 / 1 / 2
20 / Becca Anderson / 672 / 672 / $2,6855 / -528 / 0 / 0 / 0
STANDINGS NOTE: The Martin Motorsports No. 36 NOS Energy
Drink/Mafia Motorsports Maxim is 13th in owner’s points. Rob Chaney is
currently replacing injured Mean 15 racer Jason Martin.