WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. — More than 60 of the biggest names in 360 sprint car racing are on the entry list for Arkansas’ World Short Track Challenge, but one is most synonymous with the West Memphis area – Sammy Swindell.
He’ll join the full-time drivers from the American Sprint Car Series National Tour, the ASCS Hurricane Area Super Sprints and the United Sprint Car Series for the doubleheader weekend at Riverside Int’l Speedway, Oct. 18-19 – all vying for the $10,000 payday on Saturday.
The three-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car champion turned his first laps around Riverside at 15 years old in 1971 and has been a frequent visitor to “The Ditch” ever since. His long list of wins at the facility includes three victories with The Greatest Show on Dirt – one in 1979 and two in 1981 – as well as an ASCS Mid-South Region score in 2018.
As Riverside’s most prominent local, “Slammin’ Sammy” has known the track better than anyone over the past five decades. So, how much has it changed since the early days?
“Not much, really,” Swindell said. “There was a wood fence where it’s a concrete wall around there now. That’s the biggest thing.”
Even though the race track is largely the same, the cars racing around it have changed drastically over Swindell’s career, meaning he has had to adjust his racing program accordingly.
“It used to be when I started, if you had a sprint car, every sprint car race, you could run it anywhere,” Swindell said. “Now there’s so many places, they have different rules and different things. You’re only limited to so much. You’ve got to have a motor for this or a motor for that and a lot of things. It keeps us from going to a lot of places like I could back in the 70s and 80s when you could just show up if they had a sprint car race.”
Swindell may not run as many races nowadays as he used to, but when he does roll into the pits, he’s still on the shortlist of winning contenders. He’s taken the checkers on multiple occasions this season, including at Riverside in local competition on Aug. 24 as well as with the USCS at Buckshot Speedway on Aug. 31.
“Mine’s a little hit and miss,” Swindell said when describing his racing schedule in recent years. “I’m just doing it part-time. So, most of the stuff we’re doing with driving for Dale Howard is stuff that’s close around here.”
The latter portion of the 2024 season has brought forth one of the biggest stretches of racing in Riverside’s storied history. Last weekend’s Flip Flop 50 included twin Features for the USCS, which leads into this weekend’s World Short Track Challenge with the ASCS joining the fold. The month of October wraps up next Friday and Saturday, Oct. 25-26, when the World of Outlaws make their first trip to the quarter-mile bullring since 2018.
While the three-week sprint car spectacular is noteworthy on its own, the milestone it celebrates makes it even more special.
“This is [Riverside’s] 75th year,” Swindell said. “So, they had plans to do a lot of sprint car races this year.”
And despite the fact that Swindell has been ripping a sprint car around “The Ditch” longer than any of the National Tour full-timers have been alive, the 68-year-old will still only have one goal in mind when the series rolls into his home track – “to win.”