DACONO, Colo. — Three-time World of Outlaws sprint car champion Sammy Swindell is set to make his first winged pavement sprint car start since 1992 this weekend at Colorado National Speedway.
Swindell will be driving for Colorado car owner Bryan Gossel, who will also compete in the two-night event, which includes a pair of $10,000-to-win features.
Swindell has enjoyed a stellar career that has seen him win virtually every dirt sprint car race imaginable. But at 69 years of age, pavement sprint car starts have been few and far between. But when he did compete on the pavement, he was a force to be reckoned with.
Between 1991-1992 the World of Outlaws contested six winged pavement sprint car events with Swindell winning three of those. His last winged pavement start came on April 5, 1992. It was also his last win in a pavement sprint car.
“We put a deal together to come out here and run some dirt races earlier in the year. Bryan Gossel had some pavement cars and said they were having this big race in July,” explained Swindell. “He had a new one sitting there that really wasn’t together. After the races we had a pretty good time, and he decided to get that other car together for me to come out here this weekend.”
Interestingly, Swindell has been running a handful of pavement midget races for the last few seasons for friends Tim Bertrand and David Ward.
“I’ve had a few opportunities here lately to do some pavement stuff. Now this opportunity has come up. It’s keeping me busy. I didn’t think I was gonna be doing a whole lot,” the Hall of Famer said. “I’ve been trying to cut back a little bit more. It seems I’m getting busier than ever, but that’s OK too.
Swindell got his first taste of pavement sprint car racing early in 1978 during Florida Speedweeks competing in a handful of non-winged events highlighted by a start in a 500-lap race at Golden Gate Speedway in Tampa. He found a victory lane for the first time in a pavement sprint car at Orlando that year.
“That year I led every one of the pavement races down there, but I had some issues with the motor. We had some rocker arm issues. I had to start dead last at Orlando and won there. We put a deal together with M.A. Brown and Bruce Cogle Ford and put a car together to run those pavement races.”
Swindell has fond memories of competing at Colorado National Speedway when it was dirt. “We first came out here in 1977 with Bobby Davis’ sprint car. That was the first time I ever seen a midget. I won it in John Notary’s car and ran second the next night,” Swindell recalled. “That Rocky Mountain Midget Association was running. We also won the sprint car deal both nights. That was a long time ago.”
He won a World of Outlaws A-main at CNS in 1984.
The dirt veteran is open minded about the possibilities to do more winged pavement sprint car racing this year and beyond if he has fun and can find some success.
“It depends if something comes together. I don’t own cars,” he said. “You never know. Maybe there will be some opportunities to run other races in the future.”
The Tennessee native seems eager for the task at hand but realizes things will be drastically different than his last go around on pavement.
“Some of it is gonna be tire management and not running any races to know how the tires are. I’ll definitely stay on the conservative side, but fast enough to run good,” he said. “I don’t have any experience with these tires or this track. I’m gonna have to lean on a few people to find out what they think about how hard you can run and what you can do. It will be fine; I’ll figure it out.”
When asked what his goals are for this weekend. “Just to dominate the thing and win both nights,” concluded Swindell.
