Motor Racing / Shav Glick : Swindell Facing Difficult Decision

Sammy Swindell is such a versatile race driver that he is having difficulty deciding which way he wants to direct his talents.

Best known as a sprint car driver and two-time champion on the World of Outlaws circuit, the boyish-looking driver from Bartlett, Tenn., is moving into the NASCAR stock car circuit and also has shown promise as an Indy car driver.

Although he is only 32, this is Swindell’s 13th year of sprint car racing.

“I’ve done all there is to do in sprint cars, so I’d like to move on,” Swindell said the other day at Daytona Beach, Fla. “I’ve won every major race they have and most of them twice, but there’s a lot of money to be made in sprinters today, so it’s difficult to leave.”

Raymond Beadle, a former drag racing star, is one who would like to see Swindell stay with the World of Outlaws because he owns the Stanton Challenger that Swindell drives. Last year Swindell won $180,380 for Beadle.

This weekend, Swindell will be at Ascot Park for the Copenhagen/Skoal Bandit World of Outlaws Shootout, two days of winged sprint car racing Saturday and Sunday, starting at 1:30 p.m.

Last September, Swindell won the first Outlaws race ever held at Ascot. He has also won in Ascot’s traditional wingless sprint cars. In fact, he won the triple crown for sprinters without wings, the U. S. Nationals at Knoxville, Iowa; the Western World Championships at Phoenix; and the Pacific Coast Nationals at Ascot.

“Ascot is a hard race track to figure, especially in the daytime,” Swindell said. “The dirt gets dusty and real hard and when the rubber starts wearing off the tires, it’s like riding on ice.

“It’s an easy place to crash when you’re going about 110 (m.p.h.) down those long straightaways and then have to make it through those tight turns. I think it will be safer with our wings than without.”

The wings are 5 x 5-foot overhead panels that give the cars their distinctive appearance.

Swindell was at Daytona last week to drive an Oldsmobile late model sportsman car in the Goody’s 300. He finished 17th after starting 36th.

“I don’t have any preference between stock cars and Indy cars, but the opportunities are better in NASCAR right now,” he said. “I’m planning on running the sportsman car in the new series and probably run five or six Winston Cup races later in the season. I’ll probably make my first start at Talladega.”

Swindell ran one Grand National race last year, the Atlanta Journal 500, completing 242 laps before he blew a tire, hit the wall and finished 30th.

He has no Indy car ride so far this season after being dropped by Pat Patrick when STP withdrew its sponsorship of Patrick’s cars.

Swindell drove in two Indy car races last year, at Michigan and Pocono. He impressed onlookers at Michigan when he ran 200 m.p.h. in his first qualifying attempt to become only the second driver to attain that speed in his first try.

“When STP left, there was no new sponsor to put me in the car,” Swindell said. “If I could have found a sponsor, I’d be driving for Patrick now.”

Kevin Cogan wound up in Patrick’s second car as a teammate to Emerson Fittipaldi, former world Grand Prix champion.

“I don’t care which I end up doing, NASCAR or Indy cars, but you can’t do both at the same time,” Swindell said.

Saturday’s Ascot race will be the first in the World of Outlaws’ $2.7-million 49-race series with the 20-lap race winner collecting $2,000. The winner of Sunday’s 30-lap race will receive $10,000.

Swindell, Outlaws champion in 1980 and 1981, will be facing six-time champion Steve Kinser of Bloomington, Ind., and Ron Shuman of Mesa, Ariz., an Ascot favorite and No. 3 on the Outlaws’ money list.

Kinser became sprint car racing’s first million dollar winner last year when he won $247,690 with the Outlaws. Swindell, counting his NASCAR, CART and United States Auto Club earnings added to his $850,000 with the Outlaws, is close to the $1-million mark in race earnings.

After Ascot’s Sunday race, the Outlaws will run Wednesday night at Hanford in a race promoted by Shuman.

Following that, Swindell will compete in two weekend races at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix and then will decide whether to run his NASCAR sportsman car in Rockingham, N.C., or Beadle’s sprint car in a World of Outlaws doubleheader at Devil’s Bowl, near Dallas.

The Ascot twin bill will also include Eddie Wirth, California Racing Assn. champion; Brent Kaeding of Campbell, Calif., Northern California champion; Richard Griffin of Silver City, N.M., the Arizona champion; Chuck Gurney of Livermore, Calif., the USAC super modified champion, and Ricky Hood of Memphis, USAC sprint car and dirt track champion.

Making his Ascot debut will be Robbie Unser, 18, youngest son of former Indy 500 champion Bobby Unser.

If either Saturday’s or Sunday’s program is rained out, it will be rescheduled for Monday night at Ascot.

MOTORCYCLES--Fifty police officers will race Friday at Willow Springs Raceway for seven berths on the U.S. Police Olympics motorcycle road racing team that will compete in the world championships July 18-20, also at Willow Springs. Rick Shaw of the Miami-Dade police force in Florida is favored. . . . The Skoal Bandit Golden State Motocross Nationals will continue this week at Huron Park, near Coalinga in the San Joaquin Valley, and conclude March 2 at Quail Canyon, near Gorman.

PHOENIX--Emmett (Buddy) Jobe has assumed sole ownership of Phoenix International Raceway. He bought out his partner, Patrick T. Johnson, after they had purchased the one-mile paved oval from Dennis Wood last September. Jobe, of Chandler, Ariz., plans an expansion program for the 22-year-old track. . . . Keith Hall has been restored as owner of Manzanita Speedway after filing foreclosure proceedings against Bill Krug Enterprises for nonpayment and breach of contract. Hall sold the track to Krug in 1984.

DRAG RACING--The Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale will be the host strip for the Firestone/Center Line high school elapsed-time bracket racing series this year. The first event is set for Friday at 4 p.m.

FORMULA ONE--The Tyrrell team has provisionally signed Eddie Cheever, formerly of Phoenix, to drive this season as a second driver to Britain’s Martin Brundle. Cheever, the only American driver on the Grand Prix circuit, could be dropped, however, if Tyrrell gets a major sponsor with a preference for its own driver.

SPEEDWAY BIKES--Sam Ermolenko of Corona, who lost in a runoff for the world championship, is Speedway magazine’s rider of the year, as well as winner of its most-popular-rider award. Other awards: junior rider--Jessee Finch; corookies of year--Jeff Johnson and Doug Nicol; most improved--Ronnie Correy; promoter--Chris Agajanian.