Winged Sprints to Debut at Ascot

The World of Outlaws, led by sprint car racing’s first two millionaires--Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell--will debut winged cars in the three-day $90,000 Pacific Coast Nationals Oct. 23-25 at Ascot Park.

Although the World of Outlaws has previously sanctioned five programs at Ascot, with two of them featuring winged cars, this will mark the first time that they will be used in the Pacific Coast Nationals.

On Oct. 26, the California Racing Assn. will hold a non-winged challenge program on the track’s half-mile oval.

Two of the outlaw drivers who have said they will shed their airfoils and do battle with the local drivers are Kinser, a six time World of Outlaws champion and the current point leader, and Ron Shuman, a three-time winner of the Pacific Coast National.

Kinser of Bloomington, Ind., and Swindell of Bartlett, Tenn., who won the two previous winged World of Outlaw shows held at Ascot Park, both hit the $1-million mark in winnings late in the 1985 season.

Swindell, who hopes to move on to either Indy cars or stock cars, will drive for former drag race star Raymond Beadle, while Kinser will be at the wheel of Karl Kinser’s sprinter.

In August, Kinser took his fourth U.S. National for sprint cars at Knoxville, Iowa, matching Doug Wolfgang’s total. Wolfgang, of Sioux Falls, S.D., is also in the field. The Wolf holds the record for the most wins in a single season with 56.

Also coming West for the October World of Outlaws swing are three champions in the United States Auto Club’s national dirt-track series--Jack Hewitt of Troy, Ohio; Ricky Hood of Bartlett, Tenn., and Dave Blaney of Hartford, Ohio. Hewitt, this year’s champion, won six of the seven races held in the dirt championship division.

Other entrants include Jac Haudenschild of Millersburg, Ohio; Brent Kaeding of Campbell, Calif., surprise winner of last year’s USAC Turkey Night midget race at Ascot; Bobby Davis Jr. of Memphis, Tenn., runner-up to Kinser in this year’s World of Outlaws standings; Keith Kauffman of Mifflintown, Pa., track champion at Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove and Port Royal tracks; and Tim Green and Jimmy Sills, a pair of Sacramento drivers who are also brothers-in-law.

Also expected to compete are a host of drivers from Northern California where winged races are held at a number of tracks, including Baylands in Fremont, Calif., Hanford, Santa Maria and Chico.

The abundance of talent, most of them very familiar with the winged sprint cars, figure to make things tough on the local drivers on their home track.

CRA and USAC are the two sprint car organizations in the country that do not allow airfoils atop the car’s nose and roll cage. The locals top challenge figures to come from Mike Sweeney, who has limited winged sprint car experience; point leader Brad Noffsinger, last year’s champion Eddie Wirth and two-time former champion Bubby Jones.

Preliminary heat races and main events will be held both Thursday and Friday to set the starting lineups for Saturday night’s 30-lap main event that will pay the winner $12,000 plus accessory awards. Racing each night begins at 8.