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Devil's Bowl report 97-10-17

Sammy Swindell Takes Winter Nationals Opener By Richard Day MESQUITE, TX (October 17) - Although Sammy Swindell is the winningest driver in the history of Devil's Bowl Speedway, before Friday's Preliminary Feature ...

Sammy Swindell Takes Winter Nationals Opener By Richard Day MESQUITE, TX (October 17) - Although Sammy Swindell is the winningest driver in the history of Devil's Bowl Speedway, before Friday's Preliminary Feature victory on opening night of the 24th Annual Winter Nationals he hadn't won there in three years. "It's been a few years since we've won here," Swindell said following his 11th Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series Preliminary Feature victory of the year. "We've run a lot of seconds and thirds and had some things happen to us. We've been close; we just haven't had the right circumstances. "Now we have things going our way. The car's running good, everybody's working hard and we're able to come out here and run it as hard as it will go. When you can do that, the other guys have to hurry up to catch up." Nobody could keep pace with the World of Outlaws' points leader during the final 10 laps of the feature race. Swindell opened a half-straightaway advantage during lap 12 and increased it to a full straightaway in lapped traffic. Mark Kinser, the Devil's Bowl's single-lap record holder and winner of the Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series' last four races at the track, was in turn three when Sammy took the checkered flag. Dave Blaney opened the 24th Annual Winter Nationals by pacing the qualifying session. His 127.199-m.p.h. qualifying lap around the semi-banked, 1/2-mile oval earned him his fourth Channellock Fast-Time Award of the year. "The Buckeye Bullet" picked the #4 inversion pill, putting Kinser on the pole in the Vivarin Dash. Jeff Shepard, who started outside the front row, took the lead in the fourth corner and won the five-lap race for the right to start the feature on the pole. Kinser returned the favor when the green flag fell in the Preliminary Feature, steering the #5M Wirtgen Maxim into the high groove in turn four and beating Shepard down the front stretch. Blaney passed Shepard for second with a low move in the first corner. Swindell took over third place several seconds later. Mechanical problems caused Oklahomans Tommie Estes, Jr., and Shane Stewart to stop on the front straightaway early in the second lap. Swindell passed "The Buckeye Bullet" for second place with a low move into turn four as the race resumed. Kinser entered lapped traffic during the fifth lap and Sammy immediately started gaining on him. Swindell caught Mark on the back stretch midway through lap eight, and took the lead with a low move in the fourth corner. "Sometimes, when you're following a guy, you have to run where your car just doesn't want to be," Sammy said. "Mark took a wrong line there in the traffic, and when you're second you just go the other way. That's what we did and then we were able to run our own race. We had a fast car that was fun to drive tonight." Swindell started building his advantage quickly, and was four car-lengths ahead of his closest pursuers midway through the race. He won the feature by a full straightaway. The $4,500 victory gave Sammy the pole position in the Vivarin Dash in Saturday's Winter Nationals championship program. "We brought our silver, 25th anniversary Channellock car out so we could run it for the fans here in Dallas," Swindell said. "We've run here quite a bit and have a lot of fans here. We're going to run it in some more races here at the end of the year." Blaney finished third, ahead of Andy Hillenburg, "B" Feature winner Danny Lasoski, Donny Schatz, Shepard, Dale Blaney, 14th- starting Stevie Smith and Jac Haudenschild. With so many exceptional sprint car racers from around the country packing the 52-car field, it was tougher than ever to qualify for the feature. Six of the 11 fastest qualifiers missed opportunties to race in the Vivarin Dash when they failed to finish among the first four in the heat races. Two of those, in addition to three World of Outlaws regulars, were forced to watch the evening's main event from the pit area. Bobby Davis, Jr., the World of Outlaws' 1989 champion, is returning to the series for the first time in two years. His collision with Shepard on the back straightaway early in the Fifth Heat Race sent him and Peter Murphy flipping. Although both drivers were uninjured, neither was able to qualify for the feature. WoO 1997 Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series 24th Annual Winter Nationals Devil's Bowl Speedway, Mesquite, TX Friday, October 17, Preliminary Program Qualifications: 1. Dave Blaney, Blaney/Hylton 10, 14.151; 2. Sammy Swindell, Swindell 1, 14.175; 3. Joe Gaerte, Gaerte 3G, 14.370; 4. Dale Blaney, Blaney/Hylton 93, 14.503; 5. Jeff Shepard, Stewart 4J, 14.516; 6. Mark Kinser, Kinser 5M, 14.611; 7. Danny Lasoski, Black 1Z, 14.616; 8. Dion Hindi, Hindi 11D, 14.670; 9. Tommie Estes, Jr., Threatt 29, 14.686; 10. Peter Murphy, Williams 0, 14.713; 11. Jac Haudenschild, Elden 22, 14.769; 12. Steve Kinser, Kinser 11, 14.826; 13. Andy Hillenburg, Hillenburg 2, 14.827; 14. Donny Schatz, Schatz 15, 14.832; 15. Bobby Davis, Jr., Salvino 1A, 14.840; 16. Paul McMahan, Stanton 75, 14.891; 17. Greg Hodnett, Helm 11H, 14.916; 18. Gary Wright, Action Motorsports 9, 14.916; 19. Stevie Smith, Smith 19, 14.931; 20. Larry Neighbors, Neighbors 29N, 14.974; 21. Keith Kauffman, Johnson U2, 15.004; 22. Jeff Swindell, Two Winners 7TW, 15.011; 23. Shane Stewart, Stewart 9S, 15.033; 24. Bill Robertson, Robertson 16, 15.049; 25. Johnny Herrera, Sonner 47, 15.064; 26. Shane Carson, Helms 12$, 15.097; 27. Tyler Walker, Walker 35, 15.107; 28. Donnie Crawford, Hillenburg 1H, 15.137; 29. Rick Ziehl, Ziehl 18, 15.192; 30. Joey Saldana, Mox 17, 15.193; 31. Larry Pineger, Pineger 11L, 15.203; 32. Mike Peters, Grandstaff 66, 15.204; 33. Van Gurley, Jr., Gurley 3B, 15.212; 34. Daryn Pittman, Pittman 11P, 15.229; 35. Craig Dollansky, Wahlie 1W, 15.249; 36. Lance Blevins, Blevins 21, 15.279; 37. Danny Wood, Holbrook 8H, 15.289; 38. Don Droud, Jr., DOCC Racing 1BK, 15.371; 39. Aaron Berryhill, Berryhill 97, 15.390; 40. Shawn Sander, Sander 48, 15.395; 41. Kenny Jacobs, RE Technology 7K, 15.409; 42. Jeff Mitrisin, Sereg 5J, 15.468; 43. Ray Campbell, Campbell 6, 15.521; 44. Bob Ewell, Ewell 85, 15.561; 45. John Bankston, Bankston 8, 15.586; 46. Travis Rilet, White 53, 16.073; 47. Pete Frazier, 6R, 16.190; 48. John Lambertz, Lambertz 12L, 16.362; 49. Tom Johnson, Gano 22T, 16.405; 50. Scott Christian, Christian 24, 17.123; 51. Jerry Vandenhul, Vandenhul 7V, 17.633; 52. Keith Dempsey, Dempsey 9D, 18.174. First Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Keith Kauffman, 2. Dave Blaney, 3. Mark Kinser, 4. Kenny Jacobs, 5. Jac Haudenschild, 6. Paul McMahan, 7. Lance Blevins, 8. Travis Rilat, 9. Jerry Vandenhul, 10. Shane Carson, 11. Joey Saldana. (first four qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Second Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Sammy Swindell, 2. Jeff Swindell, 3. Tyler Walker, 4. Steve Kinser, 5. Greg Hodnett, 6. Danny Lasoski, 7. Danny Wood, 8. Jeff Mitrisin, 9. Peter Frazier, 10. Keith Dempsey, 11. Larry Pinegar. (first four qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Third Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Gary Wright, 2. Andy Hillenburg, 3. Shane Stewart, 4. Donnie Crawford, 5. Dion Hindi, 6. Joe Gaerte, 7. Don Droud, Jr., 8. Mike Peters, 9. Ray Campbell, 10. John Lambertz. (first four qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Fourth Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Van Gurley, Jr., 2. Stevie Smith, 3. Donny Schatz, 4. Tommie Estes, Jr., 5. Dale Blaney, 6. Craig Dollansky, 7. John Bankston, 8. Tom Johnson, 9. Aaron Berryhill, 10. Bill Robertson. (first four qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Fifth Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Jeff Shepard, 2. Johnny Herrera, 3. Larry Neighbors, 4. Rick Ziehl, 5. Bob Ewell, 6. Shawn Sander, 7. Scott Christian, 8. Daryn Pittman, 9. Bobby Davis, Jr., 10. Peter Murphy. (first four qualified for the Preliminary Feature) C Feature (eight laps): 1. Danny Wood, 2. Lance Blevins, 3. Don Droud, Jr. ($100); 4. John Bankston ($80); 5. Jeff Mitrisin ($60); 6. Shawn Sander ($50); 7. Pete Frazier ($40); 8. Tom Johnson ($30); 9. Ray Campbell ($25); 10. Keith Dempsey ($25); 11. Scott Christian ($25); 12. Jerry Vandenhul ($25); 13. Aaron Berryhill ($25); 14. Travis Rilat ($25); 15. Bob Ewell ($25); 16. John Lambertz ($25). (first three qualified for the "B" Feature) Vivarin Dash (five laps): 1. Jeff Shepard, 2. Mark Kinser, 3. Sammy Swindell, 4. Dave Blaney, 5. Steve Kinser, 6. Tommie Estes, Jr., 7. Andy Hillenburg, 8. Donny Schatz. (finish determined the first eight starting positions in the Preliminary Feature) B Feature (12 laps): 1. Danny Lasoski, 2. Dion Hindi, 3. Jac Haudenschild, 4. Dale Blaney, 5. Joe Gaerte ($150); 6. Greg Hodnett ($125); 7. Paul McMahan ($100); 8. Mike Peters ($75); 9. Lance Blevins ($80); 10. Danny Wood ($70); 11. Craig Dollansky ($40); 12. Don Droud, Jr. ($40); 13. Peter Murphy ($40); 14. Bill Robertson ($60); 15. John Bankston ($60); 16. Larry Pinegar ($40); 17. Bobby Davis, Jr. ($40); 18. Joey Saldana ($40); 19. Daryn Pittman ($40). (first four qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Preliminary Feature (20 laps): 1. Sammy Swindell ($4,500); 2. Mark Kinser ($2,500); 3. Dave Blaney ($1,700); 4. Andy Hillenburg ($1,500); 5. Danny Lasoski ($1,370); 6. Donny Schatz ($1,250); 7. Jeff Shepard ($1,200); 8. Dale Blaney ($1,120); 9. Stevie Smith ($1,075); 10. Jac Haudenschild ($1,070); 11. Steve Kinser ($1,000); 12. Tyler Walker ($800); 13. Keith Kauffman ($700); 14. Johnny Herrera ($630); 15. Jeff Swindell ($400); 16. Rick Ziehl ($400); 17. Donnie Crawford ($300); 18. Dion Hindi ($320); 19. Larry Neighbors ($300); 20. Van Gurley, Jr. ($300); 21. Gary Wright ($300); 22. Kenny Jacobs ($300); 23. Shane Stewart ($300); 24. Tommie Estes, Jr. ($300). Lap leaders: Mark Kinser 1-7, Sammy Swindell 8-20 Channellock Fast-Time Award winner: Dave Blaney WoO

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