Series Rossburg event report 2010-09-24

A Place He Knows Well: Jac Haudenschild Back in Victory Lane at Eldora Speedway

Rossburg, OH-September 24, 2010- For over 30 years Jac Haudenschild has been thrilling fans at Eldora Speedway in his home state of Ohio with amazing slide jobs, his patented rim riding driving style on the cushion and some exhilarating wins. He added another chapter to his legacy at the famed track on Friday night using a textbook slide job in turns one and two on the 23rd lap to take the lead from Sammy Swindell en route to winning for the fifth time this season with the World of Outlaws.

The $10,000 triumph for Haudenschild, who started seventh in the 30-lap contest, served as the opener of the Four Crown Nationals at the famed track and was his first World of Outlaws win at Eldora since 2005. The Hall of Famer has won nine times in his career with the series at the half-mile and now has 56 career World of Outlaws A-Feature wins.

"It feels good," said Haudenschild. "It's always a good night when you win here at Eldora. We've always enjoyed coming here over the years and have had a good deal of success as well."

The race began with Sammy Swindell shooting to the lead from the pole, with the first yellow flag of the night flying before that lap was in the books, which turned into a red flag, when second-place running Joey Saldana got upside hard after climbing Swindell's left rear wheel just as the caution came out.

On the ensuing restart Swindell again shot to the lead and would open up a six-car length advantage on Danny Lasoski when the second caution of the night would fly on the fifth lap. Swindell would chose the low line on the double file restart and again jump out to a quick lead. Haudenschild used a great restart to blast from sixth to third and quickly began to close on Swindell and Lasoski.

"The car felt really good tonight," said Haudenschild. "Sammy (Swindell) I had a great race. We had a great race all the way through. I have to thank my car owner Lon Carnahan. He has a nice car and a very good team here. The crew had the car working very well and they work very hard every day to make it fast."

Swindell would continue to lead through three more cautions and another red flag period. On each double file restart he lined up on the low side of the track and quickly jumped to a lead in turn one. The final caution of the night flew on the 19th lap and a crash on the restart led to a single file restart with Swindell leading the field into turn one. Haudenschild stuck with him and looked low in turns one and two on the 22 nd lap and then high in turns three and four.

The next lap Haudenschild slid Swindell in turns one and two to take the lead. Swindell fought back and retook the top spot in turn three, with Haudenschild charging past him coming off turn four to officially be credited with the lead. Haudenschild began to pull away late in the race before hitting some lapped traffic which allowed Swindell to close back in. On the final lap Swindell looked low in turns one and two to no avail and then tried a slider coming off turns three and four, with Haudenschild powering his way down the front straightaway to score the win aboard the Owens-Corning Fiberglass XXX.

"I saw him," shared the winner when asked about Swindell's last lap move. "I just stayed up on the cushion and ran hard. When you run Sammy (Swindell) down you knows he's going to come back at you hard."

The closest point race in World of Outlaws history continues to remain tight, with Jason Meyers on top after a 13th-place finish on Friday night. Joey Saldana, who began the night by setting fast time to earn five bonus points in the standings and actually moved into the lead at that point in time, was involved in a very hard opening lap accident, ending his night in the 24th spot and leading to him being taken to the Dayton hospital for observation of his head and back. He is currently second in the standings, 20 markers back. Steve Kinser finished sixth to gain some ground on Meyers and Saldana and remains third, 34 markers back. Donny Schatz used a seventh-place run to gain some ground on the leaders as well and is now 103 markers back as he chases his fifth consecutive title. A total of seven races remain on the 2010 calendar.

Swindell led the first 22 laps on Friday night and ended up second in the Big Game Treestands Maxim. The three-time World of Outlaws champion sustained significant damage to his front wing on the first lap when Saldana climbed his left rear wheel when the caution came out.

"I had a good race, but our car was wounded at the start there," noted Swindell. "I was trying to make the best of it and we just got beat."

Paul McMahan picked up his fourth Top-Five finish of the season at Eldora coming home third in the Great Clips Maxim. He lined up fifth and fell back to seventh in the early going before working his way back up.

"I love coming to this place," said McMahan. "They have a great track here and Tony Stewart and his people do a great job. There are great fans here at Eldora. We have run Top-Five every time here this year other than the Kings Royal and that was my own mistake battling for the podium spot when I got into the fence on the last lap. Jac (Haudenschild) and Sammy (Swindell) were going good. It was a good night for the Great Clips car:"

Danny Lasoski was fourth in the Casey's General Store JEI. He ran second for a number of laps and battled Swindell on a couple of restarts for the top spot. He nearly took the lead on a lap-five restart.

Tim Shaffer continued his strong season with a fifth-place finish in the Kistler Engines J&J.

Steve Kinser was sixth in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim with his teammate Donny Schatz seventh aboard the Armor All/STP J&J. Dale Blaney was eighth in the Ti-22 Performance machine. Jason Sides was ninth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim with Chad Kemenah rounding out the Top-10 in the Golden Flavor Sesame Sticks Maxim.

Bill Rose picked up the Chizmark & Larson Insurance $100 Hard Luck Award after his night came to an end on the second lap of the main event.

The World of Outlaws return to action on Saturday, September 25 with the Commonwealth Clash at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pennsylvania.

ELDORA SPEEDWAY NOTES

* FAST QUALIFIER: Joey Saldana paced the 35 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked half-mile oval at 13.227 seconds at 136.085 miles per hour. For his qualifying effort Saldana earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Sam Hafertepe Jr. (4), Danny Lasoski (3), Paul McMahan (2) and Sammy Swindell (1).

* ELDROA SPEEDWAY QUALIFYING WINNERS: Jac Haudenschild, Dale Blaney, Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz won heat races. Sammy Swindell won the Dash. Sam Hafertepe Jr. won the Last Chance Showdown.

* FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 62 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature events held in 2010. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, I-55 Raceway, Eldora Speedway-twice, Dodge City Raceway Park, River Cities Speedway, LaSalle Speedway, Beaver Dam Raceway, Lernerville Speedway, Nodak Speedway, Castrol Raceway and Deer Creek Speedway), Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, Tri-State (Okla.) Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway, I-96 Speedway, North Central Speedway, I-55 Raceway, Castrol Raceway and Silver Dollar Speedway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park, Jackson Speedway, River Cities Speedway, Lakeside Speedway, Eldora Speedway, Autodrome Drummond, Fulton Speedway and Skagit Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Paducah International Raceway, Knoxville Raceway, Skagit Speedway, Clay County Fair Speedway and Eldora Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park, The Dirt Track at Charlotte, Ohsweken Speedway and Silver Dollar Speedway), Jason Sides (Houston Raceway Park, Tri-City Speedway, Missouri State Fair Speedway and Ohsweken Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway and Nodak Speedway), Sammy Swindell (Dodge City Raceway, Huset's Speedway and Silver Dollar Speedway), Lance Dewease (Lernerville Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway), Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway and Junction Motor Speedway), Dale Blaney (Limaland Motorsports Park), Doug Esh (Lebanon Valley Speedway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway), Danny Lasoski (Cottage Grove Speedway), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway), Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway) and Tim Shaffer (I-55 Raceway).

* HALF-MILE-WINNERS: Eldora Speedway is a high-banked half-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced 22 times at a track that size in 2010. The winners include: Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park, Jackson Speedway, Lakeside Speedway and Eldora Speedway), Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway and I-96 Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Knoxville Raceway and Eldora Speedway), Joey Saldana (Eldora Speedway-twice), Jason Sides (Tri-City Speedway and Missouri State Fair Speedway), Lance Dewease (Williams Grove Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway), Doug Esh (Lebanon Valley Speedway), Greg Hodnett (Williams Grove Speedway), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway), Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park) and Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway).

-source: WoO