2012 Kings Royal - Eldora Speedway - (dialup warning)

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KING SAMMY SWINDELL CAPTURES $50,000 KINGS ROYAL

KING SAMMY SWINDELL CAPTURES $50,000 KINGS ROYAL

Randy Hannagan Repeats NRA Sprint Invader Win

ROSSBURG, OH (July 14) -- All hail King Sammy XXIX. And IX. And XVI. Sammy Swindell, the veteran driver from Germantown, Tenn., held off a spirited challenge from Kerry Madsen over the final five laps Saturday night to win his third Kings Royal victory at Eldora Speedway. He wasn't the only one celebrating. Randy Hannagan swept the National Racing Alliance (NRA) Sprint Invaders weekend with a pair of wins, including Saturday's victory.

In the Kings Royal, the $50,000 winner’s check is the goal for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series drivers, regional racers and others who want to test their skill against Eldora. But there are other items the Kings Royal champion cherishes in a post-race celebration like no other. Once dressed in the red cape and holding his scepter, Sovereign King Doug Wolfgang presented Swindell with the Kings Royal crown as the 56 driver took his place on the oversized throne.

In the 29th running of the prestigious and lucrative Kings Royal, Swindell took the lead from Daryn Pittman after 10 laps and then clicked off the next 30 in the 40-lap feature. An appreciative and impressive crowd that packed the grandstands and spilled out onto the hills ringing the turns cheered Swindell’s first Kings Royal victory since 1999. He also won in 1992.

Pittman and Paul McMahan traded the lead the first four laps, with each leading two. Pittman then pulled away to lead laps 4-10. Swindell worked his way around Pittman to lead lap 11 and never looked back. A caution bunched up the field for a double-file restart with 28 laps complete. But Swindell quickly restored his advantage to 1.5 seconds as Madsen, Pittman and Jac Haudenschild engaged in a wild battle behind him. Madsen finally broke free from the pack and with five laps left made his last-gasp move. He got underneath Swindell in turns 1-2 but couldn’t hold the momentum.

“I think he was trying to do all he could,” Swindell said. “I couldn’t see where he was. I think we had to be fairly evenly matched. If he was faster I think I would’ve seen him quite a few times. We must have had fairly equal cars.”

Swindell, who started third, should have been celebrating a repeat. He led 39¾ of 40 laps last year before his right rear tire shredded coming out of turn 4. He avoided back luck this time, a day after Friday the 13th.

“I’ve been close on quite a few back during the years … where if things would have held together we would have won,” Swindell said. “You never know. The last five laps it felt like the tire was getting low or something. You start looking at every little thing. You try to concentrate on driving and making good laps.”

Madsen, Haudenschild, Justin Henderson and Kraig Kinser made up the top five. Pittman, Joey Saldana, Donny Schatz, Greg Wilson and Steve Kinser, who grabbed the final transfer spot in the B-Main feature to qualify for every Kings Royal feature, rounded out the top 10.

“It’s harder to win these things and harder to do this. I really love this place,” Swindell said. “I always have. To win here is great. You really have to have a good car but you have to be smart. You have to put the car in the right place and keep the car under you. It’s a tough track but I enjoy it.”

Minnesota’s Craig Dollansky was the fastest of the 50-cars around the .500 mile oval in 13.338 seconds (134.953 mph).

Chad Kemenah, Justin Henderson, Daryn Pittman, Sammy Swindell, Paul McMahan and Tim Kaeding all won heat races. Dallas Hewitt won the C-Main. Donny Schatz won the B-Main.

In the NRA feature, Hannagan survived a green-white-checkered finish to add to his NRA points lead. It was also his third win at Eldora this season.

“When you get the white flag you want to make one more circuit and then guys crash,” Hannagan said. “That’s just the way it is. We do the best job we can.”

Kyle Sauder, Butch Schroeder, Dustin Daggett and Hud Horton rounded out the top five.

“It’s good win here,” Hannagan said following his sixth NRA win. “It helps coming back to the same race tracks. I’m really familiar with them.

Kyle Sauder’s lap of 14.490 set fast time in NRA qualifying. Dallas Hewitt, Hannagan and Dustin Daggett won heat races. Luke Hall won the B-Main.

The Kings Royal will be broadcast on SPEED TV on July 28th at 2 p.m. It will re-air on July 29th at 1:30 a.m. and on July 30th at 8 a.m. All times are Eastern Time Zone.

Eldora Speedway hosts the USAC National Sprint cars and celebrates their partnership with a special 50-lap feature on July 28, honoring the 50th anniversary of USAC’s first appearance at the historic track. A minimum $10,000 payout awaits the winner of the feature. The National Racing Alliance Sprint Invaders and Eldora stock cars will also be in action. Tickets for the Summer Sprint Car Shootout presented by NAPA Auto Parts, and all other Eldora events, are available through the track office at (937) 338-3815 or online 24 hours a day at Eldora Speedway. Like us at www.Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway or follow us on Twitter at @EldoraSpeedway.

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World of Outlaw Sprints

HEAT 1 - 1. 63-Chad Kemenah [2]; 2. 7-Craig Dollansky [4]; 3. 83-Tim Shaffer [3]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser [1]; 5. 89G-David Gravel [5]; 6. 71M-Paul May [6]; 7. 56R-Ryan Myers [8]; 8. 22W-Chuck Waddell [9]; 9. 1X-Randy Hannagan [7];

HEAT 2 - 1. 82-Justin Henderson [2]; 2. 59-Jac Haudenschild [4]; 3. 2-Dale Blaney [3]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [1]; 5. 7S-Jason Sides [5]; 6. 8H-Brian Paulus [8]; 7. 2MH-Dallas Hewitt [7]; 8. 15A-Adam Wilt [6]; 9. 3F-Rick Fraley [9];

HEAT 3 - 1. 27-Daryn Pittman [1]; 2. 1Z-Danny Lasoski [2]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet [3]; 4. 11-Steve Kinser [5]; 5. 19-Stevie Smith [4]; 6. 6-Bill Rose [6]; 7. 97-Dean Jacobs [7]; 8. 60-Kory Crabtree [8];

HEAT 4 - 1. 1-Sammy Swindell [1]; 2. 29-Kerry Madsen [3]; 3. 21-Brian Brown [2]; 4. 4-Cody Darrah [4]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 6. 24H-Bryan Sebetto [6]; 7. 09-Craig Mintz [7]; 8. 59P-Joey Magaruh [8];

HEAT 5 - 1. 45-Paul Mcmahan [2]; 2. 9-Joey Saldana [4]; 3. 35W-Tyler Walker [3]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart [6]; 5. 1R-Chad Blonde [7]; 6. 35-Wes Mcglumphy [8]; 7. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [5]; 8. 78-Todd Kane [1];

HEAT 6 - 1. 83K-Tim Kaeding [4]; 2. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr [1]; 3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [2]; 4. 55-Trey Starks [3]; 5. 3G-Shane Stewart [6]; 6. 2M-Dustin Daggett [5]; 7. 4S-Danny Smith [7]; 8. 48H-Scott Hull [8];

C FEATURE - 1. 2MH-Dallas Hewitt [2]; 2. 4S-Danny Smith [6]; 3. 15A-Adam Wilt [8]; 4. 56R-Ryan Myers [1]; 5. 78-Todd Kane [9]; 6. 22W-Chuck Waddell [7]; 7. 3F-Rick Fraley [12]; 8. 59P-Joey Magaruh [4]; 9. 60-Kory Crabtree [3]; 10. 48H-Scott Hull [10]; 11. 1X-Randy Hannagan [DNS]; 12. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [DNS];

B FEATURES - 1. 15-Donny Schatz [2]; 2. W20-Greg Wilson [4]; 3. 11K-Kraig Kinser [1]; 4. 11-Steve Kinser [3]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5]; 6. 89G-David Gravel [7]; 7. 55-Trey Starks [6]; 8. 24H-Bryan Sebetto [10]; 9. 09-Craig Mintz [16]; 10. 6-Bill Rose [9]; 11. 7S-Jason Sides [8]; 12. 15A-Adam Wilt [21]; 13. 4S-Danny Smith [20]; 14. 71M-Paul May [13]; 15. 1R-Chad Blonde [11]; 16. 35-Wes Mcglumphy [17]; 17. 2M-Dustin Daggett [18]; 18. 8H-Brian Paulus [14]; 19. 78-Todd Kane [23]; 20. 56R-Ryan Myers [22]; 21. 22W-Chuck Waddell [24]; 22. 2MH-Dallas Hewitt [19]; 23. 97-Dean Jacobs [15]; 24. 3G-Shane Stewart [DNS];

A FEATURE - 1. 1-Sammy Swindell [3]; 2. 29-Kerry Madsen [10]; 3. 59-Jac Haudenschild [8]; 4. 82-Justin Henderson [5]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [23]; 6. 27-Daryn Pittman [4]; 7. 9-Joey Saldana [11]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz [21]; 9. W20-Greg Wilson [22]; 10. 11-Steve Kinser [24]; 11. 83-Tim Shaffer [13]; 12. 4-Cody Darrah [20]; 13. 2-Dale Blaney [14]; 14. 45-Paul Mcmahan [2]; 15. 49-Brad Sweet [15]; 16. 2L-Ed Lynch Jr [12]; 17. 35W-Tyler Walker [17]; 18. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [18]; 19. 1Z-Danny Lasoski [9]; 20. 21-Brian Brown [16]; 21. 7-Craig Dollansky [7]; 22. 63-Chad Kemenah [6]; 23. 83K-Tim Kaeding [1]; 24. 19-Stevie Smith [19];

[hueytaxi]

I'm not a fan of sprints until WoO hit the area. Fun nights. Haven't been in much too long. I prefer the Late Models or Modifieds only on dirt. Nearest track for this is East Bay Raceway south of Tampa.

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They used to go to East Bay every year, may still do. Never been there, but of course would love to.

In your lap ground pounding dirt in your beer racing.

Eldora has a rich history with so many Indy guys who ran there over the years. Now owned by Tony Stewart.

1/2 mile very high banked clay oval. This was one of the better paying shows of the year. They have a 35 grand grenade motor in the car attempting to win 50. 410 Chevy small block clone twisting over 9 grand. 800+ hp/1200 lb.

They must be nuts.

[hueytaxi]

East Bay still hosts the WoO in the late winter I believe. When we used to go, the races went very fast. The pits were in the center of the track and they staged on a diagonal road between turns 1 and 3. As the heat race cars exited, the next heat was moving onto the track. That had changed the last time I was there with the pits located outside the backstretch. In the past we could be home by 11 pm and with the change it was 1 AM

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East Bay still hosts the WoO in the late winter I believe. When we used to go, the races went very fast. The pits were in the center of the track and they staged on a diagonal road between turns 1 and 3. As the heat race cars exited, the next heat was moving onto the track. That had changed the last time I was there with the pits located outside the backstretch. In the past we could be home by 11 pm and with the change it was 1 AM

Sometime around the the Daytona speed weeks if my memory is correct. They went to East Bay and Volusia (spelling?) County at one time. Remember seeing T-shirts from there. Not sure anymore.

Their "Indy" is next month (2nd week of August) at Knoxville Iowa. 4 days of races. Vacations for many. Last year (I think they still did it)they showed it live on the Speed Channel.

[hueytaxi]

Always watch the Knoxville Nationals.

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Good for you.

1976 thru 79, and one more time in 92.

In 92 I took a truckload of tires out for the speed shop. They had ran out of a certain compound. Stopped in Brooklyn MI to pick up more at the big place right behind MIS. Was there Friday and Saturday for no cost. Just helped the people from the speed shop.

Never made it to the hotel room on Friday. Got sitting around the campfire drinking beer with some guy from Australia who was with a car. Never got to bed, he was way too much fun. And the stories....

[hueytaxi]

Impossible to outdrink an Aussie or a Norse. Holding your own is a victory. I used to search the tire piles post race at sports car events for free tires for my race car. Our events were 10 laps or less at a time.

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Around about sunlight, he told a story about rabbits and kangaroo's. He called them "blokes" and it was something about all the big blokes killing all the little blokes. I guess they were overrun with both of them in the land down under. The guy sounded just like Crocodile Dundee.

At that hour I guess we would laugh at anything. The next day my head hurt, but it was fun.

[hueytaxi]

Just watched the replay of the race. Loved it.