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WoO: Channellock's Swindell Finishes Fifth at Eldora Speedway

27 April 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

NEW WESTON, OH- The early spring race at the legendary Eldora Speedway usually is a battle between the competitors and Mother Nature. For the second time in the last three seasons, the World of Outlaws were only able to race on one of the two scheduled nights of racing as rain forced the cancellation of Fridays preliminary event.

For Sammy Swindell and the Channellock #1 Team, Eldora represented the opportunity to return to the scene of their biggest win in 1999, the King's Royal. For this Saturdays event Swindell managed a sixth place finish in the 30-lap "A" Feature following Steve Kinser, Mark Kinser, Stevie Smith, Joey Saldana and Dale Blaney.

"On the start of the feature, we started behind Joey Saldana and he didn't get a very good start which dropped us back to ninth," said Swindell. "We did get the Channellock car going well and moved up to fifth. There was a late yellow and that hurt us a little bit because we've been having trouble with the rear tire stagger. The right rear tire grew an inch more than we thought it would and the left rear shrunk an inch and a half more than we had calculated, which gave us two and half inches extra of stagger. That really made the car loose at the end of the race and allowed Dale Blaney to pass us for fifth."

Swindell qualified the Channellock Stealth #1 third in the field of 46 cars and used a terrific start to win the third heat race. He started the Channellock Dash outside of Steve Kinser and the two raced for the same spot into turn one. Kinser got the advantage and went on to win the 8-lap race. Swindell started the "A" Feature seventh and his sixth place finish kept the team in fifth place in the World of Outlaws standings.

"We've been working with some new components in the engine, and it's seemed to be helping," said Swindell. "Goodyear is going to have some new tires available at Knoxville, which might be to our advantage as well. We just have to get ourselves in the right place at the right time, and maybe we can finish first sometime soon."

Swindell and the Channellock #1 Team will compete at Knoxville Raceway on Friday and Saturday. The event's will be the first of four stops at the legendary half-mile dirt oval culminating with the season's biggest event: the Amoco Knoxville Nationals in August. Swindell won last year's April event at Knoxville, and on Sunday, the Outlaws will race at Huset's Speedway.

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.