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Swindell wins second qualifying night of 50th Annual Knoxville Nationals

By Stacy Ervin

It was 1983 when Sammy Swindell won his only Knoxville Nationals championship, but he put himself in great position to get No. 2 by winning the second qualifying night of the 50th Annual Goodyear Knoxville Nationals presented by Lucas Oil. The win, on Thursday, August 12, at the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, was worth $12,000.

The 25-lap main event was filled with drama at the beginning and the end. It took three tries to get it started, as the first attempt came back when Mark Shirsheken spun in turn four. The second attempt saw a red flag as Luke Hall flipped in turn one.

The third time was a charm and Swindell shot to the lead from third starting spot around front-row starters Skip Jackson and Dale Blaney. Fourth starter Donny Schatz had moved to second by the fourth lap and when Swindell came to traffic at lap eight, it seemed as though Schatz was poised to make his move.

Schatz pulled alongside Swindell at lap 10, but heavy traffic played a big role and Swindell was able to pull away. That was the only serious challenge Schatz gave until things got really dramatic at the end of the race.

On the white-flag lap, Schatz began to close on Swindell again, but a caution came out when Mike Moore slowed in turn four with a blown right-rear tire. That set up a green, white, checkered restart. Swindell got a great start and drove away from the field, but the yellow flag returned when Moore spun in turn three. As the cars circled around under caution, it was evident Schatz’s right-rear tire was down.

Under track rules, because the green, white, checkered restart did not go to the finish, the next attempt goes green, then checkered. Swindell again drove away when the green came out. The tire on the Schatz machine let him down and he was passed by second-place finisher Brian Brown, third-place finisher Skip Jackson and fourth-place finisher Stevie Smith. Schatz held on for fifth, and his tire exploded in turn two just after the flag.

Steve Kinser set the night’s quickest time trial of the 50 competitors with a 15.239 second lap. Heat races were won by Ricky Logan, Dale Blaney, Lance Dewease, Jac Haudenschild and Sammy Swindell. Danny Lasoski won the C-Main. The B-Main was won by Ian Madsen, but his car went up in smoke following the checkered flag and he was not able to start the A-Main.

The fourth heat race featured a couple of nasty crashes. Cars were bumping and banging at the start. Sam Hafertepe Jr. made contact with Paul Jeffrey, which sent Hafertepe spinning. He was collected by Greg Wilson, who flipped over. Later in that race, Paul McMahan was running in a transfer spot when his right-rear tire exploded and that sent him flipping hard in turn four. He was able to make repairs and finish second in the B-Main to transfer to the A-Main. He then charged all the way from 22nd starting spot to finish seventh. Dusty Zomer, who also transferred from the B and started 23rd, finished right behind him in eighth.

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