Samuel Alan "Slammin Sammy" Swindell (born October 26, 1955) is an American

sprint car Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New ...

driver. He is a three-time champion and four-time runner-up in the

World of Outlaws The World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American motorsports sanctioning body. The body sanctions two major national touring series. It is best known for sanctioning the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Late ...

series; he has also competed in

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

and

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...

competition and attempted to qualify for the

1987 Indianapolis 500 The 71st Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday May 24, 1987. After dominating practice, qualifying, and most of the race, leader Mario Andretti slowed with mechanical problems with only 23 l ...

Career

Swindell is a three-time

champion. He won his first two titles in 1981 and 1982 driving the famous Nance Speed Equipment #1n house car. He won his third title in 1997 driving his own Channel Lock sponsored No. 1 team car. Sammy has 394

A-main victories to his credit. He also competed in the CART series in 1985 and 1986 and failed to qualify for the

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

in a

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

. Swindell took off the wings in 1981, to win the prestigious Pacific Coast Nationals at Ascot. Swindell made his debut in the

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

in the 1985 Atlanta Journal 500; in 1991, he planned to move full-time to the Winston Cup Series, competing for Rookie of the Year for Moroso Racing, but he was fired by the team following several spins during

Speedweeks Daytona Speedweeks presented by AdventHealth is a series of racing events that take place during January and February at Daytona International Speedway. Traditionally leading up to the Daytona 500, in 2021 it concluded with the Daytona road cour ...

and crashing again in qualifying for the second race of the year at

Richmond International Raceway Richmond Raceway (RR) is a , ''D''-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in unincorporated Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Known as ...

. Following his release he returned to

racing. Swindell ran a limited schedule in the NASCAR

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

in 1993; the team closed mid-season, and he returned to

racing once more. Swindell also competed in a full season of the

Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, driving for

Akins-Sutton Motorsports Akins Motorsports, formerly Akins-Sutton Motorsports was a NASCAR team based in Mooresville, North Carolina, which is near Charlotte. The team was formed in 1992 by Brad Akins, owner of several car dealerships in Georgia and team pit crew member, ...

; he finished 12th in points, scoring five top-ten finishes in the series' inaugural season. 2007 was his 35th consecutive year as a race car driver, racing beside his 18-year-old son

Kevin Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant '' Kevan'' is anglicized from , a ...

. He's a five-time winner of the prestigious

Chili Bowl Midget Nationals The Chili Bowl Midget Nationals is an indoor midget car race that takes place in January on a 1/4 mile dirt oval track at the Tulsa Expo Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. NASCAR calls it the "biggest Midget race of the year". It is nic ...

, the only driver to win it more than three times, until his son Kevin won his fourth straight race in 2013. During the 2008 season he raced in northern California winning a main event in the California Civil War Series in Placerville and also at the famed Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California. Swindell is considered one of the best driver/setup men in the business. He is known for experimenting with innovative technology. His father Sam, was a successful driver and his brother Jeff, is still an active and successful sprint car driver. Sammy Swindell 2013

On August 25, 2014, Swindell announced he was retiring from racing, though he intends to race in the Chili Bowl Nationals. In 2015 Swindell made short work of retirement and signed with Chad and Jenn Clemens owners of CJB Motorsports out of Telford, PA. Sammy ran a partial schedule and will do the same in 2016. Sam stated he has no intention of running a full schedule anymore, but picks and chooses the races he wants to run. This benefits the team with testing and keeps him active in the sport he loves. As of September 2020, he has 394 World of Outlaws Sprint Car wins.

Motorsports career results

World of Outlaws

*1978: 9th in points – 2 wins *1979: 2nd in points – 11 wins *1980: 5th in points – 10 wins *1981: Champion – 28 wins *1982: Champion – 14 wins *1983: 3rd in points – 17 wins *1984: 2nd in points – 13 wins *1985: 7th in points – 14 wins *1986: 11th in points – 12 wins *1987: 12th in points – 6 wins *1988: 2nd in points – 8 wins *1990: 10th in points – 14 wins *1991: 9th in points – 15 wins *1992: 11th in points – 20 wins *1994: 5th in points – 7 wins *1995: 12th in points – 5 wins *1996: 3rd in points – 11 wins *1997: Champion – 19 wins *1998: 3rd in points – 7 wins *1999: 5th in points – 8 wins *2000: 2nd in points – 11 wins *2001: 18th in points – 2 wins *2002: 17th in points – 1 win *2003: 11th in points – 1 win *2004: 18th in points – 3 wins *2005: 19th in points – 3 wins *2006 *2007 *2008 *2009: 13th in points – 0 wins *2010: 16th in points – 4 wins *2011: 12th in points – 4 wins *2012: 3rd in points – 13 wins *2013: 6th in points – 3 wins *2014: 14th in points – 2 wins *2015: 16th in points – 0 wins *2016 *2017 *2018: 57th in points – 0 wins

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

=Daytona 500

Busch Series

SuperTruck Series

Trans-Am Championship

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swindell, Sammy Living people 1955 births People from Bartlett, Tennessee Racing drivers from Tennessee World of Outlaws drivers NASCAR drivers Champ Car drivers Indy Lights drivers American Speed Association drivers Trans-Am Series drivers People from Germantown, Tennessee USAC Silver Crown Series drivers A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers Rocketsports Racing drivers