Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

   It's pretty clear, I guess. For whatever reason, folks on here either seem to love him or hate him. There's no real reason to take up sides and go down that road for the 500th time...

     Here's the thing about Sammy Swindell. If you watch him race today, you are pretty much seeing a living legend on the track in front of you. You'll be able to bore your kids and grandkids with that information. "Yep- back in '19 I saw Sammy Swindell race at such and such track. That ol' son of a gun was a real _________________ (fill in the blank to suit your own tastes.) Think about it for a minute. When Sammy does hang it up, that opportunity to see a living legend race is past for you. A sign that you are getting old perhaps? 
How many other living legends have you seen race that are no longer doing so? Will you someday bore your kids and grandkids with that info? Here's my list of guys who cast long shadows that I've watched race in person over my lifetime. In no particular order:
Sammy Swindell
Steve Kinser
Doug Wolfgang
Mark Kinser
Rick Ferkel
Danny Lasoski
Jan Opperman
Stevie Smith
Keith Kauffman
Kenny Jacobs
Donny Schatz
Dave Blaney
Al UNser Jr.
Sleepy Trip 
Mel Kenyon
Local legends:
Daryl Dawley
Bill Rook
John Stevenson
Terry McCarl
Don Mack
Jim "Bucking Horse" Olson
Sammy Liebig
Marty Barber

Who else have you seen race?
 

Sammy Sessions, both Johncock Brothers, Gary Rush and Garry Brazier in Australia, Brad Sweet and Kevin Swindell in winged Micro Sprints at around 10 or so, they were so friggin' fast and good, most adults couldn't touch them, wild racing.....

You are correct Murphy----good post. 

I didn't get to see a lot of drivers on your list, but the ones I did see left an impression.  

Kinser coming from the C main in his later years Championship Night at the Nationals and finishing 5th (or so?) in the A

Lasoski coming from the C main, getting in a mix up with his nephew, and transfering to the A to finish 4th or 5th

Lasoski winning 2 Nationals I attended and seeing him in his later years put the Artic Cat 33 in the front of the Nationals

Sammy and Kinser coming out of "retirement" to run the inagural NSL race---my last time seeing Kinser and my son's only time seeing him.  Also, Sammy was very fast that night I remember.  (of course Sammy returned within weeks/months of that race)

Sammy laying it on the field in 2010 at Knoxville before Goodyear stole the win

Fast Freddy

Jac

Dewease---showing up last month in Iowa to race.  I hadn't seen him in over a decade and it gave me a chance to explain to my son who he was and why this was a big deal

Kenny Jacobs

Donny

    I remember seeing Brazier a time or two at Husets. He was agressive, fast, and all over the track.

I agree with you on your list and it's a very interesting way to look at it. There's a few on your list I never had the pleasure of watching race that I wish I had. To your local legends I'd like to add three names that you will also recognize that raced in the same region:Fran Bruns, Kenny Hansen and Chuck McGillvary  Chuck one can still see race.

As well, a few weeks ago at the Aberdeen WoO show we were happily surprised to see Jac Haudenschild show up. Many moons ago he sat my daughter on his knee and signed her shirt. She's 25 now and she was sooooo happy to see him again, even if he had a tough night .  So the a wild Child makes my list too.

Great post Murphy.  That is quite a list; unfortunately I've only seen about half of the people on the list.

A few others I would add to the list:

New guys - guys who are threat to win regardless of what they are in

Kyle Larson

Christopher Bell

Legends

AJ Foyt

Mario Andretti

I'm not a big Schatz fan, but it annoys me when people put him down - too well-funded, too quiet, traction control, team makes him great, etc.  The guy is one of the best ever to strap in.  Enjoy it now because he won't be around forever.

I remember watching Doug Wolfgang a lot growing up around Huset's. Glad I have those memories.

For me though, it's the incredible races I like to remember. One that stands out is Terry McCarl winning his first outlaw show at Huset's. I also remember him tangling with Bill Boles in a heat race at Huset's on a regular weekly show probably 8 years ago or so. Grabbed a backup car for the feature and winning from dead last in a pretty solid 20+ car field. Incredible night and performance.

I remember Jake Peters winning a 410 show at Huset's with a 360.

The 2010 Nationals with the Sammy/Schatz battle and Tim Shaffer pulling the upset. The 2016 Nationals and Jason Johnson was epic too.

God I love sprint car racing.

To put how long Sammy has been racing in perspective I bought this shirt for my oldest daughter when she was around eight years old at the Cedar Lake Outlaw show.  She's 44 now and the subject of her favorite driver at the time being Sammy came up so she took a picture and posted it.  I'd like to say it's a treasured Sammy keepsake but she probably hasn't been back to a race since she was little and is not a racing fan.  I think she saved it because it was such a big deal that her dad took three kids out there and opened his wallet and bought them all something.  That didn't happen very often with four kids.  It's still cool to see one that wasn't used as a rag and thrown away. 

Stan Meissner

I'm not a Sammy fan, y'all know that. But I do respect him and what he has done for the sport. But Stan, that's the coolest story I've read on here in quite some time. Thanks for sharing. Kinda similar to my girls Jac story,  but she's still a big sprint fan. 

Most of the ones I saw when I was a kid aren't with us anymore except Scratch Daniels is still with us.  My favorites when I was a kid were Jerry Richert Sr., Scratch, Barry Kettering, Jerry Lepinski, Ron Larson, Russ Laursen, Buzz Barton who used to winter and race in Minnesota. 

Craig Dollansky is still trying to work his way back up to speed and I have to cheer for a guy who's father bought his first Sprint Car from one of my cousins.

Roger Rager lost his wife recently.  I believe that he's still tending to Rager's Acres resort but heard that he was having some back trouble.  I used to hang around with his car owner of the black #80 Justic Brother's car so I got to know him pretty well during his second career.

Jerry Richert Jr. lives nearby and I always liked watching him race. 

I guess I'm kind of a home boy when it comes to favorites and I don't have a long list of favorite current drivers.  Usually it's somebody I got to know while I was writing.  Brooke Tatnell lives nearby so he's one active favorite that has been around for a while.  Bill Balog is another, I was in the middle of my racing activities when Bill showed up here from Alaska so I got to know him before he was known across the country. 

That's pretty much it for me.  I come from a family that owned Sprint Cars so I kind of absorbed the attitude "if you don't bend my stuff I'll let you drive it next week too".  I'm more down to earth about the drivers, I admire their skills but I'm not in awe of them.  A lot of my opinions about drivers are based on how they treated me when I used to request quotes and interviews.  Blow me off, act like an ass no mater who you are and I didn't have any time for them after that.  I never approached them when they were obviously busy and it was always in the afternoon soon after the pit gates opened.  Some just didn't care for reporters and my interaction formed my opinion.

Stan Meissner

I have to redeem myself with the Hosers for my opinion in the last thread I participated in.    Glad that you liked the story.

Stan Meissner

Well now I have to chime in on some local legends.

Chad Mellenbrandt in the gold 97, always a threat in the early 90s.

Rod Henderson, dude is an awesome guy. Used to do well in the old D1 Dan Dan the Sonic man car and also his own 83 ride.

John Cressman, the ultimate checkers or wreckers driver. Absolutely fearless up top but holy shit he wrecked a lot.

John "longhair" lambertz. When he first started he was pretty bad. He was always a low budget team but he got better every year. I was there for his first 410 win and the whole place went nuts.

Chad Meyer, another great guy. He won a lot at husets and was also not afraid to run anywhere.

Dusty Ballenger, I remember him winning a lot in the 360s, another guy that has won a 410 race with a 360 motor.

Gary Dewall in the Lev wings number 16. He was really fast for a few years and always had great looking cars.

I also remember Donny Schatz running Husets when he was still in high school in a black number 15 car. He was ok but I never expected him to turn out to be an all timer.

I could go on and on, wish husets was still around.

Bob Wearing 

How do you figure that Goodyear stole the win in 2010 from Sammy?  Everyone else raced on that same tire and mostly everyone else crossed the finish line. Maybe it was the car setup, maybe over punishing the tire by driving too hard, etc, etc., but to blame Goodyear when again mostly everyone else finished the race is a pretty weak excuse. Lol

Smokey......, Snellbaker , not  Stewart

How bout some NW/California guys

Tim Green

Chuck Gurney

Randy Tiner

Brownfield

Cecil Walker 

Greg Brown(oregon driver won a prelim at the Gold cup) 

Jimmy Sills

Gary Patterson

101 Mr Cool.  I've never met him, but know he likes to have a cup of coffee and cig after a heat race....or any race for that matter.  Sometimes I would picture him low riding around Huset's with no regard to speed, just sitting there in his car, turning laps, and trying not to spill his coffee. 

Weak excuse, lmao. No, it's a legit excuse, the friggin' tire blew while he was laying the smack down on everyone.  Weak excuse, my god when will the Sammy hating trolls stop already.

Western PA we got the treat of seeing Lou Blaney win over 600 features, though most were in a big block modified. More recently Ed Lynch Jr, he has wins records at Lernerville and Sharon that won’t be touched

I don't blame Goodyear...........as much as I like to watch Sammy run, I was being a little tongue in cheek there.  I remember either seeing the video, hearing the audio, or reading the quote where Sammy said he lost $200,000 because of Goodyear in one month.  I'm level-headed enough to know everyone else ran the same tire.  Just being humorous.