Swindell Is Impressive in AWR Star
Mazda Test – By Linda
Mansfield –
…NORTH
Sammy Swindell who has been turning
heads in the O'Reilly United Sprint Car Series
and on the
Walko Racing's John Walko on Monday.
In March the teen set a new track
record in qualifying and then won a USCS
feature in only his second race on asphalt
with the Wirtgen America
Maxim/Kistler sprint car wrenched by his father.
On Monday he drove an entirely
different animal, one of Andersen Walko
Racing's Star Mazda formula cars,
for the first time on the road course at BeaveRun
and chief engineer.
"He was amazing," Walko said. "He
did about 100 laps, all in the wet. We
don't have a lot of laps testing at BeaveRun in the rain, but he set the fastest
lap our team has ever run there in the
wet.
"He did incredibly well for a
kid who had never driven a formula car before,"
Walko continued. "He did everything spot-on, and he was a
nice kid to work
with. Both of his parents were there,
and they were nice too. It was a really
good test."
Walko said that Swindell would like to do
another test with the team soon.
"We might do another test later
this summer," he said. "Kevin
just wants to
get some formula car experience. He
wants to be considered for the Red Bull
driver search, and he wants to be in an
Indy car on a road course some day."
Swindell's experience sliding a sprint car
around a clay oval helped him
rather than hurt him as he tackled this
new challenge, as Walko said that the
young Swindell was one of the best
drivers in wet track conditions that he's ever
seen. "The whole test was done in
the wet. He spun twice, but he never
left
the track. He just got going again and
didn't let it faze him.
"Most drivers go out, do a couple
of laps and then come in for adjustments,
but he just stayed out there," Walko added. "I
didn't think he was ever going
to come in. He seemed to be having a good time, and he
just stayed out there.
I finally had to wave him in."
Swindell said that he had competed
in a World Karting Association go-kart
event on a different course at BeaveRun once before, but Monday was his first
time driving a Star Mazda car and his
first time running a race car in the rain.
"I loved it!" he
said. "Being that it was the first
time in the rain made it
even more interesting.
"You have to drive it very
smoothly," he continued. "You
barely even turn
the steering wheel. With the sprint car you have to drive it more
with the
throttle and off the rear wheels, so this
was totally different.
"Halfway through the session we
decided it wasn't going to quit raining so we
went to a full rain set-up and did a
little adjustment, but overall the car
was great," Swindell added.
"I'd love to run a race in it. It
looks like it
would be a lot of fun!"
Earlier this year Kevin Swindell
became the youngest driver in the history of
the
event.
He was just 15 when he finished sixth in that event at Paramatta
Kevin Swindell's
father, Sammy, is of course the legendary sprint car driver
who has also driven Indy cars and
NASCAR stock cars successfully. Sammy
Swindell has won the
second-winningest driver in WoO history.
Kevin's uncle, Terry Gray, is
leading the USCS national point standings as of
May 15.
Andersen Walko
Racing is one of the top formula car teams in
It won the Formula Ford Zetec team championship last year with drivers Andrew
Prendeville and Adam Pecorari. This year it is
campaigning four cars in the
Star Mazda championship presented by
Goodyear for drivers Jonathan Klein,
Graham Rahal, Robbie Pecorari and Pablo Donoso. All four finished in
the top 10 in
the Star Mazda race at the Mid-Ohio
Sports Car Course last Saturday, and
Donoso and Pecorari
were both on the podium.
The team is based in
For more information on AWR, see
andersenwalko.com. For more information
on
Kevin Swindell, see
swindellmotorsports.citymaker.com.