ATLANTA, Ga. and GERMANTOWN, Tenn. — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Swindell Motorsports photo —
Retirement? What retirement?
Just months after announcing his retirement from motorsports — save for the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals — Sammy Swindell is getting back in the saddle.
Swindell has filed an entry for next weekend’s rescheduled United Sprint Car Series season-opening Frostbuster 250 at the Magnolia Motor Speedway. It will be Swindell’s first-ever appearance at the Columbus, Mississippi track — the veteran sprint car driver grew up three hours from the facility in Germantown, Tennessee.
“I’m just really doing this for fun,” Swindell said of the opportunity to jump back in a sprint car.
“By Sammy’s standards, though — it wouldn’t be any fun for him to run second,” added USCS President Pete Walton.
Swindell will pilot the No. 01 car owned by veteran car owner and crew chief Donnie Cooper at Magnolia. Cooper’s cars have twice won the famed Short Track Nationals held the last weekend of October at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark.
“It’s going to be crazy,” expressed USCS series announcer Jacob Seelman. “When you drop a driver the caliber of Sammy Swindell into a field with names including Terry Gray, Tim Crawley, Derek Hagar and Morgan Turpen, you get a recipe for excitement the likes of which are unmatched in the Mid-South region for sprint car racing. Sammy is a former winner with the USCS and I’m excited to see if he can add to his accomplishments in his first appearance at the Mag.”
The Frostbuster will pay a $1,500 winner’s share for Friday night’s preliminary feature on March 6 and $2,500 to the winner of the 30-lap finale on March 7.
Swindell said he struggled with the decision to step away from racing last year after as many accolades as he has had over his Hall of Fame career.
“It has been a hard decision to make,” Swindell said last August when announcing his retirement. “I always knew when the time came to retire it would be clear. I’ve had a long and very successful career.”
As it turns out now, the line between retirement and racing is now blurring just a little bit.
