Monday, May 1, 2006
Double duty for Dodge Motorsports at Winchester ARCA RE/MAX Series event
by Don Radebaugh, Dodge Motorsports
TOLEDO Ohio -- Driver development teams have certainly occupied a healthy share of the ARCA RE/MAX Series headlines lately. But what was once exclusive to the series’ superspeedway program, development teams are beginning to bust through into the short-track ranks.
The competition got a taste of it recently at Salem
Speedway where Brewco
Motorsports development driver Brad Coleman and Evernham Motorsports’ Kevin Swindell, via a Dodge development program, turned heads with solid efforts on both sides. Coleman won the Pork Pole Award and led the first 22 laps before an accident eliminated the 18-year-old Texan from the mix. Swindell, son of three-time national
sprint car driving champion Sammy Swindell, was on the lead lap all day before an unscheduled pit stop dropped him to 14th in the final running order.
Looking down through the entry list for the next short-track event – the ARCA 200 presented by Construct Corps at Winchester Speedway, one can find two Dodge development drivers on the list – Swindell from the Evernham camp, and newcomer Josh Wise in a Dodge Motorsports Dodge.
Wise, like Swindell, is a product of the open wheels ranks where he earned the USAC National Midget championship in 2005 in addition to finishing second in USAC Silver Crown Series points that same year. Wise also finished fifth in USAC National Sprint Car Series points in ’05.
Swindell became the youngest driver in World of Outlaw sprint car history to earn a top-10 finish in WoO competition finishing 6th at Paramatta Speedway in Australia in 2005. Swindell is also a two-time winner in USCS Asphalt Thunder Sprint Car competition.
Dodge Motorsports is currently developing four different drivers in the ARCA RE/MAX Series in 2006 to include Canton, Georgia’s Chase Miller and second-generation racer Scott Lagasse, Jr., in addition to Swindell and Wise.
ARCA RE/MAX Series practice for the ARCA 200 presented by Construct Corps begins at 9:30 am local time with Pork Pole Award Qualifying to follow at 12:30 pm. The 200-lap race is scheduled to roll off at 2:30.
