Gravel Scores Victory at I-96 as World of Outlaws tour heads to Knoxville Raceway
CARLISLE, PA. – June 8, 2016 – Many times, people that that fellow competitors are the only foes that a driver and his team must battle. Sometimes, it’s Mother Nature.
The CJB tandem of David Gravel & Sammy Swindell took to tracks in Ohio & Iowa while mother nature canceled or delayed races in Minnesota and Michigan for the team. Gravel, the teams representative on the highly competitive World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series tour, made a return to the Fremont (OH) Speedway on Friday, June 3rd for the Kistler Engines Smackdown to continue his chase of the season long title. Gravel, the youngster from Watertown, Conn., raced well all night by timing in third in his flight, winning the dash and starting on the pole for the feature.
” I have never got a win here, and I really wanted one that night,” said Gravel, driver of the Big Game Treestands, J.R.C. Transportation Inc., C&S Lawn & Landscape #5. ” We probably had the best car the first half of the race but I just faded there late. I had the wing back all the way and that was all I had there, so we will settle for a third. You never want to back up in the feature, but people like Donny Schatz and Chad Kemenah beat you on a very slick race track, and they’re some of the best on the slick tracks. We have a little bit of work to do, but we have been trying stuff and this is something new for us that we are getting better at every week. We’ve been running really well, we just have to keep it up and the wins will come.”
Originally scheduled for the following night, the Rumble in Michigan at I-96 Speedway near Lake Odessa, Mich. presented Gravel another opportunity to capitalize on a track that has been friendly to the CJB team in the past. Gravel was once again extremely stout.
” Crazy weekend there – getting rained out and having a rough track tonight,” said Gravel, who led 39 laps across both events. ” Everybody that supports this team, thank you very much. It’s just a dream come true to get our third win of the season, and hopefully there’s more to come. We have been very good over the last couple of weeks, so hopefully we keep it going. I saw the rain flying there during that red flag, so it’s pretty cool that they called it early. I’ll take any win I can get – it still pays the same and counts the same, so we will take it.”
A few flyover states to the west was Sammy Swindell and the #1 team. Fresh off of a podium finish at Iowa State Fair Speedway in Des Moines, Iowa, the team was eager to tackle the Jackson Motorplex for the first time in 2016 on Friday, June 3rd.
However, Mother Nature came through and thoroughly saturated the grounds of the renovated speedway. The event was canceled so Swindell turned his eyes to the Knoxville Raceway, where he would be competing for the second straight Saturday night.
“We had a pretty good car in warm ups,” said Swindell, pilot of the Big Game Treestands, GoMuddy.com #1. “We went out early in time trials and that helped us get a good time. We were third overall quick. In our heat race, a lot of guys slid up to the top going into one and that got us bottled up as we started sixth. I got her straightened out and then we picked up a spot to make it into For the feature, we started fourth and we just fought the car all race long. Kind of been the story of our year. We did end up finish sixth though.”
Gravel will follow the Outlaw tour to Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind. for the first series event there since 1988 on Wednesday, June 8th. From there, the CJB team will be reunited as the Knoxville Raceway hosts the Outlaws for the Budweiser Night with the Outlaws on Friday, June 10th and the Xtream Shootout powered by Mediacom on Saturday, June 11th.
“There hasn’t been an Outlaw race at Lincoln Park since the 1980’s so everyone will be on somewhat even footing which is cool,” said Gravel. “I like our chances there. Knoxville is a place I really like. I’ve got a Nationals prelim win there so I know we can run well. I’d really like to take a checkered flag home there before the Nationals in August.”
“Knoxville is a hard place to race because they have some good local cars,” said Swindell. “It’s just not as easy to pick off a win there. We’re trying to pick up some wins and get our momentum headed in the right direction. We’ve been getting closer to the front. Now it’s time to go win.”
CAR #5 2016 STATS:
Events: 37
Quick Times: 1
Wins: 3
Top-5’s: 20
Top-10’s: 27
Heat Race Wins: 10
Dash Wins: 2
Average Time Trial: 8.1
Average A-main finish: 7
Total Laps Led: 114
CAR #1 2016 STATS:
Events: 24
Quick Times: 1
Wins: 0
Top-5’s: 4
Top-10’s: 9
Heat Race Wins: 4
Dash Wins: 0
Average Time Trial: 12.3
Average A-main finish: 11.5
Total Laps Led: 0
UP NEXT:
Gravel and the #5 team will make a midweek stop at Lincoln Park Speedway near Putnamville, Ind. on Wednesday, June 8th before joining Swindell at Knoxville (IA) Raceway for a weekend double header on Friday, June 10th and Saturday, June 11th.
CAR #5 BOX SCORE:
| Date | Track | Size | Time Trial | Heat start | Heat finish | Dash start | Dash finish | “A” start | “A” finish | Laps Led |
| 6/3/2016 | Fremont | 0.25 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 22 |
| 6/5/2016 | I-96 | 0.375 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 17 |
CAR #1 BOX SCORE:
| Date | Track | Size | Time Trial | Heat start | Heat finish | Dash start | Dash finish | “A” start | “A” finish | Laps Led |
| 6/4/2016 | Knoxville | 0.5 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 0 |
STAY CONNECTED WITH CJB MOTORSPORTS:
For up to the minute race updates and behind the scenes content from CJB Motorsports, please follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Fans can also listen to all of the racing action live at www.DirtVision.com.
DRIVER GEAR:
Check out the latest Sammy Swindell apparel and merchandise by visiting Sammy’s official online store as well as the R&R Racewear superstore, the webs largest collection of dirt track racing apparel and merchandise.
Click here for David Gravel’s apparel.
ABOUT CJB MOTORSPORTS:
CJB Motorsports is a winged, 410 sprint car team that competes across the country with drivers David Gravel & Sammy Swindell. Founded in 2005, the Chad and Jenn Clemens owned organization has worked to establish a standard of excellence in short track racing through fielding competitive entries and providing exceptional exposure for marketing partners. The team is based out of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
CJB Motorsports would like to thank all of our loyal sponsors and product manufacturers for their support and great products. Click on the name of the partner below to be taken to their website for more information.
Partners: Mainstream Holdings, Big Game Treestands, Muddy, J.R.C.Transportation Inc., Bairs Tree Service, Nyce, Crete & Landis Block and Concrete, All Star Performance, Henry Dunn Insurance, C&S Lawn and Landscape, Ecynbro Trucking
Manufacturers: Astro Titanium, Arctic Cat, ATL Fuel Cells, Blackbeard Ltd., Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Butlerbuilt, Cometic Gaskets, Energy Release, Fastener Specialties, FK Rod Ends, Factory Kahne Shocks, High Performance Lubricants, HRP Wings, Kinsler Fuel Injection, Kistler Engines, KSE Racing Products, Lincoln Welders, Moose Blocks, Inc., MSD Ignition, Outerwears, Safety-Klean, Saldana Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Simpson, Sweet Engineering, TI22, Walker Performance Filters, Weld Racing, Wilwood Brakes, Winters Performance.
