Gravel heads to Upper Midwest while Swindell continues adds Strength at Jackson and Knoxville
CARLISLE, PA. – July 27, 2016 – July continues to roll on for the CJB Motorsports tandem of David Gravel and Sammy Swindell. The two drivers, who are both among the hottest in the country, took on half-mile ovals yet again with great results.
Gravel and the #5 team, fresh off of their huge win at the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup, traveled to Williams Grove Speedway near Mechanicsburg, Pa. for the annual Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals. On Friday night, Gravel timed in fifth in the second group of cars.
“We had a good run on night one at the Grove,” said Gravel, pilot of the Big Game Treestands, J.R.C. Transportation Inc., C&S Lawn & Landscape #5. “We timed in fifth in our group, had some trouble in the heat race but made the show and made a decent night out of it.”
Gravel and the team returned the following night for the $20,000-to-win even finale, which featured an additional $5,000 that was rolled over from the rained out Morgan Cup from the month of May.
“We were a little bit better the second night,” said Gravel. “We made the dash, which really helps out the night. We started fifth and finished fourth. When you race in Central Pennsylvania, a top-5 is sometimes like a win since the competition is so tough.”
A jaunt north of the border was in store for Gravel and his #5 team. Ohsweken (Ont.) Speedway hosted the lone World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series race on Canadian soil.
“I was pretty sick when we went up north,” said Gravel, who is now within two points of second in the series points standings. “We battled through it and my guys really helped me out. We didn’t have the greatest night but brought home another top-10, our 44th of the year.”
While Gravel was dicing it up with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series on the east coast, teammate Sammy Swindell was racing the stars and cars of the National Sprint League out in the midwest. Up first on the weekend was the Jackson Motorplex in Minnesota. Due to the rainouts that plagued the track earlier in the season, track owner Todd Quiring decided to up Friday nights purse to $10,000.
“We went pretty good at Jackson,” said Swindell, driver of the Big Game Treestands, GoMuddy.com #1. “We had a great setup for night based on the Outlaw show there earlier this summer. We ended up going out late an still timed in second. Had a great car in the heat race. For the feature, we ran well and chased Bill Balog for awhile. We went back and forth with him and I was able to get under him a few times. On a late race restart, we got around him and Lasoski got around us. We ended up third and we were pretty happy with that.”
Swindell then headed for the Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway, where he had won in his previous two starts.
“We tried to trim the car more,” explained Swindell. “We made more straightway speed but that kinda threw off our gearing. We can’t learn anything if we don’t try. We got some great notes from it though. We put the car back to where it was for the heat race and we ran faster there than in time trials. We’ve got a really good base at Knoxville. We started the feature in the 9th spot and got held up for awhile. Once we cleared that, we were really good and ran quick.
Unfortunately there was no yellows. That was probably the best driving car I have had there all season so we are excited.”
Gravel now heads back to the upper Midwest with races at Hartford (Mich.) Speedway on Friday, July 29th and Wilmot (Wis.) Raceway on Saturday, July 30th.
“It’ll be good to head out to the Midwest again,” said Gravel. “Hartford and Wilmot ought to be some good tracks for us so I am excited. Nationals is getting closer.”
For Swindell, it’s another weekend two step of Jackson (Minn.) Motorpex on Friday night and Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway on Saturday night.
“We definitely want to show up and run well at Jackson,” said Swindell. “Tod’s put up some big money for this race. We want to win that $20,000. We also want to keep getting better at Knoxville for the big money race there. This coming weekend is our last shot to learn before we head into it.”
CAR #5 2016 STATS:
Events: 55
Quick Times: 4
Wins: 5
Top-5’s: 34
Top-10’s: 46
Heat Race Wins: 16
Dash Wins: 5
Average Time Trial: 7.6
Average A-main finish: 6.1
Total Laps Led: 184
CAR #1 2016 STATS:
Events: 36
Quick Times: 2
Wins: 2
Top-5’s: 10
Top-10’s: 114
Heat Race Wins: 7
Dash Wins: 0
Average Time Trial: 11.6
Average A-main finish: 10.8
Total Laps Led: 26
UP NEXT: David Gravel and the #5 team will take on the ‘Greatest Show on Dirt,’ at Hartford (Mich.) Speedway on Friday, July 29th and Wilmot (Wis.) Raceway the following night.
Sammy Swindell and the #1 team will return to the Midwest with events at the Jackson (Minn.) Motorplex and Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway on July 29th and 30th.
BOX SCORE:
CAR #5:
Date | Track | Time Trial | Heat start | Heat finish | Dash start | Dash finish | “A” start | “A” finish | Laps Led |
7/22/2016 | Williams Grove | 5 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 7 | 0 | ||
7/23/2016 | Williams Grove | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
7/26/2016 | Ohsweken | 6 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 0 |
CAR #1:
Date | Track | Size | Time Trial | Heat start | Heat finish | “A” start | “A” finish | Laps Led |
7/22/2016 | Jackson | 0.5 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
7/23/2016 | Knoxville | 0.5 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 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.