Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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whose car did dave blaney drive when he won knoxville  in 97 i think on sunday

Blaney/Hylton Vivarin #10 Car-Kenny Woodruff Mechanic  

My wife told me if I went to one more Sprint Car race 
she would leave me.................I'm sure gonna miss 
that ol' gal. 

I am pretty sure it was his own team at that point in time.

If I remember right Sammy was leading and checked up to avoid a car in 3&4 and Mark Kinser, running second, collected him taking them both out. With Blaney out front no one could run with him.

Wrong year Lefty. Blaney led a very boring race around the bottom. He got out front with the rubber down and there wasnt enough track left for anyone to pass him. Ran on Sunday night because of rain on Saturday. I remember seeing unused tickets all over the ground cuz people had to leave for home Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Actually, you're both right.  Sammy was really fast all year  that year, including Nationals... won the WoO pts title in his silver anniversary year (silver car).  Like too many other Nationals, Sammy had the car to win.  Don Droud Jr. flipped in turn 4 right in front of Sammy (who was leading Mark).  Sammy jumped on the binders, Mark had nowhere to go, and ran him over - took them both out.  I think rubber had already been laid.  Blaney was no better than a 3rd place car.  He inherited the lead though and won.  Once the race restarted, I distinctly remember Blaney not being able to pass Larry Pinegar II to lap him... the track was dreadful. 

We had to run a friend to the Omaha airport on Sunday morning so he could fly to Houston on business.  We called and changed our flights for Monday.  They cleared out the stands because of lightning on Sat. night.  We hid over by the Snap-On tent under "Big Foot" before he pulled out.  Great memories!  lol 

My wife told me if I went to one more Sprint Car race 
she would leave me.................I'm sure gonna miss 
that ol' gal. 

The race wasn't as bad as everyone always makes it out to be, did it take rubber?  yes, but with just a few laps to go it looked as though Greg Hodnett was going to win the race (he had gotten beside Blaney on more than one occasion).

Official finish per knoxvilleraceway.com  - Blaney started 7th (and was obviously up to 3rd when Sammy and Mark crashed on lap 11).  Sammy and Mark both restarted at the tail (Droud was the first car out of the race as the wreck) and came back up to finish 11th and 14 respectively.  Other cars made some passes (when it comes down to it, for YEARS, the Saturday Night A-main usually had little to zero passing (even when you could run 4 wide) due to the line-ups being determined by points (the fast guys were already up front, who were they gonna pass??).

37th AMOCO Knoxville Nationals Championship (started), 30 laps, NT:

1. 10, Dave Blaney, Cortland, OH(7) 2. 11H, Greg Hodnett, Memphis, TN (4) 3. 1z, Danny Lasoski, Dover, MO (2) 4. 22, Jac Haudenschild,

Wooster, OH (6) 5. 47, Johnny Herrera, Tempe, AZ (5) 6. 3G, Joe Gaerte, Rochester, IN (8) 7. 1w, Craig

Dollansky, Elk River, MN (9) 8. 23s, Frankie Kerr, Fremont, OH (13) 9. 75, Paul McMahan, Oroville, CA (16)

10. 11, Steve Kinser, Bloomington, IN (10) 11. 1, Sammy Swindell, Bartlett, TN (3) 12. 2, Andy Hillenburg,

Broken Arrow, OK (17) 13. 1AU, Garry Brazier, Sydney, NSW, Aust. (12) 14. 5m, Mark Kinser, Oolitic, IN

(1) 15. Jeff Shepard (22) 16. 8h, Terry McCarl, Pleasant Hill, IA (19) 17. 12A, Kevin Gobrecht, New Oxford,

PA (20) 18. 71m, Doug Wolfgang, Sioux Falls, SD (18) 19. 92, Kenny Jacobs, Holmesville, OH (14) 20. 7,

Larry Pinegar II, Des Moines, IA (15) 21. Jeff Swindell (21) 22. Skip Jackson (23) 23. 35, Tyler Walker,

Wooster, OH (11) 24. Don Droud Jr. (24).

Lap Leaders: M. Kinser 1-8; S. Swindell 9-10; Blaney 11-30.

Being run out of grandstands to the sound of tornado sirens..... priceless !
We were fortunate enough to find a body shop owner that was giving people shelter.  Never did know the shop name it was like a block behind the new addition for dingus. Sorry thats my best description.  

Was that the year Sambo gave the Mrs. a shove?On tv no less.

Yes Sammy shoving his wife with the "Get a Grip" Channelock on the nose wing in the background!!  Yes, sirens... several folks freaking out, us Kansas boys walked back to the ol pop-up and ratchet strapped down for the ride!  Seemed like a such a good idea at the time!  race should have been ran that night, didnt happen thanks to the now defunct Speed Channel wanting to air it Live!

It was TNN network that night.

Wow it doesnt seem like that long ago but after looking thru the finishing order, half of the field doesnt even race anymore. Man time flies when your having fun.  Your right though, Sammy had them covered that year too. Back in the good ol days when everything was inverted in heats and they actually ran a sprint race of 30 laps.