Asheboro, NC(May 27, 2009) — When the first green flag of the 2009 season waved at Caraway Speedway many were astonished at the car count and were sure it wouldn’t last, but six races into the young season and the track is thriving and so is one if it’s former champions.
Travis Swaim has won everything on the 4/10 mile track including being the inagural winner of the biggest race of the season, the Rusty Harpe Memorial. Swaim hasn’t been dominant this season, but on Saturday, May 23rd he became the first two time winner at the track and extended his points lead in a rain shortened event.
Swaim has had lady luck riding with him so far this season as both of his wins have came in unusual ways as his first came on the heels of the season’s biggest controversy when Alex Yontz was disqualified and his car taken to the NASCAR R&D Center for inspection. A win by disqualification and due to rain shortening the event isn’t the way Swaim wanted to win it, but he’s put himself in position all season long.
“I can’t complain about the rain, but I wanted to race it out with Alex(Yontz) to see who had the best car,” said Swaim in a recent phone interview.
Swaim’s journey to win on Saturday night didn’t come without a lot of hard work and dedication by his team and the guys at Performancenter Racing Warehouse. Swaim, who pilots a Pistone LTO Chassis had his primary car destroyed last Wednesday night by what he calls a freak accident.
“It was just a freak thing. The cap of the valve cover breather came loose and got stuck in the throttle linkage and held the throttle wide open. It destroyed the primary car, it got the front and rear clip and it was the hardest hit I’ve ever taken in a race car for sure.”
Swaim’s crew chief, Ronald Fox and Charlie Sigmon instantly went to work getting his back-up car, an old Townsend chassis ready to go racing including getting Tom Pistone and the gang at Performancenter Racing Warehouse to clip the front of the car and convert it to a big spring car. They completed the task in one day and then with Fox and Sigmon’s help completed the car at Performancenter around 3:00am Friday morning.
“The guys really did a lot of work to get the car ready and they were working until after 3:00am. This win belongs to the crew, Ronald(Fox), Charlie(Sigmon) and the guys Performancenter, we couldn’t have even run without all their work,” continued Swaim.
Swaim, a former champion at Caraway Speedway, now has his sights set on winning another championship as he has a 22 point lead after the first six races of the season, but that wasn’t his original plan.
“I had no desire to run for a championship over here again, but with the way the car count is and the caliber of competition here this season I don’t think we have a choice. We’ve got the points lead now and we haven’t had a finish outside the top ten, I think our worst finish is seventh.”
Swaim hopes to continue the success he’s had so far in 2009 and he’s hoping his next win will come at the end of the scheduled distance for the race and he won’t have to wait for inspection to disqualify anyone, but for now he’s taking the wins anyway he can get them, just like anyone in his position would do.
