A Who’s Who of Sprint Car Racing: 13 Drivers Have Won the
Kings Royal Since
1984
Rossburg, OH— July 11, 2008— Over the past 24 years,
there have been 13 drivers that
have had the honor of wearing the crown and the purple
robe, along with holding the
scepter and sitting atop the throne on the stage at the
famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio
after winning the Kings Royal.
The list reads like a “Who’s Who” of sprint car racing,
led by 20-time Advance Auto
Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Champion Steve Kinser.
Next on the list is Jac
Haudenschild who has won the prestigious race three times
in his career. Drivers that
have it twice include: three-time World of Outlaws
champion Sammy Swindell, along
with Hall of Famer Doug Wolfgang, 1995 series champion
Dave Blaney and current
driver Joey Saldana.
Drivers that have single wins in the Kings Royal include:
Dale Blaney, Bobby Davis Jr.,
Johnny Hererra, Don Kreitz Jr., two-time Advance Auto
Parts World of Outlaws Sprint
Car Series champion Mark Kinser, two-time defending series
champion Donny Schatz
and Jason Sides. Each driver earned $50,000 for their win
in the event.
Many of these former winners of the Kings Royal will be
honored in a ceremony on
Saturday, July 12 prior to the 25
Annual Kings Royal. The weekend kicks
off on Friday,
with the Knight Before the Kings Royal.
Steve Kinser is the only driver that has started all 24
Kings Royal main events, dating
back to 1984. He won the inaugural event and his most
recent win in it came in 2005. He
also was victorious in 1988, 1991, 1997 and 2003. The
native of Bloomington, Indiana
has 15 finishes of third or better in his career in the
race, which have earned him a spot on
the podium in each of those events. He is the winningest
driver in the history of Eldora
Speedway with nearly 60 total victories at the half-mile.
He won the Knight Before the
Kings Royal last season aboard the Q Oil Maxim.
“It’s still one of the biggest races there is,” Kinser
said. “It was one of the first big paying
events to come out. Earl Baltes was always first to do
things. I remember the first
$10,000-to win race there, and then the first $50,000-to
win and I think he (Baltes) had
the first $100,000- to win race. Anytime you race at a
place like Eldora it’s a big race.
Along with Knoxville, it’s one of the two biggest races of
the year.”
While the $50,000 top prize for winning the Kings Royal
gets everyone’s attention, it’s
the trophy and prestige that come from winning the event
that will last forever. Of the
hundreds of trophies that Kinser has amassed over the
years, the ones from the Kings
Royal are ones that he will always cherish.
“You want to win the race and then the money comes along,”
he noted. “You don’t think
much about the money when you win, you just think about
winning the Kings Royal.”
Jac Haudenschild has competed in the main event of the
Kings Royal 18 times in his
career. Along with his three victories in the race, he has
nine Top-10 finishes, with seven
of those being podium finishes. The Ohio native won his
first Kings Royal in 1987 and
followed that up with wins in 1994 and 1998. He will be
making his first start in the
event this weekend behind the wheel of the Owens-Corning
Fiberglass Maxim for the
Carnahan Motorsports team.
“The Kings Royal has been around for a long time and it
has always paid $50,000- to
win,” said the veteran driver. “Everybody always enjoys
going there and it’s always good
racing. Everybody wants to win the Kings Royal and the big
races. We’ve been there a
few times this year and the track has been different each
time we have been there.
Hopefully we have a good track and it will be a lot of
fun.”
Joey Saldana is one of just three drivers that has won the
Kings Royal twice and he
would like nothing more than to add his name to the list
of drivers that have won it more
than two times. He finished fifth in the event last year
aboard the Budweiser/Open Joist
Mopar-powered JEI for Kasey Kahne Racing. He has three
consecutive Top-Five finishes
in the race. He won a race earlier this season at Eldora
in a tune-up for the Kings Royal.
“The prestige is more important than the money,” said the
second generation driver. “In
about a month my son will probably want the money.
Hopefully we can win it. There are
only two guys that have won it more than twice and that is
Jac Haudenschild and Steve
Kinser. Hopefully we can win it three times and we’ll be
in elite group of guys.”
Donny Schatz added his name to the list of winners of the
Kings Royal last season. His
win in the event helped him make history in 2007, as he
became the first driver to win the
Knoxville Nationals, the Kings Royal, the National Open,
the Don Martin Memorial
Silver Cup and the Williams Grove Summer Nationals all in
the same season. He will be
competing for the first time this season in the Kings
Royal behind the wheel of the Armor
All J&J for track owner Tony Stewart. In his Kings Royal
career, Schatz has seven Top-
10 finishes, including being first and second the last two
seasons.
“There are very few guys that have won it multiple times
and I’m glad to have gotten my
name on that trophy one time,” said Schatz. “All you can
do is go in their with
expectations to win and that is what we are going there
for. It’s our job to get it done and
if we don’t, we’ll have to figure out what we did wrong
and learn from our mistakes.”
Jason Sides won the Kings Royal in 2004, becoming the
third driver from Tennessee to
win the famed event. For Sides it was his first career
Advance Auto Parts World of
Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature win, and he became the
first driver in series history
to win his first race in the Kings Royal. He has finished
third in two of the last three AFeature
events he has competed in at Eldora aboard the
Wetherington Tractor Service
Maxim. His win in the Kings Royal came a year after
claiming the Kevin Gobrecht
Rookie of the Year Award with the World of Outlaws and is
the one victory that Sides
will never forget.
“I didn’t realize the significance of it, until I went
back and looked at the trophy the other
day and saw that there was only 11 or so (13) winners from
then until now,” he noted.
“It’s pretty prestigious to be involved with that group of
drivers.”
On Friday, July 11 at Eldora Speedway, tickets for those
ages 16-over will be $25, with
tickets for those ages 12-15 $12, with kids 11-under $6.
On Saturday, July 12 at Eldora Speedway, tickets for those
ages 16-over will be $32, with
tickets for those ages 12-14 $20, with kids 11-under $10.
For ticket information visit: