Once-retired Swalwell brings heavy heart back to Bullring

Randy Swalwell's Modified race car never would make weight if heartache registered on the scale.

Some might avoid a place seemingly haunted with the ghosts of loved ones.

Swalwell doesn't see it that way. Short-track racing is a reminder of great years with his parents at Craig Road Speedway and a loving partnership with his wife, Vanessa, who died at age 45 last summer.

He doesn't see ghosts -- he sees saints.

Swalwell is expected to return to racing Saturday night in the NASCAR All-American Series' open-wheel Modified division at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's Bullring.

He retired from driving a Modified five years ago to devote attention to the racing career of his son, Travis, but a lack of sponsorship forced the younger Swalwell out of the Super Late Models division last year.

Vanessa Swalwell told her husband a month before she was stricken by a brain aneurysm that he should get back to driving his black No. 98 Modified.

He bought back the No. 98 a few months ago after its ownership had changed three times. It's the same car he built in 1993 with his late father, Bill Swalwell, a Craig Road Speedway rescue worker.

Graphics were being applied to the car Thursday, and no practice session for the Bullring is scheduled for tonight. So Swalwell will combine racing and testing Saturday night on the three-eighths-mile oval with veteran crew chief J.R. Knutson and spotter Billy Newman.

"Ah, we'll just wing it," joked Swalwell, a 1972 graduate of Clark High School. ...

Super Late Models driver Jim Petrie of Henderson will be featured Saturday along with Roundy Elementary on the nationally syndicated "NASCAR Angels" program, shown on KUTD-TV (Channel 25 and Cox Cable 14).

He was selected for the show for his support of a reading program at Roundy Elementary, which incorporates NASCAR themes to motivate students.

The show, co-hosted by Rusty Wallace and Shannon Wiseman, airs at 12:30 p.m. Saturday and will be replayed at 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Show sponsor Goodyear Gemini Auto Care provided free tires and maintenance for vehicles owned by about 65 teachers and administrators at the school.

• DRAG RACING -- Local Sportsman racer Justin Lamb, 20, who has won three NHRA national titles, will hit the road to compete in nine NHRA events over the next few months. At this weekend's NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series event near Atlanta, he will race in Super Comp and Competition eliminator. ...

Winners in Saturday's NHRA Jr. Dragster event at LVMS dragstrip were Cody Parsons (Novice), Alyssa Franz (Thunder) and Chad Webber (Lightning).

• DEATH VALLEY -- Brett Barstow of Ballico, Calif., and Ryan Cotrell of Las Vegas won respective Dwarf Car Nationals titles last weekend at Death Valley Raceway in Amargosa Valley.

Cotrell also split the weekend's titles in the IMCA Modified Madness feature with teammate Ronnie Williams.

• BOAT RACING -- The Pacific Offshore Powerboat Racing Association opens its season today with the Lake Havasu Offshore Grand Prix.

The event runs through Sunday at the Arizona resort town about 150 miles south of Las Vegas.

• DESERT, OFF ROAD -- Las Vegan Michael Petersen is competing in the inaugural Central Europe Rally, which concludes Saturday after seven days and about 1,600 miles. For updates, visit PetersenMotorsports.com on the Internet. ...

Ronn Bailey of Las Vegas is competing in the nine-day Tunisia Rally, which began Wednesday in Marseilles, France, and will conclude after about 2,400 miles in Djerba, Tunisia. For updates, visit WheresRonn.com on the Internet.