Sweeney Has a Tough Act to Follow in Ascot Sprints

Add sprint car driver Mike Sweeney to your list of tough acts to follow.

Sweeney, the 28-year-old third generation driver from Carson, is the man car owner Bruce Bromme Sr. has selected to replace Dean Thompson, the retired king of Ascot Park’s half-mile dirt track.

When Thompson announced his retirement after winning the Don Peabody Classic for his 12th victory of the year at the Gardena oval, Sweeney appeared to be the logical choice.

Sweeney was second to Thompson in victories at Ascot, scoring eight of his nine wins there, and was second to Thompson in the Peabody in last-ditch bid to win the California Racing Assn. season championship.

The team made it 1986 debut at the season-opening two-day program at the Midwinter Fair in El Centro. The results were not spectacular, but Bromme said he was pleased with his choice to replace Thompson, his driver for 12 years.

Sweeney qualified seventh on Saturday, finished fourth in his heat to earn the pole position for the main event. However, a fuel-injection linkage problem dropped him to seventh in the feature race. On Sunday, he had fast qualifying time, was fifth in his heat, but came back to gain the feature by winning the semi-main event. Once again, problems hit in the main event with Sweeney dropping out with tire problems.

OK for a beginning, but now comes the real test at Ascot where Bromme’s red No. 1 has usually been the car to beat. More than 100 times nobody was able to do it. Last year, for example, Thompson led the most main event laps of the 1985 season--357. The runner-up was Sweeney with 259.

Sweeney will not be the only top driver in a different car for this Saturday night’s races.

Eddie Wirth of Hermosa Beach, who edged Sweeney for the driver title on the final night of the season last year, also has changed mounts. Wirth will be aboard the Frank Lewis No. 91 that currently leads the California Racing Assn. standings after a victory at El Centro with Rick Hood of Memphis, Tenn., at the controls.

The reason for Wirth’s switch is that his regular mount, which he co-owns, is being converted to a winged-sprint car for a later in the year attempt on the World of Outlaws national circuit.