SC&M: Video of that wreck got picked up by an Indiana NBC affiliate and was aired on the nightly news, and you came back with an “As Seen On TV” decal on your car. Even though it was something you clearly didn‘t want to do, it almost seemed like it increased your visibility, that more people may have heard about you because of that accident getting aired on television.
SWEET: (laughs) I definitely was more well-known. I would say from a trying to get a ride standpoint, I think I had a reputation there that I was maybe a little bit too wild, just kind of young and tore up some cars and stuff. I struggled for a minute but, you know, there were a lot of different car owners out there that wanted to see their car go fast. And, that was one thing I had going for me was that we weren‘t scared and we always were fast; it was just a matter of trying to figure how to finish the races.
So, luckily for me, we overcame that year and I was able to just keep improving.
SC&M: The next year you raced for Jack Yeley. How did that come about?
SWEET: Yes, actually right after I crashed at Haubstadt, my car was out of commission and he was out running Speedweek with … I can‘t remember who, and I think they broke up halfway through.
(laughs) With “Cactus Jack,” if you know his personality, he‘s pretty tough. But, I think Jim Massey was the car owner — I feel like that‘s who it was — and Jack was working on it. And so, they just called me just to finish out Speedweek. I ran a few races for them. I think we actually battled for the lead at Lawrenceburg and then we ended up finishing the week out at Terre Haute in another decent wreck in qualifying.
So, I remember leaving Speedweek not feeling very good about things but, luckily, I kind of pieced the rest of the year together and then Jack put a different deal together for the year after that. He called me after the little bit of success that we had. So, that was kind of — I took the family car back home the end of that year and sold everything off, and we kind of decided that we can‘t afford to be car owners. There‘s no reason to even try. And, I went back and just drove for Jack all of 2006.
SC&M: In 2007, you were back home to the west coast. What was your thought at that point? Prior to getting the call from Keith Kunz Motorsports, did you think the Indiana thing was done or were you still hoping to get back out to the Midwest?
SWEET: Honestly, I think I just was at a point in my life I was a little bit homesick, you know, just kind of realizing that I could make just as good a living racing at home in California and be more home at that point, and not trying so hard. And, after the year — you know, I like Jack, he taught me a lot, but it just kind of had burnt me out a little bit. So, I basically was kind of going back to California to drive a really, really good car and kind of work for Gary (Perkins), just kind of regroup, and just always felt like I was kinda just … I didn‘t give up on racing by any means. I just kind of felt like I needed to take a step away from Indiana and maybe quit trying so hard.
So, luckily for me, it was a good move, and I was kind of able to run for Gary, and winged cars were always what I grew up doing and were more of my passion. I didn‘t like the wrecks that the non-winged cars had, but that was the avenue that was getting a lot of drivers to NASCAR. It seemed like they were getting a lot more national attention at that point. So, I ended up going back and running a winged car for Gary, running good, and then that‘s kind of when Jeff Walker actually called to see if I would run that Pennsylvania Speedweek in his non-winged sprint car.
I went and did that with him, and then that‘s when Keith was in a tough spot with his organization and they gave me a ride to run at Belleville, basically. I ended the year bouncing back and forth between Keith‘s midget and Gary Perkins‘ sprint car. That‘s ultimately…you know, we were running good at that point, getting a lot of good results in both the midget and the winged sprint car, and that‘s what ultimately led Kasey (Kahne) and Willie (Kahne) to hire me.