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Kyle Larson Charges from 22nd to Win Hoosier Hundred
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The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Kyle Larson charged from his 22nd starting position to win Sunday night's Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. (Dallas Breeze Photo)
KYLE LARSON CHARGES FROM 22ND TO WIN HOOSIER HUNDRED
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Indianapolis, Indiana (August 21, 2020).........It's not often that a driver can win the pole and also start from the back, charge to the front and win all in the same race. But, as the 2020 racing season has repeatedly asked us, is there anything Kyle Larson can't do?
In his first USAC Silver Crown appearance in eight seasons, Larson achieved another remarkable feat Sunday night at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in the 65th running of the Hoosier Hundred after he and his team opted to change the right rear tire following Fatheadz qualifying on his Sean Michael Motorsports/JVI Group - Heffner Racing Enterprises - Blazer's Body Shop/Maxim/Kistler Chevy, gladly accepting the penalty that came along with it that sent him to the back of the pack for the start of the 100-lap main event on the one-mile dirt oval.
After initially qualifying for the pole position with the fastest single lap turned in the event in a quarter century, the decision sent Larson, along with six others who chose to swap out their right rear rubber, to the tail for the start. Specifically, Larson was re-slotted in the 22nd starting spot, which elevated Hoosier Hundred Rookie Logan Seavey and veteran C.J. Leary to the front row.
"I think we made a good call there to give up our qualifying position to put on a harder compound tire which allowed me to be aggressive all race long," Larson revealed.
That mentality of aggressiveness from Larson was evident early and often from the drop of the green flag which saw Leary shoot out to the lead from his outside front row starting spot to lead early. Meanwhile, two separate hard charges were simultaneously taking place. Defending Hoosier Hundred winner Tyler Courtney had risen from his 14th starting spot to 2nd in just seven laps while Larson went 22nd to 4th by lap nine when the first major melee of the night occurred.
First, Kyle Robbins slowed substantially coming out of turn four to force out the first yellow. Under yellow, as several of the top-ten frontrunners slowed for the caution in turn two, a major jumble up sent four-time Hoosier Hundred winner and seventh running Kody Swanson flipping along with 11th running David Byrne, who landed his car atop the inside guardrail. Austin Nemire, Jimmy Light and Terry Babb were also collected in the incident. All were uninjured, but out of the race for good.
On the attempted resumption, Courtney ripped around Leary for the top spot entering turn one while, simultaneously, Larson did the same to Seavey for third. Just moments later, disaster ensued once again in the very same spot in turn two as Hoosier Hundred Rookie Carmen Perigo flipped wildly down the back straightaway. Behind him, the field checked up on the binders with 2016 HH pole winner, Brady Bacon, getting the worst end of the deal, barrel rolling down the back straight. Both were uninjured.
John Heydenreich was also involved in the incident, coming to a rest up right against the inner guardrail in turn two, and was later transported for further observation, but was awake and alert.
The second lap 10 restart was déjà vu for Courtney as he repeated his outside turn one move for the lead by Leary just following the waving of the green flag. Larson, likewise, moved around Seavey for third in turn three, then took second a half lap later with an outside pass of Leary in turn one on the 10th lap.
Following lap 16 wall contact by Chris Urish between turns three and four that necessitated a yellow, Larson went to work on Courtney for the lead. On the 24th circuit, Larson faked high, then low on the front straight behind Courtney before taking the high side to storm around Courtney for the top of the leaderboard entering turn three a half lap later with a quarter of the race in the books.
Leary took over second from Courtney on the following lap, the 26th, and set forth toward Larson, ultimately reclaiming the lead on the 30th trip around the Indy Mile with an inside turn one pass. Leary, whose father Chuck Leary won the 1997 edition of the Hoosier Hundred, was aiming to become the first son of a former winner to also claim victory in the event.
Action slowed once again on the 34th lap as contact between Matt Westfall and Bryan Gossel in turn four sent Gossel rocketing hard into the outside concrete wall before flipping in his maiden Hoosier Hundred start, marking the fifth and final flip of the feature event. Gossel, who was running 21st at the time, emerged from the wreck unscathed.
From the ensuing restart onward, the front runners settled into a groove with Leary maintaining a one second interval over Larson as the race passed through the middle stages which saw another HH Rookie, Jake Swanson, enter the top-five, then to fourth, with two more accidents occurring for 8th running Chad Kemenah (lap 55) and 14th place Mike Haggenbottom (lap 64), both of whom had a meeting with the turn three outside wall, which ended both drivers' nights.
Although not leading at that stage, Larson, nonetheless, remained on the leader's pace while being mindful of his equipment, readying himself for a surge when the opportunity arose.
"It was a long race, but through the mid-point, I just tried to pace C.J. as much as I could, and also pace Tyler (Courtney) behind me," Larson recalled. "You just never know how your tire is when you see theirs under yellow."
The lap 69 restart was second place-running Larson's finest moment of the race as he immediately darted to the outside of Leary at the drop of the green flag, then cranked his car completely sideways in front of Leary as he blitzed to the top spot for good. Upon entry to turn one, Leary slid up the racetrack, allowing Courtney to dive underneath for second and dropping Leary to 3rd.
"I felt like on all the restarts, I could fire off better than C.J. for a few laps, so I wanted to be aggressive on that final restart," Larson explained. "I was able to get around him and then I wanted to set a fast pace. I felt like we probably all had enough wear in our tires to get by for another 30 laps."
With just a quarter of the race remaining, Courtney slowly but surely reeled Larson in, from five tenths, to four tenths to three tenths, and was right there withing striking distance on the 79th lap when his car slowed dramatically off turn four with an engine issue, forcing his car to a slow crawl to the back straightaway exit and ending his bid for a repeat HH triumph.
Newly-minted second-place driver Leary instantaneously closed the gap on Larson, standing just two car lengths back on the 82nd go-around, but was unable to get much closer than that, as Larson incrementally bumped up his lead to eight-tenths of a second.
One more final bout with lapped traffic was presented to Larson with seven laps remaining as Patrick Lawson and Ronnie Wuerdeman were momentarily two wide entering turn one with Larson rapidly approaching just behind. Larson expertly escaped through the gap in between turns one and two, only losing a single tenth off his lead to Leary in the process from 0.8 to 0.7 sec.
Larson didn't allow Leary to get any closer than that in the final seven laps, reconstructing the interval between the two to a whopping 2.052 sec. at race's end as Larson raced to his first USAC Silver Crown victory since his legendary 4-Crown Nationals USAC sweep at Eldora Speedway of 2011.
n his first USAC Silver Crown start since the 2012 season, Kyle Larson earned his third career series victory on Sunday night at the Hoosier Hundred. (Ryan Sellers Photo)
Leary finished 2nd with Logan Seavey finishing a career-best 3rd in just his second career series start. Shane Cockrum took home 4th while Chris Windom snagged the 5th spot to round out the top-five.
One-hundred-mile dirt USAC Silver Crown races are taxing both mentally and physically on the driver, but for Larson, the achievement of success that comes from the fruits of his and the team's labor is the ultimate reward.
"I just ran really hard, but it was tough. I had my brakes to the floor and my power steering was really tight. It was a workout for 100 laps but it's all worth it. To add my name to the list, it feels special."
Following Larson's third career USAC Silver Crown win on Sunday night, both winners on the dirt have come from way back in the pack to reach victory lane. Shane Cottle started 23rd and won on Aug. 9 at Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway while Larson charged from the 22nd starting position to win at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
With Justin Grant's 8th place run on Sunday, along with Kody Swanson's early race misfortune, Grant has now taken over the USAC Silver Crown point lead by 22 markers over Swanson.
Aaron Pierce's time of 6:36.928 during Sunday's qualifying race set a brand new 12-lap USAC Silver Crown track record at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, eclipsing the former mark of 6:42.010, which had been held by Gene Lee Gibson since Sept. 10, 1988.
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: August 23, 2020 - Indiana State Fairgrounds - Indianapolis, Indiana - 1-Mile Dirt Oval - 65th Hoosier Hundred
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Larson, 19, Michael-31.426; 2. Logan Seavey, 22, Prestige Worldwide-31.850; 3. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-31.887; 4. Brady Bacon, 6, Klatt-31.915; 5. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-31.930; 6. Jimmy Light, 123, Two-Three-31.933; 7. Shane Cockrum, 53, Five Three-32.116; 8. Kody Swanson, 20, Nolen-32.150; 9. Chad Kemenah, 15, Hampshire/Kemenah-32.198; 10. Jake Swanson, 10, DMW-32.258; 11. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-32.294; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9, Dyson-32.363; 13. Chris Urish, 77, Urish-32.453; 14. Chris Windom, 17, Goodnight-32.471; 15. Patrick Lawson, 2, Lawson-32.527; 16. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-32.560; 17. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-32.608; 18. Kyle Cummins, 69, Pink 69-32.636; 19. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-32.817; 20. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-32.883; 21. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-32.910; 22. Terry Babb, 88, Babb-32.963; 23. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-33.101; 24. Carmen Perigo, 52, Stehman-33.105; 25. Casey Buckman, 74, Buckman-33.117; 26. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-33.179; 27. John Heydenreich, 37, Bohanon/Felker-33.297; 28. Austin Mundie, 47, Butler-33.300; 29. Mike Haggenbottom, 24, Haggenbottom-33.381; 30. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-33.441; 31. Ronnie Wuerdeman, 33, Wuerdeman-33.457; 32. Dallas Hewitt, 57, Hewitt-33.554; 33. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott-33.620; 34. Bryan Gossel, 06, Gossel-33.890; 35. Danny Long, 44, Long-34.474; 36. Justin Peck, 110, DMW-37.240.
QUALIFYING RACE: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Aaron Pierce, 2. Justin Grant, 3. John Heydenreich, 4. Austin Mundie, 5. Matt Goodnight, 6. Ronnie Wuerdeman, 7. Mike Haggenbottom, 8. Travis Welpott, 9. Bryan Gossel, 10. Dallas Hewitt, 11. Danny Long, 12. Justin Peck. 6:36.928 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (100 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (22), 2. C.J. Leary (2), 3. Logan Seavey (1), 4. Shane Cockrum (23), 5. Chris Windom (24), 6. Jake Swanson (8), 7. Shane Cottle (4), 8. Justin Grant (20), 9. Kyle Cummins (26), 10. Matt Goodnight (21), 11. Casey Buckman (19), 12. Patrick Lawson (11), 13. Ronnie Wuerdeman (30), 14. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 15. Tyler Courtney (14), 16. Mike Haggenbottom (28), 17. Chad Kemenah (7), 18. Austin Mundie (27), 19. Kyle Robbins (17), 20. Matt Westfall (25), 21. Bryan Gossel (29), 22. Chris Urish (10), 23. Aaron Pierce (31), 24. Russ Gamester (15), 25. Brady Bacon (3), 26. Kody Swanson (6), 27. David Byrne (12), 28. Jimmy Light (5), 29. Terry Babb (16), 30. Austin Nemire (13), 31. Carmen Perigo (18), 32. John Heydenreich (32). NT
**Kody Swanson & David Byrne flipped on lap 10 of the feature. Carmen Perigo & Brady Bacon flipped on the lap 10 restart during the feature. Bryan Gossel flipped on lap 34 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 C.J. Leary, Laps 10-24 Tyler Courtney, Laps 25-29 Kyle Larson, Laps 30-68 C.J. Leary, Laps 69-100 Kyle Larson.
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-199, 2-Kody Swanson-177, 3-Kyle Robbins-167, 4-Matt Goodnight-167, 5-Chris Windom-166, 6-Shane Cottle-163, 7-Aaron Pierce-151, 8-Mike Haggenbottom-149, 9-C.J. Leary-143, 10-Bryan Gossel-136.
PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-99, 2-Tanner Thorson-76, 3-Kyle Cummins-65, 4-Justin Grant-64, 5-Kyle Larson-62, 6-Shane Cottle-61, 7-Logan Seavey-57, 8-Cannon McIntosh-57, 9-Daison Pursley-48, 10-Robert Ballou-45.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kyle Larson
KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Kyle Larson (22nd to 1st)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ronnie Wuerdeman
Jerry Medlin 16th Place Finisher in Memory of Jerry Nemire: Mike Haggenbottom
Santos’ Resilience Nets Night Before the 500 Win #2
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Bobby Santos (Franklin, Mass.), collected his second career Night Before the 500 Midget win Saturday night at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind.
(Al Steinberg Photo)
SANTOS' RESILIENCE NETS NIGHT BEFORE THE 500 WIN #2
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Brownsburg, Indiana (August 22, 2020).........Bobby Santos admitted that it took him a minute to get reacclimated to midget racing Saturday night at Brownsburg, Indiana's Lucas Oil Raceway.
Yet, when was all said and done, there was no evidence of rust anywhere to be found as Santos stood up in his seat to celebrate his second career Night Before the 500 victory in the USAC non-points special midget event at the .686-mile paved oval.
The victory for Santos came aboard a car prepared by an all East Coast team, one that has a heritage of success at LOR, including two victories with Ken Schrader behind the wheel of the team's Silver Crown car in 1986 and 1989.
This particular evening belonged to Santos, however, as he led the first half of the 30-lap feature, lost the lead, then regained it with 11 laps remaining to secure the monumental victory in the Seymour-West/Indy Performance Composites - DTF Performance - Seaman Mechanical/Beast/Stanton SR-11x.
"These guys are awesome," Santos said of the Seymour-West team. "They put together an unbelievable racecar, Jeff West, IPC, Matt and Bobby Seymour. I drove for them years ago, and it's pretty awesome to get back into one of their racecars, 'The Spirit of Boston.' That means a lot to be driving the 29."
The Franklin, Mass. native's first Night Before the 500 Midget victory came 14 years ago in 2006, making it the longest duration between victories in the event, surpassing the 12 years that passed between Mel Kenyon's second and third victories in the event in 1965 and 1977.
The win marked Santos' ninth overall USAC-sanctioned victory at LOR, which ranks fourth all-time in that department. Interesting enough, the battle for victory came down between he and the only other past Night Before the 500 winner in the starting field for the midget feature, 2010 victor Tanner Swanson, who owns seven USAC victories of his own at LOR, including the previous night's Silver Crown 100-lapper.
Santos broke away from his outside front row starting position to nip pole sitter Kody Swanson at the line and lead the opening lap by a single car length over the eight-time LOR USAC winner who scored an Indy Pro 2000 Series triumph at the same track just one night prior.
Stretching his lead out to 12 car lengths early on, Santos began to be reeled in ever so slightly by the suddenly surging Tanner Swanson, who cropped Santos' advantage from 1.2 sec. to around six-tenths just prior to the lap 16 yellow for 18th running Nathan Byrd who spun and smacked the turn two wall with the left side of his machine. He was okay.
Continuing his sudden surge, Tanner, wheeling the most recent Night Before the 500 winning car driven to victory by Tracy Hines 2014, dove to the inside of turn one on the ensuing restart, sliding up in front of Santos as he drifted to the outside wall. Meanwhile, Santos cut back under to ride side-by-side with Tanner momentarily before Tanner bested Santos off turn two to secure the lead for the next four circuits while third-starting Californian, Courtney Crone, impressed by moving to third as Kody Swanson began to drop out of contention, and out of the race, with a cut left rear tire, finishing 18th.
Bobby Santos' second Night Before the 500 Midget victory came 14 years following his most recent in 2006, making it the longest duration between victories in the history of the event, surpassing the 12 year span between Mel Kenyon's second and third victories in the event in 1965 and 1977.
(Rich Forman Photo)
However, on the 20th lap, Santos flexed his muscle with a resilient comeback that saw him throw his machine to the bottom of turn three under Tanner. The two rode wheel-to-wheel throughout the entirety of the long sweeping corners before Santos ultimately emerged with the race lead off turn four.
Kyle Hamilton made a furious challenge for second on Tanner in the waning laps, with Tanner clamping down to retain the runner-up spot while Santos distanced himself from the herd to snag the 1.382 sec. margin of victory over Tanner Swanson, Kyle Hamilton, Thomas Meseraull and 15-year-old NEMA regular, Jake Trainor. Crone, the 2016 USAC Western States Midget Rookie of the Year, fell back to sixth at race's end.
Utilizing a Stanton SR-11x engine from Hayward Motorsports and raced by Tanner Thorson on the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget trail, Santos added onto his LOR USAC win total with his second midget score to go along with four Silver Crown and three Sprint Car wins.
In the end, it was a complete team effort and the resiliency of Santos to get up, get knocked down, then get back up again two-thirds of the way into the event to earn a race win that both team and driver will forever covet.
"At the end of the race, my guys gave me a rock solid racecar; they gave me what I needed," Santos remarked. "We took off good at the start, but he obviously did a little better job than I did getting going. I just kept my cool and knew if I continued to roll the top, we could attack him again."
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USAC MIDGET SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS: August 22, 2020 - Lucas Oil Raceway - Brownsburg, Indiana - .686-Mile Paved Oval - 70th Night Before the 500
QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 3, Bohanon/Felker-21.238; 2. Bobby Santos, 29, Seymour/West-21.413; 3. Courtney Crone, 25, Rodela-21.571; 4. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-21.625; 5. Tanner Swanson, 7K, Petry/Irwin-21.643; 6. Jake Trainor, 8, Trainor-21.774; 7. Justin Grant, 66, Sanderson-21.864; 8. Kyle Hamilton, 4, Klatt-21.930; 9. Kyle O'Gara, 1BR, SFHR-22.017; 10. Mario Clouser, 99, Guess-22.031; 11. Cole Carter, 47, Bertrand-22.135; 12. Jim Anderson, 36, Anderson-22.216; 13. Johnny Zych, 9, Zych-22.248; 14. Avery Stoehr, 39, Bertrand-22.282; 15. Todd Bertrand, 48, Bertrand-22.289; 16. Nick Hamilton, 33, Hamilton-22.304; 17. Alby Ovitt, 17, Bertrand-22.309; 18. Nathan Byrd, 33B, RayPro-22.356; 19. Derek Bischak, 31, BCD-22.613; 20. Kevin Studley, 57K, Studley-22.796; 21. Cody Gerhardt, 60, Western Speed-22.807; 22. Maria Cofer, 88, Arata-23.026; 23. Annie Breidinger, 80, Breidinger-24.121; 24. Ryan Shilkuski, 75, Shilkuski-NT; 25. Brandon Maurer, 14, Maurer-NT; 26. Dylan Nobile, 80x, Western Speed-NT.
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Bobby Santos (2), 2. Tanner Swanson (5), 3. Kyle Hamilton (8), 4. Thomas Meseraull (4), 5. Jake Trainor (6), 6. Courtney Crone (3), 7. Cole Carter (11), 8. Nick Hamilton (16), 9. Jim Anderson (12), 10. Kyle O'Gara (9), 11. Kevin Studley (20), 12. Mario Clouser (10), 13. Derek Bischak (19), 14. Johnny Zych (13), 15. Todd Bertrand (15), 16. Alby Ovitt (17), 17. Maria Cofer (22), 18. Kody Swanson (1), 19. Avery Stoehr (14), 20. Nathan Byrd (18), 21. Cody Gerhardt (21), 22. Justin Grant (7), 23. Annie Breidinger (23), 24. Ryan Shilkuski (24). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Bobby Santos, Laps 16-19 Tanner Swanson, Laps 20-30 Bobby Santos.
Kody Swanson Redeems with Night Before the 500 Sprint Win
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) captured Saturday's Night Before the 500 Sprint Car victory at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind.
(Rich Forman Photo)
KODY SWANSON REDEEMS WITH NIGHT BEFORE THE 500 SPRINT WIN
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Brownsburg, Indiana (August 22, 2020).........Following a discouraging conclusion to a superb first half performance in Friday night's USAC Silver Crown event at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind., Kody Swanson and Nolen Racing were opted to claim a sense of redemption in Saturday night's Night Before the 500 USAC Sprint Car non-points special event.
Swanson, the Silver Crown point leader, led the first 40 laps of Friday's main event before a rear brake caliper failed on his car, relegating him out of contention for a win. Come Saturday, Swanson and the Nolen team weren't keen on having their winning plans thwarted once again, which they demonstrated by completing a night's sweep as fast qualifier and feature winner, leading all 40 laps in wire-to-wire fashion to claim the $10,000 top prize.
After Friday's whirlwind, the lost opportunity ate at Swanson, and he along with the Greenwood, Ind. based team weren't going to let opportunity slip through their fingers when they rolled their car onto LOR's pit lane bright and early on Saturday morning for the Sprint Car debut at the 70th Night Before the 500.
"It was actually pretty rough, I tell you," Swanson admitted of his two-race losing "'streak.'" Last night was actually tough because we put so much into the Silver Crown series and the effort there. We had one whale of a racecar last night."
Well, they had one whale of racecar on this night as well by any measure. Kody was Saturday's fastest qualifier in both the midget and sprint car divisions, which set him up for a spot on the pole in both of the night's features with the races lining up "straight up" based on qualifying time.
A win this past June at LOR in Must See Racing Sprint Car competition came with the team's trusty V6 engine. This time, the otherwise traditional V8 was under the hood of the Nolen Racing/KECO Coatings - Goodridge - K & N Filters/Beast/Tranter Chevy.
"It's the first time we've had this engine in this racecar," Swanson revealed. "We're a V6 team but we didn't know if we'd be able to hold everybody off here in a big race like this with it."
Right off the bat, the first lap spelled doom for eighth starting Nick Hamilton and fifth starting Ken Schrader, who was making his first Sprint Car start at LOR in his long, illustrious career. Both drivers and their cars wound up against the SAFER barrier in turn two, putting a sudden conclusion to each of their nights.
Early on, outside front row starter Aaron Pierce presented a steady challenge to Swanson as he kept pace to the inside of Swanson throughout the duration of the opening circuit. Swanson reached the start/finish line first at the end of lap one by a mere nose over Pierce, who promptly fell into line behind Swanson and gave chase to the five-time Silver Crown titlist.
Throughout the middle stages, Swanson's main culprit was the slew of traffic that lie ahead of him. As Swanson darted around and in-between the cars at the tail end of the lead lap, second-running Pierce inched his way closer to Swanson to within a couple car lengths away from the lead.
By lap 25, Swanson was in the clear as he ripped by the last remaining tail-end lead lap car, for the time being, that stood in his path to victory. Once clear, Swanson's field of vision only involved one car within his sight that shared the same straightaway as himself, providing him ample time to open his lead back up and distance himself from Pierce.
Kody Swanson and Nolen Racing completed a night's sweep as fast qualifier and feature winner, leading all 40 laps, wire-to-wire, to claim the $10,000 top prize.
(Al Steinberg Photo)
It was easy-peasy from that point forward as Swanson was switching to glide to lead the remainder, and the entirety, of the feature event for his second LOR win in the past two nights, and third of the year. It was a more-than-welcome sight for the Kingsburg, Calif. native after the wrinkle that dogged the team the night before in the Silver Crown race.
"Today, they rallied and gave us a great sprint car," Swanson remarked. "I appreciate the effort of everyone that's a part of this Nolen Racing team. We do this in memory of Gene (Nolen), and I'm so thankful for his son, Greg, who's carrying the torch for us and doing a great job of running a race team. These guys are first class and I'm thankful to be racing for them."
Pierce finished 2nd to a Swanson for the second consecutive night at LOR. Friday night, it was Tanner, and on Saturday, the culprit was Kody keeping Pierce at Bay. Kyle Hamilton recorded a pair of third-place results on Saturday in both the midget and the sprint car feature. Tyler Roahrig (Mishawaka, Ind.) took 4th in the final tally while Tanner Swanson finished 5th on the heels of a Silver Crown victory the night before. Bobby Santos, meanwhile, scored a 6th after winning the Midget feature earlier in the evening.
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USAC SPRINT CAR SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS: August 22, 2020 - Lucas Oil Raceway - Brownsburg, Indiana - .686-Mile Paved Oval - Night Before the 500
QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 4, Nolen-20.992; 2. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-21.103; 3. Tanner Swanson, 77, Doran-21.159; 4. Tyler Roahrig, 56, Roahrig-21.184; 5. Ken Schrader, 78, Armstrong-21.225; 6. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ-21.233; 7. Kyle Hamilton, 5, Klatt-21.307; 8. Nick Hamilton, 32H, Hamilton-21.429; 9. Billy Wease, 12, Wease-21.495; 10. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-21.507; 11. Kyle O'Gara, 67, SFHR-21.515; 12. Derek Bischak, 31, Performance Assurance-21.663; 13. Chris Neuenschwander, 12N, Powell-21.774; 14. Teddy Alberts, 44, Wolverine-21.893; 15. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott-21.934; 16. Bryan Gossel, 6G, Gossel-22.010; 17. Joe Liguori, 8A, Reiser-22.051; 18. Christian Koehler, 10, Koehler-22.160; 19. Brian Vaughn, 71, Carmany-22.243; 20. Charlie Schultz, 9s, Reiser-22.397; 21. Mario Clouser, 92, Guess-22.716; 22. Gary Dunkle, 34, Dunkle-23.604; 23. Chris Jagger, 27J, Jagger-23.711; 24. Ronnie Wuerdeman, 32, Broadus-NT; 25. Tony Main, 74, Main-NT; 26. Justin Harper, 53, Harper-NT.
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kody Swanson (1), 2. Aaron Pierce (2), 3. Kyle Hamilton (7), 4. Tyler Roahrig (4), 5. Tanner Swanson (3), 6. Bobby Santos (6), 7. Billy Wease (9), 8. Kyle O'Gara (11), 9. Derek Bischak (12), 10. Travis Welpott (15), 11. Bryan Gossel (16), 12. Joe Liguori (17), 13. Brian Vaughn (19), 14. Teddy Alberts (14), 15. Charlie Schultz (20), 16. Gary Dunkle (22), 17. Chris Jagger (23), 18. Mario Clouser (21), 19. Russ Gamester (10), 20. Christian Koehler (18), 21. Chris Neuenschwander (13), 22. Nick Hamilton (8), 23. Ken Schrader (5). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Kody Swanson.
Carb Night Triumph Makes Tanner LOR’s Winningest USAC Silver Crown Driver
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Tanner Swanson became the winningest Lucas Oil Raceway USAC Silver Crown driver of all-time with Friday night's Dave Steele Carb Night Classic victory.
(DB3, Inc. Photo)
CARB NIGHT TRIUMPH MAKES TANNER LOR'S WINNINGEST USAC SILVER CROWN DRIVER
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Brownsburg, Indiana (August 21, 2020).........After watching his brother, Kody, score the victory in his Indy Pro 2000 Series debut earlier in the evening, Tanner Swanson made Friday an all-Swanson night, leading the final 60 circuits of the 100-lap Dave Steele Carb Night Classic en route to becoming the winningest USAC Silver Crown driver at Brownsburg, Indiana's Lucas Oil Raceway with his sixth career triumph at the .686-mile paved oval.
Tanner's victory broke a three-way tie at the top for most USAC Silver Crown wins at LOR with his older sibling, Kody Swanson, and Mike Bliss. Tanner's second career Dave Steele Carb Night Classic victory, and first since 2016, marked his eighth career Silver Crown victory, tying him with Chris Windom for 14th all-time.
But this particular one was special during the 50th Silver Crown event held at LOR. It was Tanner's first win with the series in over four years aboard his Bowman Racing/Brickers Pub - T.J. Forge/Beast/Kistler Chevy, one that elevated him as the standard bearer at a track that has been the stage for most of his greatest achievements in the sport, and put him atop all the heroes he remembered watching when he was just beginning in the sport, many of whom he watched from afar and aspired to be, at venues such as LOR.
"It's awesome to see that record," Tanner said. "2004 was (Kody and I's) first time in sprint cars and midgets. We were walking through the pits looking at Tracy Hines, A.J. Fike, Bobby Santos and all these guys we watched on TV, and now we get to etch our names next to those types of guys. It's surreal to be able to race at this level with family."
It just so happened to be an all Swanson front row as well with Tanner occupying the outside and Kody the pole after earlier earning his record-extending 31st career Fatheadz Qualifying time with the series, while also earning a $1,000 bonus courtesy of Mac and Carol Steele, parents of the late 12-time LOR USAC winner, Dave Steele.
It was a tad different scenery for Tanner than what he'd become accustomed to over the past couple of years in the event. He took the back row challenge in the last two Carb Night Classics, driving from 22nd to 2nd in 2018 and 17th to 2nd in 2019. This time around, no such challenge was in play, so in essence, Tanner practically had a head start on the competition.
However, Kody shot out to the early advantage, and by lap 17, the top-three of Kody, Tanner and reigning Carb Night Classic winner, Kyle Hamilton, were nose-to-tail. Hamilton made a bid for second between turns one and two when he and Tanner made tire-to-tire contact - Hamilton's right rear to Tanner's left rear - igniting a brief shower of sparks and sending Hamilton into a spin while Tanner became sideways, but saved it and continued on.
"Early on, you can't afford to give anyone any extra space," Tanner explained. "He didn't get enough to clear me, so we ended up running into each other. I hate it for him that he ended up going to the back but, thankfully, all the tires stayed up and we were able to continue on."
Hamilton stopped in turn two but proceeded to drive back up through the field following the restart to finish an impressive third in the final rundown.
From thereon, Tanner took a brief peek under Kody in turn three but was unable to make up any substantial ground as Kody pulled back out to a roughly 10-car length advantage with more than a third of the race in arrears.
"Early on, I was trying to play with him," Tanner recalled of Kody. "I was watching his hands and seeing how much he was having to work for it. I tried to show him a wheel to see if I could get him to hustle a little bit, but his car was on rails."
However, on lap 40, a problem with the rear brake caliper surfaced for Kody, forcing him into an action rarely seen in auto racing, especially one who's your toughest competition, and also just so happens to be your brother.
"I saw he had a rear brake caliper fail and I saw sparks and things going bad," Tanner remembered. "He checked up and he actually waved me by down the back stretch. I appreciate that he gave us the opportunity like that, but that's Kody. He races you the way you want to be raced."
Tanner immediately pulled away from Kody, distancing himself from the competition until lap 56 when John Heydenreich spun exiting turn two and plowed into the inside wall on the back straightaway. Under yellow, Kody relented his second place running position to pit with his Nolen Racing crew instantaneously putting the car on jacks and going to work. Ultimately, Kody did return to the fray one lap down, soldiering on to finish 10th.
Tanner Swanson's victory broke a three-way tie at the top for most USAC Silver Crown wins at LOR with his older sibling, Kody Swanson, and Mike Bliss. Tanner's second career Dave Steele Carb Night Classic victory, and first since 2016, marked his eighth career Silver Crown victory, tying him with Chris Windom for 14th all-time after. (David Nearpass Photo)
Tanner, for all intents and purposes, wrote his own zip code during the second half of the race, cruising on his lonesome up front while a dice up for positions was occurring from second on back. Aaron Pierce slipped by Bobby Santos late for the second position, his best run since a similar runner-up finish on the dirt in the 2015 Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, all while Hamilton slotted into third.
Navigating his way through traffic with ample ease, Tanner carried out his winning ambitions with a victory in his first racing start of any kind in 2020, dominating the final stages to earn the victory over Pierce, Hamilton and Santos with Justin Grant rounding out the top-five.
There are many roads that lead to success. Tanner and Bowman Racing have taken the road most often traveled, a pairing whose yearly schedule consists annually of only one track, one car, one driver and one team. A system which they have demonstrated they have down pat.
"This is the only time I sit in a racecar all year, so I don't develop any bad habits anywhere else," Tanner said with a laugh. "This is the only place I remember, same with the car. This is the only place these guys come run."
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: August 21, 2020 - Lucas Oil Raceway - Brownsburg, Indiana - .686-Mile Paved Oval - Dave Steele Carb Night Classic
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 20, Nolen-20.732; 2. Tanner Swanson, 02, Bowman-20.977; 3. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-21.163; 4. Kyle Hamilton, 6, Klatt-21.185; 5. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ-21.193; 6. Eric Gordon, 78, Armstrong-21.251; 7. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-21.363; 8. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-21.375; 9. John Heydenreich, 37, Bohanon/Felker-21.386; 10. Chris Windom, 17, Goodnight-21.387; 11. Derek Bischak, 131, Bischak-21.411; 12. Kyle O'Gara, 1, SFHR-21.489; 13. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-21.541; 14. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-21.613; 15. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-21.786; 16. Jim Anderson, 92, Kazmark-21.920; 17. Toni Breidinger, 80, Breidinger-21.959; 18. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott-22.218; 19. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-22.731; 20. Mike Haggenbottom, 24, Haggenbottom-22.764; 21. Patrick Lawson, 2, Lawson-NT; 22. Bryan Gossel, 06, Gossel-NT; 23. Brent Yarnal, 29, Yarnal-NT; 24. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Swanson (2), 2. Aaron Pierce (7), 3. Kyle Hamilton (4), 4. Bobby Santos (5), 5. Justin Grant (3), 6. Eric Gordon (6), 7. Patrick Lawson (21), 8. Russ Gamester (8), 9. Chris Windom (10), 10. Kody Swanson (1), 11. Shane Cottle (13), 12. Austin Nemire (14), 13. Matt Goodnight (15), 14. Travis Welpott (18), 15. Mike Haggenbottom (20), 16. Toni Breidinger (17), 17. Kyle Robbins (19), 18. Derek Bischak (11), 19. Kyle O'Gara (12), 20. John Heydenreich (9), 21. Bryan Gossel (22), 22. Jim Anderson (16), 23. Dave Berkheimer (24), 24. Brent Yarnal (23). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Kody Swanson, Laps 41-100 Tanner Swanson.
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Kody Swanson-160, 2-Justin Grant-150, 3-Kyle Robbins-142, 4-Aaron Pierce-131, 5-Bobby Santos-131, 6-Matt Goodnight-124, 7-Mike Haggenbottom-118, 8-Bryan Gossel-114, 9-Shane Cottle-111, 10-Travis Welpott-109.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-80, 2-Tanner Thorson-76, 3-Shane Cottle-61, 4-Logan Seavey-57, 5-Cannon McIntosh-57, 6-Justin Grant-52, 7-Kyle Cummins-48, 8-Daison Pursley-48, 9-Robert Ballou-45, 10-Andrew Layser-44.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN RACE: August 23, 2020 - Indiana State Fairgrounds - Indianapolis, Indiana - 1-Mile Dirt Oval - 65th Hoosier Hundred
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kody Swanson
Mac & Carol Steele $1,000 Fast Qualifying Bonus: Kody Swanson
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Patrick Lawson (21st to 7th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Matt Goodnight
Jerry Medlin 16th Place Finisher in Memory of Jerry Nemire: Toni Breidinger
Sprint Cars Make Night Before the 500 Debut on Saturday
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Kody Swanson during his first career USAC National Sprint Car win in 2011 at Lucas Oil Raceway. (David Sink Photo)
SPRINT CARS MAKE NIGHT BEFORE THE 500 DEBUT ON SATURDAY
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Brownsburg, Indiana (August 18, 2020).........Ken Schrader, Tanner Swanson and Bobby Santos have each shared their taste of Night Before the 500 glory once in their careers behind the wheel of a midget.
This Saturday night, August 22, at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind., these three, amongst many others, will have their opportunity to become the first to place their name on the winners' list in a sprint car at the NB4500, a USAC non-points special event.
Ken Schrader (Fenton, Mo.), the 1982 USAC Silver Crown and 1983 USAC National Sprint Car champion, won the event in a midget back in 1983. The four-time NASCAR Cup series winner, and 23-time pole starter, also corralled victories in a Silver Crown car at LOR in both 1986 and 1989.
Tanner Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) notched his NB4500 victory in 2010. He's been a victor in two of the three series of USAC National racing in his career at LOR, winning a record-tying five Silver Crown races along with one in the midget. He finished 2nd and 3rd in his two most recent USAC Sprint outings at LOR in 2011.
Bobby Santos (Franklin, Mass.) won his very first career USAC National Sprint Car race at LOR back in 2006. The 2006 NB4500 winner is one of just eight drivers to win a USAC National Midget, National Sprint and Silver Crown feature event at LOR in his career, taking a total of three USAC Sprint wins there in 2006-07-11. This past June at LOR, Santos was the fastest qualifier in a Must See Racing Sprint Car event at LOR, then finished 2nd in the feature.
The man who won the feature that night in June at LOR was Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.), who also won in 2011 for his first and still only career USAC National Sprint Car feature win. Like his younger brother Tanner, Kody also possesses five Silver Crown wins at LOR, but none yet in a midget. In seven prior NB4500 starts, all in a midget, the five-time Silver Crown titlist has collected five top-tens, including a 3rd in 2010, 4th in 2008, 5th in 2012, 6th in 2009 and 7th in 2014.
The last time Sprint Cars raced on the .686-mile paved oval on Independence Day weekend in July, Kyle Hamilton (Danville, Ind.) was the winner in an Auto Value Super Sprint Series event. Hamilton, the 2017 Little 500 winner at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway, is also a Silver Crown winner at LOR, taking the win in May of 2019 at the Dave Steele Carb Night Classic. A midget victory at LOR has eluded him thus far, but he has had two solid NB4500 midget results in his career, a 6th in 2013 and an 8th in 2011.
It's been 24 years since Russ Gamester (Peru, Ind.) last made a Night Before the 500 start in 1996. The 1989 USAC National Midget champion made the first of his seven NB4500 starts in 1984 and scored a best of 8th in 1986, both coming in a Midget. The six-time Silver Crown series winner has one of those six victories right at Lucas Oil Raceway back on a Sunday afternoon in 2000.
Billy Wease (Noblesville, Ind.) finished in the 6th position in each of his two LOR Sprint Car starts this year in June with Must See and in July with Auto Value. The 2006 Turkey Night Grand Prix midget winner has made seven career NB4500 midget starts, recording a best of 3rd in 2007 to go along with a pair of 6th place finishes in 2006 and 2010 and a 9th in 2008.
Kyle O'Gara (Beech Grove, Ind.) has been knocking on the door for a victory at LOR throughout his career. His two recent sprint car efforts this year at LOR resulted in a 3rd in June and a 2nd in July. The 2014 USAC Pavement Midget driving champion has been a stalwart at the front of the pack in two career NB4500 starts with a 2nd in 2014 and a 4th in 2013.
Dakoda Armstrong (New Castle, Ind.), a veteran of 133 career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, was 8th in his June sprint car appearance at LOR. His NB4500 experience in a midget dates to the year 2009 where the 2004 USAC Kenyon Midget champion finished a personal best of 7th in the event in addition to 12th place results in both 2010 and 2011.
Aaron Pierce (Muncie, Ind.) is prepared to make his first NB4500 appearance this Saturday as one of eight drivers to pull double-duty in both sprints and midgets. His last NB4500 appearance came back in 2002 where he finished 9th in the midget feature. Pierce owns 17 career Silver Crown starts at LOR with seven top-five finishes.
Derek Bischak (Angola, Ind.), made his NB4500 debut an impressive one, finishing 3rd in his lone midget start in the event in 2014. Bischak, a past ESPN The Magazine academic all-district honoree in track and field at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, finished 9th in a sprint car run at LOR this past July.
Nick Hamilton (Danville, Ind.), brother of Kyle Hamilton, earned a top-five finish in Auto Value Sprint Car action in July at LOR. Nick finished 4th in his lone previous NB4500 start, in a midget, in 2014. Chris Neuenschwander (New Haven, Ind.), meanwhile, was the 5th place finisher in June's sprint at LOR. Tyler Roahrig (Mishawaka, Ind.) was a 4th place finisher in June at LOR and won back in July in sprint car action at Anderson.
Experienced LOR combatants who are making their NB4500 debuts Saturday in the sprint car are Tony Main (Farmland, Ind.), 8th in July at LOR; Justin Harper (Denver, Ind.), 9th in June at LOR; Ronnie Wuerdeman (Cincinnati, Ohio), 10th in June at LOR; Chris Jagger (Warsaw, Ind.), 10th in July at LOR; Brian Vaughn (Shirley, Ind.), 18th in June and 13th in July at LOR; Gary Dunkle (Lincoln, Neb.), 23rd in June and 17th in July at LOR; and Christian Koehler (South Bend, Ind.), 26th in June at LOR.
They'll be joined by fellow NB4500 first-timers Cord Ehrhart (Antwerp, Ohio), Joey Vallone (Crestwood, Ill.) and Nick Landon (Dorr, Mich), part of the famed Landon racing family out of the Wolverine State.
A combined 50 cars have already pre-entered for the 70th running of the Night Before the 500, featuring a USAC non-points special event for both sprint cars and midgets in the famed race to be run on Saturday, August 22, at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind.
The tradition is being renewed at the .686-mile paved oval west of Indianapolis after the event has been on hiatus since its last edition run in 2014. Midgets have been a staple of the event, dating back to its origins in 1946 at the former 16th Street Speedway, across the street from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The festivities begin on Saturday, August 22, with pit gates/credentials opening at 7am ET. Spectator gates open at 10am, Midget practice from 10am-10:55am, Sprint Car practice 1 from 11am-11:55am, Midget practice 2 from noon-12:55pm, Sprint Car Practice 2: 1pm-1:55pm, Midget practice 3 from 2pm to 2:55pm, Sprint Car practice 3 from 3pm-3:55pm before a break at 4pm.
Action resumes with Midget qualifying from 4:30pm-5:55pm, Sprint Car qualifying from 6pm-7:25pm, then opening ceremonies from 7pm-7:30pm, followed by racing action that culminates with the $5,000-to-win Midget feature and the $10,000-to-win Sprint Car feature.
Tickets are $25 for ages 12 and up, $5 for ages 5-11 and free for ages 4 and under. Tickets can be ordered at https://nhra.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=IINB&linkID=nhra&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=.
The big racing weekend kicks off Friday, August 21, with the Dave Steele Carb Night Classic featuring USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series, USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000. Pits open at noon ET, spectator gates open at 3pm, Silver Crown practice from 3pm-3:40pm, USF2000 practice from 3:55pm-4:15pm, Indy Pro 2000 practice from 4:30pm-5:45pm, a break at 4:50pm, Silver Crown qualifying at 5:45pm, USF2000 race at 6:45pm, Indy Pro 2000 race at 7:50pm and the Silver Crown race at 9pm.
Friday's Dave Steele Carb Night Classic tickets prices are $25 for adults, $10 for children 11 & under. HARF members receive $5 off general admission when card is shown. Pit passes are $30 for members and $35 for non-members.
Watch the Dave Steele Carb Night Classic and the Night Before the 500 LIVE on FloRacing at https://www.floracing.com/collections/tag/usac?utm_campaign=2020usaccollection&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=email&utm_content=email&utm_term=usac&rtid=&coverage_id=.
SPRINT CAR ENTRY LIST - NIGHT BEFORE THE 500:
0z Cord Ehrhart/Antwerp, OH (C.O. Racing)
4 Kody Swanson/Kingsburg, CA (Nolen Racing)
5 Kyle Hamilton/Danville, IN (Klatt Enterprises)
7A Dakoda Armstrong/New Castle, IN (Armstrong Racing)
7T Joey Vallone/Crestwood, IL (Joey Vallone)
10 Christian Koehler/South Bend, IN (Christian Koehler Racing)
12 Billy Wease/Noblesville, IN (Wease Racing)
12N Chris Neuenschwander/New Haven, IN (Jerry Powell)
22 Bobby Santos/Franklin, MA (DJ Racing)
26 Aaron Pierce/Muncie, IN (Sam Pierce)
27 Nick Landon/Dorr, MI (Karl Schwarz)
27 Chris Jagger/Warsaw, IN (Chris Jagger)
31 Derek Bischak/Angola, IN (Performance Assurance)
32 Ronnie Wuerdeman/Cincinnati, OH (Terry Broadus)
32 Nick Hamilton/Danville, IN (Mike Hamilton)
34 Gary Dunkle/Lincoln, NE (Gary Dunkle)
51 Russ Gamester/Peru, IN (Gamester Racing)
53 Justin Harper/Denver, IN (Cheri Harper)
56 Tyler Roahrig/Mishawaka, IN (Tyler Roahrig)
67 Kyle O'Gara/Beech Grove, IN (SFH Racing Development)
71 Brian Vaughn/Shirley, IN (Freddie & Cathy Carmany)
74 Tony Main/Farmland, IN (Glenn & Virginia Main)
77 Tanner Swanson/Kingsburg, CA (Doran Enterprises)
78 Ken Schrader/Fenton, MO (Armstrong Racing)
Swanson Wins Record 5th Straight Joe James-Pat O’Connor Memorial
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) won an unprecedented 5th straight Joe James-Pat O'Connor Memorial on Saturday night at Salem (Ind.) Speedway.
(Rich Forman Photo)
SWANSON WINS RECORD 5TH STRAIGHT JOE JAMES-PAT O'CONNOR MEMORIAL
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Salem, Indiana (August 15, 2020).........Throughout the annals of USAC Silver Crown's 50-year history, no driver's statistical output stacks up to Kody Swanson's. That has been proven time and time again as the Kingsburg, Calif. native has illustrated his very own record book during his illustrious career.
On an evening when he became the first driver in series history to reach 30 poles and 30 wins in a career, Swanson once again reached another record that once seemed unbreakable - that being Pancho Carter's four consecutive Joe James-Pat O'Connor Memorial victories between 1974-77.
Swanson did just that on Saturday night at Salem Speedway, pressing leader Bobby Santos throughout the first two-thirds of the 75-lap race before taking the lead in traffic with a spectacular three-wide pass on the outside of turn one on the 50th lap, then holding serve on a couple of late-race restarts to capture the win after previous victories in the event in 2016-17-18-19.
"Being second, you have the benefit because you can go where they aren't," Swanson explained. "Tonight, a couple times it got a little hairy and didn't work. I don't know if there's anything more "Pancho" for me than taking the lead three-wide in turn one on the outside at Salem. I don't know if I deserve to be in the company (of Pancho), but I sure do appreciate the honor."
The victory for Swanson aboard the Nolen Racing/KECO Coatings - Goodridge - K & N Filters/Beast/Tranter Chevy was a welcome sight for the team after an uncharacteristic performance just six days prior in the Silver Crown season opener at Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway. There, the final result was an 11th place finish after running outside of the top-ten all throughout the 74-lap race.
That result put into motion a meeting of the minds for driver and team as a whole to get back on the same page and right the ship after an auspicious start in rocky waters.
"We had a meeting after Selinsgrove," Swanson recalled. "It was a tough conversation to have with all that led up to it with our results that night. The way we ended (the meeting) was that it already happened, so I want that to be our rock bottom. Everybody's got a rock bottom and I am hoping that would be ours and everyone could pull together, and we could come out here this week and prove that we are better than we were in Pennsylvania."
A similar scenario greeted Swanson on Saturday as it did just one year prior with the team utilizing two different racecars in practice. This time, it was the brakes that were creating havoc with the primary car in practice, forcing the team to roll the second car out of the trailer.
In the second practice session, Swanson took the "backup" to the top of the charts, then proceeded to clock in with the fastest qualifying time in Fatheadz Qualifying, thus earning him the pole position. However, at the start of the main event, it was Santos who got the jump on Swanson from his outside front row starting position while Swanson slotted into second.
"I did not want him to get the lead on the start and he didn't want me to either," Swanson remembered. "We raced hard that first lap and I know I was sideways and trying to keep it down off him."
Third-running David Byrne was right in the thick of the hunt with Santos and Swanson before he slowed dramatically with mechanical trouble just eight laps into the event, the second time in two starts this year that the 2019 third-place Silver Crown points finisher's race has met an early end.
Swanson had hounded Santos throughout, running nose-to-tail with the former NASCAR Modified Champion during the mid-stages, turning up the wick with attempted bids for the lead on the 44th and 47th laps, thwarted by the presence of gridlock style traffic on each occasion, the latter involving a stifling five-car shuffle in which Santos and Swanson had to dance their way through.
"I tried hard to get him early; I didn't want to wait for lapped traffic; I didn't want to wait until the end, but I had no choice," Swanson explained. "I was getting a run on him on the outside of four, and I thought 'that's not very smart.' It gets awful narrow there. Bobby is a very smart racer and he's not going to give you any of the racetrack you need to pass him. What he was giving me there, I was trying to make work, but it couldn't unless I just got lucky one time. Maybe I got lucky a couple times that I didn't wreck trying it."
On an evening when he became the first driver in series history to reach 30 poles and 30 wins in a career, Kody Swanson once again reached another record that once seemed unbreakable - that being Pancho Carter's four consecutive Joe James-Pat O'Connor Memorial victories between 1974-77.
(Rich Forman Photo)
With the heady Santos, a winner of 10 Silver Crown races in his own right, holding down the fort up front, all Swanson needed was one moment to make his break. Approaching the 10th place car of Joe Liguori, Santos became boxed in behind entering the middle of turn one. Swanson swung high to the outside of both cars to paste his ride in the number one position.
With a clear track ahead, Swanson built his lead to over a second ahead of Santos when one-time Silver Crown winner and 9th place running Kyle Hamilton slowed on the front straightaway with smoke coming from the car, putting him out of the race.
That, plus a Liguori turn two spin with two laps remaining, set up a green-white-checkered finish with yellow flag laps counting for 73 laps of the 75-lap distance.
Santos had multiple shots at his one shot to defeat Swanson on the last couple of restarts, but couldn't quite muster enough to put his car past Swanson, who drove to s 1.013 sec. margin of victory over Santos, with Aaron Pierce, Justin Grant and a career-best series finish for 2019 Silver Crown Rooke of the Year, Derek Bischak, who rounded out the top-five.
Meanwhile, Austin Nemire earned KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors following his charge from 15th to 6th in his first series start of the season.
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: August 15, 2020 - Salem Speedway Fueled by the Hoosier Lottery - Salem, Indiana - .555-Mile Paved Oval - Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 20, Nolen-16.107; 2. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ-16.357; 3. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-16.426; 4. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-16.460; 5. Derek Bischak, 131, Bischak-16.553; 6. Chris Windom, 17, Goodnight-16.556; 7. Kyle Hamilton, 6, Klatt-16.671; 8. Joe Liguori, 32, Williams/Wright-16.761; 9. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-16.858; 10. Brian Gerster, 94, Myers-16.890; 11. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-16.951; 12. Patrick Lawson, 2, Lawson-17.010; 13. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.019; 14. Kyle O'Gara, 1, SFHR-17.049; 15. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-17.067; 16. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott-17.328; 17. John Heydenreich, 37, Felker-17.404; 18. Mike Haggenbottom, 24, Haggenbottom-17.528; 19. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-NT; 20. Bryan Gossel, 06, Gossel-NT.
FEATURE: (75 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kody Swanson (1), 2. Bobby Santos (2), 3. Aaron Pierce (9), 4. Justin Grant (3), 5. Derek Bischak (5), 6. Austin Nemire (15), 7. Kyle O'Gara (14), 8. Kyle Robbins (11), 9. Mike Haggenbottom (18), 10. Joe Liguori (8), 11. Matt Goodnight (13), 12. Travis Welpott (16), 13. Kyle Hamilton (7), 14. Brian Gerster (10), 15. Patrick Lawson (12), 16. Bryan Gossel (19), 17. Chris Windom (6), 18. John Heydenreich (17), 19. David Byrne (4), 20. Dave Berkheimer (20). 29:41.723
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-49 Bobby Santos, Laps 50-75 Kody Swanson.
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Kody Swanson-114, 2-Kyle Robbins-113, 3-Justin Grant-92, 4-Bryan Gossel-92, 5-Matt Goodnight-87, 6-Mike Haggenbottom-85, 7-Travis Welpott-74, 8-C.J. Leary-73, 9-Shane Cottle-70, 10-Bobby Santos-70.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-79, 2-Tanner Thorson-76, 3-Shane Cottle-59, 4-Logan Seavey-57, 5-Cannon McIntosh-57, 6-Justin Grant-52, 7-Kyle Cummins-48, 8-Daison Pursley-48, 9-Robert Ballou-45, 10-Andrew Layser-44.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE: August 21, 2020 - Lucas Oil Raceway - Brownsburg, Indiana - .686-Mile Paved Oval - Dave Steele Carb Night Classic
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kody Swanson
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Austin Nemire (15th to 6th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Kyle Hamilton
Cottle Charges from 23rd to Win Selinsgrove Silver Crown Debut
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Shane Cottle won his first USAC Silver Crown race in nearly 13 years in Sunday night's Bill Holland Classic at Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway. (Dallas Breeze Photo)
COTTLE CHARGES FROM 23RD TO WIN SELINSGROVE SILVER CROWN DEBUT
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania (August 9, 2020).........A stumbling engine in qualifying, a last row starting spot and an accident with 43 laps remaining that resulted with him backwards against the guardrail with a flat tire - those were just a few of the mountains Shane Cottle overcame to reach victory lane in Sunday night's inaugural Bill Holland Classic at Pennsylvania's Selinsgrove Speedway.
It took Cottle every bit of the 74-lap distance to reach the pinnacle of the night as he worked his way around race-long leader C.J. Leary on the white flag lap to conquer his second career USAC Silver Crown victory, and his first in nearly 13 years, aboard the Curtis Williams/Jack's Auto Body - Duncan Oil - Kercher Engines/Maxim/Kercher Chevy.
By doing so, Cottle became the newest record holder of the longest duration between USAC Silver Crown victories. It had been 12 years, 11 months and 8 days since the Kansas, Ill. driver raced to victory at the Du Quoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds in 2007. The record prior to Sunday night was the nearly 10-year span between Ron Shuman's wins in 1982 and 1992.
Marking the first time the USAC Silver Crown season opener was held in the month of August since 1979, the majority of the first 30 circuits saw pole sitter Leary leading the way with outside front row starter Justin Grant giving constant chase to Leary, who had earlier set fast time during Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying for the first time in four years at neighboring Pennsylvania track Williams Grove Speedway in 2016.
On the 31st lap, however, major trouble ensued for 11th running Cottle who had a left rear tire go down on the front straightaway. In the ensuing melee, Cottle spun backwards into the inside front straightaway guardrail while the lapped car of Dave Berkheimer flipped upside down before a small fire erupted from the car. The fire was extinguished, and Berkheimer escaped without injury.
At the same time, Cottle exited the car, standing on the front straightaway mulling over the situation which provided him nary a shred of confidence to continue in the race.
"I was really upset," Cottle recalled. "I actually wasn't even going to change the tire. I told the crew, 'you know what, heck with it. We're going to the back and it's kind of hard to pass.' They said 'nope, we're changing it, get back in there.'
Forced to restart from the tail after working halfway up through the field, with the new left rear affixed to his ride, Cottle went back to work on his mission.
"Luckily, we barely got back in there," Cottle said. "It took me a little while to not get so mad and to where I was driving a little smoother. Once I did that, I started picking them off."
While Leary and Grant had controlled the pace throughout, by the 52nd lap, Chris Windom, Brady Bacon and Kevin Thomas Jr. had reeled in the top-two to make it a five-man breakaway. Fourth-running Bacon, who had earlier won the night's preceding USAC Rapid Tire East Coast Sprint Car feature, slipped under Windom for the third spot in turn three.
As Windom slipped up off the bottom, Thomas got his right front wheel beneath Windom's left rear and the two made contact, knocking out the front end on Thomas' car and sending to him a stop in turn four, thus concluding his evening.
Grant took a major run at Leary for the lead with an attempted slider on the lap 52 restart, which didn't quite stick, as the pair continued their dominance at the front of the pack. Leary was able to distance himself to great comfort to a nearly two second lead as the laps wound down.
With seven laps remaining, a succession of yellows involving flat right rear tires wreaked havoc on several top-ten contenders, including Kyle Robbins, Windom, Jake Swanson, Kody Swanson and, ultimately, second running Justin Grant who fell by the wayside on a restart with four laps remaining. However, Cottle was reassured by his eye in the sky that he was good to go.
"I kept asking the crew, are there any cords showing yet," Cottle revealed. "I could see all the guys in front of me and their cords were showing. They said, 'nope, no cords yet. Just keep her going and just try to maintain the tire underneath you.'"
There, with four to go on a restart, the running order was Leary, Bacon and a suddenly surging Cottle, who didn't remain in third for long as he blitzed under Bacon for second on the bottom of turn four with three laps remaining, then rapidly advanced on Leary.
Coming to the white flag, Cottle used a substantial run off the second turn to race around the outside of Leary entering turn three for the lead. Simultaneously, the returning car of Grant stopped on the front straightaway to bring out the yellow, sending Leary back to the front with Cottle second for a green-white-checkered finish. At that point, Cottle had an inkling that, while he was going to give everything he had to get past Leary, he was going to receive the same treatment from Leary to keep him behind.
Cottle, with a right rear tire with which he estimated as maybe having 'just a couple more laps left,' took the show into his own hands, squaring up Leary through turns three and four coming to the white flag, then swinging to the outside to rip around him to lead at the stripe by a car length before making a beeline to the bottom of turn one to take away the bottom from Leary.
"When he got out of the rubber and got in the slick, I just stayed in the rubber and rolled around him," Cottle remembered. "His tire didn't have much left in it. Luckily, we had just enough to carry us on around him."
From there, it was smooth sailing for Cottle, who raced to a 0.774 sec. victory over Leary while career-best series finishes were earned by Kyle Robbins (3rd), and first-time Silver Crown entrants Bryan Gossel (4th), Carmen Perigo (5th) and Kyle Cummins (6th).
Bacon, running 3rd coming off the final corner on the final lap, experienced a flat right rear tire just short of the line, dropping him back to 7th while a similar fate befell 4th running Logan Seavey in his first series start, dropping him to 10th in the final tally.
Cottle's victory from the 23rd spot ranks as the 8th furthest back any driver has started to win a Silver Crown race, the most positions overcome to win since Rich Tobias Jr.'s Du Quoin triumph from 25th in 2003. Kenny Irwin Jr. owns the top-two ultimate hard-charging performances in Silver Crown history, coming from the 28th position to win at both the Illinois State Fairgrounds in 1995 and Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1997.
Cottle's victory from the 23rd spot ranks as the 8th furthest back any driver has started to win a Silver Crown race, the most positions overcome to win since Rich Tobias Jr.'s Du Quoin triumph from 25th in 2003. (DB3, Inc. Photo)
The win also marked the first for the Curtis Williams-owned team in USAC Silver Crown competition, a regular team on the entire trail since 2014, and for whom Cottle has made his 29 most recent series starts beginning with the 2015 season.
"Curtis, he's a good ol boy and (crew chief) Malcolm (Lovelace), they've been trying for years," Cottle said. "I'm just happier than a lark that I was able to do it for them."
Arizona's Casey Buckman escaped injury after enduring a wild flip on the opening lap of Sunday night's feature that also involved David Byrne. Buckman finished 24th and Byrne 23rd.
Sunday's race was the debut for the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series at Selinsgrove Speedway, which had previously hosted just a single USAC-sanctioned race in its history - a 1971 National Sprint Car event won by Mitch Smith.
USAC Silver Crown has now visited the state of Pennsylvania on 15 occasions with 15 different winners taking the checkered flag since 1971. Three other past PA winners were in Sunday night's starting field, Windom, Swanson and Bacon, all of whom had previously won with the series at Williams Grove.
The 74-lap Bill Holland Classic feature signified the first ever racing event held at Selinsgrove Speedway on July 20, 1946, won by 1949 Indianapolis 500 winner and National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee, Bill Holland.
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: August 9, 2020 - Selinsgrove Speedway - Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania - 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval - Bill Holland Classic
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-21.676 (New Track Record); 2. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-21.867; 3. Brady Bacon, 6, Klatt-21.897; 4. Jake Swanson, 10, DMW-21.956; 5. Carmen Perigo, 52, Stehman-21.958; 6. Logan Seavey, 22, Prestige Worldwide-21.964; 7. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-22.139; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9, Dyson-22.231; 9. Chris Windom, 17, Goodnight-22.266; 10. Kody Swanson, 20, Nolen-22.274; 11. Shane Cockrum, 53, Five Three-22.325; 12. Chad Kemenah, 15, Hampshire/Kemenah-22.444; 13. Kyle Cummins, 69, Pink 69-22.467; 14. Ronnie Wuerdeman, 33, Wuerdeman-22.539; 15. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-22.567; 16. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-22.571; 17. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-22.891; 18. Mike Haggenbottom, 24, Haggenbottom-23.014; 19. Bryan Gossel, 06, Gossel-23.041; 20. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott-23.309; 21. Casey Buckman, 74, Buckman-23.793; 22. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-23.965; 23. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-24.307; 24. Jake Simmons, 3, Simmons-NT.
FEATURE: (74 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Shane Cottle (23), 2. C.J. Leary (1), 3. Kyle Robbins (17), 4. Bryan Gossel (19), 5. Carmen Perigo (5), 6. Kyle Cummins (13), 7. Brady Bacon (3), 8. Shane Cockrum (11), 9. Matt Goodnight (16), 10. Logan Seavey (6), 11. Kody Swanson (10), 12. Mike Haggenbottom (18), 13. Ronnie Wuerdeman (14), 14. Travis Welpott (20), 15. Chris Windom (9), 16. Justin Grant (2), 17. Jake Swanson (4), 18. Chad Kemenah (12), 19. Kevin Thomas Jr. (8), 20. Matt Westfall (7), 21. Dave Berkheimer (22), 22. Jake Simmons (24), 23. David Byrne (15), 24. Casey Buckman (21). NT
**Casey Buckman flipped on lap 1 of the feature. Dave Berkheimer flipped on lap 31 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-72 C.J. Leary, Laps 73-74 Shane Cottle.
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-73, 2-Shane Cottle-70, 3-Kyle Robbins-64, 4-Bryan Gossel-61, 5-Carmen Perigo-58, 6-Kyle Cummins-55, 7-Brady Bacon-52, 8-Shane Cockrum-49, 9-Matt Goodnight-46, 10-Logan Seavey-43.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-79, 2-Tanner Thorson-76, 3-Shane Cottle-59, 4-Logan Seavey-57, 5-Cannon McIntosh-57, 6-Justin Grant-52, 7-Kyle Cummins-48, 8-Daison Pursley-48, 9-Robert Ballou-45, 10-Andrew Layser-44.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN RACE: August 15, 2020 - Salem Speedway - Salem, Indiana - .555-Mile Paved Oval - Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: C.J. Leary
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Shane Cottle (23rd to 1st)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ronnie Wuerdeman
