Archive for USAC Silver Crown
SWANSON’S SALEM REPEAT MOVES HIM TO 2ND ALL-TIME ON SILVER CROWN WIN LIST
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
SWANSON'S SALEM REPEAT MOVES HIM TO 2ND ALL-TIME ON SILVER CROWN WIN LIST
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Salem, Indiana.....August 12, 2017 - After a two-race "winless" streak, Kody Swanson admits it's hard to say that he and the DePalma Motorsports team were struggling.
Yet, for a team so accustomed to winning over the past four seasons, the results were bound to change soon as he, chief wrench Bob Hampshire and the crew went back to the books and did their homework over the last two weeks to return to victory lane for the second consecutive year in the "Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial" Saturday night at Salem Speedway.
Swanson's 18th career victory in the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series presented by TRAXXAS has him walking in high cotton as he moved into sole possession of second-place on the all-time series win list while his second-straight "James/O'Connor" triumph made him the fourth to accomplish the feat, joining Parnelli Jones (1960-61), Pancho Carter (1974-75-76-77) and Brian Gerster (2014-15).
To put his name on a list with those individuals and reach that kind of comfort level on Salem's 33-degree banks was something Swanson never imagined to be in the cards when he made his first visit years ago.
"Those guys live for tracks like this to show how they great they are and were," Swanson said. "That hadn't always been my style. Last year, I felt I had to do my best impression of those guys to stay in the title hunt. The first time I came here, I never thought I'd get comfortable. As time's gone on, I've embraced the challenge and gotten more accustomed to what it takes to run the banks."
Swanson laid down the gauntlet in ProSource Qualifying, breaking his one-year-old track record by five-hundredths of a second and more than three-tenths faster than second-fastest. However, as was the case in last year's event, Aaron Pierce would grab the advantage early on from Swanson.
With the spectacular sight of sparks trailing from the tails of the front-running cars lighting up the nighttime sky, the pace of the top-three was astounding with Pierce, Swanson and Chris Windom jockeying for position, separating themselves from fourth and fifth-running David Byrne and Justin Grant through the first-quarter of the 75-lap sprint.
On lap 19, Grant attempted an inside pass on Byrne for fourth between turns three and four, but lost the back end and looped it down the backing without contact. He would restart and recover to finish a solid seventh.
On the lap 24 restart, once again, Pierce was able to get away from Swanson, immediately opening up a ten-car-length lead. But it didn't long for the two-time champ to reel him back in just seven circuits later on the 31st lap.
"I got a run up to the top of the hill right by the fence in turn three," Swanson recalls. "I turned it down and had just enough of a run off four to outrace him into turn one. Once we got to the lead, we could control the pace a little bit, but from there, it was no easy task."
On lap 41, Windom was all over the rear bumper of Pierce for second and the two even made slight nose-to-tail contact in turn two. After relentlessly trying to work the lower line on Pierce for several laps, Windom out-drag-raced Pierce into turn one to take second and set the forward the motion of tracking down Swanson.
"Once Chris got clear, I knew he'd be coming," Swanson said. "Chris was strong early, he was pressing me hard and showing me a nose all the time that reminded me that if I ever screwed up, he was out of there. I knew if I slowed up at all, Chris was going by us both."
Windom closed the gap and hounded Santos for the ensuing ten laps before he began to fade ever so slightly and Swanson continued to run consistent laps in the low 17-second range that rarely wavered a tenth or two in either direction throughout the duration, something to do that Swanson made appear relatively easy, but is certainly not.
"This place is incredibly difficult," Swanson said. "It's so high-banked and physically demanding just on the load and the force that you go through. With an open wheel car, you carry so much speed and you don't have a lot of grip. That makes it hard to drive. On top of that, Salem has some character on both ends. I used to fear coming here because it was a track that made me feel uncomfortable. I always felt like I was behind. I was just trying to react. I wasn't able to race because I was just trying to survive each lap. Running this car last year and running with these guys made It fun. Today, when I came through the gates, instead of thinking 'oh my gosh, I'm at Salem,' I was excited for the challenge. No one's going to have a perfect handling racecar here, so it's time to get up in the seat and do your job."
A handful of lapped cars were all that Swanson needed to stream by in the final laps, and did so without much hesitation to win his third series race of the year by 1.606 seconds over Windom, Bobby Santos, Pierce and Davey Hamilton, Jr.
A 75-lapper at Salem can be physically and mentally wearing on any driver. There's no time to breathe due to the pure speed and the closeness of the racing. Despite the obstacles, as the race went on, the more comfortable Swanson became.
"My wife spots for me. I trust her with everything," Swanson said. When you hear the 'clear by 3' go up to 'clear by 5,' you have a little reassurance. It was tough in lapped traffic. We seemed to catch them at the wrong time and it allowed them to close. The longer the race went, the better I felt. In the last 20, we were able to click off pretty smooth and consistent laps. With bumps, it's fun as a driver because you can always move around and you're constantly trying to figure out, 'can I use it better or can I dodge it better?' As your car wears out, if you can figure it out, it will pay dividends."
Contingency awards Saturday night at Salem Speedway included Kody Swanson (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Joss Moffatt (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Joss Moffatt (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES presented by TRAXXAS RACE RESULTS: August 12, 2017 - Salam, Indiana - Salem Speedway Fueled by the Hoosier Lottery - "Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-15.923 (New Track Record); 2. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-16.249; 3. Chris Windom, 92, Kazmark-16.345; 4. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-16.354; 5. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ Racing-16.481; 6. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn/Carli-16.530; 7. Jerry Coons Jr., 20, Nolen-16.568; 8. Davey Hamilton Jr., 98, RPM/Gormly-16.637; 9. Jacob Wilson, 07, WBR-16.664; 10. Davey Hamilton, 99, RPM/Gormly-16.674; 11. Joe Axsom, 120, Nolen-16.950; 12. Shane Butler, 15, Thompson-17.137; 13. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.661; 14. Joss Moffatt, 32, Williams & Wright-18.147.
FEATURE: (75 laps) 1. Kody Swanson, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Bobby Santos, 4. Aaron Pierce, 5. Davey Hamilton Jr., 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 7. Justin Grant, 8. Davey Hamilton, 9. Shane Butler, 10. Joss Moffatt, 11. Matt Goodnight, 12. Joe Axsom, 13. David Byrne, 14. Jacob Wilson. 25:59 (New Track Record)
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Pierce, Laps 31-75 Swanson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: Joss Moffatt (14th to 10th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: David Byrne
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Swanson-484, 2-Windom-421, 3-Coons-394, 4-Santos-350, 5-Byrne-323, 6-Pierce-297, 7-Grant-287, 8-Damion Gardner-219, 9-Joe Liguori-212, 10-Moffatt-209.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE: August 19 - Springfield, Illinois - Illinois State Fairgrounds - "Bettenhausen 100"
SANTOS TAMES TOLEDO HIGHBANKS IN “ROLLIE BEALE CLASSIC”
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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SANTOS TAMES TOLEDO HIGHBANKS IN "ROLLIE BEALE CLASSIC"
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Toledo, Ohio....July 28, 2017 - Bobby Santos' golden reputation as a racer has been well-established and well-earned.
From open wheel cars, to full-bodied stock cars to modifieds, the Franklin, Massachusetts native has driven them all and tamed them all at one point or another in his masterful career.
In Friday night's Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness "Rollie Beale Classic," the 31-year-old driver had a single pin left standing in his lane on the way to cementing his diverse capabilities behind the wheel, if you ever doubted him for any reason.
After notching previous USAC National victories at Toledo Speedway in a Sprint Car (2006) and a Midget (2009), Santos completed the triple threat by winning his first Silver Crown event at the half-mile paved oval, thus becoming the 20th driver ever to win features in all of USAC's three current national series at a single track.
Even more striking is that he had already accomplished the feat once before at Brownsburg, Indiana's Lucas Oil Raceway, casting him into an even more exclusive club of individuals who've done the deed at multiple venues such as Dave Darland, Jack Hewitt, Tracy Hines and Dave Steele.
To get there, though, Santos had to do something that isn't a regular occurrence at Toledo, let alone anywhere for that matter. He had to pass two-time USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series presented by TRAXXAS champion Kody Swanson. No small chore considering the two previous instances Swanson started from the pole in a Silver Crown car at Toledo, in 2011 and 2015, he led every single lap, all 250 of them, on his way to a pair of commanding wins.
Santos would start this year's edition alongside Swanson from the outside of the front row. Swanson set the tone early, emerging with the lead by a half-car length at the line following a first lap that went entirely wheel-to-wheel for a full revolution.
Lapped traffic would prove to play a pivotal role throughout the 100-lap stretch and, by lap nine, the leaders had already encroached the tail end of the field. Swanson's breakaway would be stifled early on when he encountered a nest of cars that slowed his roll, allowing Santos and Chris Windom to shred the interval and close to within a heartbeat of the two-time champ as the top-three runners separated themselves as the main contenders.
A third of the way through, the top-three bobbed and weaved inside and outside the lappers with Swanson assuming the role of maestro and orchestrating his own destiny by attacking the pack with authority as Santos and Windom trailed in hot pursuit.
Just prior to the halfway mark, on lap 45, Swanson got hung up while lapping David Byrne, leaving him with a split-second decision to make. Which lane to choose?
"We were pretty good in the first third of it," Swanson remembered. "About 15 laps in, I was starting to hang sideways a little off the corner and I felt like I was in trouble. I survived a few of the lapped cars just by choosing the right lane. Byrne was just fast enough to make it a tough choice. I turned to go down under him and it hung sideways off turn two. I knew I was a sitting duck after that. He had the momentum and was able to clear me for the lead."
Meanwhile, Santos saw the opportunity he had been anticipating and this was a chance he wasn't going to pass up as he charged to the outside of Byrne in the gray midway down the back straightaway while Swanson simultaneously weed-whacked the edge of the infield grass underneath Byrne.
"It was just circumstance," Santos assured. "We had a good car on the run and I felt we were making progress the longer it went. We just got to the point where we were going to work him over and pass him. The opportunity just kind of popped up when we needed it and that's what it's all about. You must put yourself in the right position when opportunities arise."
Santos then kicked it up another notch and left Swanson and Windom to battle amongst themselves for second as he constructed a two-second lead over the next 25-plus laps. Windom's engine began to leave a trail of smoke, but his speed was unhampered as he applied constant pressure to Swanson.
With 13 laps remaining, Santos maintained a healthy advantage, yet what lie ahead had him sweating a bit when RPM/Gormly teammates Joe Liguori and Davey Hamilton battled side-by-side for the fifth position with the leaders on their heels. Santos was forced to check up as he deciphered which avenue to make his escape, which played into the favor of Swanson and Windom who both caught up to Santos as the three ran nose-to-tail inside 10 laps to go.
That left Santos with one thought as he studied his next move, but he's experienced enough in this sport to know that racing can giveth, yet it can taketh away just as easily.
"Get out of the way," Santos said with a laugh. "Lapped traffic made it hard on us, but that's part of racing. That's the way it goes. The lapped traffic gave us an opportunity when we took the lead from Kody just as it did at the end of the race for Kody."
It took half a race for Santos to build up a two second lead and just three laps for it all to evaporate, but Santos remained unfazed and, in a two-lap succession, disposed of both Hamilton and Liguori for a little separation and relative comfort.
The rapid pace would be dialed down when the first and only caution of the night fell on lap 97 for series rookie Troy Thompson who slid sideways to a stop on the front straightaway, necessitating a green-white-checkered finish. The caution certainly benefitted Santos more than it did Swanson, and though Santos felt he had Swanson covered at that point regardless, he wasn't too unpleased about the timing of it.
"At that point, I had finally cleared the lapped cars and it, at least, gave us a chance to catch our breath and get ready for the last two laps," Santos recalls. "Usually, the guy in second has the advantage in lapped traffic, but after the yellow, we had a clear track from there on out. I knew if I hit my marks, /we had a good shot at it."
Santos was on his marks and set for victory when the green flag flew for the final two-lap sprint, gaining a few car lengths to his advantage right off the bat. Swanson tried with all his might to set himself up to make a move to no avail as Santos peeled away for his third Silver Crown of the season, and second in a span of nine days, over Swanson, Windom, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Joe Liguori. It was Santos' ninth career Silver Crown victory, tying him with Tracy Hines for 12th on the all-time list.
Series point leader Kody Swanson of Kingsburg, California took second in his DePalma Motorsports/Radio Hospital - Hampshire Racing Engines/Beast/Hampshire despite fighting an ill-handling car that the crew continued to tweak and adjust all throughout the night.
"We were fastest in practice and fastest in qualifying, but we were really only good for the first lap," Swanson explains. "I knew we were in trouble the longer it was going to go, which isn't our normal style, but that was just the way it was handling today. We don't do this often, but even though we won the pole, we made changes before the feature and were able to make it better."
"The longer it went, I tell you what, we just didn't quit," Swanson continued. "That's why I like these 100-lap races. Maybe something will come to you. We caught that caution with three to go. I was setting up and really thought we had a shot to return the favor. When you're the second guy into traffic, you have the benefit that the leader has to pick a lane and you can choose the other one and see if it works out. I was really hoping we'd have that chance at the end, but a caution kind of spoiled that. I sat up in the seat and gave it two hard laps to see if we could at least make him earn it."
Defending series champion Chris Windom of Canton, Illinois captured his best finish on the hardtop in 2017, finishing third in his Kazmark Racing/Project Healing Waters - Remin Kart-A-Bag/Beast/Ford.
Contingency awards Friday night at Toledo Speedway included Kody Swanson (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Joe Axsom (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Joss Moffatt (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES (presented by TRAXXAS) RACE RESULTS: July 28, 2017 - Toledo, Ohio - Toledo Speedway - Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness "Rollie Beale Classic"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-15.084; 2. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ Racing-15.187; 3. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-15.306; 4. Chris Windom, 92, Kazmark-15.335; 5. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-15.338; 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 20, Nolen-15.368; 7. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn/Carli-15.420; 8. Joe Liguori, 98, RPM/Gormly-15.520; 9. Davey Hamilton, 99, RPM/Gormly-15.638; 10. Damion Gardner, 6, Klatt-15.736; 11. Joe Axsom, 120, Nolen-15.773; 12. Annie Breidinger, 80, Breidinger-16.191; 13. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-16.595; 14. Troy Thompson, 15, Thompson-16.598; 15. Joss Moffatt, 32, Williams & Wright-17.038; 16. Cody Gallogly, 81, Williams-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Bobby Santos, 2. Kody Swanson, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 5. Joe Liguori, 6. Davey Hamilton, 7. Joe Axsom, 8. David Byrne, 9. Annie Breidinger, 10. Justin Grant, 11. Troy Thompson, 12. Aaron Pierce, 13. Joss Moffatt, 14. Damion Gardner, 15. Matt Goodnight. 28:48.16
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**Gallogly crashed into the outside barrier and flipped in turn three during practice.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-44 Swanson, Laps 45-100 Santos.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: Joe Axsom (11th to 7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Joss Moffatt
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES (presented by TRAXXAS) POINTS: 1-K.Swanson-411, 2-Windom-354, 3-Coons-339, 4-Santos-286, 5-Byrne-286, 6-Pierce-236, 7-Grant-235, 8-Gardner-219, 9-Liguori-212. 10-Tanner Swanson-167.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES (presented by TRAXXAS) RACE: August 12 - Salem, Indiana - Salem Speedway - "Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial"
SANTOS RECLAIMS THRONE AT LOR’S “RICH VOGLER/USAC HALL OF FAME CLASSIC”
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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SANTOS RECLAIMS THRONE AT LOR'S "RICH VOGLER/USAC HALL OF FAME CLASSIC"
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Brownsburg, Indiana.....July 20, 2017 - From 2006 through the early part of the 2010s, Lucas Oil Raceway was Bobby Santos' jam. It was a place that had become special to the Franklin, Massachusetts driver, for it was there that he scored his first career USAC Silver Crown and National Sprint Car victories. Along the way, he tallied enough of them at LOR to place him within the top-five on the track's all-time USAC win list.
Yet, after 2012, the win column at the .686-mile paved oval was void of Santos as the Swanson brothers (Tanner and Kody) began their era of domination, notching wins in seven of the eight Silver Crown races held at the place since Santos' last triumph in 2012.
Thursday night, the Santos era was reborn at LOR as he outdueled Tanner Swanson early in the going, then held the point for the remainder of the 100-lapper despite having to withstand constant heavy pressure from Swanson for the majority of the event to earn his eighth overall victory at LOR, tying him with the event's namesake Rich Vogler on the track's all-time win list after capturing the "Rich Vogler/USAC Hall of Fame Classic."
Ever since he was a child, Lucas Oil Raceway (formerly known as Indianapolis Raceway Park) was a special place for Santos, even long before he ever first set foot on the property.
"I grew up always hearing about it as a kid in Massachusetts," Santos recalls. "Then, I got the opportunity to come here and race against guys like Dave Steele, J.J. Yeley and Tracy Hines. From the first time I came here 13 years ago, I've always loved this place. It just took to my driving style right away. I won some races here, but since then I've been off. For a couple of those years, I fell out of love with it, but now I'm back in love with it."
The perception of USAC Silver Crown (presented by TRAXXAS) racing is that the 100-lap races are marathons and not sprints. Drivers will settle into a groove until about halfway before making their move. The opening laps of Thursday's race were anything but as pole sitter Tanner Swanson and third-starting Bobby Santos waged war in a wheel-to-wheel, side-by-side fistfight for the first three circuits, each taking their turn at the front: Santos (lap 1), Swanson (lap 2) and Santos once again on the third lap where he would finally secure the spot.
"They're long races and it's important to pace yourself, but at the same time, sometimes you have to make things happen early," Santos explains. "I got by Tanner, then pinned him down on the bottom and made him work harder than I was working those first five laps. As crazy as it sounds, I think that pinning him down on those first five laps made a difference in my car versus his at the end."
Tanner acknowledges the importance of track position, especially at a place like LOR where it may take multiple laps to set up and complete a pass.
"It's tough here because it's so narrow on entry," Tanner details. "You've got spotters, so you know if a guy's going to try do something to you. They can kind of protect their line if they need to, which we all do. When you're racing guys as good as Bobby Santos, my brother Kody and Aaron Pierce, they know where to put their car so it's hard to get around them. If you've got two cars going the same speed, that makes it tough on you."
By the 15th lap, Santos led a four-car breakaway with Tanner Swanson, Kody Swanson and Aaron Pierce in hot pursuit as the frontrunners finally settled in. At that point, and through much of the first half, Santos admits that when he distanced himself from Tanner for a bit, he thought he had it "nice and smooth." However, following a lap 42 restart, the sprint began.
Third-running Kody Swanson lost two spots on the front-straightaway as the green flag waved, dropping him to fifth as Pierce and Jerry Coons, Jr. scooted by for third and fourth, respectively. Meanwhile, Tanner hung right with Santos and was ready to pounce if the opportunity arose.
On lap 58, Tanner took a chance on Santos as they came up to lap Tyler Courtney who was making his pavement Silver Crown debut. Santos, the master craftsman that he is, executed the first of several lapped cars without a flinch, denying Tanner a golden opportunity. Though lapped cars can be disruptive to the leaders at times, often they can prove to be just as beneficial. Either way, they have, and always will be, a part of the deal.
"Lapped cars are tough," Santos plainly states. "Everyone did a good job holding their line. Some of them were on the top and some of them were on the bottom, so we had to go inside and out. I think a handful of us are pretty fast here and you're going to deal with lapped cars. It's part of the race and, sometimes, being the guy out front is actually a disadvantage with lapped cars. I just had to work hard to not allow that to hurt us."
Santos and Tanner remained tied together in this high-speed dance, separated by no more than, at most, two car lengths at any point. Each time, it appeared Santos had won another battleground by overtaking another lapped car. Yet, each time, there was Tanner, mimicking Santos' every move and losing absolutely no ground.
Lap after lap, Tanner was Tom and Santos was Jerry in this game of cat-and-mouse when they were finally able to clear the bulk of lapped traffic with 25 to go, leaving no traffic ahead of them for half a track. The breathing room would quickly subside as the two re-entered rush hour with 15 remaining, but if Tanner was waiting for a mistake by Santos down the stretch, he wasn't seeing it as Santos was picture perfect after both dove under Coons with 11 to go.
Tanner was waiting, watching and thinking where he could make his move. An opportunity appeared to be on the horizon as a four-car group battled two and three-wide a half-straightaway ahead. Tanner knew this was the spot he'd been anxiously waiting for.
"I ended up getting Kody in lapped traffic here in the July race a couple years ago," Tanner remembers. "That's your best chance to make a move. I tried to get up on the horse and run him down before we got to them. It's tough to tell where lapped cars are going which makes it tough to make a play on a guy."
Approaching the gaggle with cautious optimism, that opportunity nearly blew up in front of both Santos and Tanner with eight laps to go as Annie Breidinger, having a solid top-ten run in her series debut, got sideways and tagged the turn three SAFER barrier before continuing on in front of the leaders. That brought out the yellow, thus sending the lapped cars to the tail and presenting a clear track ahead for Santos and Tanner on the green-white-checkered restart.
Though disappointed by the yellow, a chance still existed. After all, during a green-white-checkered run to end May's event, it was Santos who beat Tanner for second.
"I was going to try and make it exciting," Tanner admits. "But we just didn't get that good of a restart. The motor stumbled a little bit and that was all she wrote. You just can't give a guy like Bobby Santos two car-lengths with two laps to go. He knows how to finish off these races."
That, he did. Santos picked up the throttle and, as he did, for 400 consecutive turns, did not turn a wheel wrong and finished off a Hall of Fame-worthy performance on a night honoring the 12 newest inductees to the USAC Hall of Fame, defeating Tanner Swanson, Aaron Pierce, Kody Swanson and Chris Windom to the line for his eighth career Silver Crown victory, moving him into sole possession of 13th on the all-time Silver Crown win list.
It's been a storybook beginning to Santos's season in his DJ Racing/Simpson Race Products/Beast/VDS Chevy, following a win at Phoenix in April, a second at LOR in May and now another victory at LOR heading into next Friday's Hemelgarn Super Fitness Rollie Beale Classic at Ohio's Toledo Speedway.
Speaking of fitness, that is something that Santos took to heart in the offseason as he aimed to get back on top of his game.
"I never thought it was important when I was young," the 31-year-old Santos admits. "But the last couple years, it's come into play for me. This year is the best I've felt in a long time. As you get older, you've got to do it. I just learned that the hard way the last couple years."
Just as important, though, is the dedication he and the DJ Racing crew had on getting their racecar better. It's a racecar that Santos admits was a solid car the last couple years, but not a winning racecar until this year.
"We were disappointed with the way we've ran the last couple years," Santos said point blank. "We were good, but we were a third to fifth-place car. Winning races is what it's all about. It keeps making you work harder when you win. But when you're on a losing streak, it gets depressing and it's hard to get out of. This winter, we really went to work on getting our engine better, our car better and myself better. To this point, it's paying off."
Of course, continuously working on the car to get it more competitive is the ultimate goal of all who race, but when you have to deal with the likes of Kody and Tanner Swanson each time you compete, you are going to have your work cut out for you. It's something Santos realizes is not an easy task.
"We had to work our butt off for the last 70-plus laps," Santos stated. "Kody and Tanner are awesome. It's an honor to be able to beat those guys. They're two of the best and to beat them it means a lot. The last race here in May, we learned something and we finally got on the same page as those two guys. It feels great to retake the throne after this one, but I'm sure they'll be back strong the next time."
Kingsburg, California's Tanner Swanson's plans for this year called for competing in only three Silver Crown events and, the majority of the time, he makes the most of each opportunity as evidenced by a third and second in his two LOR runs this season. Tanner feels he didn't leave much on the table in his final event of 2017, but thinks he could've been more aggressive at certain times, in hindsight, in his Bowman Racing/Brickers Pub - Bowman Properties/Beast/Kistler Chevy.
"Santos had the car to beat all night," Tanner credits. "There at the beginning, I kind of played with him and didn't want to wear myself out. I probably should've been a little more aggressive and tried to get the lead there and set my own pace. He was moving at the start and when we got to about lap 50 or 60, I realized I was going to have to pressure him if I was going to do anything. We ran him down, but couldn't do much once we got there. I think last year we would've been able to lap the field like that. Everybody else has gotten their stuff figured out. We're just going to have to step up our game a little bit more."
Back in May's "Carb Night Classic," Muncie, Indiana's Aaron Pierce was a lapped car. This time around, he was a contender from the moment he first hit the track, finishing third in his Sam Pierce/Sam Pierce Chevrolet - G & G Racing Fuel/Beast/Chevy.
"We've been coming here for the last few years," Pierce begins. "We've qualified fifth and we've run fifth. We had fast time a couple years ago and had a good car that night, but we just couldn't get our car to race well. I think we learned a little bit tonight. In May, they lapped us, so at least we're on the same straightaway with them now. Maybe if we can pick it up, learn a little more from them and use what we learned, we can be up here again next time. I kick myself a lot of times for not running hard enough at the beginning. I told myself tonight that I wasn't going to take it easy at the beginning. I was going to try to run as fast as I could run the whole race."
Contingency award winners Thursday night at Lucas Oil Raceway include Tanner Swanson (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Annie Breidinger (KSE Hard Charger) and Joss Moffatt (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES (presented by TRAXXAS) RACE RESULTS: July 20, 2017 - Brownsburg, Indiana - Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis - "Rich Vogler USAC Hall of Fame Classic"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Swanson, 02, Bowman-21.038; 2. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-21.045; 3. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ Racing-21.085; 4. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-21.319; 5. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn/Carli-21.386; 6. Ryan Newman, 2v, Vance-21.498; 7. Jerry Coons, Jr., 20, Nolen-21.555; 8. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-21.616; 9. Damion Gardner, 6, Klatt-21.618; 10. Chris Windom, 92, Kazmark-21.764; 11. Joe Axsom, 120, Nolen-21.915; 12. Davey Hamilton Jr., 98, RPM/Gormly-22.127; 13. Kevin Studley, 57, Studley-22.209; 14. Patrick Lawson, 2, Lawson-22.728; 15. Bill Rose, 75, Rose-22.751; 16. Joe Liguori, 4, Liguori-22.891; 17. Tyler Courtney, 99, RPM/Gormly-23.145; 18. Joss Moffatt, 32, Williams/Wright-23.236; 19. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-23.420; 20. Annie Briedinger, 80, Briedinger-24.053; 21. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Bobby Santos, 2. Tanner Swanson, 3. Aaron Pierce, 4. Kody Swanson, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Jerry Coons, Jr., 8. David Byrne, 9. Davey Hamilton, Jr., 10. Annie Briedinger, 11. Kevin Studley, 12. Tyler Courtney, 13. Joss Moffatt, 14. Matt Goodnight, 15. Patrick Lawson, 16. Joe Liguori, 17. Joe Axsom, 18. Ryan Newman, 19. Bill Rose, 20. Damion Gardner, 21. Shane Cottle. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Santos, Lap 2 T.Swanson, Laps 3-100 Santos.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: Annie Briedinger (18th to 10th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Joss Moffatt
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES (presented by TRAXXAS) POINTS: 1-K.Swanson-341, 2-Windom-290, 3-Coons-278, 4-Byrne-237, 5-Santos-213, 6-Pierce-197, 7-Grant-192, 8-Gardner-184, 9-T.Swanson-167, 10-Liguori-154.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR RACE (presented by TRAXXAS): July 28 - Toledo (Ohio) Speedway - Hemelgarn Racing Super Fitness "Rollie Beale Classic"
- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Ryan Newman's USAC Silver Crown Johnny Vance Racing ride for this Thursday night's Rich Vogler/USAC Hall of Fame Classic at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Indiana.
RYAN NEWMAN TO PAY TRIBUTE TO FALLEN RACING HEROES IN THURSDAY'S VOGLER/HALL OF FAME CLASSIC
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Johnny Vance's stealth black Beast with its golden yellow lettering and shimmering cherry red wheels was one of those cars that always caught your attention, even as it sat still in the pit area.
Though it had been four years since the Aristocrat Products USAC Silver Crown car had competed in an event, there was always that suspicion that the Dayton, Ohio-based beauty out of Dayton, Ohio would roll out of the trailer and make its return to an event somewhere along the line.
After Vance's passing in June of this year, those hopes seemed to be dashed as the realization came that one of the great USAC car owners of our time would no longer be in the trenches of competition after three-plus decades, three National car owner titles and 52 National wins.
But, alas, the roar of the engine under the hood of the No. 2 would no longer remain silent as arrangements were made to have 2008 Daytona 500 winner and 1999 USAC Silver Crown champ Ryan Newman take the wheel of Johnny's car once again for one more ride in this Thursday night's "Rich Vogler/USAC Hall of Fame Classic" at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Indiana.
The car was fired up for the first time this past Monday at Mike Bowman's shop. The car was put together as the crew went through everything with a fine-tooth comb to make sure everything would be a go. Once the letters "NEWMAN" were adorned across the visor, the ride was officially Newman's, a ride that is especially important in light of recent events.
"Johnny's stepson (Jonathan Hadaya) and Johnny's widow (Fadia) gave me permission to take the car over to Bowman's shop to get it ready for the race," Newman explains. "To me, this is about paying tribute at the Rich Vogler Classic. That makes it very special for me to be able to jump in this car."
The abundance of tributes to our recently fallen racing heroes are linked between Vance's car and the namesake of the race, Rich Vogler. Newman was the recipient of the Rich Vogler Memorial Scholarship, which he used to pursue an engineering degree at Purdue University. Vogler was Vance's first driver in 1981 after purchasing the equipment from the late Don Seibert. The driver who had the ride in Vance's sprinter immediately prior to Newman was Dave Steele, who lost his life this past March in a racing crash at DeSoto Speedway in Bradenton, Florida. In addition, the last driver to turn a lap at speed in Vance's Silver Crown car prior to Monday was Bryan Clauson during a test at Lucas Oil Raceway a few years back. Clauson lost his life in an accident at the "Belleville (Kans.) Midget Nationals" last August.
The significance of the track is not lost on Newman either. The .686-mile paved oval is where Vance won his final USAC race as a car owner, with Tracy Hines, in July of 2010. Yet, it's also the venue that hosted both Newman's first career USAC National Midget victory in 1997 as well as his initial Silver Crown triumph in 1999, both of which were televised on ESPN's "Saturday Night Thunder" program. It was an era and a showcase that Newman believes served as a launching pad for an opportunity in NASCAR.
"Oh, it's huge," Newman acknowledges. "There's a lot of people who, due to the (ESPN Thunder) TV shows, became famous in the open wheel world because of IRP. The quality and quantity of good racecars and racecar drivers that competed on that racetrack, made it the place to race and the place to win."
Fittingly, Lucas Oil Raceway (Indianapolis Raceway Park as it was known at the time) was the location of Newman's first USAC Sprint Car start for Vance in August of 1999, a second-place finish behind Vance's former driver, Dave Steele. But it was an auspicious beginning for Newman and Vance that included a productive, but brief tryout at the famed, lightning-fast high banks of eastern Indiana's Winchester Speedway, where Newman earned the ride.
"(Vance) auditioned me at Winchester Speedway," Newman recalls. "We met at the racetrack and he had Kenny Irwin, Jr. drive it first. It was just Johnny, Kenny and myself. We had problems with the car all afternoon; it was sputtering, missing and misfiring. We changed the mag, changed the fuel pump and changed a bunch of stuff before we realized we had a bad sparkplug. After changing out the sparkplugs, I finally got on the track where I ran about three laps before I came back onto pit lane. Johnny said, 'That's it. Load it up.' I said, 'What's the matter?' He said, 'That's all I needed to see!' It was pretty cool to have Kenny there. Kenny was Johnny's other son, his racing son, I guess you could say. For me, personally, to go to a place like Winchester and have Kenny there who had run so well for Johnny, it was really special."
Four days later, that three-lap Winchester test would work wonders as Newman drove to his first career USAC National Sprint win at the half-mile. The following May, Newman would win his second at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway, which would prove to be both Newman and Vance's final USAC National Sprint Car wins.
The list of drivers who've won in Vance's equipment are some of the who's who of open-wheel short track racing: Vogler, Steve Kinser, Jack Hewitt, Jac Haudenschild, Joe Saldana, Gene Lee Gibson, Steve Butler, Jim Mahoney, Irwin, Steele, Tony Elliott and Tracy Hines. Ryan Newman is appreciative of the opportunity he had to race with an individual like Vance who was so entrenched in the sport in a variety of avenues.
"To drive one of his Sprint Cars and Silver Crown cars was an honor," Newman praised Vance. "After I won the (Silver Crown) championship in 1999, he gave me an opportunity to defend it. He had an amazing career long before I drove his racecars. From what he did as a car owner and as a steward for USAC, he had seen it all and done it all. He sponsored cars, he owned cars and he knew what it took to win by always having a good driver and a good wrench."
The summer Silver Crown race prior to Brickyard 400 weekend has become an annual tradition for Newman that allows him an opportunity to return to his roots and race with and against people he considers family.
"Silver Crown cars are fun to drive and it's nice to go back and see people I consider family," Newman said. "It's just some of the faces are getting older like mine," Newman said with a laugh. "My whole family will be there - my mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law. I've never been to a high school reunion, but I imagine this is way cooler than that."
The 39-year-old South Bend, Indiana native has become one of the most successful drivers to transition from USAC to stock cars during his 16-year career as a full-time competitor in NASCAR's premier series that includes 18 wins, 51 poles and a 2nd place points finish in 2014. Yet, he still harkens back to his years in the USAC Silver Crown Series that taught him the trade on not only how to compete, but to win, in longer races.
"The 100-lappers prepared me well," Newman stated. "With a Silver Crown car, there's a balance of running hard and managing your tires. You never knew what was going to happen with cautions throughout the race either. I remember running 100 laps straight at Pikes Peak one year. You never quite knew what you're going to have to fight. In the end, you had to manage your tires because you had to manage the fuel load. Carrying 60-70 gallons was a different feel. It was unique and it wasn't what you did in a midget or sprint car. That definitely translates to the stock cars. Overall, I think the best drivers in the world come from open wheel racing because they know they can't just plow through the guy in front of them. You have exposed tires and you're going to end up tipping yourself over. There's a sense of skill and finesse that goes into an open wheel driver's mind that he can carry with him to make him one notch better than the guy who's raced with fenders his entire life."
Pits open for Thursday night's event at 2pm with grandstands set to open at 4pm. Practice for the Silver Crown cars begins at 5:30pm with ProSource Qualifying set for 6:30pm. The 6th Annual USAC Hall of Fame induction ceremony is slated for 8pm while engines for the 100-lap main event are scheduled to fire off at 8:45pm.
Adult general admission tickets are $25 while children 11 and under can get in for just $10.
SWANSON SOARS TO 2ND ON SILVER CROWN WIN LIST; WINS HORN-SCHINDLER AT THE GROVE
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
SWANSON SOARS TO 2ND ON SILVER CROWN WIN LIST; WINS HORN-SCHINDLER AT THE GROVE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania...June 16, 2017 - Kody Swanson has been the master of the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series presented by TRAXXAS throughout the last three-and-a-half seasons.
No driver owns more victories (14) or championships (2) than the Kingsburg, California driver in that span.
However, the master still attests that he remains a student of the sport. That has seeded him with the motivation to continually adjust and seek to find deficiencies in all areas of his racing craft that he feels he has to improve to make him a better driver.
In Friday night’s “Horn-Schindler Memorial” at Williams Grove Speedway, the humble, soft-spoken Swanson transformed into a stone-cold assassin when it comes to Silver Crown racing by running down the dominant Damion Gardner with 17 laps remaining to record his 17th career series victory, moving him up to second on the all-time list alongside Brian Tyler with now just one past legend of the series standing in front of him, the one who made the white No. 63 wrenched by Bob Hampshire the car to beat in its era, just like it is today.
“I don’t know if there’s ever been a more storied racer than Jack Hewitt,” Swanson said. “Also, I was a teammate to Brian Tyler for a little while at the beginning of my Silver Crown career. I feel pretty well connected to those two guys. It’s a pretty special territory to be in. I don’t know if I feel like we belong, but I’m thankful to be a part of it. Brian and Jack had so many huge Silver Crown wins. I guess we’re racking up our own little list here.”
In Friday’s race, however, Damion Gardner held a commanding lead from his pole starting position. The five-time USAC/CRA AMSOIL Sprint Car champ was making just his fourth-career Silver Crown start in only his second visit to the Grove of any kind after a Non-Wing World Championship triumph in 2002.
For much of the 100-lapper, Concord, California’s Gardner led by at least a half-straightaway and sometimes as much as a full-straightway. Yet, to many long-time observers, with Swanson still lurking in the field, the outcome had yet to be decided.
On lap 62, seventh-starting Swanson worked his way past Justin Grant for the second position. Though, just behind Gardner in the pecking order, Swanson remained a country-mile behind the leader until a yellow shortly thereafter bunched up the field for a restart with 31 laps to go.
As opposed to one year ago, the Klatt Enterprises No. 6 of Gardner was the chasee instead of the chaser such as it was in the 2016 “Horn-Schindler” when Bryan Clauson, in the 6, nearly ran down Chris Windom in the final laps for the win.
Gardner was initially able to gap Swanson on the lap 69 restart, but Swanson surely, and steadily, knocked off tenths of a second per lap as the two frontrunners occupied the middle groove on both ends of the racetrack.
Yet, with 17 to go, Swanson hit the topside of turns one and two, cut off the second corner and ducked underneath Gardner for the race lead, but wasn’t quite able to out-drag race Gardner into turn three before he wisely tucked back into line. If at first you don’t succeed, try again is the creed that Swanson would adhere to a lap later, following Gardner and repeating the same exact maneuver on the same piece of real estate. This time, Swanson had enough pull to push himself into the lead.
“I knew Damion was running a similar line as me,” Swanson explains. “I knew from tracking Justin (Grant) down that, once they move to the same spot, it’s so hard to get a run and get beside him without jeopardizing our race and wrecking us both. When tracking him down, I knew there was less than 20 to go and it was time to get creative. I tried the same line I used to get to the lead three times. Once, earlier, I botched it so badly, but I didn’t lose much ground. I thought ‘hey, if I actually do that right, that could be it.’ The second time, I got close, but I really chocked it up hard because I didn’t have enough room to do it without getting into him. But I didn’t want to show him anything either, so I followed him in line and tried to do it right and had a really good head of steam on the next one.”
From there on, Swanson would remain in control for the balance of the race, even surviving a restart with nine to go, to win his second Silver Crown event in a row and become the first driver since himself in early 2015 to win back-to-back series races on the dirt and the pavement in his DePalma Motorsports/Radio Hospital – Hampshire Racing Engines/Maxim/Hampshire Chevy over Gardner, Jerry Coons Jr., Chris Windom and Brady Bacon.
At first glance, it might appear to be another in a long line of patented late-race success stories for Swanson in which he bides his team before he inflicts his competitors with a venomous strike in the final quarter of the race on his way to victory. Instead, Swanson feels this was one of those classic ‘get-up-on-the-wheel’ type of deals for all 100 laps.
“On the miles, we know we’ve been strong late,” Swanson pinpoints. “Tonight, I didn’t qualify well. I told the guys I felt like I blew the second lap and that put us deep. I felt like I drove all 100 laps as hard as I could. There were certain times where I had to take care of it, but it wasn’t a traditional ‘take-care-of-your-equipment’ type night for me. I was hustling really hard to try to get by guys. I had to get by Jerry (Coons, Jr.) and he doesn’t make mistakes. And Justin doesn’t either. You just have to find a way around. Maybe I got by him because I know he had some brake problems and I thought we could pressure him into it a little bit. I know we were forcing everyone to pick It up a little bit. Damion was so good, it was going to take everything I had to run him down.”
“I’d like to say I was saving and it worked according to plan, but I was scrambling,” Swanson admits. “I typically don’t blister tires or wear out brakes, but I did both tonight. These guys I’m racing against, they’re so good at the half-miles and also in a dirt sprint car, I feel like you have to go hard for 100 laps when you come to a place like this. It’s something I’ve struggled to do. Maybe I was just doing my best impersonation of a real dirt guy tonight.”
Of Swanson’s 17 career victories, eight have come on one-mile dirt ovals. Though he hasn’t been uncompetitive by any means on the half-mile dirt tracks, he hadn’t recorded a victory on one since the Belleville (Kans.) High Banks in 2014, Swanson admits the halves have been a bit of a struggle for him at times.
“They’re just different,” Swanson feels. “I feel like I’m as in as good of shape as anybody in these longer races. But you kind of race them different. The miles have certain factors that aren’t as critical on the half-miles, like tire management. There’s a lot of things on the half-miles that other drivers have been better than me at. I’ve tried to identify those and I’ve been working on them to do what I can to up my game like those other guys have on the half-miles to do a good job for my team. They just race differently. The miles have such a uniqueness to them and, on the half-miles, many people say these cars look like bigger sprint cars and they kind of act like it. Guys that have been so dominant in USAC Sprint Cars have been really good in USAC Silver Crown cars on the half-miles lately. That was an area I struggled with and have gone to work trying to get better. I know I’ve still got more to go, but tonight we were good enough.”
In addition to his move up the ranks of all-time Silver Crown winners, Swanson has now recorded victories on many of the country’s most legendary dirt tracks: the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Illinois State Fairgrounds, Du Quoin State Fairgrounds, the defunct New York State Fairgrounds, the Terre Haute Action Track and now Williams Grove Speedway. It’s something that, at one point, seemed impossible not only to fans of the sport, but also to himself. Not too bad for a guy once considered a pavement specialist.
“There was a time in my career, a lot of folks said I’d never be good enough on the dirt,” Swanson recalls. “I still don’t feel like I am. I’m still learning and working really hard. These guys (DePalma Motorsports) give me a really good car. They work really hard, so I’m going to work hard for them and try to get better. To be second all-time is incredible. For me being a guy who’s not supposed to be winning at Williams Grove, it’s pretty cool to be able to figure it out and beat some of the best dirt guys in the nation and to get it done at such a historic track.”
Like last year, the Klatt Enterprises/Beast – Klatt Enterprises/Beast/Ford experienced a similar, yet opposite fate on its Williams Grove run. Last year, the car was the “chaser” with driver Bryan Clauson at the wheel as the No. 6 came on strong toward the end to nearly pull off the victory. On Friday, the same car, driven by Damion Gardner, was the “chasee,” leading the first 83 laps before being overtaken by Swanson. Nonetheless, it was a solid second-place run for the team in just Gardner’s fourth-career Silver Crown start.
“I ran as hard as I could early,” Gardner said. “I just wanted to get to the lappers and put them all down, then ride the middle. I knew Swanson would be coming at the end, the track would get slower and there’d be yellows. I had two choices: if I slowed down, I wouldn’t be as good and he would catch me. Then, if I ran hard, it was going to hurt my tires. We went fast. Yeah, I hurt my tire, but there were other scenarios that played in there. On that track there, you should be able do 100 laps wide open. They told me to lay off for a while and I did, but maybe not enough.”
Fifteen years after his first and only visit to Williams Grove, Gardner is still in awe of the place and holds a true appreciation of one of the capstone dirt tracks on the American racing scene.
“Bad dudes come from PA and the Grove and fast joints like this,” Gardner praised. “This place is historical. It’s legendary. Every time you come here, you want to win. You pay attention to places like this. The fans love us when we come out here; they show us a lot of respect and appreciation. I like to put on a show and these fans really appreciate it.”
Tucson, Arizona’s Jerry Coons, Jr. took a steady, solid third-place finish in his Gene Nolen Racing/KECO – Indy Race Parts/Maxim/Tranter Chevy, but it didn’t come without its trials and tribulations.
“I started to feel the steering wheel getting slippery with about 40 to go,” Coons remembers. “It was pretty early on. It was mainly on my left hand. I kept wiping my hand on my suit down the straightaway. With about 15 to go, the car started to get stiff. Then, we had a yellow come out. Without being on the throttle, it was getting pretty hard to steer, so I knew it was getting pretty low on fluid. With about 10 to go, it was getting to where it didn’t like to turn left very well.”
“Here, you kind of roll into the corner and get the car sideways to where it’s turning to the right,” Coons continued. “I could get it into a set and hold it there. I got myself into a rhythm. A couple times down in turns three and four, if I bobbled at all, lost the front end and had to turn it to the left, it took me a lot to get it back down. Overall, the car was good. We had an ignition box not running right in the first hot lap session. Then, we went through the fuel system and changed the ignition box. After those problems, a third-place is looking pretty good!”
Contingency award winners Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway include Damion Gardner (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Bryan Clauson Bad Fast Award Winner), Steve Buckwalter (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Austin Nemire (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES (presented by TRAXXAS) RACE RESULTS: June 16, 2017 - Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania - Williams Grove Speedway - "Horn-Schindler Memorial"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Damion Gardner, 6, Klatt-20.430; 2. Chris Windom, 92, Kazmark-20.527; 3. Shane Cockrum, 71, Hardy-20.552; 4. Justin Grant, 91, Carli/Hemelgarn-20.641; 5. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.652; 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 20, Nolen-20.662; 7. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-20.666; 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 120, Nolen-20.717; 9. Mark Smith, 54, Lane-20.823; 10. Joe Liguori, 4, Liguori-20.831; 11. Brady Bacon, 48, Martens-20.984; 12. Johnny Petrozelle, 08, Cornell/Petrozelle-21.037; 13. Dave Darland, 27, Phillips-21.104; 14. Patrick Bruns, 95, Full Throttle-21.206; 15. Austin Nemire, 16, Lesko-21.429; 16. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-21.503; 17. Steve Buckwalter, 53, SET-21.657; 18. Dakota Jackson, 201, Nolen-21.923; 19. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-23.207; 20. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-NT; 21. Joss Moffatt, 32, Williams/Wright-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Kody Swanson, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 4. Chris Windom, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Joe Liguori, 7. Patrick Bruns, 8. Austin Nemire, 9. Justin Grant, 10. Shane Cockrum, 11. Mark Smith, 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Steve Buckwalter, 14. Dave Daralnd, 15. Dakota Jackson, 16. David Byrne, 17. Hunter Schuerenberg, 18. Dave Berkheimer, 19. Johnny Petrozelle. NT
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**Moffatt flipped over the guardrail in turn 1 during practice. Petrozelle flipped during qualifying.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-83 Gardner, Laps 84-100 Swanson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: Austin Nemire (15th-7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Steve Buckwalter
KRS GRAPHICS BRYAN CLAUSON BAD FAST AWARD: Damion Gardner
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP (presented by TRAXXAS) POINTS: 1-Swanson-280, 2-Windom-232, 3-Coons-226, 4-Byrne-188, 5-Gardner-161, 6-Bobby Santos-140, 7-Grant-137, 8-Aaron Pierce-133, 9-Liguori-123, 10-Bacon-113.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP RACE (presented by TRAXXAS): July 20 - Brownsburg, Indiana - Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis - "USAC Hall of Fame / Rich Vogler Classic"
KODY SWANSON SEIZES THE MOMENT; TIES STEELE FOR 3RD ALL-TIME WITH CARB NIGHT CLASSIC WIN
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
KODY SWANSON SEIZES THE MOMENT;TIES STEELE FOR 3RD ALL-TIME WITH CARB NIGHT CLASSIC WIN
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Brownsburg, Indiana.........May 26, 2017 - Lately, it seems every victory Kody Swanson captures sets a new standard in the USAC Silver Crown record book.
Friday night's "Carb Night Classic" at Lucas Oil Raceway was no exception as the Californian led all 100 laps from the pole to surpass J.J. Yeley and join the late, great Dave Steele for third on the all-time series win list with his 16th career triumph.
For a time in the late 1990s, there was no greater dominator in USAC competition at LOR (then known as Indianapolis Raceway Park) than the late Steele, the two-time Silver Crown champion who passed away this past March after a sprint car crash at Desoto Speedway in Bradenton, Fla.
Currently, we are in the midst of the Swanson era at the .686-mile paved oval located west of Indianapolis where Kody and his younger brother, Tanner, have combined for five-straight, and seven of the past eight, Silver Crown wins. Though Tanner won the first five of those, Kody had the upper hand in the last two in his DePalma Motorsports/Radio Hospital - Hampshire Racing Engines/Beast/Hampshire.
Kody appreciates each and every win that he's fortunate to earn in his career, but Friday's victory gave him pause in his victory lane speech as the significance of placing his name alongside Steele's in the record book has deeply personal meaning.
"Dave Steele was someone that I really considered a friend, and someone I looked up to as a driver," Kody explained. "I was so saddened by his passing and for his family. To join him is an honor; he was incredible behind the wheel and in this series."
Kody started on the pole of the 100-lap event after recording ProSource Fast Qualifying time as the last car to hit the track in time trials. Right from the outset, it was the three LOR dominators of the decade running one-two-three with Kody Swanson, Tanner Swanson and Bobby Santos - winners of nine of the past 10 at the track - leading the way.
The trifecta was the class of the field as they seceded from the pack, holding a straightaway lead over the fourth-place car of Jerry Coons, Jr. just ten laps into the show.
Lapped traffic came into play early on, but it didn't do much to slow the pace of the leaders who maintained a torrid transit as they slipped their way around the tail-end of machinery. By lap 30, Kody found a home in a new zip code a half-straightaway ahead of Tanner and Santos.
At halfway, the race's first yellow flag flew when Troy Thompson, in his series debut, spun backwards into the infield grass at the exit of turn two while battling with Bill Rose. Thompson's car made no wall contact and the Florida native was able to restart.
On the ensuing restart, Kody had a pair of lapped cars as a buffer between himself and Tanner. It only took Tanner a lap-and-a-half to clear both Aaron Pierce, then Justin Grant. By then, Kody had taken advantage of the situation and stretched his lead out to 1.5 seconds.
With 27 laps remaining, fifth-running Jerry Coons, Jr. slowed with a flat right front tire to bring out second caution of the evening. The Tucson, Arizona native and USAC Triple Crown champ lost a lap in the pit area as the Gene Nolen Racing crew efficiently went to work on replacing the rubber before sending him back into the fray.
With the field bunched up at the resumption of racing on lap 77, Santos poked a nose under Tanner for the second position in turn one. The move was made to no avail, but Kody up front wasn't able to escape the two chasers who ran nose-to-tail and remained close enough to strike despite their own personal battle for second.
In the late stages, the race for the win wasn't the only competition at stake; there was also the ongoing race against the imminent storm. With 10 laps remaining and dark clouds emerging over the springtime Indiana sky, sixth-running Justin Grant slammed the turn three SAFER barrier, eerily similar to the shunt he experienced at Phoenix Raceway a month ago.
After the accident cleanup, that left just two laps and a green-white-checker shootout to the finish. Kody, Tanner and Santos lined up uninterrupted first through third for the final restart. Santos repeated his move from the most recent restart, but this time, powered his way past Tanner to snag second.
Santos went to work, gaining on Kody as he laid down his fastest two laps of the race, since lap four, on the 99th and 100th circuit. The anticipation grew as a David Byrne-esque charge for the win played through the minds of the enthusiastic crowd on-hand. However, Kody was even quicker than Santos on the final two rounds and muscled the No. 63 to his third overall LOR Silver Crown win by three-tenths over Santos, Tanner, Chris Windom and Aaron Pierce.
It was the third win in four races for Kody in the "black" pavement car that the team purchased after destroying their traditional "white" car in a jarring crash at Gateway Motorsports Park in June of 2016. Not that the white car was a slouch by any means, but it rarely got over the hump to find victory lane in Kody's hands since he began his tenure with the team in 2014. The lone win with Kody at the wheel of the white car came at Toledo (OH) Speedway in May of 2015.
The black car utilized Friday night is a former RFMS Motorsports machine driven by A.J. Fike and has done wonders for the team's asphalt program. Since the addition of the black car, Kody and the DePalma Motorsports team have won three of four on the blacktop: LOR (1st), Salem (Ind.) Speedway (1st), Phoenix (2nd) and LOR (1st), including 200 straight laps led at LOR over the past two events.
"I don't think I fully attributed the trouble we were having to the white car until we got the black one," Kody admits. "That white car had been wrecked and straightened before we had it and I don't think I quite realized what lasting effects that had. This black car has been solid for us right out of the box and my guys work really hard to keep us near the front. I'm really thankful that the hard work is paying off."
Contingency award winners Friday night at Lucas Oil Raceway include: Kody Swanson (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Kevin Studley (KSE Racing Products / Billy Winsemann Racing Hard Charger Award) and Troy Thompson (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES (presented by TRAXXAS) RACE RESULTS: May 26, 2017 - Brownsburg, Indiana - Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis - "Carb Night Classic"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-21.004; 2. Tanner Swanson, 02, Bowman-21.150; 3. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ Racing-21.228; 4. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn/Carli-21.351; 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., 20, Nolen-21.358; 6. Chris Windom, 92, Kazmark-21.368; 7. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-21.465; 8. Davey Hamilton, Jr., 98. RPM/Gormly-21.540; 9. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-21.551; 10. A.J. Russell, 3, Finkenbinder-21.758; 11. Joe Axsom, 120, Nolen-22.089; 12. Cody Gerhardt, 60, Gerhardt-22.107; 13. Toni Breidinger, 80, Breidinger-22.232; 14. Joss Moffatt, 32, Williams/Wright-22.570; 15. Kevin Studley, 57, Studley-22.692; 16. Joe Liguori, 4, Liguori-23.101; 17. Patrick Lawson, 2, Lawson-23.284; 18. Bill Rose, 75, Rose-23.402; 19. J.C. Bland, 5, Bland-25.459; 20. Troy Thompson, 15, Thompson-27.532.
FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Kody Swanson, 2. Bobby Santos, 3. Tanner Swanson, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Aaron Pierce, 6. David Byrne, 7. Kevin Studley, 8. A.J. Russell, 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 10. Patrick Lawson, 11. Toni Breidinger, 12. Joss Moffatt, 13. Troy Thompson, 14. Justin Grant, 15. Davey Hamilton Jr., 16. Bill Rose, 17. Joe Liguori, 18. Joe Axsom, 19. J.C. Bland, 20. Cody Gerhardt. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-100 K.Swanson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/NICOLE & BILLY WINSEMANN RACING HARD CHARGER AWARD: Kevin Studley (15th-7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Troy Thompson
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES (presented by TRAXXAS) POINTS: 1-K.Swanson-210, 2-Windom-171, 3-Coons-162, 4-Byrne-157, 5-Santos-140, 6-Pierce-133, 7-T.Swanson-97, 8-Russell-95, 9-Grant-91, 10-Breidinger-90.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE (presented by TRAXXAS): June 16 - Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania - Williams Grove Speedway - "Horn-Schindler Memorial" - "USAC Triple Crown Showdown"
SANTOS SAVORS VICTORY IN SILVER CROWN RETURN TO PHOENIX
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Phoenix, Arizona.........It had been eight years since the United States Auto Club competed at Phoenix Raceway. Since then, the track has been slightly reconfigured, repaved and renovated.
On Saturday, to Bobby Santos, it was still the same Phoenix Raceway he knew and loved back in 2009 when he raced to a USAC National Midget victory at the one-mile tri-oval.
In his return, Santos used his experience and bravado to outduel David Byrne in a wild west shootout, racing past Byrne using a massive run off turn four, then fending off his comeback attempt off turn two a lap later to capture his seventh career USAC Silver Crown presented by TRAXXAS victory at the "Phoenix Copper Cup."
Santos took the pole position for Saturday's 100-mile event after recording the top speed in Friday's ProSource Qualifying session. And, right from the drop of the green flag, Santos put that speed on full display as he sprinted to the lead.
However, sixth-starting Tanner Swanson's day came to an immediate end as he slowed to a stop just after taking the green. After the restart, the man on the move was seventh-starting Byrne. By lap 16, the Shullsburg, Wisconsin native had worked his way to fourth with an outside pass of Damion Gardner off turn four. It took Byrne just three more laps to grab third, using the high line off four to take third from Justin Grant.
In rapid-fire succession, Byrne disposed of Kody Swanson on lap 20 after switching to the low-line, outpacing the two-time series champ exiting the fourth turn for the second position and, on lap 22, Byrne corralled Santos, beating him to the bottom in turn one to take the lead.
Meanwhile, Swanson and Grant were engaged in a torrid battle for third. But, by lap 25, Grant, the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader, was grinding the right side of his car into the baby blue-colored SAFER barrier, ending a solid run for the talented Ione, California driver.
Under the yellow, race control deemed that Byrne had jumped the previous restart, relegating him back to second in the running order behind Santos for the lap 31 restart. Byrne wasted absolutely no time getting back to the front, snagging the top spot from Santos on lap 33 where he would remain for the next 60 laps.
Earlier in the afternoon, Chris Windom was announced as the new driver of the No. 2 regularly driven by Patrick Lawson. Windom made heavy wall contact in Friday's practice, sidelining his Gene Kazmark Racing No. 92 for the remainder of the weekend.
Windom would start at the tail of the 16-car field, but that didn't faze the Canton, Illinois driver as he raced from the back to eighth by lap 39, when suddenly, his new ride went up in smoke, sending him to pit road and putting an end to his three-race win streak in the series as well as his run of 13-straight top-five Silver Crown finishes.
Byrne quickly distanced himself from Santos on the ensuing restart, but little-by-little, Santos erased most of the gap, shaving off a half-second of Byrne's one-plus second lead prior to a yellow for Damion Gardner's hard hit with the turn four wall caused by a broken right front wheel.
When action resumed with 31 laps remaining, Santos threw his first dart at Byrne. Santos wrestled the lead away from Byrne with an inside move entering the first turn. Byrne came right back at Santos, hitting the bottom of turn three to retake the position as a freight-train of Santos, K. Swanson, Aaron Pierce and Davey Hamilton followed.
Yellow flags continued to haunt Santos as yet another caution fell when USAC's winningest female driver Toni Breidinger, making her Silver Crown debut, stalled in turn two just as Santos had closed on Byrne's rear bumper.
Byrne took advantage of his newfound breathing room to distance himself from Santos on the restart with 18 laps to go. But, yet again, all it took was a handful of laps and Santos was back in the game. With 12 laps remaining, the gap was a mere single car-length as Santos continued to reel him in.
Santos repeatedly looked to the outside, peeking his nose to the right armguard of Byrne on laps 89 and 90 when he veered a little too high, into the marbles, which cost him valuable ground in the race for the win.
As had been the case all afternoon long, Santos struck back, using a high-low crossover off turn four on lap 92 to pull wheel-to-wheel with Byrne down the front straightaway. Byrne was credited with the lead at the start/finish line, but the lead wasn't long for this world as Santos outpaced Byrne into the first turn to capture the point. Byrne fought back with all his might in turn three, but slid up off the bottom, allowing Santos to speed away.
A three-car breakaway of Santos, Byrne and K. Swanson ran nose-to-tail in the final laps with Santos continually using a big run off turn two to ward off all potential challengers. Swanson relentlessly worked on Byrne for second, finding the outside groove to his liking as he sped around Byrne for second off turn two.
Swanson quickly charged at Santos, but the sand in the proverbial hourglass had run out, as Santos crossed under the double-checkered flags for his first series victory in nearly two years at Iowa Speedway, the last Silver Crown victory on pavement by a driver not named Kody or Tanner Swanson until Saturday at Phoenix.
The victory, though, was a homecoming of sorts for the Franklin, Massachusetts native who scored a victory the last time USAC visited Phoenix. Despite the changes the track surface has undergone over the past several seasons, the story remained the same for the pavement hot shoe in his DJ Racing/Simpson Race Products/Beast/VDS Chevy.
"This track's different, but in my opinion it still races like the old Phoenix, which I think definitely helped," Santos believes. "I have some experience here and I knew where I could take advantage and put myself in a position to be there at the end."
Four separate yellow flag periods seemed to plague Santos throughout the 100-lap event, stalling his charge to the lead. But, despite the setbacks, the past NASCAR Whelen Modified champion believes his timing was just right on this afternoon.
"I really believe it's the timing to pass here that's most important," Santos said. "With my experience, (turns) three and four are such important corners. Making your speed there and getting it done down the front stretch has been my experience and I don't feel that has changed. My team put me in position to hold a champion off as well as an excellent racer like David. I definitely had to work my butt off for this one. David was wicked fast in the beginning and then Kody challenged us at the end. There's no time to sit down in the seat. All three of us were pushing as hard as we could."
Kingsburg, California's Kody Swanson took second in his DePalma Motorsports/Radio Hospital - Hampshire Racing Engines/Beast/Hampshire. Yet, despite taking over the point lead in the latest Silver Crown standings, the 2014 and 2015 series champ was looking for more.
"Because I race for points, people want to look at the points," Swanson said. "I feel something I'm good at is surviving long races. After the (championship) heartbreak last year, my focus has been to win races when we can. Not that I wasn't before, but I really want to focus on that. Today, even with the late yellows, I didn't think I had anything for these guys. As the race played out, suddenly I was in the hunt at the end. We found something a little bit different, but it was too little, too late. I'm a little disappointed in myself for not figuring it out soon enough. Being here on the podium is a good day, but I would've liked for it to have gone a little longer and I'd have liked to have figured it out a little sooner."
David Byrne led a race-high 69 laps in his Byrne Racing/Stoops Freightliner Truck Country - Bytec, Inc./Beast/J & D Performance machine. Byrne was strong all day, but feels that without the late race cautions, the "Copper Cup" was his.
"I wish it would've gone green all the way," lamented Byrne. "We were real sporty there at the start, but to say I'm disappointed is an understatement."
Contingency award winners this weekend at Phoenix Raceway include Bobby Santos (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Jerry Coons, Jr. (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Chris Windom (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP (presented by TRAXXAS) RACE RESULTS: April 28-29, 2017 - Phoenix, Arizona - Phoenix Raceway - "Phoenix Copper Cup"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: (April 28) 1. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ Racing-25.362; 2. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-25.499; 3. Davey Hamilton, 99, RPM/Gormly-25.607; 4. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn/Carli-25.609; 5. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-25.666; 6. Tanner Swanson, 201, Nolen-25.682; 7. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-25.768; 8. Damion Gardner, 6, Klatt-26.078; 9. Henry Clarke, 75, Rose-26.342; 10. Davey Hamilton Jr., 98, RPM/Gormly-26.656; 11. Joe Axsom, 120, Nolen-26.906; 12. A.J. Russell, 3, Finkenbinder-27,390; 13. Patrick Lawson, 2, Lawson-27.416; 14. Toni Breidinger, 80, Breidinger-28.067; 15. Shane Butler, 15, Thompson-30.978; 16. Jerry Coons Jr., 20, Nolen-NT; 17. Chris Windom, 92, Kazmark-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps - April 29) 1. Bobby Santos, 2. Kody Swanson, 3. David Byrne, 4. Davey Hamilton, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Shane Butler, 7. Aaron Pierce, 8. Toni Breidinger, 9. A.J. Russell, 10. Henry Clarke, 11. Joe Axsom, 12. Damion Gardner, 13. Chris Windom (#2 Lawson), 14. Justin Grant, 15. Tanner Swanson, 16. Davey Hamilton Jr. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Santos, Laps 22-30 Byrne, Laps 31-32 Santos, Laps 33-92 Byrne, laps 93-100 Santos.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Jerry Coons, Jr. (15th to 5th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Chris Windom
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP (presented by TRAXXAS) POINTS: 1-K.Swanson-130, 2-Coons-116, 3-Windom-110, 4-Byrne-102, 5-Gardner-88, 6-Pierce-75, 7-Santos-73, 8-C.J. Leary-67, 9-Hunter Schuerenberg-61, 10-Davey Hamilton-61.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP RACE (presented by TRAXXAS): May 25 - Indianapolis, IN - Indiana State Fairgrounds - "Hoosier Hundred"
