SWANSON & RAM ENGINEERING WIN THE CHILDREN'S DREAM FUND 50

SILVER CROWN 1ST PLACE DRIVER: Kody Swanson

SILVER CROWN 1ST PLACE ENTRANT: Doran Binks Racing

Kody Swanson is accustomed to winning USAC Silver Crown championships. But 2024 may very well have been both his most challenging and most rewarding. An offseason accident resulted in a broken left foot and left his season in doubt. But the Kingsburg, Calif. native defied the odds to make his way back into the cockpit in time for the season opener.

Despite a slight limp in his gait, Swanson showed all the signs of the same ol’ Kody as he won five times in all at Toledo, Winchester, the Hoosier Hundred at IRP, the series debut at Jennerstown and he capped off the year with a victory and a championship in one fell swoop at IRP. Swanson also set a new single season series mark with seven pole position en route to becoming an eight-time USAC Silver Crown titlist, the most championships earned by any one driver in a USAC national series ever while also providing Doran Binks Racing the entrant title.

He’s the GOAT of all USAC Silver Crown drivers, and once again in 2024, he proved that even in the most challenging of circumstances, he can still overcome.

BROWNSBURG, Ind., Oct. 21 — Mission accomplished! 

Driving the Mission Foods No. 77, Doran Binks Racing’s Kody Swanson won the 100-lap USAC Silver Crown season finale Saturday night at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) to extend his record as the winningest driver in series history with an unprecedented 45 career victories and his eighth series championship.

By adding one more championship to the titles he won in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018,  2019, 2021 and 2022, he also set a new record in terms of total championships earned by any one driver in a USAC national series. Who did he surpass? None other than A.J. Foyt with seven Indy car championships under USAC sanction and Mel Kenyon, who earned seven USAC national midget titles.

Swanson beat Justin Grant in the final point standings for 2024 with the Lebanon, Ohio-based team’s car, which also carries the colors of Glenn Farms and Wilke Orthodontics. Defending champion Logan Seavey finished third in the point standings followed by C.J. Leary and Kyle Steffens.

Swanson, a native of Kingsburg, Calif., who now lives in Indianapolis, led the point standings all season except for six days in May, but he went into Saturday’s race only six points ahead of Grant, 785 to 779. 

Swanson earned three bonus points for being the fastest qualifier and 70 more for winning the race, while Grant finished fifth in the race and collected 58 points. At the end Swanson and Doran Binks Racing had a 21-point advantage over Grant and Hemelgarn Racing, 858 to 837, in the 14-race championship that started in April and was contested on both dirt and pavement tracks. Swanson and Doran Binks Racing won five of those races, finished second three times, and had two other top-five finishes enroute to the title in USAC’s top division.

For the pavement events such as Championship Saturday at IRP, the team used a Beast chassis powered by a Lanci Ford engine. 

It was the second USAC Silver Crown championship for Kevin Doran’s Doran Racing, as the team won the title with Swanson in 2022 in conjunction with Chris Dyson Racing and this year in conjunction with Binks Motorsports under the Doran Binks Racing banner.

Swanson extended his record as the driver with the most career poles in this series when he topped qualifying Saturday afternoon with a lap in 20.892 seconds around IRP’s 0.686-mile asphalt oval for an average speed of 118.208 miles per hour. It was series career pole #54 for the 36-year-old driver. 

His fastest qualifying lap was 0.228 seconds faster than the second-fastest qualifier, Bobby Santos III. Tyler Roahrig, Grant, and Seavey rounded out the top five in qualifying for the 18-car field. It was Swanson’s 11th USAC Silver Crown pole at this particular track and his seventh of the season, which broke his own series record of six in both 2015 and 2023. 

Although Swanson started on the pole, Santos led the first lap before Swanson passed him to the inside in Turns 3 and 4 on lap two. He went on to lead through lap 12. The first yellow came out on lap eight for Nathan Moore, who stopped on the backstretch just off Turn 2 with a mechanical issue. Cody Gerhart stopped at that point too and retired to the pits. 

The green waved again on lap 12, and Santos was able to get by Swanson in Turns 3 and 4 to regain the lead on lap 13. Santos, Swanson, and Roahrig were hooked up in a freight train at that point, with only about a tenth of a second separating them from each other. 

Roahrig got under Swanson on lap 19 in Turns 1 and 2 to take second and they continued their high-speed chess match. On lap 30 Santos was 0.028 seconds ahead of Roahrig; Roahrig was 0.208 seconds ahead of Swanson, and Swanson was 0.472 seconds ahead of the fourth-place driver, Leary. 

Seconds later the second yellow waved when the fifth-place driver, Dakoda Armstrong, stopped in Turn 3 with a mechanic issue. While the field was still under yellow the driver who was second, Roahrig, stopped on the frontstretch also due to a mechanical issue, reportedly something concerning his car’s magneto. Their excellent runs were over prematurely, and Swanson was back in second behind only Santos. 

The battle resumed when the green flew on lap 38, and on lap 40 Santos was just 0.328 seconds ahead of Swanson, who in turn was just 0.369 seconds ahead of the driver in third, Leary. Grant was fourth and Nathan Byrd was fifth, although Seavey passed Byrd on the following lap for that position.

Swanson tried every line possible to get by Santos, who remained in the lead with Swanson right on his tail. The halfway point, lap 50, was indicative of the battle, as Swanson ducked under Santos in Turn 1 to edge ahead only to have Santos get  the advantage again via the outside line in Turn 2, with only 0.101 seconds separating them as they crossed the timing beacon. 

Ten laps later Swanson was still just 0.164 behind Santos, while Leary ran third, 0.406 behind Swanson. Grant was fourth, 0.758 behind Leary, while Seavey rounded out the top five.

Swanson made the winning move on lap 63 when he took the lead from Santos as they sped through Turn 2. Swanson led the rest of the race, and once back in front he was able to build up more of an advantage than Santos had. Two laps after he was back in front he was 1.128 seconds ahead of Santos on lap 65.

Seavey passed Grant for fourth on lap 67. By lap 70 Swanson had a 2.163-second lead over Santos, with Leary, Seavey, and Grant next in line. 

Seavey passed Leary for third on lap 72, and three laps later Seavey also passed Santos to move into second place. Swanson still had a 2.794-second lead at the three-quarters mark, and he was able to extend that to over 3 seconds with 10 laps remaining. His advantage reverted back to about 2 seconds later as he dealt with lapped traffic, but he had a 2.362-second margin of victory over Seavey. Santos finished third, Leary placed fourth, and Grant rounded out the top five. The series’ Rookie of the Year, Trey Osborne, finished sixth and got the hard charger distinction, as he started 12th. He was the last driver to finish on the lead lap. Byrd, Russ Gamester, Kyle Robbins, and Kaylee Bryson rounded out the top 10.

Swanson set the fastest lap of anyone in the race when he was timed in 21.425 seconds on lap three. Seavey was second in that category with a 21.739 on lap 41. 

Santos got the three bonus points for leading the most laps, but not by much. Santos led 51 laps and Swanson led 49.

In victory lane Swanson paid tribute to “the army of people I have behind me,” and singled out many of them, including the three men who fielded his car together — Kevin Doran, Dan Binks, and Ken Keilholz.  “God is good!” Swanson declared. “There are so many special people in my life, and I’m so grateful. 

“This was a 14-race Silver Crown schedule, and it was a grueling year with a lot of really strong competitors who all had great runs,” he added. “We had some unfortunate things happen on our end too, but we just kept digging. It was a close title fight, and I want to congratulate Justin Grant and Helmegarn Racing on a great year too. We had a little bit of luck go our way. 

“I tried really hard to get the lead, and we all raced hard,” he said. “I hated that Tyler had misfortune, and I have great respect for Bobby Santos too. Luckily on the longer runs the No. 77 was really good. But I had to be really careful with the lapped traffic at the end.” 

With his victory Swanson broke the tie he held with his now-retired brother, Tanner, as the driver with the most USAC Silver Crown wins at IRP with nine. 

He also now leads the category of the driver with the most USAC Silver Crown wins at any one track, as Tanner Swanson had eight at IRP and Jack Hewitt had eight at the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. 

Kody Swanson is also now tied with Tracy Hines and Santos for the most USAC-sanctioned wins at IRP among all divisions with 15. 

“I don’t know what it is about this place, but I love racing here,” Swanson said. “I kept moving around the racetrack to try to find something that worked, sort of like you do on a dirt track, and finally in the second half I found something that suited my car.” 

There were four features at IRP on Saturday, and Swanson competed in three of them. By finishing third in the 40-lap 500 Sprint Car Tour race driving for Nick Bohanon earlier in the night, Swanson also wrapped up his second championship in that series. He won the 500 Sprint Car Tour series’ inaugural title in 2022 driving for Doran Racing. 

Doran Binks Racing didn’t compete in all the races in that series this year, but it was part of this title too because Swanson drove cars fielded by Bohanon, Nolen Racing, and Doran Binks Racing this season enroute to the 500 Sprint Car Tour title. That series consisted of nine races this year, and Doran Binks Racing fielded cars for Swanson in two of them: the Glen Niebel Classic at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway in April (finished first), and the Little 500 at the same track in May (finished third). The Little 500 wasn’t a points-paying race, however. 

It was a very busy day for Swanson, as he also finished fourth in the 30-lap Lucas Oil Raceway national pavement midget feature Saturday at IRP driving for Bertrand Motorsports. Although no announcement was made by the track Saturday night, other reports on social media indicated that with that accomplishment he also secured that midget championship as well as the A.J. Foyt Championship. 

The latter is a season-long points battle consisting of the USAC Silver Crown, sprint car, and champion midget races held at IRP. Foyt won the first oval event at IRP in May of 1961. Swanson won this title four times previously: 2012, 2016, 2018, and 2021.

ROSSBURG, Ohio, Sept. 22 — Thanks to a solid second-place finish in the USAC Silver Crown race at Eldora Speedway Saturday night, Doran Binks Racing and driver Kody Swanson bolstered their lead in the series’ championship and now have 742 points to their closest rivals’ 715 with only two races remaining in 2024.

Swanson, the winningest driver in series history, is going for an unprecedented eighth championship in USAC’s top division.

Going into the event their lead was 12 points in the driver and entrant standings, but they more than doubled that to 27 when Swanson took the checkered flag 0.489 seconds after Mitchel Moles did in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

The 50-lap race was part of the 42nd running of the 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKTELCO. The program featured the NOS Energy Drink midget national championship, USAC AMSOIL sprint car national championship, Kubota High Limit Racing sprint cars, and the USAC Silver Crown national championship.

Swanson was third in USAC Silver Crown qualifying on Friday night. His No. 77, which is sponsored by Mission Foods, Glenn Farms, and Wilke Orthodontics, was just 0.077 seconds off Daison Pursley’s fast time of 17.605 seconds for the half-mile dirt track. A total of 27 drivers took time.

Moles, who would go on to win his first USAC Silver Crown race ever, started fourth and passed Swanson for third on the second lap. After a yellow with five laps down for Dave Berkheimer’s spin in Turn 2, defending champion Logan Seavey went to the work area with a brake issue after running in tenth place.

Moles passed Brady Bacon for second on that restart, and then the fifth-place driver, Chase Dietz, stopped on the backstretch after hitting the wall to bring out the second yellow with six laps down. Dietz went to the work area but was unable to restart.

Bacon was penalized for jumping that restart, which allowed Swanson to regain third and moved Brian Ruhlman into fourth. Pursley still led, while Moles was trying to figure out a way by him.

Lap 13 was lucky for both Moles and Swanson, as they both passed Pursley on that lap to take over first and second, respectively. Swanson made his move on the outside.

Moles had a 2.591-second lead over Swanson, who was 1.139 seconds ahead of Pursley, when Moles had a very close call working lap 21. He got up over a car he was lapping driven by Tom Savage in Turns 3 and 4. Savage’s car caught on fire and he bailed out before it even fully stopped. Although the incident brought out the third yellow with 20 laps down, Moles never stopped so he was able to retain his lead and his car seemed no worse for the experience.

At the halfway point five laps later Swanson was 1.675 seconds behind Moles and 1.428 seconds ahead of Pursley.

Briggs Danner passed Pursley for third on lap 27 and hounded Swanson for most of the rest of the race. On lap 30 Moles had extended his lead to 2.986 seconds while Swanson was 1.753 seconds ahead of Danner, but Swanson and Danner were both able to cut those figures later.

Mark Smith, who was 14th, stopped in Turn 1 with 34 laps down to bring out the fourth yellow. Under that caution Zach Daum, who was 16th, pitted with a flat right-rear tire, and he also had lost his brakes.

After that restart Swanson was able to run about a half-second behind Moles. Swanson, whose car is powered by a Hampshire-prepped Chevy engine, set his fastest lap of the race on lap 40. He was 0.612 seconds behind Moles at the time, while Danner had closed to just 0.276 seconds behind him with just 10 laps remaining.

But the flagman had to wave the caution four more times, and all those yellows were for drivers who suffered flat right-rear tires. Kaylee Bryson lost hers while running 10th with 41 laps down. Matt Goodnight, who was 16th, had his disintegrate with eight laps to go. The eighth-place driver, Chase Stockon, suffered the same fate with 45 laps down. Bacon was running sixth when his Hoosier let go with two laps remaining.

Danner kept the pressure on Swanson during all those restarts, but Swanson was 0.430 seconds ahead of the young driver when the checkered waved at 1:47 a.m. Sunday morning.

Following Moles, Swanson and Danner at the end were Pursley and Ruhlman. Matt Westfall, Justin Grant, Carmen Perigo, C.J. Leary and Seavey rounded out the top 10.

The next USAC Silver Crown event is Sunday, Oct. 6 at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. The season finale is Saturday, Oct. 19 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Brownsburg, Ind. That’s not far from Swanson’s base in Indianapolis. He’s a native of Kingsburg, Calif.

All of the series’ races are streamed live on Flo Racing.

“We had a really good car, and I am glad to have been getting closer,” Swanson said afterwards. “I think this is our third second-place finish in a row, but I'd love to get everyone on this team a win on the dirt.  Ultimately I just wasn't quite fast enough tonight. Mitchel and his team did a great job, so congrats to them on the win. We still had a really good day, and I'm thankful for the effort from everyone that is part of this Doran Binks Racing team, and this dirt program too.  We've got so many people pulling for us to do well, whether here at the track, back at the shop, or calling in over the phone, and I'm grateful for each of them. Thanks again to Mission Foods, Wilke Orthodontics, Glenn Farms, and everyone who keeps us on the track, and gives us the chance to go out and compete for it.”

OREGON, Wis., June 23 — Doran Binks Racing and driver Kody Swanson still lead the entrant and driver point standings in the USAC Silver Crown division following Friday night’s Bytec Dairyland 100 at Madison International Speedway, but their top rivals have drawn closer after a mechanical problem resulted in an 11th-place finish for the No. 77, which is sponsored by Mission Foods, Glenn Farms, and Wilke Orthodontics. 

Earlier in the evening Swanson won the pole for the 100-lap race with a time of 17.062 seconds, extending his record as the driver with the most USAC Silver Crown poles in history to 51. C.J. Leary, Bobby Santos III, Dakoda Armstrong and Taylor Ferns rounded out the top five in qualifying. 

Swanson led all 300 laps of the three previous pavement USAC Silver Crown races this year and he’s won this race three times (2018, 2019 and 2023). 

But on Friday Leary was able to get around him on the outside going into Turn 1 of the half-mile paved oval on the first lap, and then Santos edged under him in the same spot on lap two to relegate him to third. 

That set up one of the best battle of the evening, as Swanson hounded Santos for second while Ferns tried to get third away from Swanson as the trio played a high-speed game of cat and mouse. 

Swanson eventually dropped to fourth but his drive came to an end when he suddenly slowed in Turn 3 to bring out the first of two cautions on lap 61 due to a mechanical issue that caused the No. 77 to lose fuel. He was pushed to the pits by a four-wheeler and the Doran Binks crew made quick repairs. Swanson was able to return to the rear of the field and run for about 10 more laps, and his official finishing position was 11th. 

He wasn’t the only one who had their night come to an end prematurely. Ferns brought out the event’s only other yellow while running third working lap 75 when she stopped at about the same place Swanson had. Her car’s issue was a broken U-joint, and she ended up right behind Swanson in the final rundown, in 12th place. 

And after leading from the start, Leary also ran into calamity in the same spot on lap 89, as he got a flat tire and had contact with Armstrong. He pitted for a new tire but he ended up ninth. 

That gave the point to Armstrong, who went on to post his first USAC Silver Crown victory. Santos, Grant, rookie Trey Osborne and defending series champion Seavey rounded out the top five.