Dynamic Duo: Swanson, Bertrand to Team Up for 2022 Brown’s Oil Champion Midget Series at Lucas Oil Raceway

Indianapolis, IN

This week, USAC’s all time Silver Crown winner and #2 on Lucas Oil Raceway’s all time win list – Kody Swanson, announced a partnership with Tim Bertrand & Bertrand Motorsports for the 2022 Brown’s Oil Champion Midget Series at Lucas Oil Raceway.  The dynamic duo has a massive 186 open wheel wins, and a combined 22 championships across the midget, sprint car and silver crown ranks.

Swanson & Bertrand will team up for the 2022 season at the four Lucas Oil Raceway events in the Brown’s Champion Midget series.  Bertrand, a 10 time Northeastern Midget Association Championship owner may be new to the non-wing midget ranks as a car owner, but no stranger to midgets.  His accomplishments include ten championships, eight with driver Randy Cabral, 94 national NEMA midget wins, and 98 overall NEMA wins.  

“We are very excited about the 2022 season.  We’ve always tried to associate ourselves with the best in the business, starting off in midgets with the Cicconi family, Danny Drinan, Dan Esslinger/Esslinger Engineering, etc.” said Bertrand.  “I’ve been watching Kody for years, and have been really impressed by his humble nature, family values, and of course – his tremendous talent.  He is undoubtedly one of the best open wheel drivers in the world, in my opinion,” he said.  

Swanson, the 2021 USAC Silver Crown champion, and all time Silver Crown winner, has a resume of 88 career open wheel wins, 12 USAC sanctioned midget wins, and three wins at the coveted Anderson Speedway “Little 500”.  Known as a humble, family man – Swanson, his wife Jordan, and two boys – Trevor and Adam, are devout supporters of open wheel auto racing. 

“I'm fortunate to have been surrounded by great people throughout my career in racing, and I'm very excited about the opportunity to work with Tim & the Bertrand Motorsports team. They have been incredibly successful throughout the Northeast & the NEMA series, and have established themselves as one of the top teams in the history of winged midget racing.  Over the past few years, Tim has demonstrated his commitment to competing at Lucas Oil Raceway, and the dedication to develop his non-wing program into a championship caliber team as well. I'm thankful for the opportunity to come alongside them, and to join them in their dedication & effort.  I’m looking forward to working together more as we prepare for 2022, and can’t wait to get on the track next spring,” said Swanson.  

The duo will be sponsored by Bertrand’s company, project44.  One of the highest growth companies in the United States, project44 is the world's leading advanced transportation visibility platform – providing real time visibility to global organizations across all transportation modes (ocean, trucking, air, rail and parcel).  During the Suez Canal crisis, as an example, project44 provided visibility to over 250 of the Fortune 500 to track their ocean containers, stuck in the Canal.  Project44 raised a $200 million round of funding on a $1.2 billion valuation, from Goldman Sachs in May of 2021.  Project44 was also recently ranked #1 on the FreightTech Index, beating out Amazon, after ranking #2 for the previous 3 years. 

www.project44.com

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Toledo, Ohio (October 10, 2021)………Kody Swanson possesses the rare and unique talent to make the extraordinary seem commonplace, and for the high majority of Sunday afternoon’s USAC Silver Crown season finale at Ohio’s Toledo Speedway, he performed just as you’d come to expect from the series’ winningest driver.

The first 83.5 trips around the half-mile paved oval were relatively free of stress for Swanson, but a bit of turn three duress nearly derailed both his bid for the race win and another Silver Crown driving title.

With Swanson alone at the head of the field, the car of 13th running Annie Breidinger slid sideways against the turn three wall, right into the path of Tyler Roahrig, who T-boned Breidinger’s idle machine at the top of the banking.  Next in line was Swanson who smashed the left front of his nose and wheel into the rear bumper of Roahrig, testing the maximum limits of metal’s unmalleable flexibility.

A major puncture wound to the nose and a bent axle became the battle scars Swanson carried for the final 13 circuits en route to victory, and despite all the lingering circumstances, Swanson remained untouchable and unmalleable in his own right.

His car seemingly bulletproof, his concentration impervious, Swanson masterfully thwarted a challenge from pavement master Bobby Santos during the final laps to record his fifth career Hemelgarn Racing Super Fitness Rollie Beale Classic triumph and his unprecedented sixth career USAC Silver Crown championship.

“I’m so fortunate and so thankful for this entire Doran Racing team, all the effort they put in all year and for this race that I can screw something up and still have a chance for it at the end.

Statesville, NC – GMS Racing is proud to welcome five-time USAC Silver Crown Series champion Kody Swanson to the No. 21 ARCA Chevrolet for a one-race deal at the series' next event at Salem Speedway this Saturday.

Swanson, an accomplished racer who has a total of 33 USAC Silver Crown wins in his career, has competed in various disciplines of asphalt open-wheel motorsports, including sprint cars and midgets. In 2020, Swanson also competed in two Road to Indy races, winning an Indy Pro 2000 race at Lucas Oil Raceway in his first start.

Always willing to jump in a different style of race car, Kody Swanson became noticed by many during the Camping World SRX Series race at Eldora Speedway in June, where he fought Tony Stewart for the win. Though he came short of the victory with a second place finish, his efforts caught the attention of GMS Racing President Mike Beam, who served as his celebrity crew chief during the event.

"I am really excited and grateful to have an opportunity to race with GMS Racing, and to continue pursuing different avenues with my career.  This whole deal started with the opportunity to compete in the SRX Series earlier this year. I was invited to race at Eldora Speedway as the Local All-Star for the event, and that was where I met Mike Beam. We were paired together by the series, and he would be my crew chief for the race. I felt like we got along really well, and worked together with the same intensity, both willing to put in the extra effort and what it takes to win. We ended up just one spot short that night, but it started a conversation and relationship that has led to an opportunity like this," said the driver from Zionsville, IN.

While Swanson is relatively new to stock cars, he does have some solid experience behind the wheel, including one ARCA Menards Series start at Iowa Speedway, where he finished eighth in his debut last season for then team owner, Chad Bryant. After the ARCA race, Bryant, who currently serves as crew chief of the No. 21 GMS Racing ARCA team, fielded Swanson in four late model stock races at Hickory Motor Speedway, in which Swanson finished as high as second. Earlier this year, Swanson made his pro late model debut, winning the 2021 World Series of Asphalt and track championship at New Smyrna Speedway.