Reunited: Kody Swanson & Championship Winning USAC Dirt Car Together Again in ‘23

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Belleville, Kansas (May 15, 2023)………Kody Swanson’s run with DePalma Motorsports between 2014-18 made them the most successful USAC Silver Crown pairing in the history of the sport.

In fact, Swanson and DePalma’s 21 wins and four championships together in a five-year span are second to none.

Five years ago, it seemed as if the days of the iconic white and red-lettered No. 63 were gone forever. The team had retired from the sport at the top of their game, and with that, USAC made an unprecedented decision in permanently retiring the No. 63 from use in Silver Crown competition.

While the number 63 itself won’t be returning anytime soon to the racetrack, as it turns out, a major part of the 63 team will play a starring role in the upcoming Silver Crown season for Swanson and the Doran-Binks Racing team he drives for.

Over the last two seasons in 2021-22, Swanson and Doran have teamed up to run solely on the pavement. This year, however, the team initiated plans to add a dirt car to the stable. But one major factor remained unresolved. They needed a dirt car.

That’s where the 63 comes in.

Some years ago, a friend of Swanson’s acquired the last DePalma Motorsports No. 63, which ran throughout the 2018 season. With it, his plans included taking it on the vintage racing circuit.

After a half-decade, however, the car remained set in place, just a phone call away. When the time came, Doran-Binks Racing reacquired the very same Maxim chassis and frame, bringing the car out of “retirement” to race again throughout 2023 for the first time since it left the track at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway in September of 2018.

In that time, much has changed all around us. But a few things have remained the same ever since. Swanson is still winning USAC Silver Crown races at a record clip and he’s still capturing championships. Also, his dirt car has not changed its features either, just its stripes, with Mission Foods sponsorship and a big and bold 77 adorning the tail tank and nose.

“There’s so much of it that’s the same,” Swanson explained. “It’s got a new look, a new number and new vinyl on it, but most everything else is exactly the same.”

Being the car he raced to his fourth career Silver Crown championship, Swanson retains a special fondness for the machine, which he recently got behind the wheel of for a test and tune at Eldora where the team got some laps in and made sure everything was in working order.

“The car ran in one my favorite dirt Silver Crown races ever at Terre Haute that year,” Swanson recalled of the 2018 dirt season opener. “We had engine troubles, missed qualifying, then changed an engine. We started from the tail of a 12-car field in the B-Main and got second. Then, we came from the tail and into the lead in the feature and got wrecked, then came back from the tail again and got second. That was the first race on that car, and in our next race with the car, we won our fourth Hoosier Hundred.”

Like a pair of worn-in shoes that just feels right, the situation brings an air of comfortability to Swanson, not only with the car itself but also with the people it brings along to the team when Swanson was on his mid-2010s roll.

“I’ve been talking to (National Sprint Car Hall of Famer) Bob Hampshire a good bit about it, and Clark Lamme, who was a longtime mechanic with Hampshire, and he’s been coming over and helping out at the Doran shop too,” Swanson said. “Having Clark helping oversee it makes me feel a lot better about venturing into a new discipline for the rest of the team and me getting back into it in that capacity.”

Lamme will go on the road with the team to all the dirt races this season while Hampshire has offered his extensive knowledge over the phone. Kent Wolters, a longtime racer himself and who Swanson raced for with great success in sprint cars, will also lend a hand during the season.

“It’s really nice to have those people in your corner as much as a familiar car,” Swanson related. “Having some good friends be a part of it really helps out too.”

RACE DETAILS:

Swanson starts up his USAC Silver Crown National Championship this Friday-Saturday, May 19-20, at the Belleville (Kan.) High Banks, where he previously won a 50-lapper in 2014 for the DePalma Motorsports team.

On Friday, it’s practice night for the USAC Silver Crown division at Belleville with three separate sessions throughout the night in conjunction with a full program for the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship. The pits open at 3pm Central. Front gates open at 5:30pm. Hot laps start at 6:30pm, followed by qualifying and racing. General admission and reserved tickets are $25. General admission and reserved tickets for ages 12 and under are $15. A one-day pit pass is $35 and two-day pit passes are $60.

On Saturday, it’s a full race day for both the USAC Silver Crown and USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship divisions. The pits open at 3pm Central. Front gates open at 5:30pm. Hot laps start at 6:30pm, followed by qualifying and racing. General admission and reserved tickets are $30. General admission and reserved tickets for ages 12 and under are $20. A one-day pit pass is $40 and two-day pit passes are $60.

The entire events for both nights at Belleville, can be watched LIVE on FloRacing at https://flosports.link/3ZjeooQ.

MISSION FOODS TO SPONSOR SWANSON

In Doran Binks Racing No. 77 in 2023

For USAC Silver Crown and 500 Sprint Car Tour Series

LEBANON, Ohio, March 29 — Mission Foods, the leading producer of tortillas in the United States and the manufacturer of a variety of authentic Mexican products, will be the primary sponsor of Kody Swanson this year in both the USAC Silver Crown and the 500 Sprint Car Tour series. 

Swanson is the defending champion of both series.

Swanson’s cars will be fielded by Kevin Doran and Dan Binks working together as Doran Binks Racing, and they will be based at Doran Racing’s headquarters in Lebanon, Ohio. Glenn Farms will be the team’s associate sponsor. The race cars will all be No. 77. 

Doran Racing fielded Swanson’s asphalt USAC Silver Crown car last year. This year Doran Binks Racing will field both the asphalt and dirt USAC Silver Crown cars for Swanson.

Doran Binks Racing plans to compete in all 14 USAC Silver Crown races in 2023. As a seven-time champion, Swanson’s 37 victories make him the winningest driver in the history of this series, the top class of USAC.

Swanson, a native of Kingsburg, Calif., who now lives in Indianapolis, won three races enroute to last year’s USAC Silver Crown title. In August he beat his own world speed record for a traditional USAC Silver Crown car with a speed of 146.699 miles per hour during qualifying at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill.

The 500 Sprint Car Tour consists of 10 races this year. It includes the most prestigious asphalt sprint car race in the world, the 75th annual Lucas Oil Little 500 presented by UAW on May 27 at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway. Swanson is a three-time winner of the Little 500.

Last year Doran Racing and Swanson posted two victories, six podium finishes and won the inaugural 500 Sprint Car Tour championship using engines prepared by Binks. 

"I'm excited about this year and the season ahead,” said Swanson. “This is a tremendous opportunity to work together with some great friends and talented racers, and do it all out of the same building.  I'm thankful for the chance to partner with the Mission brand, and hope to represent an iconic company well while competing for wins and championships."

While Swanson is a legend in USAC, Doran and Binks are both legends in endurance sports car racing.

Doran has won the Rolex 24 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway as a crew chief, a team member, a team manager, a car owner, and even as a car manufacturer. Prior to fielding cars under Doran Racing, he had many victories with the late Al Holbert, a five-time IMSA Camel GT champion; the MOMO Ferrari team, and Doran Lista Racing. 

Binks, of Brighton, Mich., was the crew chief for Corvette Racing’s factory sports car team for nearly 20 years. Under his direction that team won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times and numerous IMSA championships.

Prior to becoming one of the most recognizable faces of Corvette Racing, Binks won IMSA GTU races with a Mazda RX-7 with various drivers; enjoyed great success in Trans Am, and even was a crew chief for Roush Fenway Racing in NASCAR. 

The 500 Sprint Car Tour season opens Saturday, April 8 at Anderson Speedway in Anderson, Ind. 

The USAC Silver Crown series opens the following weekend with the 20th running of the Sumar Classic on Sunday, April 16 at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. 

About Mission Foods:

The Gruma Corporation began in 1949 and is today the leading tortilla manufacturer worldwide. Mission Foods is a proud subsidiary of Gruma, and as the #1 tortilla company in the United States, manufactures a wide variety of authentic Mexican products. Five years ago it opened a state-of-the-art plant in Dallas, Texas, with the capacity to produce 30 million tortillas daily. Today Mission Foods is a global company, with special emphasis not only on the United States but also Mexico, Central America, Europe, China, Malaysia, and Australia. Its products include flour and corn tortillas; tostadas; low-carb, whole wheat, organic and gluten-free items; wraps; flatbreads such as naan, pita and roti; tortilla chips and organic chips; chicharrones; salsa, and dips. For more information see missionfoods.com.

SOUTHWICK, Mass., Dec. 7 — Tim Bertrand, owner of Bertrand Motorsports, is pleased to

announce he has signed Kody Swanson to drive for his team at four premier midget events in

2023.

Swanson will drive a Bertrand Motorsports Beast with a Stanton engine in the Carb Night

Classic at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) in Brownsburg, Ind., on Friday, May 26; the

Boston Louie Seymour Memorial at Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway on Saturday, July 15; the Twin

25 midget races at IRP on Saturday, Aug. 12, and the Howard Companies Championship

Saturday at IRP on Oct. 21. All three of the events at IRP are marquee events of the United

States Auto Club (USAC) and part of the National Pavement Midget Championship, while the

Boston Louie Seymour Memorial is a cornerstone of the Northeastern Midget Association

(NEMA) schedule each year.

It will mark the second year of Swanson’s participation with the Southwick, Mass.-based team,

which has won 11 NEMA championships. The team finished first and second in the NEMA

championship this year with Avery Stoehr of Lakeville, Mass., and Randy Cabral of Plymouth,

Mass., respectively.

Swanson, a native of Kingsburg, Calif., who resides in Indianapolis, is the winningest driver in

USAC Silver Crown history with seven championships. He and his brother, Tanner, are tied for

the most USAC Silver Crown victories ever at IRP with seven. Kody Swanson also sewed up the

inaugural championship of the 500 Sprint Car Tour in October at IRP.

Bertrand said he plans to field three cars, and possibly a fourth, in the events at IRP. Cole Carter

of Brownsburg, Ind., and Nathan Byrd of Goodyear, Ariz., will be Swanson’s teammates in those

races.

The team owns seven pavement midgets in all. It will continue to field two full-time in NEMA

events for Stoehr and Cabral. Cabral has won eight NEMA championships driving for Bertrand

Motorsports; Stoehr has won two for the team, and Todd Bertrand, Tim’s brother, was the

NEMA champion in 2020. The team is second on the all-time NEMA win list with 101 feature

victories.

Bertrand Motorsports has won the Boston Louie Seymour Memorial eight times, including this

year with Stoehr.

The team’s primary sponsor is project44, a software company based in Chicago which is the

world’s leading advanced visibility platform for shippers and third-party logistics firms. It helps

thousands of the world’s largest brands make their supply chains work.

Other sponsors include Esslinger, Bass Plating, Plas Tec Coatings, Eibach Springs, TJ Forged, ARS,

CSI, JRC Transportation and Stanton.

“There were many reasons we hired Kody,” Bertrand said. “He’s the all-time USAC Silver Crown

winner and a master at IRP, and winning a race at IRP is definitely on my bucket list. It’s

something I’ve been aiming to do my whole career. It would rank up there with any other

victory we’ve had in our team’s history.

“I would say that being involved with him this year has fast-forwarded our program about five

to 10 years,” Bertrand continued. “The knowledge he brings about the cars and the tracks and

open-wheel cars in general brings us to a new level. We were a threat for a win or a podium at

every race this year, but we had some mechanical issues that caused our results on paper to

not really match Kody and the car’s actual performances. We’re headed into the new year

much more aware of how to fix some of the issues we had, and we’re really excited about next

year.

“Another reason is that we really enjoy working with him and the Dorans and with the Swanson

family; they’re first-class individuals,” added Bertrand. (Swanson’s four Silver Crown victories

this year and the 500 Sprint Car Tour championship came driving Doran Racing-fielded cars.)

“Part of the reason I do this is to be with good people, and that’s something that he and his

team and his family bring to the table.”

“I’m excited to return to the Bertrand Motorsports team in 2023,” said Swanson. “It was great

to get to know them this year, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to have raced with them.

They have a great team atmosphere, and I enjoy working with everyone that is part of it. While

our final results weren’t what we hoped for, we made real progress throughout our first

season, and I felt like we were still in contention for a podium finish in each race. So I’m looking

forward to continue building on what we’ve learned so far, and giving it our best shot in the

upcoming season.

“I’m thankful for the chance to compete in the Boston Louie race,” Swanson continued. “The

Bertrands have such a long history of success in the NEMA series, and with winged midgets, so

I’m really looking forward to being able to try my hand at this new discipline with them.”

Towing halfway across the country to race adds to the challenge, and Bertrand said that his

team couldn’t make the IRP events without the help of his father, Gil. “He drove back and forth

from Connecticut to Indianapolis to support this operation,” he said. “Between testing; working

on the cars; going to Doran’s shop in Lebanon, Ohio, and towing to the races at IRP, we

wouldn’t be able to do this without my dad.”

Bertrand also singled out longtime TQ midget racer John Smith and veteran midget and TQ

racer Rich Tolerico for their help; Glen Cabral, longtime crew member; Nick Makrianis; Andy

Weeks; Brandon Igo, Kevin Park, and of course, his family: wife, Cara; daughter, Norah; brothers

Todd and Patrick; sister-in-law, Mariah, and niece and nephew, Ellie and Tucker.

“Kody brings a couple of great helpers too,” he added. “Ryan Roberts has been with Kody for a

long time, as has Clark Lamme. His wife, Jordan, is his spotter. We’ve put together a little crew

of people we’re both comfortable with to help build the best-possible crew that we could for

this effort, and we’re all looking forward to 2023.”

For more information on Bertrand Motorsports, follow it on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram

(BertrandMotorsports) and Twitter (BertrandMS). For more information on Swanson, see

kodyswansonracing.com and shopkodyswanson.com and follow him on Facebook

(KodySwansonRacin) and Twitter and Instagram (kodyswanson).

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Brownsburg, Indiana (October 22, 2022)………The Brothers Swanson corralled all the USAC Silver Crown headlines during Championship Saturday at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

While Tanner Swanson took the feature victory in the 100-lap battle of the Kingsburg, Calif. siblings, it was Kody Swanson who emerged as the series champion once more for the seventh time in his illustrious career.

Tanner tracked down Kody in lapped traffic with 35 circuits remaining, then led the balance of the distance to earn his seventh career USAC Silver Crown win at IRP, tying himself with, you guessed it, Kody, as the all-time winningest series driver at the track.

Meanwhile, Kody, who trailed Logan Seavey by three points entering the event, collected three points for winning his 41st career pole position to lead off the festivities.  Kody officially moved atop the series point standings when he led the 51st lap, clinching the three-point bonus awarded to the driver leading the most laps in the feature.

Simultaneously, Kody was experiencing an assault upon the unconditional expression of “Brotherly Love.”  Tanner continuously applied pressure to the rear bumper of Kody until executing his move in traffic on lap 66 to make the pass and make himself a happy winner after capturing his first series victory in more than two seasons aboard his Bowman Racing/Bricker’s Pub – T.J. Forged/Beast/Kistler Chevy.

Near midway, Tanner came to the realization that he was pushing too hard.  Once the seed of information was planted from his newfound communication via the spotter, Tanner whoa’d up and recalibrated his approach.

“It’s just a high-speed chess match here,” Tanner related.  “You’ve got two cars that are that good and I didn’t have any radio communication for the first half of it.  I really didn’t know how many laps were left, so I was pushing him a little bit and trying to see where he was at and where I was at.  I thought we were feeling pretty good, then I finally got somebody to come over the radio and say ’40 to go,’ and I was like, ‘Uh oh, we’ve been pushing way too hard!’”  So, I backed off a little bit, then I got lucky with some lapped cars.  Once we got into clean air, we were able to log some good laps.”

“Lucky” is a bit of a misnomer with luck usually playing into the hands of the driver who finds himself in the right place at the right time.  That’s precisely where Tanner was on lap 66 when Kody found himself sandwiched between the tail-end lead lap cars of Nathan Byrd and Brian Tyler in turn four.  Kody was forced to check up while Tanner carried a full head of steam and dove under all three to snare the lead away at the line.

“Being in second while going through lapped traffic is the best place to be,” Tanner acknowledged.  “I was able to make the easy decision while Kody had the hard decision, and I just did whatever he didn’t do.  I got really lucky with those two guys who pinned him in.  If that hadn’t happened, I don’t know how it would’ve played out.”

Three-quarters of a lap later, the caution fell for the first of the race when Kyle Robbins (13th) spun at the exit of turn four.  Jake Day (15th) attempted to avoid by maneuvering to the high side, but clipped Robbins’ left rear wheel with his left front, sending Day on a straight path into the inside wall.  Both drivers were okay, but both saw an early end to their races.

Thereafter, Kody lost second when C.J. Leary dove under in turn one to steal the position away on the lap 74 restart.  Kody further slid back to fourth when series Rookie Tyler Roahrig, debuting a new Legacy Chassis for the Silver Crown debuting team of Legacy Autosport, impressively went to the topside of turns three and four to squeeze around Kody for the spot with nine laps to go, trailing only race winner Tanner Swanson and runner-up C.J. Leary to the line on the 100th lap.

Despite dropping off the podium during the late stages, the story was already written for Kody’s championship ending.  Early in the race, Logan Seavey was running a steady third when the oil pump belt broke, knocking him out of the race on lap 12 and dropping him down to a season-worst 20th place result.

It was a bitter end for Seavey and his Rice Motorsports team who broke a cam in their engine during Friday’s open practice at IRP, then pulled an all-nighter to drop their dirt car engine between the frame rails.  However, the struggle to make it fit didn’t initially go as well as hoped.  The oil pan was retrofitted by Cold Hard Art to help the cause, and by that point, it was already 4am.  Work continued in the shop close to 7am and the trailer and racecar ultimately appeared in IRP’s infield a mere 20 minutes before the first practice session.

Likewise, Kody spent his fair share of shop time as well, practically camping out at Dyson Racing headquarters from the time last Saturday’s Illinois State Fairgrounds race ended until Wednesday night of this past week.  When the final checkered waved, the whole plan had come to fruition with Doran Racing and Chris Dyson Racing earning first ever USAC Silver Crown entrant titles while Kody became a USAC Silver Crown champion for the seventh time.  That is, despite finishing fourth and having to chase his younger brother to the aforementioned checkered flag.

“Tonight, I’m not even the best in my own family,” Kody said with a laugh.  “My brother, Tanner, does an amazing job.  He put it on us tonight.  We just missed (the setup) a little bit, but these championships are hard to come by and I’m thankful to be surrounded by great people who never give up.  We were here until midnight last night trying to get the thing fixed to make it 100 laps, and it did.  We still came home fourth and had a solid finish.  To cap it off with a championship is a little bit of a silver lining.”

C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) made a sweet move late to grab a second place finish in his Klatt Enterprises/Wilwood Disc Brakes – Lucas Oil – Brown & Miller Racing Solutions/Beast/Ford.  It marked the best career USAC Silver Crown finish by a Leary at IRP.  C.J.’s father, Chuck, finished third in 1999.  C.J. also took home a career-best third in the final series points.

It was a terrific USAC Silver Crown debut for the Legacy Autosport team with driver Tyler Roahrig (Plymouth, Ind.) bringing home a third place finish in his Legacy Autosport/Legacy Brand – Metalloid Corporation/Legacy/Legacy Chevy.  Roahrig, who won the accompanying 500 Sprint Car Tour feature earlier in the night, charged from ninth, then used a high side pass of Kody Swanson with nine laps to go to swipe the third spot.  In two career IRP Silver Crown starts over the past two seasons, Roahrig has now finished second and third.