Swanson Comes from Sixth to Third at Berlin

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media 

Winchester, Indiana (July 20, 2023)………For Kody Swanson, on Thursday night, Winchester (Ind.) Speedway served as a place to go back-to-back in a myriad of manners.

The victory was his second consecutive in USAC Silver Crown competition after winning the most recent round at Wisconsin’s Madison International Speedway in June, marking the 13th occasion in which he’s won two-straight series main events in his career with the series.

Furthermore, the triumph was the second occasion in a row in which he performed a complete sweep by recording the fastest time in both Dirt Draft Practice and Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying before going on to lead all 100 laps en route to victory.

Finally, and perhaps most impressively, it was Swanson’s second straight win at the 31st running of the Rich Vogler Classic Presented by The Pallet Builder, backing up a similar dominant run from the pole position in 2022 in which he also completely swept the night.

Swanson’s performance culminated with the Kingsburg, Calif. native’s fourth career Rich Vogler Classic victory following previous triumphs in 2016, 2019 and 2022, which ranks second only to the six achieved by Tracy Hines.

On a night when both rain and stray cats interrupted the proceedings at one point or another, Swanson was a steady force in his Doran-Binks Racing/Mission Foods – Glenn Farms/Beast/Lanci Ford, strutting back into the series point lead in his pursuit for an eighth career USAC Silver Crown National Championship.

After earning his record-extending 44th career USAC Silver Crown pole position earlier in the evening, Swanson went forth and set the pace that all others would be chasing for the rest of the evening as point leader Logan Seavey slotted into second from his outside front row starting position.

Initially, C.J. Leary was the man on the move, taking Aaron Pierce for fourth on lap four and gunning underneath Caleb Armstrong for the third spot on lap 12 entering turn three.  Armstrong was making his first series start since his Rookie of the Year season in 2014.  On lap 19, Leary continued the charge as he dove low past Seavey in turn four for second place.

Problems plagued Seavey just prior to the halfway point as he began to drop dramatically through the field.  In fact, during a span of three laps between 41-44, he dropped from seventh to 17th in the running order.  The diagnosis was that the brake pads were knocked off on his ride about 40 laps into the race, requiring a stop for a new set during an unexpected red flag for rain just after the midpoint.

A brief shower doused the speedway under green flag conditions on the 55th lap, necessitating a half-hour red flag period until the rain stopped and the track drying process commenced.  Nonetheless, that didn’t hinder Swanson a bit when action resumed as he opened his lead to a half-straight over Leary with another half-straight gap back to third running Armstrong.

Santos ran fourth on the restart, but quickly jumped to third on lap 55 when Armstrong experienced a Maalox moment in turn two after his ride got completely sideways, nearly spinning, but was able to save it and regain control.  As a result, however, Armstrong dropped two spots to fifth while Santos and Davey Hamilton Jr. stormed on by for third and fourth, respectively.

Just a mere eight laps later, Santos thundered to second, cruising underneath Leary entering the third turn to take over the position on lap 63.  Yet, Santos remained a full second behind Swanson with 37 to go.

Fourth running Hamilton Jr. became the next to find himself crossed up sideways and narrowly avoid disaster in turn two on lap 71 as Bischak took advantage and drove past to take over the fourth spot and quickly closed right to the tail of third running Leary.

The most major incident of the race came on lap 79 when series point leader Seavey’s right front wheel center broke, sending him straight into the outside turn two wall with the right front of the car before sliding to a stop on the inside of the racing surface while his right front wheel rolled all the way around to turn four.  Seavey climbed out and walked away, but his 12th place result was his first outside the top-five all season long.

Starting with lap 88, Santos reeled off his five fastest laps of the race in rapid-fire succession, helping him to close within three car lengths of Swanson for the race lead.  With that said, on lap 92, Swanson answered with his third fastest lap of the race and, thusly, kept Santos at bay and began to suddenly inch away to put the race on ice during the ensuing laps.

The race for third remained hotly contested on lap 93 as Bischak finally was able to muster the move to third after 20-plus laps of constantly working on Leary to take over the position.  Bischak, a former college cross country star at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, dove low at the exit of turn four with seven laps to go to move into the final “podium” position.

Further up ahead, Swanson couldn’t be corralled or contained as he earned his 39th career USAC Silver Crown victory by a 2.858 second margin over Santos with Bischak third, Leary fourth and Hamilton Jr. fifth.

Late in the race, Swanson felt he was staggering a bit to the finish line while Santos was surging, which kept Swanson on needles, pins and toes until the music stopped.

“On those long runs, maybe they let us go a little bit,” Swanson said of the field’s pace.  “Bobby was so strong at the end, I think he kind of proved to me anyway that he was still capable, and I got lucky to fend him off there at the end.  You never know if he’s going to reload and make another charge on the restart.  He’s just that good of a racer.  I felt like I was floundering a little bit on that last restart, and I was glad to be able to hang on.  I felt like we had a really good car early, and I hated to think that I could mess it up under one of those cautions.”

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Oregon, Wisconsin (June 23, 2023)………Throughout the first three events of the 2023 USAC Silver Crown National Championship season, Kody Swanson had dominated the stat book in terms of total laps led.

The Kingsburg, Calif. native led all three races for a total of 163 out of a possible 246 laps – more than two-thirds of all the laps that had been run thus far this season.

Despite that fact, he had zero wins to show for his efforts.

Throughout Friday night’s Bytec Dairyland 100 at Wisconsin’s Madison International Speedway, the seven-time series champion put that odd little anomaly to bed with a dominant wire-to-wire performance, leading all 100 laps in his Doran-Binks Racing/Mission Foods – Glenn Farms/Beast/Lanci Ford.

The victory was Swanson’s first of the year in Silver Crown competition, and his record-extending 38th overall, as he captured his third career triumph with the series at Madison in four tries, having made the drive to winner’s circle in 2018-19-23.

In 2022, Swanson’s early season swoon left him winless throughout the first handful of rounds before finally finding his mojo in late June.  In 2023, the timeline matches up once again with Swanson winning the first race held following the summer solstice.

For Swanson, this win came not a moment too soon.

“We’ve been trying all year,” Swanson related.  “It just hasn’t quite fallen our way.  We’ve been running well on the dirt too, but we just haven’t been strong enough to finish at the end.  Logan (Seavey) was the class of the field last week at Port Royal.  Bobby (Santos) was really good at IRP.  Justin (Grant) and Brady (Bacon) were both great at Belleville.  So, there’s a lot of top-caliber guys you’re trying to win against.  That’s why each one of these races that you do win means a lot.”

Swanson’s perfect evening began by turning the fastest lap in Dirt Draft Practice, followed by his 43rd career Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifying time, which earned him the pole position where he proceeded to lead all 100 laps en route to victory.

As a matter of fact, Swanson is the second consecutive driver to achieve that exact same feat at Madison after C.J. Leary did just the same in 2022.  However, on this particular night, Leary would not even have a chance to repeat his Dairyland 100 triumph, with his engine down two cylinders during practice and qualifying, which forced him and his Klatt Enterprises team to the sideline as a scratch for the main event.

With that said, the race went on, and from the word “go,” Swanson had a chokehold on the entirety of the 21-car starting field.  Swanson stepped out in front of the line at the initial start ahead first-time Silver Crown front row starter Derek Bischak and began his 100-lap patrol of the field.

On lap seven, things went awry for eighth place running Taylor Ferns who came to a stop and turned around backwards in the middle of turn two.  She’d rejoin the field at the tail, and ultimately, soldiered on to finish in the 13th position.

Thirteenth starting Bobby Santos shuffled the deck at the forefront of the field as he made a charge around the outside of Bischak on the back straightaway on lap 20.  Tyler Roahrig followed suit as he too zipped past Bischak with an outside pass on the back straight to take over the third position a lap later on the 21st circuit.

Bischak, aiming to top his best career finish of fourth achieved in his most recent series start at IRP in May, came to an end on lap 33 when a shower of sparks emanated from the rear of his car, sending the fourth-place driver and car into a spin in turns three and four.  The incident put a premature conclusion to the 2019 USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year’s night, stifling him to a 20th place result.

Swanson continued to hold serve up front as the race rifled through the middle stages, maintaining a near two second lead throughout, keeping Santos and Roahrig in check as they received a constant view of the No. 77 adorned tail tank of Swanson’s ride lap-after-lap around the half-mile paved oval.

However, the race once again was brought to a half on lap 61 for the 13th place car of Bryan Gossel who came to a stop sideways atop the banking in between turns one and two, ending the evening for the 2020 series Rookie of the Year.

When racing resumed, Mario Clouser made a forward surge, powering into the fourth position at the entrance of turn three underneath series point leader Logan Seavey on the 71st lap.

The yellow flag flew once more for the final time on lap 81 when 2020 series champion Justin Grant (7th) slowed with a flat right rear tire, while simultaneously, Billy Wease (10th) also stopped in turn one, ending his race with a 17th place result while Grant motored on to finish 16th, one lap down in the running order.

Kody Swanson's 1.1 second lead was erased due to the caution.  However, the song remained the same for Swanson as the race resumed with the lap 86 restart, and remained the same for everyone who chased him on this night.  Swanson was in total control throughout, and in the end, finished 2.392 seconds ahead of runner-up Bobby Santos while Tyler Roahrig collected a third with Mario Clouser fourth and Logan Seavey fifth.

Guided by the voice of spotter and wife Jordan Swanson in his ear, Swanson was seemingly at ease, but considering the aspect of how the first three events of the season shook out following superb performances, Swanson wasn’t going to allow himself to feel completely comfortable until he pulled into victory lane.

“My wife does a great job, and it makes a huge difference for me just having that peace of mind,” Swanson iterated.  “But there’s no peace of mind to be had when you’ve got Bobby Santos and Tyler Roahrig coming, and you know whatever gap you have, most of the time, it’s by their choice.  They always make me wonder if I’m going too hard, and maybe I was.  I knew Bobby was there, especially with about 15 to go.  Maybe he was preserving (his equipment) for a green-white-checkered there; he’s so good at that and he’s stolen them from others that way too.  So, you never breathe a sigh of relief until the checkered flag falls.”

Bobby Santos brought home a second-place finish in his DJ Racing/Classic Corvettes – Brown & Miller Racing Solutions – Simpson/Beast/Speedway Chevy.  In four career USAC Silver Crown starts at Madison, he's now finished as the runner-up three times.  The Franklin, Mass. native has been a second-place finisher in 2018-22-23, and was fourth in the 2019 event, but feels his day is coming soon for a first Silver Crown victory in the state of Wisconsin.

“Silver Crown racing has really changed,” Santos revealed.  “It’s a 100-lap sprint car race, honestly.  We’re pushing as hard as we could.  I’m getting sick of running second, but we’ve got to keep working to be better.  This track is fun, but it’s a difficult racetrack.  I’ve been second two years in a row here, but that’s the way it goes.  We’ll get one.”

It certainly wasn’t a bad introduction to Madison International Speedway for first-time visitor Tyler Roahrig and his Legacy Autosport/Metalloid – Penske Shocks/Legacy/Stanton Chevy.  The Plymouth, Ind. racer finished third in his first Dairyland 100 run.  It’s a familiar spot for Roahrig who has finished 3rd, 3rd and 3rd in his past three pavement USAC Silver Crown starts.  In fact, in four of his five career series starts, he came away with a podium result.  Not too shabby for a first impression.

“Just getting your car to handle here is tough,” Roahrig acknowledged.  “It’s got really tight corners and you’ve got to drag race down the straightaways.  It’s not bad for my first time here, but we’ll take some notes and come back again.”

PORT ROYAL, Pa., June 18 — Top-five finishes are crucial when trying to defend a championship, and Doran Binks Racing’s Kody Swanson recorded another one in pursuit of his unprecedented eighth USAC Silver Crown title when he finished fifth in the 50-lap USAC Silver Crown race Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway.

His Mission Foods No. 77, a Maxim chassis powered by a Hampshire Chevy engine that is also sponsored by Glenn Farms, started second in the 26-car field on the half-mile clay oval, but Swanson beat polesitter Mitchel Moles into the first turn and led the first 21 laps. Brady Bacon passed Moles for second on lap two and tried to get around Swanson both on the low side and the high side to no avail. By lap 10 Swanson had a 1.567-second lead over Bacon, who was followed by Moles, Chase Dietz and Logan Seavey.

The fight for second was intense, which allowed Swanson to increase his lead to over 2 seconds by lap 13. Seavey got around Bacon for second three laps later, and he was able to cut Swanson’s lead to 0.796 of a second by lap 20 when the second of three cautions waved.

Swanson fought Seavey off on the restart but Seavey took the lead in Turn 3 on lap 22, relegating Swanson to second. On lap 24 Swanson, Bacon and Dietz were three abreast flying down the frontstretch as they battled for second. That battle allowed Seavey to build up a 3-second lead over Swanson by lap 31.

Swanson held second until lap 37, when Dietz got by. Bacon passed him on the following lap to relegate him to fourth.

The third and final yellow flew with 46 laps down for an incident involving Trey Burke and Mario Clouser. Carmen Perigo slipped under Swanson for fourth on the restart, but Swanson was able to finish fifth by holding off Justin Grant until the checkered.

 Seavey, who also won this race last year, took the checkered over Dietz, who had a stellar series debut. Bacon was third followed by Perigo and Swanson.

"It's tough to lead laps and not come away with a win, but it is nice to be disappointed with a top-five finish for me at a place like Port Royal," Swanson said afterwards.

 "I'm thankful for the hard work from everyone involved with our dirt Silver Crown effort.  We had a good run in qualifying and have been strong at different parts of the night, but just need to find something to keep our Mission Foods/Glenn Farms No. 77 a little better at the end of the feature.  All considered, I think they're good problems for us to have this early in the [dirt] season, and I am grateful for all of us working together to keep our dirt program improving." 

Swanson set the fastest lap of the race on lap 3 with a time of 22.273 seconds. He qualified second with a 20.918 to Moles’ new track record of 20.899.

The next USAC Silver Crown race is the Bytec Dairyland 100 this coming Friday, June 23, at Madison International Speedway in Oregon, Wis.

All of the USAC Silver Crown races are streamed live by Flo Racing.

ANDERSON, Ind., May 29 — Doran Binks Racing’s Kody Swanson led more than half of the 75th running of the Lucas Oil Little 500 Presented by UAW Saturday night at Anderson Speedway, and he finished on the podium in third place in the team’s Mission Foods No. 77 in the most prestigious asphalt sprint car race in the world.

Swanson, a native of Kingsburg, Calif., who now lives in Indianapolis, was never lower than fourth place during the 500-lap contest on Anderson’s quarter-mile, high-banked oval, which is famous for starting 33 sprint cars three abreast and being long enough to require two mandatory pit stops in each half of the race.

Swanson started on the pole after being the fastest qualifier in first-round qualifying last Thursday. He immediately took command, and led the first 194 laps with the No. 77, which is powered by a Binks Chevrolet V8.

He made his first pit stop working lap 195 under a caution flag, but didn’t lose a lap and only dropped to fourth place.

He moved from fourth to third on lap 280 when his brother, Tanner, dropped out while leading with an apparent motor issue.

He was running in third place behind defending winner Tyler Roahrig and Caleb Armstrong when he made his second pit stop under caution on lap 359, which dropped him back to fourth from laps 360 through 379.

He regained third on lap 380 when Armstrong had an issue in Turn 2 to bring out another yellow; second on lap 384 after Roahrig made a pit stop, and back into the lead on lap 385 when the eventual winner, rookie Jake Trainor, also pitted.

Swanson continued at the top of the scoreboard through lap 445. He dropped to second place on lap 446 when Trainor made what became the winning move.

Swanson remained in second place through lap 498, but he was dealing with some issues which allowed Caleb Armstong to get by him at the very end. Swanson was only 0.367 of a second behind Armstrong at the checkered.

“We started having steering issues about lap 180, and it just kept getting worse,” Swanson said afterwards. “With about 100 to go the power steering was pretty well gone, and it finally gave out with 10 laps to go. This is a tough race, and it’s all part of the battle!

“I’m grateful for everyone on the Doran Binks Racing team for all their hard work, and for the support of Mission Foods, Glenn Farms, and our other marketing partners.” 

Trainor, Caleb Armstrong and Swanson were the only drivers to complete all 500 laps. Jacob Wilson finished fourth and Logan Seavey placed fifth; they were both three laps down. Dalton Armstrong, Derek Bischak and Roahrig were next, four laps down. Brady Bacon (six laps down) and Davey Hamilton Jr. (eight laps down) rounded out the top 10. 

There was a yellow before the race started and unofficially 15 caution periods and one red flag during it. 

Roahrig kept intense pressure on Swanson in the early going. It wasn’t until lap 88 that Swanson was able to build up a 1.842 second lead when Roahrig had some problems with lapped traffic, but it decreased again when Roahrig cleared them.

C .J. Leary ran second behind Swanson from lap 385 through lap 411 and he also kept the pressure up until he slowed with mechanical problems. 

Swanson set his fastest lap of the race on lap 41 with a time of 11.445 seconds. It was the third-fastest lap run by anyone in the race.

In preliminary action Swanson won his fourth pole for this event on Thursday with a time of 43.614 seconds for four laps and the best one-lap time of 10.843 seconds. Roahrig qualified second, just 0.168 off Swanson’s time. Trainor, Emerson Axsom, Leary, Billy Wease, Shane Hollingsworth, Seavey, Kyle O’Gara and Bischak rounded out the top 10 in qualifying to set the 33-car field.

The Little 500 is part of the 500 Sprint Car Tour, but it’s a non-points-paying special event. The next race on that schedule is June 10 at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Mich., followed by a race June 18 at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway.

The USAC Silver Crown series also has two races in June: June 17 at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, and June 23 at Madison Int’l Speedway in Oregon, Wis.

Anderson Speedway - The 75th Annual Lucas Oil Little 500 presented by UAW kicked off Wednesday afternoon in front of an eager crowd. With 39 non-wing sprint cars taking the track and setting an official time, Anderson Speedway’s ¼ mile oval was kept busy for the full practice session. Fans saw familiar faces and new news atop today’s scoring chart on what turned out to be a fast day for the field.

Speed was the name of the game on Wednesday with Kody Swanson clocking in a lap time of 11.016, only 0.217 off the official track record set by Tyler Roahrig in last year’s pole day qualifying. Swanson was not the only driver to show consistent speed as Jake Trainor, Tyler Roahrig, Kyle O’Gara, and Emerson Axsom were all within two-tenths of Swanson’s fast time. Times were tight across the board as the top 34 drivers in today’s practice session all clocked in within 1 second of each other. Some may argue that with the consistent speeds shown in today’s practice session that this may be the tightest field in Little 500 history.

Storyline from the first day of on track action for the Little 500 include the entry of Kyle O’Gara, the reigning Glen Niebel Champion, and the announcement of two-time Little 500 champion Jacob Wilson replacing Scott Hampton in the #51 United Services Group machine. O’Gara’s entry into the event came when the pit gates opened, causing an instant excitement for Little 500 race fans. After his impressive showing at Anderson lately, winning the 2022 and 2023 Glen Niebel Classic, O’Gara was pegged as an early favorite to compete for a front row spot and a victory. O’Gara started his week off strong, finishing fourth on the speed charts.

An eventful evening led into an eventful morning with the announcement that Scott Hampton had removed himself from the race and Jacob Wilson would be replacing him. Wilson, a two-time Little 500 champion, was the only person Hampton could think of to replace him. The car proved to be strong with Wilson behind the wheel as the team finished seventh in the official time sheets. Wilson will surely be a name to watch heading into CB Fabricating Pole Day.

The 75th Annual Lucas Oil Little 500 presented by UAW is set to be run on Saturday, May 27th at 8:00pm. CB Fabricating Pole Day is scheduled for Thursday, May 25 from 11:30am – 3:30pm. Final practice and Bump Day is set for Friday, May 26 from 11:30am to 3:30pm. Grandstand admission is free for fans Thursday and Friday, and race day tickets are reserved seating only and are $45 each. Tickets for the 75th Annual Lucas Oil Little 500 presented by UAW are on sale now and can be purchased by calling (765) 642-0206 ex. 121 or by stopping by the ticket office. Fans can also stream the event live via MAVTV on Floracing by clicking here to subscribe or stream.

From USAC Racing: The fastest lap ever turned by a USAC Silver Crown car at the Belleville High Banks!

You saw it tonight with Kody Swanson rocketing around the half-mile with a new track record lap of 16.823 during Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.

That's the 42nd fast time of his USAC Silver Crown career.

Mission Foods  #2Fast2Tasty  #FueledByMission

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Speedway, Indiana (April 12, 2023)………USAC Silver Crown racing is back in a big way.

That could be said unequivocally in more ways than one with a record 16 full-time entries set to embark on the National Championship trail throughout the 2023 season.

This Sunday’s, April 16 season opening race on the dirt 1/2-mile of the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track brings us joy and it brings us questions that we’ll soon get to see answered during this year’s 13-race schedule – seven on pavement, six on dirt. 

SWANSON IN-HOUSE WITH DORAN-BINKS

After scoring two championships during the last two USAC Silver Crown seasons, Kody Swanson had been in a situation in which he had to utilize multiple teams, multiple crew chiefs and multiple shop locations in order to reach his goal.  The method worked, and from the outside vantage point, he made it seem almost seamless as he racked his record-extending seventh series title in 2022.

This year, however, Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) and Doran-Binks Racing will have the whole operation in house, in one location at Kevin Doran’s Lebanon, Ohio base with team co-owner Dan Binks coming aboard from the sports car racing world where both he and Doran have had immense success.

The team has been excellent on the pavement with the USAC Silver Crown series over the past two seasons with Swanson winning three apiece, all on the pavement, in both 2021 and 2022.  Together, in 10 series starts, the team has won six times, and has never finished worse than fourth.  It will be interesting to see how their pavement performance translates to the dirt in the coming year. (click here for full story)

OPENING RACE DETAILS:

The 20th running of the Sumar Classic features the USAC Silver Crown National Championship along with the UMP Modifieds this Sunday, April 16, at the Terre Haute Action Track 1/2-mile dirt track in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Pits open at 1pm Eastern, grandstands open at 3pm, drivers meeting at 4pm and practice at 5pm followed immediately by qualifications and racing.

General admission tickets are $30 for ages 11 & up and free for kids age 10 & under.  Infield tickets are $20 for ages 11 & up and free for kids age 10 & under.

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

Toledo, Ohio (August 5, 2023)………During his first six USAC Silver Crown victories at Ohio’s Toledo Speedway in 2012-15-18-19-21-22, Kody Swanson had led 611 out of a possible 650 laps (94%) in an absolutely dominant stretch at the half-mile paved oval.

Saturday’s running of the Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness Rollie Beale Classic Fueled By Marco’s Pizza was a quite different story, and was, undoubtedly, the most challenging he’d faced yet.

Nonetheless, when seemingly backed against the wall for the majority of the distance, the Kingsburg, Calif. native still managed to pull through and prevail in the 100-lapper, leading a total of 23 laps to score an astounding seventh career Rollie Beale Classic victory, and his fifth-in-a-row at Toledo with the champ cars dating back to 2018.

Toledo Speedway’s all-time winningest USAC driver also equaled a series record set by another series dominator, the late, great Dave Steele.  Swanson’s performance marked just the third time in which a driver captured five consecutive USAC Silver Crown race wins at one track.  Steele grabbed five-straight at Phoenix International Raceway between 2002-06 while Kody himself scored five-in-a-row at Indiana’s Salem Speedway between 2016-20.

Swanson’s third win of the season on Saturday was Swanson’s third series victory in a row, making it the fourth occasion in which he won at least three consecutive main events with the series.  No other driver has more than one such streak.

Furthermore, Swanson’s 40th career USAC Silver Crown triumph came after gaining his 45th career pole award with the series during Honest Abe Qualifying where he joined Tanner Swanson as just the second driver to win seven career USAC Silver Crown poles at a single track, which his younger brother has achieved at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Aboard the Doran-Binks Racing/Mission Foods – Glenn Farms/Beast/Lanci Ford, Swanson endured a hellacious side-by-side battle for the lead with outside front row starter C.J. Leary during the first three laps.

Swanson edged Leary by a car length at the stripe to lead lap one before the duo swapped lanes when Leary wedged underneath Swanson exiting turn two on lap two then surged into the lead as they crossed the line separated by a half car length.  Leary escaped the throes of Swanson on the third lap to gain a little bit of breathing room, which he’d enjoy for quite a while.

However, on lap four, the race’s only caution flag was displayed when fourth running Davey Hamilton Jr., making his debut for the Legacy Autosport team, saw his ride go up in smoke on the back straight.  The Idahoan quickly stopped and hopped out, ending his day prematurely.

Leary continued to be a force up front throughout the first third of the event while, further back, 2017 Rollie Beale Classic USAC Silver Crown winner Bobby Santos had gained eight spots by lap 28 to advance from his 20th starting position to 12th.  Santos was relegated to the tail for the start due to a driveline issue suffered during practice, and later, raced his way into the top-10 on lap 57, but dropped to 11th in the final running order during the waning laps.

Simultaneously, Leary began to work lapped traffic, but managed to extend his lead to more than four seconds over Swanson as the race neared the midway point.  Mired in traffic on lap 48, 2020 series champion Justin Grant found himself lodged in-between the lapped machines of Nathan Byrd and Matt Westfall.  Spotting a lane all to his own, Derek Bischak moved up a groove and drove around the outside of all three to move into second but remained a full five seconds out of the lead.

By lap 56, Leary had his hands full with a huge throng of cars in his path, including Santos, Billy Wease, Kyle O'Gara, Trey Burke, Mike McVetta and Taylor Ferns who earned hard charger honors by advancing from 17th to 8th.  All the traffic managed to slash Leary’s lead from four seconds down to a mere 1.8 with just 40 circuits to go, all to the benefit of Swanson.

“Lapped traffic is always tough because all the cars are pretty fast, and they’re racing other cars,” Swanson explained.  “At one point when C.J. had a big lead, I thought we would have to be happy with second.  But I think lapped traffic helped us to race our way back into contention, and we were lucky to get away with one there in the end.  We ran hard laps, and the chance to sort it out on the track was fun for me.  I had to work hard for this one, but it worked out, so no complaints.”

On lap 75, the gap was zilch as Leary and Swanson raced around the joint nose-to-tail.  By that point, Leary was hanging on by a thread after a bleeder failure caused his right rear tire to gain undesired air pressure and stagger, which made the car very loose in the corners.  All Leary could do to keep Swanson at bay was to just make it as hard as possible for him to get by.

However, off the fourth turn on lap 77, Swanson was able to get a nose under Leary, yet Leary managed to maintain his lead for a full lap longer.  However, at the exits of turns two and four, the rearend kicked out just a bit on Leary, pushing him off the bottom and allowing Swanson to get a nose in edgewise.

Ultimately, lap 79 told the tale as Swanson pulled even with Leary on entry into turn one for the first time.  Swanson hugged the bottom and cleared Leary by turn two to take over the lead, a position he’d never surrender.  Swanson immediately opened up his lead to a full second in the ensuing laps, but soon found himself amidst a gaggle of nine lapped cars running high, low and middle in front of him with just a handful laps to go.

“C.J. did a great job.  His car was really strong early, and then the pace changed and maybe the race kind of came to us,” Swanson stated in a team press release.  “About six laps from the end, we were just in the main line with everyone.  We had a decent lead, and I didn’t want to take any additional risks.  I was just trying to make sure we finished this one.”

Swanson stayed true to his word and played it smart as those in front of him kept it clean while also racing for position inside the top-10.  Swanson completed the 100-lap distance in a blistering time of 28:35.61, which was slowed by just one caution with the final 91 laps going clean and green.

At the checkered, Swanson had lapped all but the top-10 and was 1.158 seconds ahead of runner-up C.J. Leary with Derek Bischak in third and Justin Grant in fourth while Logan Seavey rounded out the top-five in a completely rebuilt racecar which had been crashed 16 days earlier at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway and had just a handful of pieces that didn’t need replacing before the Toledo round.

For the second consecutive race, C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) earned his best finish of the USAC Silver Crown season.  He scored a fourth at Winchester and followed it up with a second on Saturday at Toledo after leading a race-high 77 laps in his Klatt Enterprises/Wilwood Disc Brakes – Lucas Oil Center– Brown & Miller Racing Solutions/Beast/Ford.

The story was much the same for Derek Bischak (Angola, Ind.) who collected his best career USAC Silver Crown finish of third in the most recent round at Winchester, then equaled it again on Saturday at Toledo in his Derek Bischak/Allstar Performance – Klotz Synthetic Lubricants – Complete Collision/Beast/J & D Chevy.