Episode 411
October 23, 2022
Swanson Brothers headline Indianapolis Raceway Park Saturday
It had all the ingredients for a great day of racing with drama in points standings in two of the three races held at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Brownsburg, Indiana as part of Howard Companies Championship Saturday.
The 500 Sprint Car Series saw Kody leading second place Dakoda Armstrong by 35 points going into the season finale. Armstrong was not giving up. Armstrong’s qualifying times brought him to within 15 points of Swanson. The fifth-place finish was not enough to overcome Swanson’s lead in this inaugural season for the 500 Sprint Car Series.
Here is the race summary thanks to Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications.
Doran Racing and Kody Swanson earned the inaugural championships of the 500 Sprint Car Tour Presented by Auto Value Bumper to Bumper Part Stores Saturday at IRP. The team and driver championships were finalized with a second-place finish in the series’ 40-lap season finale.
Driving the Henry Repeating Arms No. 44, Swanson qualified fifth for the race and started in that position, as the invert was a zero. CJ Leary won the pole over Tyler Roahrig and the driver who was second in the point standings to Swanson going into the season finale, Dakoda Armstrong.
Leary led the first two laps, but Swanson had a fabulous start behind him. Swanson was third going into Turn 1 on the first lap, and second on the backstretch.
He took the lead on lap three in Turn 3 by passing Leary to the outside, and by lap five he already had a 1.032-second advantage. He had extended his advantage to 1.591 seconds by lap 15 and 2.412 seconds by lap 20.
Roahrig had steadily been advancing behind him, however, and Roahrig passed Leary for second on lap 22.
Swanson had a 1.870-second lead over Roahrig on lap 25, but lapped traffic was challenging, and it allowed Roahrig to gain on the blue No. 44. Swanson’s lead was only 0.329 of a second on lap 30, and the top pair ran nose to tail for the next three laps. They were side by side at the start-finish line on lap 34, and on lap 35 Roahrig took the lead as the pair headed out of Turn 4 and onto the frontstretch with just five laps remaining.
Tyler Roahrig waves to the crowd after winning the 500 Sprint Car Series season finale at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Brownsburg, Indiana. Roahrig took the lead with 5 laps remaining passing season champion Kody Swanson. Roahrig resides in Plymouth, Indiana A horrifying crash at Anderson Speedway due to a stuck throttle in 2014 left him in ICU/Rehab for over a month. Doctors were unsure if he would ever walk again. Roahrig earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 2016. He owns Rocket Fabrication & Suspension. (500 Series Sprint Car Tour photo)
The entire race went non-stop, and Roahrig had a 1.542-second margin of victory over Swanson at the checkered. Kyle O’Gara finished third and Santos placed fourth. Armstrong finished fifth to Swanson’s second, and the championship was in the books for both Doran Racing and Swanson.
Swanson set the fastest lap of the race on lap four with a time of 20.755 seconds. He qualified fifth with a two-lap time of 41.475 seconds and a fastest lap of 20.765.
“This Doran Racing team puts in a lot of effort, and I’m thankful to be a part of it,” Swanson said afterwards. “We just came up a little short in this race, but we’re pleased to get the championship in this series. It is full of great drivers and great cars, and we’re thankful to be the series’ inaugural champions.”
Swanson earned 1,737 points to win the 2022 title by 35 points over Armstrong. O’Gara was third in the championship followed by Bobby Santos III from Franklin, Massachusetts and Billy Wease.
Kody Swanson, Kingsburg, California native now living in Indianapolis, Indiana, poses with his Doran Racing Team celebrating the 500 Sprint Car Series championship. Power by Dan Binks Motorsports engine. Dan is on the far right; you may recognize him from his Corvette Racing days in IMSA. (500 Sprint Car Series photo)
Swanson had two wins and eight top-five finishes in all during the nine-event season.
Midget race won by Massachusetts native
Franklin, Massachusetts native Bobby Santos III in Victory Circle at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway after winning the Championship Saturday Midget feature. Pictured with Santos is his wife Kristy and children. (Christopher Pederson photo)
From USAC press release written by Richie Murray.
Bobby Santos completed his pavement midget season at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in the exact same manner he started it – standing in victory lane.
Five months after kicking off the year with a triumph in May, the Franklin, Massachusetts native led all 40 laps of Saturday night’s Championship Saturday USAC Midget non-points, special event feature following a first lap melee that forced him to take evasive action in order to escape.
The final outcome for Santos resulted in him capturing IRP’s season-long Pavement Midget championship in his 3 Stooges Racing/Indy Performance Composites – Carpenter’s Crew/Beast/Stanton SR-11.
“It was a great year with the midget,” Santos stated. “(Car owner Jeff West) gives me a great car and I’m just lucky enough to drive it.”
While Santos’ humility is appreciated, his record at the .686-mile paved oval tells a story that few others have come close to accomplishing. His 14th overall victory at IRP moves him into sole possession of second all-time in terms of combined sprint car, midget and Silver Crown victories at the track. He now trails only Tracy Hines who accumulated 15 in his career.
Furthermore, this win was most meaningful on a personal level to the driver and crew as this was the first victory for the team since Jeff West’s father, Lenny West, passed away on June 20 of this year, making this one an extra special event.
“This one is for Jeff and his whole family,” Santos said. “This is their first win since we lost Lenny, so this one definitely goes to their family. I’ve got to thank them for everything.”
Fourth place qualifier, Tanner Swanson, started the race on the pole after the invert and went on to finish third behind Santos III and Kyle O’Gara.
USAC Silver Crown championship number seven
Once again, a race summary from Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications and USAC Racing’s Richie Murray.
“Championship Saturday” was just that for Lebanon, Ohio-based Doran Racing and its driver, Kody Swanson, at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP).
Doran-Dyson Racing won the entrant championship in the top division of USAC, Silver Crown, when Swanson finished fourth in that series’ 100-lap season finale and earned an unprecedented seventh driver championship in the series. Swanson, a native of Kingsburg, Calif., who now lives in Indianapolis, is the winningest driver in the series’ history.
Doran Racing fielded Swanson’s cars for the USAC Silver Crown series’ six asphalt-track events in 2022 like the one Saturday at IRP, while Dyson Racing fielded his car for the series’ five dirt-track races. Swanson had three victories, all on asphalt tracks, enroute to the title. He also won an additional non-points Silver Crown special event at IRP this year.
Doran Racing’s championships came with two different cars and two different engines, as its Silver Crown car, No. 1, is powered by a Lanci-prepped Ford and its 500 Sprint Car Tour car, No. 44, uses a Binks-prepped Chevrolet.
Both cars are sponsored by Henry Repeating Arms, Glenn Farms, and Duncan Oil.
Swanson was three points behind Logan Seavey for the USAC Silver Crown championship going into Saturday’s event (601 to 604), but Swanson tied that up before the race started by earning three bonus points for winning the Fatheadz Eyewear pole. His combined two-lap qualifying time was 41.773 seconds. His brother, Tanner Swanson, qualified second with a time of 41.906, and Seavey was third with a 42.273.
It was Kody Swanson’s 41st series pole and his tenth one for a USAC Silver Crown race at this particular track, which are both records.
Kody Swanson got a terrific start and was about seven lengths ahead of his brother by Turn 1 on the first lap. Tanner Swanson quickly closed the gap, however, and settled in behind his brother. By lap seven they were about a half-straightaway ahead of Seavey, who was running third.
Seavey’s race and his championship hopes disintegrated when his car suffered a blown engine with 11 laps complete and he retired from the race, placing 20th.
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 (CHA) 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.
The Swanson brothers’ train continued unabated. By lap 25 Kody Swanson was only 0.160 of a second ahead of his brother, but more than three seconds separated Tanner Swanson from the third-place driver, Bobby Santos III.
They threaded their way through lapped cars carefully. By lap 40 Kody Swanson was only 0.185 ahead of Tanner Swanson, but Santos was more than 5 seconds behind second place.
On lap 47 C.J. Leary passed Santos for third. At the halfway point Kody Swanson’s lead was 0.090 of a second, and Leary was 5.155 seconds behind Tanner Swanson. When Kody Swanson led lap 51 he officially moved into the point lead, as he earned three more bonus points for being the driver to lead the most laps of the race.
A few laps later, on lap 63, Tyler Roahrig passed Santos for fourth.
The turning point of the race came on laps 66 and 67.
On lap 66 Tanner Swanson finally got around his brother in Turns 1 and 2 for the lead. His pass had some assistance in setting up, as Kody Swanson had to lift in Turn 4 when he became sandwiched between two drivers he was lapping, Nathan Byrd and Brian Tyler.
Seconds later, on lap 67, the event’s only yellow flew for a two-car accident coming out of Turn 4 and onto the frontstretch. Kyle Robbins spun in Turn 4 to trigger it, and Jake Day got into the inside wall on the frontstretch after he clipped him.
With the yellow the Swansons’ lead disappeared, and the drivers behind them breathed new life with their second chance. They took full advantage of it when the green waved again on lap 74.
Leary was able to pass Kody Swanson for second in Turn 1 on lap 75, which put Kody Swanson directly ahead of Roahrig. They engaged in a battle royale, as Roahrig tried both inside and outside to get by lap after lap.
On lap 80, with 20 laps remaining in the race, Tanner Swanson had a 1.083-second lead over Leary, but Roahrig was still right behind Kody Swanson in fourth.
With just eight laps remaining, Roahrig finally got by Kody Swanson for third on lap 92 with an outside pass as they traveled through Turns 3 and 4.
Tanner Swanson had a 4.883-second margin of victory over Leary, while Roahrig was 1.569 seconds ahead of Kody Swanson at the checkered. Davey Hamilton Jr. rounded out the top five
USAC Silver Crown winner Tanner Swanson, Kingsburg, California, with wife Allison, son Levi and daughter Beckett. (Christopher Pederson photo)
Tanner Swanson set the fastest lap of the race on lap three with a 21.331, while Kody Swanson was second-fastest with a 21.393 on lap two.
Kody Swanson won the championship with 668 points to Seavey’s 627. Leary, Brian Tyler and Justin Grant rounded out the top five in the point standings.
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.”
Swanson family celebrates at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park after a successful night of racing. Left to right Allison, Beckett, Tanner and Levi, Kody, Adam, Jordan, and Trevor in front of his grandmother Darla and Mike, and cousins Lynzy and Rylan Carter. (Christopher Pederson photo)
Cold Hard Art sidenotes
Previous you will note that Cold Hard Art was mentioned in the Logan Seavey engine swap saga. Some inside information. It was 2 am when Kevin Thomas Junior called to see if Tom was at his shop. They rushed the oil pan over so Patsis could weld a patch allowing the oil filter to clear on the dirt engine they were installing.
Piece of Logan Seavey’s dirt engine oil pan which had to be removed for oil filter clearance. After the welding was completed, Patsis charged them for 2 hours of work, a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. “I was hungry,” said the welding genius. (Cold Hard Art photo)
According to Logan Seavey crew-member James Kitasaki, 140 bags of Cool Ranch Doritos are on their way to Cold Hard Art Headquarters in Brownsburg. Amanda Patsis remarked, “Dear Lord.” (Cold Hard Art photo)
In addition to some early morning oil pan welding, if you look at Victory Circle photos, you will notice these handsome trophies in the hands of the three feature race winners awarded at Howard Companies Championship Saturday. The trophy topper on midget race winner Bobby Santos III was made by Cold Hard Art. (Cold Hard Art photo)
Kody Swanson headed for Daytona
November 2-6, 2022, is the annual Historic Sportscar Racing Series (HSR) Classic Daytona and Daytona Historical races at the iconic Florida racetrack. Kody Swanson will team up with Doran Racing’s Brad Jaeger in the team’s 2005 Ford GT in a series of races on the road course at Daytona.
Next week the 7-time USAC Silver Crown Champion will leave for Florida to prep for the multiple races that he and teammate Jaeger will drive over the course of the five-day event. The racing community will get to see that Swanson can drive sports cars as well as sprint cars!
One of my favorite racing podcasts
I recently started listening to Ross Bentley (Speed Secrets founder and creator) and Jeff Braun (race engineer for among other things Jon Bennett’s CORE autosports race team) podcast entitled “No Dumb Questions”.
The two answer questions presented by listeners during their 40-minute program. Give them a listen and let me know what you think.
https://speedsecrets.com/speedsecrets-podcast/
Help needed
I got some information about Elky Woodman for a future episode. I still need photos of the craftsman plying his trade or photos of the race cars he sponsored.
Interviews with Dwight Stickles and Malachi Anderson, owners of the modified pulling tractor “Colby Express” has been completed. Now I need your help with photos of the Colby Express from the late 1970’s early 1980’s when they were actively pulling the Chrysler powered modified.
Information can be emailed to me via my email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Thank you for your assistance which will help tell these folks stories.
Let’s go racing,
Tom Hale
Soli Deo Gloria (Matthew 5:16)