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Swanson battles in tough night at ORP

Kroger Speedfest at O’Reilly Raceway Park was stop #4 for the K&N USAC Silver Crown series tour for 2010, and is always a schedule favorite because of its proximity to the “Racing Capital of the World” and conjunction with NASCAR weekend in Indianapolis. The “JD Byrider 100” event would start straight-up after qualifying and start 30 Silver Crown cars for the 100-lap affair around the 0.686 mile oval. The Swanson brothers qualified their Team 6R Racing, powered by Toyota, entries to 4th and 6th place efforts, with Kody leading Tanner. Fresh off of his National Midget feature win, Kody would line up his #19 outside row two, with Tanner in the Armstrong Garage Doors #23 directly behind outside row three.
At the drop of the green flag, Kody held the high line to take over the 3rd position, and trailed NASCAR Star Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne Racing driver Brad Sweet for the opening lap. Tanner, however, was making his first start from the front of the Silver Crown field, and was continuing to battle for the 6th position. By lap 5, Kody had already used the bottom of the racetrack to pass Newman, then Sweet, and take the lead in his Toyota powered #19. Over the next few laps, Kody pulled away to an 8-car length margin, and continued to distance himself from the field with ease. After a brief caution period, Kody would lead the field back to green on lap 25, when disaster struck. Apparently small debris from the caution had cut the Right Rear tire on the #19, causing it to begin going flat while Kody was leading the race! Obviously, the #19 began to lose speed and Kody faded to the rear of the lineup before finally blowing the tire out on lap 44. The blow out warranted a caution, and Kody brought the #19 to pit lane for a used set of tires only to find that Tanner was having tires issues as well, as a leaking Right Rear tire brought him to pit road in his #23. Each a few laps down, the Swanson brothers began to make their charge back up through the field. Kody was up around the Top 10 in the running order when a Right Front wheel problem on lap 68 sidelined his #19 for the remainder of the event. Tanner continued his battle, and made it all the way to 9th in the running order by feature’s end, but being laps down relegated him to a 20th place finish. Although the results were disappointing, the Swanson brothers were extremely fast at O’Reilly Raceway Park, and will be in contention to win on the USAC Silver Crown trail.

Heartbreak for the Eskesen Racing #10 at Madera

The Swanson brothers entered Madera Speedway for their first midget event at the track in 2010 as heavy favorites to take home the hardware. In the 6 USAC/BCRA Midget events held at the 1/3 mile speedplant in 2009, TK Motorsports’ Swanson Brothers took home 5 trophies, as Kody picked up 2 wins and Tanner 3, leaving only 1 to the competition. On this hot summer day, it was Tanner who would set “fast time” in the Paul Eskesen Racing #10, while Kody timed his Neverlift Motorsports #15 in the 2nd position, setting up a long day of head-to-head competition between the two. However, in the trophy dash Nick Foster Jr. decided to show his strength, as he drove his #1 machine to the win, with Tanner 2nd and Kody 3rd. Kody picked up the win in his preliminary heat race, with Nick and Tanner in tow, setting up what was sure to be a 3-car battle for the feature win. With Nick, Kody and Tanner starting 4th, 5th, and 6th respectively, the race to the front sure was a good one. By the drop of the green the young brothers were dicing through the pack, and by lap 3 they were running 2nd and 3rd. Kody cleared Foster for the lead by lap 4, when Tanner began to experience mechanical issues. The #10 broke a throttle shaft, ending Tanner’s night before the real battle even got started.

Swanson steals Night Before the 500 win in first start at ORP!

The "Night Before the 500" National Midget event at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis is very prestigious, and has a storied history at the .686 mile paved oval. Kody made his first start in the event in 2007 driving for Steve Lewis' Nine Racing, and was running 2nd with 2 laps to go when he lost an engine. This year, Kody would be making his first start behind the wheel of a famed Wilke-Pak Motorsports #11, while Tanner would be making his first ever laps at the speedway, driving the DeBeaumont Motorsports #51. In qualifying, the brothers ended up 4th (Kody) and 7th (Tanner) in the 40+ car field. In order to make the starting grid for the 50-lap affair, the brothers would each have to finish in the Top 4 of their preliminary heat races. In Tanner's heat race, he drove from 5th to 3rd to transfer to the feature, while Kody came from 6th to 3rd to make the historic event. With the 2nd place qualifier losing an engine in preliminary events, and an invert of the 6 fastest qualifiers to start the feature, it put young Tanner on the pole of the event, and left Kody to start from the 4th position. At the drop of the green, Tanner took the lead and led the opening lap before falling into the 2nd position. While Kody fell to 5th at the start, in the next few laps he battled up to the 3rd position, behind his younger brother. For the next 30 laps, Tanner hounded leader Bryan Clauson, often driving to the bottom of the racetrack and pulling alongside the race leader in the battle for the top spot. However, on lap 32, Tanner shot to the inside of the wide, fast racetrack, and was able to officially retake the lead. From there, Tanner "checked-out" from the competition, driving to over a straight-away lead by feature's end, and winning the "Night Before the 500" in only his first attempt! Older brother Kody drove his car to a solid 3rd place finish to give the "Swanson Brothers" duo a 1st-3rd podium finish!

Hoosier Hundred Race Recap

Team 6R Racing's Swanson Brothers headed to the Indiana State Fair to compete in round 3 of the USAC Silver Crown series. In qualifying, the brothers ended up 23rd and 25th in the stout 36 car field. After qualifying, the team found that Kody started to develop an engine problem in his #19. Tanner was very selfless to offer his #23 to his older brother, who was currently 5th in the series standings. In order to complete the switch, Kody would have to give up his starting position, and start in Tanner's #23 at the tail of the 35 car field. In the 100-mile event, Kody quickly began working his way through the field, and by the mandatory competition red-flag at lap 50, Kody had moved the #23 from 35th to 11th. During the red-flag period, teams were allowed to refuel and change tires, with the rule that a changing a right rear tire would send a car to the tail of the field. While 8 of the top 10 teams elected to put on new tires and go to the tail, Kody and the Team 6R #23 stayed on their used tires, and advanced to the 3rd position on the restart. With a field full of new tires behind him, it would be difficult for those who elected to stay on their used tires to stay out front. For the next 25 laps, Kody battled among the top 3, and fell to 4th when eventual winner Shane Hmiel came through the field on his new tires. With 30 laps to go, Kody began moving toward the front, and passed for 3rd. By 6 laps to go, Kody closed on 2nd place and completed the pass with 5 to go, when the caution came out. With 95 laps down and 5 to go, Kody restarted 2nd with a group of better tires behind him. Kody was passed by defending Champ Bud Kaeding and USAC Triple Crown Champ Jerry Coons, but held on for 4th place finish, his career best on the "Dirt Miles." This solid finish moved Kody up to 4th in the series standings with the next Silver Crown event scheduled for Illiana Motor Speedway on July 8th.

Last Saturday, TK Motorsports made their USAC National Sprintcar debut at Iowa Speedway.  The 7/8 mile paved oval was nearly twice the size of the largest track they had previously competed on, and proved to be challenging for the team, who was also debuting the TRD 360 Toyota Sprintcar engine in Tanner Swanson’s #17.  Tanner held his own against the 410’s, qualifying his #17 in 10th position, just one ahead of brother Kody in his #75.  For the 50-lap feature, the series utilizes a lap 30 break to allow the cars to refuel and prepare for a 20-lap sprint to the finish.  For the first two laps, Tanner & Kody battled side-by-side for the 10th position, under the momentum from the outside lane carried the 17 past the 75, and Tanner into the Top 10.  Kody continued to struggle with the handling on the 75 for a few laps, falling as far as the 14th position, while Tanner continued to battle among 8th and 9th.  By lap 10, Kody’s car had come to life, and he was gaining ground on the pack in front of him, passing back up to 11th and to the back-bumper of the #17 when Tanner pulled into the pits with a mechanical issues.  Kody continued to move forward, passing into the Top 10 and the Top 8 by the end of the 30-lap run.  During the break, the TK Motorsports team refueled the 75 and fixed the issues on the 17 to get the brothers back onto the track for the final 20-lap stint.  Multiple laps down, Tanner returned to racing action to get more experience on the larger tracks, being his first trip to Iowa Speedway, and to prepare himself for the upcoming Silver Crown event.  Kody battled among the Top 10 drivers in the closing laps to eventually finish in the 9th position.  Although the results weren’t quite what the team had hoped for, the experience was invaluable and will prepare them for the next events, when the USAC National Sprints head to O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis and Berlin Speedway in Marne, Michigan for a June 10th & 12th weekend doubleheader. 

Iowa Race Recap

Last Saturday night, Kody Swanson capped off the Pride of Iowa USAC Tripleheader at Iowa Speedway with a drive from 13th to finish 2nd in the 100-lap feature.  The USAC Silver Crown series was making their first stop on the pavement tour for 2010.  This event marked the first time that the Swanson brothers, Kody and Tanner, competed for Team 6R Racing, powered by Toyota, in a pavement Silver Crown race.  Unfortunately, Tanner lost an engine in practice, missed qualifying and would start the feature in 23rd.  Kody logged a 13th place qualifying effort, and would have to charge from the 7th row to be a factor.  At the drop of the green, the elder Swanson began picking off cars, moving up to the Top 10 by a lap 5 caution.  Under the caution, Tanner had to pull in to make mechanical repairs to his #23, and returned to racing action a few laps down.  When the field returned to green, both brothers began charging through the field.  Kody quickly moved toward the Top 5, and had taken over 4th when the track went yellow again around lap 35.  Over the main stretch of the race, Kody battled for the 3rd spot, and began hunting down leader AJ Fike and 3-time series Champ Bud Kaeding.  Meanwhile, Tanner was moving quickly through the field, and although was laps down in the running order, had moved all the way up to 5th on the racetrack when engine woes sidelined him on lap 73.  Nearing the finish, Kody had pulled to the back-bumper of the 2nd place car, and was pressing for the position when the caution came out on lap 85.  On the lap 90 restart, Swanson shot to the outside of Kaeding, taking over the position on lap 92 and setting his sights on leader Fike.  Over the last 8 laps, Swanson wasn’t able to close the gap to the leader, and came home with a solid 2nd place finish.  The strong finish vaulted the elder Swanson from 14th to 5th in the series points chase heading into the “Hoosier Hundred” at the Indiana State Fairgrounds this Friday.