By Dick Jordan
Kody Swanson of Kingsburg, Calif. enters the August 16 “Tony Bettenhausen 100” at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield with a 45-point lead over Tracy Hines in the UAC Silver Crown Championship series following his third victory of the season, last Friday at Belleville, Kansas.
Swanson will lead a field of cars expected to eclipse the 30-car starting field. It could mark the largest Silver Crown field on dirt since the 2011 Hoosier Hundred in Indianapolis, Ind.
Friday’s “Hustle on the High Banks” 50-lapper at the Belleville High Banks saw Swanson catch Chris Windom on lap 45 and he led the final six laps around the half-mile oval in the Radio Hospital Maxim/Hampshire. Windom led the first 45 laps but encountered problems and was relegated to a ninth-place finish.
Tracy Hines, the 2013 Belleville winner, finished second ahead of Christopher Bell, Bobby East and Dave Darland. Swanson was the fastest qualifier and the win was his third of the campaign.
At Springfield, Swanson will try to improve on his seventh-place finish a year ago. Windom finished second last year at Springfield behind Illinois’ A.J. Fike.
2014 USAC Silver Crown Standings:1-Kody Swanson-345, 2-Tracy Hines-300, 3-Bobby East-291, 4-Chris Windom-243, 5-Jacob Wilson-195, 6-Jerry Coons Jr.-177, 7-Tanner Swanson-165, 8-Bobby Santos-159, 9-Caleb Armtsrong-155, 10-David Byrne-147.