By Richie Murray
Brownsburg, Indiana (May 24, 2021)………In last year’s Carb Night Classic, Tanner Swanson watched as his brother, Kody, scored the victory in his Indy Pro 2000 Series debut earlier in the evening.
Not to be outdone, younger brother, Tanner, turned “Carb Night” into the “Swanson Night Classic” for all intents and purposes, leading the final 60 circuits of the 100-lap race en route to becoming the winningest USAC Silver Crown driver at Brownsburg, Indiana’s Lucas Oil Raceway with his sixth career triumph at the .686-mile paved oval, a record he had previously held with Kody and Mike Bliss.
One year later, as the series enters this Friday night’s Carb Night Classic on May 28 at LOR, Tanner still finds himself in the slick, black and yellow Bowman Racing #02, and alone at the top of the track’s Silver Crown win list. Kody, meanwhile, has found a new address in the Doran Racing No. 77, a pairing which makes its series debut with the five-time series champ aboard.
The 27 drivers in the lineup represent a wide mix of national champions, race winners, Carb Night Classic winners, and those looking to become part of that group. In fact, the 27 entries are the most for a pavement Silver Crown event since the Lucas Oil round in July of 2011, nearly a decade ago.
Among the 27 are nine past series race winners, five of which have previously won 100-lap races at Lucas Oil Raceway. Tanner Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) won the inaugural and the most recent editions of the Carb Night Classic in 2016 and 2020 while brother Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) went back-to-back in 2017-18. Kyle Hamilton (Danville, Ind.) was the Carb Night victor in 2019.
Bobby Santos (Franklin, Mass.) owns four LOR Silver Crown wins while David Byrne (Shullsburg, Wisc.) has one. They’ll be joined by reigning series champion Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.), as well as series winners Aaron Pierce (Muncie, Ind.), Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.) and Eric Gordon (Fortville, Ind.), plus 2018 USAC National Midget champion and Silver Crown Rookie, Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.).
The Brothers Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) are the only two-time winners of the Carb Night Classic. Tanner is the only driver to finish on the podium in all five previous runnings of the event, finishing 3rd in 2017 after driving from 22nd to 2nd in 2018 and 17th to 2nd in 2019. Tanner was the fastest Carb Night qualifier in 2018 before opting to start from the tail of the field.
Kody, a 30-time career Silver Crown race winner, has won five of those at LOR. Kody has started on the pole for the past four Carb Night Classics, earning the fast qualifying time in 2017-19-20 and also slotted into the number one spot when Tanner elected to go to the tail for a bonus in 2018. Kody led all 100 in the 2017 Carb Night Classic and the final 99 in 2018. In 2016, Kody finished 2nd to Tanner, but has dropped out in each of the last two with mechanical problems after leading early.
Kyle Hamilton (Danville, Ind.) is the lone driver not named Swanson to win the Carb Night Classic, doing so in 2019 after securing the lead late in the going, with 27 to go, en route to his first, and still only, Silver Crown win. In 2020, Hamilton followed up his victory with a solid third-place finish.
Bobby Santos (Franklin, Mass.) owns four USAC Silver Crown victories at LOR in 2009, twice in 2012 and again in 2017. He’s led three of the five Carb Night Classics thus far. He won the pole and led the first 80 in 2016 before mechanical trouble forced him to the sideline, and has finished 2nd, 4th, 3rd and 4th in each of the last four years in 2017-18-19-20, leading one lap early in 2018 and one lap late in 2019.
David Byrne, of Shullsburg, Wisc., is a past LOR Silver Crown winner, picking up the victory in last-lap fashion during the summer of 2014. He’s alternated 7th and 6th place runs throughout his Carb Night Classic career, finishing 7th in 2016, 6th in 2017, 7th in 2018 and 6th in 2019.
One of reigning series champion’s Justin Grant’s main goals this year is to win a pavement race in the Silver Crown division. He had his best career Carb Night finish of 4th in 2019, then was 5th in 2020 and took 6th in both 2016 and 2018.
Fortville, Indiana’s Eric Gordon is a three-time winner at LOR, all in a Sprint Car, back in 1990-91-92. The 1990 Milwaukee Silver Crown winner and nine-time Little 500 winner finished 9th at the Carb Night Classic in 2018, 5th in 2019 and turned in a 6th place performance in 2020’s 100-lap race, his lone start with the series last season.
New Castle, Indiana’s Kyle Robbins has made three previous Carb Night Classic starts but is looking for his first top-ten result in the event. Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.), a 2020 Silver Crown winner on the dirt at Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway, claimed his best Carb Night finish last year, an 11th.
Three-time Silver Crown winner Aaron Pierce (Muncie, Ind.) is the owner of four top-five finishes in his four career Carb Night Classic starts, including a 5th in 2016, 5th in 2017, 3rd in 2018 and a personal-best 2nd in 2020.
Carb Night Classic veterans in this year’s field include USAC Regional champions Austin Nemire (Sylvania, Ohio), 9th in 2019; 2014 USAC Pavement Midget champion, Beech Grove, Indiana’s Kyle O’Gara (19th in 2020); 2012 USAC D1 Midget champ Jim Anderson of Joliet, Ill. (8th in 2018).
Brian Gerster (Fishers, Ind.) is a two-time USAC National Midget winner at LOR in 1994 and 1995. His Carb Night Classic debut delivered a 7th place result in 2019.
Patrick Lawson (Edwardsville, Ill.) was the hard charger at Carb Night in 2020, driving from 21st to earn a career-best 7th place finish and was also 10th in 2017. Pendleton, Indiana’s Travis Welpott was 11th in 2018 and Levittown, Pa.’s Mike Haggenbottom was 13th in 2019.
Among returnees are Winchester, Indiana’s Matt Goodnight (13th in 2020); 2019 Silver Crown Rookie of the Year, Angola, Indiana’s Derek Bischak (15th in 2020); 2020 Rookie of the Year, Fort Collins, Colorado’s Bryan Gossel (21st in 2020); Dave Berkheimer (23rd in 2020); and Brent Yarnal (Phoenix, Ariz.), a veteran of 19 career USAC Southwest Sprint Car starts during the 2017-18 seasons who made his Silver Crown debut at Carb Night in 2020, finishing 24th.
Annie Breidinger (Hillsborough, Calif.) is one of two females in the field, along with Taylor Ferns. Breidinger, a three-time Silver Crown starter, finished 10th at LOR in 2017. Ferns, the 2011 USAC D1 Midget champ (Shelby Township, Mich.), a three-time LOR Silver Crown starter, returns to the series after a seven-year hiatus. She finished 10th at LOR in 2013 and owns the best finish by a female in Silver Crown history with a 4th at Eldora in 2013.
Logan Seavey, the 2018 USAC National Midget champ, will make his pavement Silver Crown debut Friday at LOR. He tackled the dirt three times last year, finishing 10th, 3rd & 8th in three outings.
Nathan Byrd (Goodyear, Ariz.) and Jake Day (Abilene, Texas) aim to make their first ever career USAC Silver Crown starts on Friday. Byrd finished 20th in last year’s Midget portion of the Night Before the 500 at LOR.
A unique qualifying format will be utilized for the event with each driver running two laps consecutively with the average time over the course of two laps counting as the official qualifying time.
Friday will mark the 51st appearance of USAC Silver Crown racing at Lucas Oil Raceway dating back to the series debut at the track in 1985, won by Rick Hood.
On race day, gates open at 3pm EDT with midget practice taking place at 3-3:25pm & 4:50-5:15; Silver Crown practice at 3:30-3:55pm & 5:20-5:45pm; USF2000 practice form 4:05-4:20pm and Indy Pro 2000 practice from 4:25-4:40pm. Midget qualifying takes place from 5:50-6:20pm followed by Silver Crown qualifying from 6:25-6:55pm.
Opening ceremonies commence at 6:55-7:05pm with the main events immediately following: USF2000’s Freedom 75 at 7:05pm; the Indy Pro 2000 Freedom 90 at 8:05pm; the 30-lap Midget feature at 9:05pm and the finale, the 100-lap Silver Crown race at 9:35pm.
Adult tickets (age 13 and older) are $25 at https://lucasoilraceway.com/carbnightclassic/. Pit passes are $35 apiece. Lot 2 parking is $10, and camping is free. Tickets will also be available at the gate.
The USAC Silver Crown and Midget events will be LIVE on FloRacing at at https://bit.ly/3dgONXz.
USAC SILVER CROWN ENTRY LIST: (27 DRIVERS)
02 TANNER SWANSON/Kingsburg, CA (Bowman)
06 BRYAN GOSSEL/Fort Collins, CO (Gossel)
1 KYLE O’GARA/Beech Grove, IN (SFHR)
2 PATRICK LAWSON/Edwardsville, IL (Lawson)
6 KYLE HAMILTON/Danville, IN (Klatt)
7 KYLE ROBBINS/New Castle, IN (KR)
11 NATHAN BYRD/Goodyear, AZ (Hamilton-Byrd)
16 AUSTIN NEMIRE/Sylvania, OH (Nemire-Lesko)
18 TRAVIS WELPOTT/Pendleton, IN (Welpott)
22 BOBBY SANTOS/Franklin, MA (DJ)
24 MIKE HAGGENBOTTOM/Levittown, PA (Haggenbottom)
26 AARON PIERCE/Muncie, IN (Pierce)
29 BRENT YARNAL/Phoenix, AZ (Yarnal)
31 DAVE BERKHEIMER/Mechanicsburg, PA (Berkheimer)
39 MATT GOODNIGHT/Winchester, IN (Goodnight)
40 DAVID BYRNE/Shullsburg, WI (Byrne)
42 JAKE DAY/Abilene, TX (Day)
55 TAYLOR FERNS/Shelby Township, MI (Ferns)
77 KODY SWANSON/Kingsburg, CA (Doran)
80 ANNIE BREIDINGER/Hillsborough, CA (Breidinger)
81 SHANE COTTLE/Kansas, IL (Williams)
91 JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA (Hemelgarn)
92 JIM ANDERSON/Joliet, IL (Kazmark)
94 BRIAN GERSTER/Fishers, IN (Myers)
99 ERIC GORDON/Fortville, IN (Armstrong)
131 DEREK BISCHAK/Angola, IN (Bischak)
222 LOGAN SEAVEY/Sutter, CA (Rice)
PAST CARB NIGHT FEATURE RESULTS:
2016 FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Tanner Swanson, 2. Kody Swanson, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Robert Stout, 5. Aaron Pierce, 6. Justin Grant, 7. David Byrne, 8. Joe Axsom, 9. Shane Cockrum, 10. Joe Liguori, 11. Austin Nemire, 12. Casey Shuman, 13. Shane Cottle, 14. Jacob Wilson, 15. Bobby Santos, 16. Jerry Coons Jr., 17. Patrick Lawson. NT
2017 FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Kody Swanson, 2. Bobby Santos, 3. Tanner Swanson, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Aaron Pierce, 6. David Byrne, 7. Kevin Studley, 8. A.J. Russell, 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 10. Patrick Lawson, 11. Toni Breidinger, 12. Joss Moffatt, 13. Troy Thompson, 14. Justin Grant, 15. Davey Hamilton Jr., 16. Bill Rose, 17. Joe Liguori, 18. Joe Axsom, 19. J.C. Bland, 20. Cody Gerhardt. NT
2018 FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Kody Swanson (1), 2. Tanner Swanson (22), 3. Aaron Pierce (6), 4. Bobby Santos (2), 5. Chris Windom (4), 6. Justin Grant (5), 7. David Byrne (3), 8. Jim Anderson (8), 9. Eric Gordon (9), 10. Kyle Hamilton (21), 11. Travis Welpott (17), 12. Patrick Lawson (16), 13. Cody Gerhardt (14), 14. Dave Darland (13), 15. Kyle Robbins (11), 16. Toni Breidinger (15), 17. Matt Goodnight (12), 18. Bill Rose (18), 19. Jerry Coons Jr. (7), 20. Derek Bischak (20), 21. Austin Blair (10), 22. Mike Haggenbottom (19).
2019 FEATURE: (100 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Kyle Hamilton (2), 2. Tanner Swanson (17), 3. Bobby Santos (4), 4. Justin Grant (3), 5. Eric Gordon (16), 6. David Byrne (6), 7. Brian Gerster (9), 8. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (10), 9. Austin Nemire (12), 10. Cody Gallogly (8), 11. Kyle Robbins (11), 12. John Heydenreich (15), 13. Mike Haggenbottom (14), 14. Chris Windom (5), 15. Derek Bischak (7), 16. Kody Swanson (1), 17. Matt Goodnight (13). NT
2020 FEATURE: (100 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Swanson (2), 2. Aaron Pierce (7), 3. Kyle Hamilton (4), 4. Bobby Santos (5), 5. Justin Grant (3), 6. Eric Gordon (6), 7. Patrick Lawson (21), 8. Russ Gamester (8), 9. Chris Windom (10), 10. Kody Swanson (1), 11. Shane Cottle (13), 12. Austin Nemire (14), 13. Matt Goodnight (15), 14. Travis Welpott (18), 15. Mike Haggenbottom (20), 16. Toni Breidinger (17), 17. Kyle Robbins (19), 18. Derek Bischak (11), 19. Kyle O’Gara (12), 20. John Heydenreich (9), 21. Bryan Gossel (22), 22. Jim Anderson (16), 23. Dave Berkheimer (24), 24. Brent Yarnal (23). 50:44.343
CARB NIGHT CLASSIC USAC SILVER CROWN WINS:
2-Kody Swanson & Tanner Swanson
1-Kyle Hamilton
CARB NIGHT CLASSIC USAC SILVER CROWN WINNERS:
2016: Tanner Swanson (5/27)
2017: Kody Swanson (5/26)
2018: Kody Swanson (5/25)
2019: Kyle Hamilton (5/24)
2020: Tanner Swanson (8/21)
USAC SILVER CROWN WINS AT IRP:
6-Tanner Swanson
5-Mike Bliss & Kody Swanson
4-Bobby Santos
3-Bobby East
2-Kenny Irwin Jr., Jim Keeker, Jason Leffler & Ken Schrader
1-Pat Abold, Jeff Bloom, David Byrne, Bob Cicconi, Jay Drake, Bruce Field, Russ Gamester, Kyle Hamilton, Tracy Hines, Rick Hood, Kasey Kahne, Jason McCord, Ryan Newman, Johnny Parsons, George Snider, Dave Steele, Tony Stewart, Brian Tyler & J.J. Yeley
USAC SILVER CROWN WINNERS AT IRP:
1985: Rick Hood (7/13)
1986: Ken Schrader (7/13)
1987: Jeff Bloom (7/11)
1988: Bruce Field (7/9)
1989: Bob Cicconi (7/8) & Ken Schrader (7/8)
1990: George Snider (6/30)
1991: Johnny Parsons (6/29)
1992: Jim Keeker (6/27)
1993: Mike Bliss (6/26)
1994: Mike Bliss (8/4)
1995: Jim Keeker (8/2)
1996: Mike Bliss (5/18) & Kenny Irwin Jr. (7/31)
1997: Pat Abold (5/17) & Kenny Irwin Jr. (7/30)
1998: Tony Stewart (5/16) & Jason Leffler (7/29)
1999: Ryan Newman (5/22) & Dave Steele (8/4)
2000: Jason Leffler (5/20) & Russ Gamester (8/6)
2001: Mike Bliss (5/12) & Kasey Kahne (8/2)
2002: Mike Bliss (8/1)
2003: J.J. Yeley (5/22) & Jason McCord (7/31)
2004: Jay Drake (8/5)
2005: Bobby East (8/4)
2006: Brian Tyler (8/3)
2007: Bobby East (7/26)
2008: Bobby East (7/24)
2009: Bobby Santos (7/23)
2010: Tracy Hines (7/22)
2011: Kody Swanson (7/28)
2012: Bobby Santos (5/19) & Bobby Santos (7/26)
2013: Tanner Swanson (7/27)
2014: Tanner Swanson (5/17) & David Byrne (7/24)
2015: Tanner Swanson (5/23) & Tanner Swanson (7/23)
2016: Tanner Swanson (5/27) & Kody Swanson (7/21)
2017: Kody Swanson (5/26) & Bobby Santos (7/20)
2018: Kody Swanson (5/25)
2019: Kyle Hamilton (5/24) & Kody Swanson (9/7)
2020: Tanner Swanson (8/21)