By Richie Murray
Springfield, Illinois (August 16, 2025)………Kody Swanson joined the exclusive four-time Bettenhausen 100 winners club on Saturday at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
The Kingsburg, California native took the lead early, then lost it only to regain it again past the halfway mark, then led the final 42 laps en route to victory aboard his John Haggenbottom/Radio Hospital – Belmont’s Garage – Kreider Manufacturing/Maxim/Hampshire Chevy.
Only five drivers have accrued at least four Bettenhausen 100 Presented by Hunt Brothers Pizza wins in their career, led by Chuck Gurney’s seven, while A.J. Foyt, Jack Hewitt, Brian Tyler and now Swanson have all tallied four apiece.
Swanson, who had previously won 100-mile USAC Silver Crown race victories at the Springfield Mile in 2014, 2015 and 2021, earned his fourth win in the event in much similar fashion as the first three. Well, kind of.
In all three of his previous Springfield triumphs, Swanson was also the fastest qualifier. However, in 2015, he was forced to start 16th on the grid due to missing his spot in the qualifying line. In 2021, he was relegated to the 23rd starting spot due to a pre-race right rear tire change. In all instances, he still found the path to the checkered and the victory lane photograph.
This time around, Swanson set the tone by earning quick time once again, but no grid penalties were in the equation on this occasion as he qualified for and started from the pole, providing Pennsylvania car owner John Haggenbottom his first career USAC Silver Crown pole position and victory on the same day.
For Swanson, it was just his second time in the seat of the Haggenbottom ride, and first since a nondescript 16th place result at Indiana’s Terre Haute Action Track four months earlier in April. The moment wasn’t lost on Swanson, who earned his first dirt win with the series since Springfield in 2021, while also bringing a dream come true to the Haggenbottom team, which had only captured one top-five finish in 52 series starts, just nine top-tens, and had never led a single lap. Until Saturday. No foolin’.
“They’re all extremely special and this one certainly is,” Swanson exclaimed. “To be the first winner in the Haggenbottom 24 is really something. These guys are a great group and have been a part of this series for a while, doing all they can to support it all the way from Philadelphia. They make the tow and I’m so happy to get them the win here today.”
Despite Swanson’s optimal starting position from the pole, it was outside front row occupant Matt Westfall who initially gained the upper hand, holding the lead for the first eight laps of the 100 miler. However, as soon as Swanson fell back, he began to reel Westfall in. On the ninth lap, Swanson used a run down the back straightaway to glide right past Westfall and into the lead.
Meanwhile, Carmen Perigo was an animal on the dirt mile. Akin to a rocket, starting eighth, Perigo climbed into the top-five under Jimmy Light in turn one on lap 12. On the 14th lap, Perigo flew past Stockon for fourth, then soared to third past Clouser on lap 14. A lap later, he zoomed by Westfall entering turn one on the 15th circuit!
That said, that last pass was negated after Will Armitage (13th) got high and dry in turn three, tagging the wall and flipping over to bring out what turned out to be the only stoppage of the race. Armitage, who was making his USAC Silver Crown debut, walked away under his own power.
Slotted back in third for the lap 16 restart, Perigo wasn’t about to let it go. He went to work again, chasing down Westfall and completing the turn three pass around the outside on lap 25. Another nine laps later, Perigo made the same move in the third turn to overtake Swanson for the race lead on the 34th trip.
“It was excruciating to know that could’ve been for the win and it’s going away,” Swanson recalled. “I felt terrible. My wife is doing a great job spotting and all I’m hollering is ‘what lap is it’ because I’m trying to figure out my strategy and if I could make it back to him in time.”
For the first time in his USAC career, Perigo held the lead, and wound up leading 25 of them. By lap 58, Perigo’s three second lead over Swanson had been slashed to no more than a second. Off turn four on lap 59, Swanson went to the outside and streamed past Perigo to lead at the stripe by a wheel with 42 laps remaining.
Swanson ultimately poured the sugar on to construct a lead of more than four seconds over Perigo with merely a quarter of the race remaining. But by lap 76, Perigo’s magnificent run began to fade as Westfall and Mario Clouser freight trained Perigo on the front straightaway to slot into second and third, respectively.
Chase Stockon and Justin Grant followed suit the following lap, on 77, to make their way into fourth and fifth while Perigo fell to sixth. By lap 80, Perigo had dropped to eighth, bringin’ on the heartbreak for the veteran racer and taking him out of contention.
Westfall wasn’t quite finished yet as he carved into Swanson’s lead with all his might, flashing across the start/finish line with only a one second deficit after just moments before trailing by four full seconds with less than 10 laps remaining.
“The track got slick and I was sure my tire was bald,” Swanson explained. “But the tire actually looks great, so I’m glad I didn’t give it away by just not doing it right.”
Although lapped traffic loomed for the front runners, Westfall was unable to budge any closer as Swanson navigated past both Taylor Ferns and A.J. Fike, putting them a lap down in the process, while providing himself with an enviable buffer that allowed him to fan out the flames of Westfall’s pressure. For Westfall, it was too late. For Swanson, it was euphoria.
Swanson finished the deal off with a 1.374 second margin of victory over Matt Westfall, who came up just short of his first career USAC Silver Crown win, but instead grabbed his fifth career runner-up finish with the series. Mario Clouser took third with point leader Justin Grant scoring fourth while nursing a broken left foot. C.J. Leary rounded out the top-five.
No driver has passed more cars in USAC Silver Crown history than Brian Tyler with 825 positions advanced dating back to his 1990 debut. On this day, no driver in the field passed more cars than Brian Tyler. Starting 26th on the grid, he went +20 to finish sixth and earn Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors.
Carmen Perigo didn’t win today, but he sure won the hearts of the fans here at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Starting eighth, the Pennsylvanian raced his way into the lead by lap 34 and led the first 25 laps of his USAC career before finishing eighth. That earned him the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
USAC SILVER CROWN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 16, 2025 – Illinois State Fairgrounds – Springfield, Illinois – 1-Mile Dirt Oval – 62nd Bettenhausen 100 Presented by Hunt Brothers Pizza
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: (top 24 locked into the feature) 1. Kody Swanson, 24, Haggenbottom-30.515; 2. Matt Westfall, 54, 4 Kings-30.714; 3. Jimmy Light, 118, Thomas-30.799; 4. Mario Clouser, 22, Rice/Abacus-30.807; 5. Chase Stockon, 69, Pink 69-30.839; 6. Kyle Steffens, 8, Steffens-30.956; 7. C.J. Leary, 21, Team AZ/Petty/Rossi-30.958; 8. Carmen Perigo, 52, Stehman-30.964; 9. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-31.011; 10. Chris Urish, 77, Urish-31.195; 11. Jake Swanson, 6, Klatt-31.309; 12. Danny Jennings, 61, Grace-31.352; 13. A.J. Fike, 39, Fike-31.356; 14. Will Armitage, 17, Armitage-31.387; 15. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-31.532; 16. Casey Buckman, 25, C-Buck/Sachs-31.547; 17. Taylor Ferns, 55, Ferns/Klatt-31.570; 18. Kyle Wissmiller, 144, Wissmiller-31.803; 19. Travis Mahoney, 65, SV-31.997; 20. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-32.074; 21. Joey Moughan, 29, MSP-32.166; 22. Mitchel Moles, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-32.191; 23. Korey Weyant, 99, Weyant-32.297; 24. Briggs Danner, 10, DMW-32.475; 25. Tom Savage, 38, Savage-32.561; 26. Rob Caho Jr., 78, Caho-32.585; 27. Tim Kent, 79, Hoover-32.850; 28. Kip Hughes, 160, Hughes-32.963; 29. Kale Drake, 14, McQuinn-33.947; 30. Aric Gentry, 3, Simmons-34.314; 31. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-35.498; 32. Kenny Gentry, 18, Gentry-NT; 33. Shane Cottle, 121, Swanson-NT; 34. Shane Cockrum, 97, Lein-NT; 35. Billy Wease, 60, Meyer/Wilson-NT; 36. Kaylee Bryson, 26, Pierce-NT; 37. Saban Bibent, 88, Fetter-NT; 38. Brian Tyler, 81, BCR-NT (Time of 31.569 disallowed due to illegal left front tire).
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS QUALIFYING RACE: (5 laps, shortened from 8 laps due to attrition, top 6 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Brian Tyler, 3. Kip Hughes, 4. Rob Caho Jr., 5. Tim Kent, 6. Kale Drake, 7. Dave Berkheimer, 8. Aric Gentry. 4:23.942 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (100 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kody Swanson (1), 2. Matt Westfall (2), 3. Mario Clouser (4), 4. Justin Grant (9), 5. C.J. Leary (7), 6. Brian Tyler (26), 7. Chase Stockon (5), 8. Carmen Perigo (8), 9. Jimmy Light (3), 10. Jake Swanson (11), 11. A.J. Fike (13), 12. Taylor Ferns (16), 13. Kip Hughes (27), 14. Korey Weyant (22), 15. Danny Jennings (12), 16. Chris Urish (10), 17. Rob Caho Jr. (28), 18. Joey Moughan (20), 19. Kale Drake (30), 20. Mitchel Moles (21), 21. Kyle Steffens (6), 22. Kyle Robbins (18), 23. Russ Gamester (19), 24. Kyle Wissmiller (17), 25. Tom Savage (24), 26. Shane Cottle (25), 27. Tim Kent (29), 28. Will Armitage (14), 29. Casey Buckman (15), 30. Briggs Danner (23), 31. Dave Berkheimer (31-P). NT
(P) represents a provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-8 Matt Westfall, Laps 9-33 Kody Swanson, Laps 34-58 Carmen Perigo, Laps 59-100 Kody Swanson.
**Shane Cockrum flipped during practice. Will Armitage flipped on lap 16 of the feature.
USAC SILVER CROWN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-713, 2-C.J. Leary-636, 3-Matt Westfall-530, 4-Kody Swanson-493, 5-Kyle Steffens-427, 6-Mario Clouser-386, 7-Dakoda Armstrong-345, 8-Dave Berkheimer-326, 9-Taylor Ferns-299, 10-Bobby Santos-272.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-195, 2-Briggs Danner-126, 3-Gunnar Setser-100, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-99, 5-Logan Seavey-94, 6-C.J. Leary-93, 7-Justin Grant-91, 8-Kyle Cummins-90, 9-Jake Swanson-70, 10-Robert Ballou-69.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 30, 2025 – Du Quoin State Fairgrounds – Du Quoin, Illinois – 1-Mile Dirt Oval – Ted Horn 100
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Practice Fastest Driver: Chase Stockon (29.739)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Kody Swanson (30.515)
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Brian Tyler (26th to 6th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Race: Carmen Perigo