Kody Swanson (born March 3, 1988) is an American professional

sprint car racing Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New ...

driver. He is a seven-time USAC

USAC Silver Crown Series The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapol ...

champion in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022, plus a three-time

Little 500 The Little 500 (also known popularly as the "Little Five"), is a track cycling race held annually during the third weekend of April at Bill Armstrong Stadium on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. It is attended by more th ...

winner. Swanson is currently the all-time wins leader in Silver Crown with 37.

Racing career

Silver Crown Series

Swanson made his Silver Crown Series debut in August 2008. His first series podium came in July 2009 with a third-place finish at

Iowa Speedway Iowa Speedway is a 7/8-mile (1.4 km) paved oval motor racing track in Newton, Iowa, United States, approximately east of Des Moines. It has over 25,000 permanent seats as well as a unique multi-tiered RV viewing area along the backstretch ...

, driving the No. 19 for Team Six-R. In his sophomore season, he finished fifth in the series standings and was named Rookie of the Year. His first win came in the Ted Horn 100 at the

DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Racetrack DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Racetrack is a one-mile (1.6-km) clay oval motor racetrack in Du Quoin, Illinois, about southeast of St Louis, Missouri. It is a stop on the ARCA Menards Series, USAC Silver Crown Series and American Flat Track. Histor ...

in September 2010. It was his only win that season. However, he claimed four podiums and six top-five finishes throughout nine races. In 2018, Swanson joined Al Unser Sr. as one of the only two drivers in history to win four consecutive

Hoosier Hundred The Hoosier Hundred is a USAC Silver Crown Series race scheduled for Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park as of 2023. It is a revival of the original race held from 1953-2020 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Speedway, a one-mile dirt oval in In ...

USAC Silver Crown Series races at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Speedway in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

. As of the end of the 2021 season, he was the all-time winningest USAC Silver Crown driver with 34 wins (second most is

Jack Hewitt Jack Hewitt (born July 8, 1951, Troy, Ohio), is a former racecar driver who was prolific in various open wheel and sprint car series. He was a two-time champion in the USAC Silver Crown Series in 1986 and 1987 and is second all-time in Silver Cr ...

Little 500

Swanson has competed in the

Anderson Speedway Anderson Speedway is a quarter mile (400 m) high-banked paved oval racetrack in Anderson, Indiana, United States. The track hosts the annual Little 500 sprint car race and the Redbud 400 stock car race. Weekly racing features several stock car ...

five times since 2015. In that time, he has recorded three wins, one each in 2016, 2018, and 2019. In 2022, Swanson won the inaugural season of the Indiana-based 500 Sprint Car Tour.

Stock car racing

Swanson watched

Automobile Racing Club of America The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is an auto racing sanctioning body in the United States, founded in 1953 by John Marcum. The current president of ARCA is Ron Drager, who took over the position in 1996 following the death of Bob Log ...

(ARCA) races during combined events with Silver Crown. Silver Crown director

Andy Hillenburg Andrew Hillenburg (born April 30, 1963) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current team owner and track owner. His race team, Fast Track Racing, fields multiple cars in the ARCA Menards Series and formerly fielded entr ...

, a longtime ARCA team owner and former ARCA champion, arranged a meeting between Swanson and several owners to try to get him an ARCA ride, and this led to a one-race deal in the No. 22

Chad Bryant Racing Chad Bryant Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the ARCA Menards Series and the ARCA Menards Series West. History 2018 The team was formed on January 9, 2018 by ARCA crew chief Chad Bryant, who purchased t ...

in July 2020.

Other racing

Swanson has won in USAC National

midget cars Midget (from ''midge'', a tiny biting insect) is a term for a person of unusually short stature that is considered by some to be pejorative due to its etymology. While not a medical term like "dwarfism", a medical condition with a number of ca ...

. In 2020, he tested an

Indy Pro 2000 The USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, formerly known as the Star Mazda Championship, Pro Mazda Championship, and later Indy Pro 2000 Championship, is an Open-wheel car, open-wheel racing series serving as the third step on th ...

car at

La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway The La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway is a semi-banked asphalt oval racetrack in West Salem, Wisconsin. The outer track is 5/8 mile and the inner track is a 1/4 mile. The speedway has progressive banking in the corners, from 5 degrees on the bottom t ...

with hopes that he might someday be considered for an

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

ride. Later that year, he would enter the Indy Pro 2000 race at the

Carb Night Classic The Dave Steele Carb Night Classic is a United States Auto Club dirt track car race held near Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, which takes place in late May before the Indianapolis 500 at the nearby Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Over its his ...

with Legacy Autosport and win in his series debut. 2021 brought Kody the AJ Foyt trophy while becoming only the second driver (Mike Bliss 93/94) to win in Midgets, Sprint Cars and Silver Crown competition at Indianapolis Raceway Park all in the same year.

Motorsports career results

ARCA Menards Series

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Little 500

(

)

American open–wheel racing results

Indy Pro 2000 Championship

Superstar Racing Experience

(

) * – Most laps led. ¹ – Heat 1 winner. ² – Heat 2 winner. Season still in progress

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swanson, Kody 1988 births Living people NASCAR drivers ARCA Menards Series drivers Indy Pro 2000 Championship drivers People from Kingsburg, California Racing drivers from California USAC Silver Crown Series drivers