Kingsburg’s Kody Swanson clinches Silver Crown national racing title

Kody Swanson of Kingsburg clinched his second consecutive United States Auto Club Silver Crown national championship with a second-place finish Saturday night in Rossburg, Ohio.

With one race left in the season, Swanson has an insurmountable 557-433 points lead over Jerry Coons Jr., who was 10th on Saturday night. Swanson has won three of 10 races this season.

Swanson is the 11th multiple champion in the 45-year history of Silver Crown, which traces its roots to the early days of the Indianapolis 500. Only six multi-winners have successfully defended championships, as Swanson did this year.

The list of past champions includes Jeff Gordon, who drove a car owned by the late Fred Ede Jr. of Fresno to the 1991 title. Ede also owned the 1999 championship car driven by Ryan Newman.

Bud Kaeding of Campbell, now piloting the Oakhurst-based Williams Motorsports car in the King of the West sprint car series, won three Silver Crown titles in his own car (2006, ’07, ’09), interrupted by Coons in 2008.

Silver Crown cars are non-wing sprint cars that can start on their own, in contrast with King of the West cars that have wings and must be push-started.

It was Swanson’s second consecutive runner-up finish at the 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway, a half-mile, high-banked clay oval quite unlike the pavement tracks that are his best surface. That, combined with winning in the home state of his DePalma Motorsports car owners, made Saturday’s result special, Swanson said.

“I’m so proud of these guys and so grateful to be a part of their team. Two seconds at the 4-Crown is pretty wild for a guy like me.”

Christopher Bell won two of the three features Saturday night in the 34th 4-Crown Nationals, including his first Silver Crown win.

King of the West sprint cars – Kaeding turned two top-five weekend finishes into the points lead. Two-time defending series champion Kyle Hirst in the Fresno-based Roth Motorsports car won Friday night at Santa Maria Speedway, and former NASCAR driver Tyler Walker won Saturday night at Ventura Speedway.

Kaeding leads Lemoore’s Carson Macedo, who drives for Easton-based Tarlton & Son, by one point, 2,577-2,576. Third-standing DJ Netto of Hanford is 82 points behind Kaeding.

The season has three more races; the next one is Oct. 10 at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare.

Walker and Kaeding shared the front row Saturday night. Kaeding finished third, Hirst fourth, Macedo fifth, Tommy Tarlton (in a rare start in the series) sixth, Dominic Scelzi of Fresno seventh, Netto ninth and Mitchell Faccinto of Hanford 10th.

Friday night, it was Hirst over Scelzi, Netto and Kaeding. Macedo was seventh and Faccinto eighth. Dalton Hill, a junior at Liberty High School in Madera Ranchos, drove his 360 cubic-inch-powered car against the predominantly 410 field and finished 10th, holding off 13-time KWS champion Brent Kaeding over the last few laps.

Madera Speedway – Rick Thompson beat Buddy Shepherd by a bumper Saturday night in the 100-lap LoanMart Late Model Series feature.

The top six cars finished within two seconds. After Thompson, the former Madera champion from Fresno, and Shepherd, the 15-year-old series points leader from Bakersfield, came Matt Erickson, Ronnie Roberts, Garland Tyler and Jason Aguirre. Ten of 17 starters went the distance on the one-third-mile paved oval.

The Late Models are now set for the $10,000-to-win California Gold Classic Short Track Shootout on Oct. 10, televised by MAVTV.

Other winners Saturday night were John Bowersox (MST), Josh Whitfield (Open Hobby Stock), Tim Curtis (Toyota Sedan), Jeremy Wood (Legends) and Ken Winland (Enduro).

This story was originally published September 27, 2015 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Kingsburg’s Kody Swanson clinches Silver Crown national racing title."