Doran Binks’ Swanson Finishes Second
In Mission Foods No. 77 on Saturday at Du Quoin
And Leads USAC Silver Crown Point Standings
With Three Races Remaining in 2024

DU QUOIN, Ill., Sept. 1 — Doran Binks Racing’s Kody Swanson powered his way from fifth to finish second in the 70th running of the Ted Horn 100 USAC Silver Crown race at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds on Saturday.

Swanson’s Mission Foods No. 77 was just 0.195 seconds behind the winning car of Justin Grant on the last green-flag lap before the 100-lap race was declared complete two laps short due to rain.

Unofficially Swanson and Doran Binks Racing now lead the series’ driver and entrant point standings by 12 points with 675 points to Grant and Hemelgarn Racing’s 663.

Three races remain in the 2024 championship. Swanson is shooting for an unprecedented eighth series title with the Mission Foods No. 77, which is also sponsored by Glenn Farms and Wilke Orthodontics.

Grant was the fastest qualifier but Logan Seavey, who started second and is third in the current point standings, led the first 31 laps before Grant took over and led the rest of the race on the 1-mile dirt track.

Swanson qualified fifth, just 0.264 off Grant’s top time. Swanson passed the driver who qualified third, Briggs Danner, on the initial start to move into fourth place. Then Swanson got under Mitchel Moles, who started fourth, on lap 11 to move into third. He took over second place on lap 42 by passing Seavey to the outside as they raced down the backstretch.

Then Swanson did everything in his power to pass Grant. He drew up right behind him several times, but on this day he couldn’t make a pass stick with his No. 77, which is a Maxim chassis with a Hampshire-prepared Chevy engine.

Grant had a 1.323-second lead over Swanson on lap 45, but in only five laps Swanson had cut that to just 0.223. Grant was able to rebuild his 1-second advantage by lap 60, but five laps later Swanson was only 0.576 behind, and on lap 70 Swanson was only 0.386 behind.

Grant’s lead grew to about a half-second later, but by lap 79 Swanson was right on the back of Grant’s car again, just 0.295 behind, and he kept the pressure up until the end. Swanson was just 0.195 behind Grant when a yellow flew with 96 laps down for Moles, who ran out of fuel while running fifth. It started to rain under that yellow, and after a red with 98 laps down the event was declared complete.

In addition to trying to catch Grant, Swanson had to call upon his vast experience to play defense against Moles, Seavey, and then Danner, who passed Seavey for third on lap 65. All of them tried everything they could to pass Swanson and got very close, but they couldn’t get by.

At the end the top-five drivers were Grant, Swanson, Danner, Jerry Coons Jr. and Seavey.

Grant set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 31.833 seconds on lap 81. Despite it being only his second USAC Silver Crown race ever, Saban Bibent was second in that category with a 31.851 on lap 71. Swanson was third-fastest with a 31.859 on lap 86.

Most USAC Silver Crown races don’t have red flags, but this one had five of them. In addition to the one at the end for rain, the action stopped with six laps down

when Don Droud Jr. flipped in Turn 1 while running 11th, landing upside down. The second red flew with 14 laps down when Jimmy Light flipped at the exit of Turn 2 while running 15th. The race stopped for the third time with 27 laps down when Danny Long had an especially hard flip at the exit of Turn 4 and onto the frontstretch while running 22nd. Red No. 4 flew with 53 laps down when Danny Jennings flipped about six times in Turns 3 and 4 while running 14th. The officials made that red an open one so teams could refuel. All of the drivers involved walked away.

There were three yellows too. One caution came out on lap 46 when Dave Berkheimer hit the wall between Turns 3 and 4 while running 20th. Another yellow flew with 90 laps complete when C.J. Leary slowed on the backstretch with a flat right-rear tire while running fifth. Chase Stockon (sixth) and Shane Cockrum (eighth) went to the pits with flat tires at that point too. The final yellow flew on lap 97 when Moles rolled to a stop on the frontstretch.

All of those restarts kept the 28-car field tight throughout the race, so finishing on the podium was a great accomplishment.

“We made it up to second,” Swanson said afterwards. “I had a couple of chances to get under Justin, but couldn’t quite make a pass stick before Mother Nature ultimately called the race a few laps early. Congratulations to him and the Hemelgarn team; they are on a roll.

“We freshened our engine up at Hampshire’s before this race and it was better today,” he noted. “We’re still getting better on the dirt each time we go out with our Mission Foods Doran Binks No. 77. I appreciate all the extra effort and I’m thankful for everyone on the Doran Binks team.

“We come to win, but we just came up a little short today. Justin is a championship-caliber driver. We’ll keep at it and try to get some more wins with three races to go.”

The next event is Sept. 20-21 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, which isn’t too far from Doran Binks Racing’s headquarters in Lebanon, Ohio. That event is followed by an Oct. 6 show at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. The season

finale is Oct. 19 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Brownsburg, Ind. That’s not far from Swanson’s base in Indianapolis. He’s a native of Kingsburg, Calif.

All of the series’ races are streamed live on Flo Racing.

About Mission Foods:
The Gruma Corporation began in 1949 and is today the leading tortilla manufacturer worldwide. Mission Foods is a proud subsidiary of Gruma, and as the #1 tortilla company in the United States, manufactures a wide variety of authentic Mexican products. Five years ago it opened a state-of-the-art plant in Dallas, Texas, with the capacity to produce 30 million tortillas daily. Today Mission Foods is a global company, with special emphasis not only on the United States but also Mexico, Central America, Europe, China, Malaysia, and Australia. Its products include flour and corn tortillas; tostadas; low-carb, whole wheat, organic and gluten-free items; wraps; flatbreads such as naan, pita and roti; tortilla chips and organic chips; chicharrones; salsa, and dips. For more information see missionfoods.com

For more information on Doran Racing, see DoranRacing.com.
The team also has a Facebook page.