Danner Runs as High as Second and Finishes Sixth
Saturday at Iowa in Doran-Swanson Racing No. 77

Photo credit: USAC photo by Christopher Pedersen

NEWTON, Iowa, Aug. 9 — Briggs Danner ran as high as second in Saturday night’s USAC Silver Crown race at Iowa Speedway, and at one point he was just 0.10 second behind the leader, ready to pounce. Unfortunately attrition played a major role in the 100-lap race, and he ended up sixth after dropping out with 88 laps complete due to a driveline issue with the Doran-Swanson Racing No. 77, which is sponsored by E. Schneider & Sons Recycling, Fuel Mart, and Sennebogen.

Despite it being the Allentown, Pa.-based driver’s first race on the 0.875-mile asphalt oval, he advanced to second from his seventh starting spot, and ran in that position for 24 laps. He was never out of the top five while he was running. He was striving for back-to-back victories in the series, as he dominated its most recent race July 19 at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway.

He got a terrific start with the car, which is powered by a Doran Toyota engine, advancing from seventh to fifth before the completion of lap one. He got those spots when Mario Clouser, who started second and eventually finished second to C.J. Leary, dropped from second to eighth initially, and Dakoda Armstrong, who started sixth, dropped out with a mechanical issue.

Danner moved into fourth on lap four by passing Bobby Santos III, who won the most recent USAC Silver Crown race at this track 11 years ago, on the backstretch.

Danner was in a great four-car battle for second with Davey Hamilton Jr., Leary, and Jackson Macenko just prior to the one-quarter mark. Danner moved into third on lap 24 when the driver who had been second, Davey Hamilton Jr., got a little out of shape and Danner was able to capitalize on it. When lap 25 went into the books polesitter and initial leader Chase Cabre already had a 5.267-second lead over Leary, who was followed by Danner, Macenko, and Hamilton Jr.

Danner stayed in third place until lap 46, when he advanced to second after Cabre dropped out with a reported ignition issue after building his advantage over Leary to 10.086 seconds.

At the halfway point Leary had a 0.768-second lead over Danner and Danner was 3.299 seconds ahead of the third-place driver, Macenko.

The first of only two yellows waved from laps 54 through 57 when the driver who was seventh, Kaylee Bryson, dropped to the apron of the track along the frontstretch due to a mechanical issue.

Danner did his best to pass Leary on the restart on lap 58, attempting an outside pass. Leary proved too stout, however, and with the top runners packed up for the restart, Macenko and Clouser got around Danner on lap 60 to drop him to fourth. He slipped one more spot to fifth on lap 61 when defending champion Justin Grant also got by.

The second and final yellow flew when the ninth-place driver, Chelby Hinton, slowed on lap 78. That erased Leary’s 1.198-second lead over Clouser. Danner had been 0.672 behind the fourth-place driver, Macenko, and 2.882 seconds ahead of the sixth-place driver, Kyle Hamilton, at the time.

Under that yellow Macenko dipped into the pits due to a mechanical issue, and Danner found himself back in fourth place. He was still in that position when he slowed on the backstretch and dropped out with 88 laps complete.

Only the top three finishers — Leary, Clouser, and Grant — completed all 100 laps. Nathan Byrd was fourth, two laps down. Gregg Cory was fifth and was the race’s hard charger, as he started 15th. Only five cars were running at the finish. Danner ended up sixth followed by Kyle Hamilton, Macenko, Hinton and Santos.

Danner set the sixth-fastest race lap when he ran a 23.269 on lap 35. Leary was the fastest in that category with a 22.946 on lap 88.

Danner qualified seventh in the field of 18 Saturday morning. It was a group qualifying session, and he turned his fastest lap of 22.389 seconds on his 24th and final circuit during the 35-minute session. That was just 0.426 off the 21.963 (143.423 miles per hour) turned by the polesitter, series newcomer but Iowa Speedway veteran Cabre.

That was the fastest lap at Iowa for the weekend. By contrast, Ryan Sieg won the pole for Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts stock car race with a lap of 23.966 seconds. Another Ryan, Ryan Blaney, won the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race there with a time of 23.474.

Danner was eighth in the 35-minute practice session that preceded qualifying with a 22.638 to the 22.217 set by the fastest driver in that session, Leary.

Although this was the first USAC Silver Crown event at Iowa Speedway in 11 years, the series was part of a USAC tripleheader there to open the then-brand-new track 20 years ago.

The event was livestreamed by Flo Racing, as are all the USAC Silver Crown races.

Danner’s next race with the Doran-Swanson Racing team is the Rollie Beale Classic on Oct. 3 at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway, which is the season finale.

Shane Cottle will represent the team in the three dirt-track Silver Crown races that precede Toledo: the Illinois State Fairgrounds Aug. 22; the Du Quoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds Sept. 5, and Eldora (Ohio) Speedway Sept. 25-26.

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