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copyright: Jack Kessler PhotoDoran Drivers: Kody Swanson

Born: March 3, 1988 in Kingsburg, Calif.
Current residence: Zionsville, Ind.
Marital status: Married to Jordan, who is also his spotter; two sons, Trevor and Adam.
Full-time Job: Assistant project manager at Alt & Witzig Engineering.
Education: Was graduated magna cum laude and was a President's Honor Scholar at California State University, Fresno. Also valedictorian of Kingsburg High School in Kingsburg, Calif.  American FFA Degree Recipient.
Social Media:
Website: KodySwansonRacing.com
Facebook: @KodySwansonRacin
Twitter: @KodySwanson

Career Highlights: 
* Winningest driver in USAC Silver Crown history; seven-time series champion. Set the all-time Silver Crown record with his 24th victory in August 2018 at Salem (Ind.) Speedway, breaking the legendary Jack Hewitt's record. By the end of the 2023 season he had 40 USAC Silver Crown victories, the most of any driver ever, and 46 poles, also the most of any driver ever.

* Seven-time USAC Silver Crown champion (2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014).

* Inaugural 500 Sprint Car Tour champion in 2022 driving for Doran Racing.

* In 2018 he joined Al Unser Sr. as one of the only two drivers in history to win four consecutive Hoosier Hundred USAC Silver Crown races at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Speedway in Indianapolis.

* Except for one year, he’s finished in the top five in Silver Crown points for the last 15 years, or every year since 2009, when he won the series’ Rookie of the Year honors.

* Three-time winner of the most prestigious asphalt sprint car race in the world, the Pay Less Little 500 at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway.

* Won in his debut in IndyCar’s Road to Indy ladder program with a victory in the Indy Pro 2000 race at Lucas Oil (Ind.) Raceway in 2020.

* Has also successfully competed in historic sports car racing, ARCA stock cars and late models.

Highlights by Year: 

2023: Swanson and Doran-Binks Racing finished second in both the USAC Silver Crown championship and the 500 Sprint Car Tour.

In USAC Silver Crown, Swanson and Doran-Binks Racing finished second to Logan Seavey and Rice Motorsports/Abacus Racing by only seven points, 669 to 676. A total of 74 drivers earned points throughout the 11-race season.

Swanson and Doran-Binks Racing won three of the races. The victories came at Madison Int’l Speedway in Oregon, Wis., on June 23; Winchester (Ind.) Speedway on July 20, and Toledo (Ohio) Speedway Aug. 5. The victories extended Swanson’s record as the winningest driver in series history to 40.

He and Seavey both had nine top-five finishes.

Swanson led the most laps throughout the year — 433.

He was the fastest qualifier six times, extending his series record in that category to 46.

In the 500 Sprint Car Tour’s second season, Swanson and Doran-Binks Racing finished second to Tyler Roahrig and the Rocky Fabrication and Suspension team. That series’ biggest race is the Little 500 at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway, a non-points event where Swanson won the pole for the fourth time; led more than half of the race, and finished third.

He won two of the nine points-paying races: June 18 at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway, and the Gene Nolen Classic July 8 at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway. He was only out of the top five once in the nine events. He ended up with 1,760 points to Roahrig’s 1,818. A total of 51 drivers earned points during the season.

Swanson also won two poles: April 8 at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway and June 18 at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway.

2022: Earned an unprecedented seventh USAC Silver Crown driver championship driving for Doran Dyson Racing, as Doran Racing prepared his asphalt Silver Crown car and Chris Dyson Racing fielded his dirt Silver Crown car. He won three races enroute to the championship, all on asphalt tracks: Toledo Speedway, Winchester Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway. He also won a special 25-lap, non-points event at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

In August he beat his own world speed record for a traditional USAC Silver Crown car with a speed of 146.699 miles per hour during qualifying at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill.

Another highlight was his victory in the Rich Vogler Classic at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway, where he led all 100 laps and  lapped all but one driver in the 21-car field enroute to an incredible 10.062-second victory.

He also won the inaugural 500 Sprint Car Tour championship driving an asphalt sprint car fielded totally by Doran Racing. He posted two victories, six podium finishes and eight top-five finishes enroute to that championship. The victories came in the first 500 Sprint Car Tour points race ever, which was held at Plymouth (Ind.) Motor Speedway in June. He also won at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway in July. He was the fastest qualifier at two of the nine points-paying races enroute to the title.

2021: Earned an unprecedented sixth USAC Silver Crown driver championship driving for three teams: Doran Racing (all four pavement events), and Mark Swanson Encore Team and Chris Dyson Racing for the dirt-track events. He was the first driver in 27 years to miss a race entirely and still win the USAC Silver Crown championship. He won four of the 10 races. He won three times in the Doran Racing No. 77: Lucas Oil Raceway May 29 and Aug. 14, and the season finale at Toledo Speedway Oct. 10. He also won on the dirt at Springfield Aug. 21 with Chris Dyson Racing.

He became a four-time champion (second all time) in the A.J. Foyt Championship at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park with 13 USAC victories there.

He also drove an asphalt stock car successfully for Team Platinum, and he participated in the Eldora round of Tony Stewart and Ray Everham’s inaugural SRX series, leading and vying for the victory and finishing second in a back-up car.

Again driving for Doran Racing, he teamed with Brad Jaeger to win the overall and GTM class in the B.R.M. Chronographes race at the Historic Sportscar Racing Classic Daytona at Daytona International Speedway in October. They drove the Doran Racing 2008 No. 21 Ford GT Mk7. It was a repeat B.R.M. class win for the pair and the team.

2020:
Finished second in the driver championship in the USAC Silver Crown series with one victory in a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic and rain. That victory was the Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial at Salem (Ind.) Speedway, for the fifth consecutive time (2016-2020).  The win broke the tie for the most consecutive James/O'Connor victories with Pancho Carter (1974-1977). 

Won the 2020 Indy Summer Nationals, a Must See Racing-sanctioned non-wing pavement sprint car event at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind. It was the first time since 1995 that a V6 engine won a sprint car race at LOR (previously IRP). 

Won the 2020 Night Before the 500 sprint car race at Lucas Oil Raceway.

Won the Freedom 90 Indy Pro 2000 Series race at Lucas Oil Raceway driving for Legacy Autosport in his debut in IndyCar’s Road to Indy ladder system, winning in his first start with the series.  

Made his debut in the ARCA Menards Series at Iowa Speedway driving for Chad Bryant Racing, finishing eighth.

Also competed in late model stock cars, making his debut at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway. Competed in two events driving for Chad Bryant Racing, running in twin 40-lap features for each event. On July 25 he qualified third for race one and finished four, and he started sixth in race two and finished seventh. On Sept. 12 he qualified fourth for race one and finished fourth, and he started sixth in race two and finished second.

He made his second appearance in Historic Sports Car Racing’s Daytona Classic 24 Hour on the road course at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, driving a Doran Racing Ford GT II Mk7. He won the BRM Chronographes H/P and GTM enduro, and he was a HSR sprint race winner.

He was also the Auto Value Super Sprints non-wing sprint car champion in 2020.

2019: Won his fifth USAC Silver Crown drivers’ championship. Driving for Nolen Racing, he won five USAC Silver Crown races in 2019 (Memphis March 23, Toledo April 27, Madison June 28, Salem Aug. 10 and the Sept. 7 race at Lucas Oil Raceway). He led every single lap of three of those races (Toledo, Salem and Lucas Oil Raceway). He had a total of eight top-five finishes. He won five poles, set five fastest race laps, and set a new track record at Madison in 2019.

He won his third Little 500 asphalt sprint car race and second for Nolen Racing in 2019 at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway. In the 2019 race he and teammate Shane Hollingsworth led an unprecedented 499 of the 500 laps!

2018: Won his fourth USAC Silver Crown championship for DePalma Motorsports. Posted the most USAC Silver Crown victories in a row with five in 2018. Swanson's 2018 USAC Silver Crown victories were at Toledo Speedway May 4; the prestigious Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis on May 24; the Dave Steele Carb Night Classic at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind. on May 25; the Bytech Dairyland 100 at Madison Int'l Speedway in Oregon, Wis. on June 29 and the Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial at Salem (Ind.) Speedway on Aug. 11.

He joined Al Unser Sr. as one of only two drivers in history to win four consecutive Hoosier Hundred USAC Silver Crown races at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Speedway in Indianapolis with that victory.

He gave Nolen Racing its first Pay Less Little 500 victory when he won it in 2018. This race, held at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway, is the most prestigious asphalt sprint car race in the world. It also marked three wins in one weekend for Swanson, as he won the Hoosier Hundred USAC Silver Crown race on the dirt on Thursday at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, the USAC Silver Crown race at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind. on Friday, and the Little 500 on Saturday.

2017: Driving for DePalma Motorsports, he won his third USAC Silver Crown championship with four victories: the Carb Night Classic at Lucas Oil (Ind.) Raceway, the Horn/Schindler Memorial at Williams Grove (Pa.) Speedway, the James/O’Connor Memorial at Salem (Ind.) Speedway, and the Ted Horn 100 at the DuQuoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds.

2016: Won both the Little 500 and the Tony Elliott Classic non-wing asphalt sprint car races at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway.

2015: Won his second USAC Silver Crown drivers’ championship driving for DePalma Motorsports. He had four victories: the Rollie Beale Classic at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway; the Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds; the Bettenhausen 100 at Springfield, Ill., and the Salt City 78 at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse.

2014: Won his first USAC Silver Crown drivers’ championship with five victories driving for DePalma Motorsports. The wins were the Sumar Classic at Terre Haute, Ind.; the Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds; the Hustle on the High Banks at Belleville, Kan.; the Bettenhausen 100 at Springfield, Ill., and the Salt City 78 at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse.

2010: Won the biggest sprint car race in his native California, as he was the Turkey Night winner. Also won his first USAC Silver Crown race, the Ted Horn 100 at DuQuoin, Ill.

2009: Rookie of the Year in USAC Silver Crown.

2006: Earned the USAC Western sprint car championship and was that series’ Rookie of the Year.

Prior to 2006: He got his start in the sport in micro sprints and mini sprints, and immediately excelled.

More of his accomplishments can be found on kodyswansonracing.com.

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