Silver Crown
The Silver Crown Series has 11 races on the docket, with a trip to Pennsylvania‘s Port Royal Speedway in the offing for the first time and a return to World Wide Technology Raceway where the teams will negotiate the fast 1.25-mile paved paperclip.
As the last of the USAC National series to feature races on dirt and pavement, championship hopefuls must be prepared to tackle both surfaces. In recent years the main combatants have been Kody Swanson and Grant.
Of his six Silver Crown championships, the last two etched on Kody Swanson‘s résumé were the most improbable. In 2021, he became the first driver since Jimmy Sills in 1994 to take the top prize despite missing a race. Amazingly, he also performed for three different teams.
This season, Swanson will be racing for Doran Racing on the pavement and Chris Dyson on the dirt. When the best driver the series has ever seen is paired with two stout cars, it could be a long year for the competition.
When Grant took the win on the pavement at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway in July, he looked in good position to become a repeat champion. Then the team suffered a series of mishaps. Don‘t look for that to happen again. Back with Hemelgarn Racing and crew chief, Dennis LaCava, one can expect them to return to form.
The surprise of the 2021 season was the combination of owner Robbie Rice and driver Seavey, who scored wins at Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway and Eldora on the way to rookie-of-the-year honors. Seavey finished second in the standings. Rice‘s last-minute decision to obtain a pavement car ultimately launched him to the entrant‘s championship.
Seavey and crew chief, Gardner, have a year of pavement experience under their belt, so they enter the campaign as a dangerous team.
Two winners from 2021 will have full-time deals this season. Shane Cockrum has proved he can handle the dirt and his BLS Motorsports team is prepared to go pavement racing, too. Brian Tyler is one of the all-time greats and his return to the cockpit last September at Du Quoin resulted in his 18th series victory. The old warhorse also reminded all just how good he was on the pavement when he finished third in the series finale at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway.
That was enough to convince crew chief and BCR Group headman Malcom Lovelace to sign the two-time USAC sprint car champion for 2022. In an intriguing move, C. J. Leary is back on the tour full time with Klatt Motorsports. The 2020 USAC entrant champions have been using a split driver combination for dirt and pavement, so this constitutes a change of pace.
Because of the nature of the series some drivers and teams pick and choose events. As always when Tanner Swanson and Bobby Santos III sign in on the hardtop, they immediately become pre-race favorites. Mario Clouser, who picked up a WAR series sprint car championship will be running the pavement races for successful Illinois-based Kazmark Racing. As the season progresses, they may move into the dirt world.
Jake Swanson and Casey Buckman will run the dirt with Mickey Meyer and DMW, while Chase Stockon will take over the controls of Bill Floyd‘s Pink 69 Racing team.
Because the Silver Crown season opener is in May, some teams have not solidified their plans. That said, it is expected that series regulars such as Kyle Robbins, Travis Welpott, Eric Gordon, Mike Hagenbottom, Matt Goodnight, David Byrne, Derek Bischak, Dave Berkheimer, Carmen Perigo and Aaron Pierce will be back in a full or part-time capacity.
It is an important year for USAC to demonstrate the strength of their product and for new talent to emerge. This seems to be a year where all defending champions may hold serve. If not, could any driver win two or three titles and pick up the extra gold?
The two men in the best position to do so are Logan Seavey and Justin Grant and both have the skills and the teams to do it. In the end, this may be a pivotal year for USAC.