AMARILLO, Texas — Hard work, dedication, desire and dream all came together in unison on Saturday night as Swanson took the Daming Swanson Motorsports to victory lane for the first time in USAC competition by scoring a $10,000 triumph in the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship debut at Route 66 Motor Speedway.
But in truth, this win was worth so much more. This was Jake’s dream. This was Joe Daming’s dream. And, at last, those dreams had come true with a victory in the 47th race of the USAC National Sprint Car season aboard the Daming Swanson Motorsports/Inland Rigging – Dougherty Motorsports/DRC/1-Way Chevy.
“Joe is so stoked right now; he’s upstairs pounding beers, I know it,” Swanson said of his late car owner who died at age 47. “To the whole Daming family, thank you guys for giving me this opportunity and letting me take all your stuff and turn it into a national winning program. I just can’t believe we were able to do this.”
It was Swanson’s USAC win in more than two years, since a USAC Indiana Sprint Week score in July of 2023 at Putnamville’s Lincoln Park Speedway. Furthermore, it was the seventh win of Swanson’s USAC National Sprint Car career.
When Jake and his wife, Jess, moved from California to Indiana in early 2021, the Daming family welcomed them with open arms. The Swanson/Daming combo won frequently on the local level in the Hoosier state during the years between 2021-2023, and to this day, several of the same individuals responsible for that success are still involved, all of whom are essentially important for making this dream a reality.
“We started in the local realm and we’ve come here and have now won on the national stage,” Swanson reflected. “There are literally like 10 people that we could not do this without. This thing does not get to the racetrack without them. We’re racing on no money, no budget. We’re literally racing on winnings. So, thank god we won tonight because I’m relying on sponsorship to get us up and down the road. I definitely don’t have deep enough pockets to run this deal.”
This year, especially of late, Swanson had displayed flashes of brilliance that demonstrated how close the team was to breaking through. A solid stretch leading into the weekend saw him tally six top-fives in a span of seven starts.
On Friday, he set a track record in qualifying at Dodge City and followed up by establishing yet another track record in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying on Saturday at Route 66 with a time of 13.648 seconds.
With the inversion top-six inversion, Swanson lined up sixth in the feature. However, as the festivities had barely gotten underway, a major calamity encompassing 10 drivers littered the front straightway with damaged racecars. At the conclusion of the opening lap, ninth starting Wyatt Burks slapped the outside wall at the exit of turn four. As his car crawled slowly down the front straight, mass carnage ensued, resulting in Justin Zimmerman, Saban Bibent, Anton Hernandez and Caleb Stelzig all flipping upside down.
Bibent returned to the fray after several teams chipped in to help repair his ride in the Indy Metal Finishing Work Area. Initially, Bibent was the front runner for the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the night based solely on his last lap, last turn pass to gain the final transfer spot in his heat race. After returning to action and promptly driving back up through the field to complete the race with a damaged racecar and a 13th place finish, he clinched it.
While Kevin Thomas Jr. controlled the pace for the first half of the 30-lap main from his pole starting position, Swanson was rising up the pylon. Swanson took second from Danner around the outside on lap eight, then quickly chopped Thomas’ lead from a full second to a half-second to where he was right on his bumper on lap 16 and ready to pounce. Right there and then, Swanson raced by Thomas on the back straight to take his spot at the front of the field.
With two to go, Thomas found his second wind and took a swing at Swanson for the lead. Thomas briefly held a car length lead midway through turns one and two, but as he drifted up toward the top of the second turn, Swanson’s momentum was at warp speed as he escaped from Thomas off the edge to retake the lead for good.
Swanson finished off the 30th and final lap roughly 2.5 car lengths ahead of Thomas, 0.213 seconds to the better at the stripe. Mitchel Moles slipped by for third late in the going with C.J. Leary fourth and Logan Seavey rounding out the top five.
Swanson not only entered the win column for the 2025 USAC season, he also put his name into the record books as a first-time USAC winner as a car entrant. And he accomplished the deed with the Daming family by his side, including crewman Austin Daming, Joe’s son.
“Austin and I have spent countless hours in the shop,” Swanson revealed. “Three years ago, he had hardly ever been at the racetrack before. Now, he’s a good wrench. I love what we’ve done and I’m so proud of my guys, my people.”
Joe’s wife, Jenny, was overcome with emotion and was present in victory lane for the special moment.
“I’m just so grateful to be here,” Jenny said. “I’m so grateful for Jake and all of our crew for fulfilling Joe’s dream. I can’t tell you how special it is to watch my son continue to work hard every day and to help make Jake’s dream come true too.”
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Route 66 Motor Speedway, Amarillo, Texas, Oct. 18, 2025
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-13.648 (New Track Record); 2. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-13.686; 3. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-13.738; 4. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.748; 5. Trey Osborne, 6T, Ebert-13.821; 6. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-13.886; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-13.888; 8. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.929; 9. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.937; 10. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.021; 11. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-14.082; 12. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-14.089; 13. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-14.149; 14. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-14.154; 15. Saban Bibent, 98, Wedgewood-14.159; 16. Anthony Nicholson, 16, Nicholson-14.199; 17. Wesley Smith, 2B, 2B Racing-14.220; 18. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-14.229; 19. Don Grable, 45x, Budlong-14.292; 20. Chris Douglas, 56, Douglas-14.602; 21. Caleb Stelzig, 21, Stelzig-14.616; 22. Paul White, 1, White-14.663; 23. Anton Hernandez, 38, Oeschger-14.737; 24. Justin Zimmerman, 31m, Herrel-14.842; 25. R.J. Miller, 34, Miller-14.902; 26. Colt Treharn, 77, Treharn/Seals-14.960; 27. Nathan Moore, 6, Moore-14.994; 28. Brian Morris, 199, Chitty-15.048; 29. Bryan Debrick, 36, Reed-NT; 30. Dakota Earls, 15E, Earls-NT; 31. Cooper Sullivan, 79F, Fry-NT (time of 15.099 disallowed due to illegal left rear tire).
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Gunnar Setser, 4. Wesley Smith, 5. Caleb Stelzig, 6. R.J. Miller, 7. Trey Osborne. NT
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Stevie Sussex, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Briggs Danner, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Paul White, 6. Kobe Simpson, 7. Cooper Sullivan, 8. Colt Treharn. 1:56.22 (New Track Record)
USAC GEAR THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Anton Hernandez, 5. Saban Bibent, 6. Don Grable, 7. Nathan Moore. 1:57.45
COOKOUT FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Wyatt Burks, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Anthony Nicholson, 5. Chris Douglas, 6. Justin Zimmerman, 7. Brian Morris. 1:59.26
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kobe Simpson, 2. Justin Zimmerman, 3. R.J. Miller, 4. Don Grable, 5. Nathan Moore, 6. Cooper Sullivan, 7. Colt Treharn, 8. Brian Morris, 9. Trey Osborne. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jake Swanson (6), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 3. Mitchel Moles (7), 4. C.J. Leary (4), 5. Logan Seavey (5), 6. Gunnar Setser (13), 7. Briggs Danner (2), 8. Justin Grant (11), 9. Stevie Sussex (10), 10. Hayden Reinbold (3), 11. Kyle Cummins (12), 12. Wesley Smith (16), 13. Saban Bibent (14), 14. Anthony Nicholson (15), 15. Paul White (20), 16. Cooper Sullivan (24-P), 17. Chase Stockon (8), 18. Don Grable (17), 19. Wyatt Burks (9), 20. Caleb Stelzig (19), 21. R.J. Miller (23), 22. Anton Hernandez (21), 23. Justin Zimmerman (22), 24. Chris Douglas (18), 25. Kobe Simpson (25).
