DU QUOIN, Ill. — The most magical mile of them all is the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds.
That’s been true since the day it was built and remains true all these decades later as the USAC Silver Crown National Championship makes its annual once-a-year-voyage to the southern Illinois dirt mile for the Ted Horn 100.
The Ted Horn 100 dates to the year 1948 when the three-time AAA National champion in 1946, 1947 and 1948 and namesake of the race, lost his life on the very same Du Quoin track that the brave souls of today still try to conquer.
It’s the most tenured dirt race on the Silver Crown slate, celebrating its 69th running this Saturday, September 2, during the daylight hours of the early morning and afternoon, which is nice.
Let’s celebrate with six of the key champ car storylines you should be watching this Saturday at Du Quoin.
LOGAN LEADING, KODY CHASING
With three races remaining in the USAC Silver Crown season, the championship race is tight between Logan Seavey and Kody Swanson.
If you think you’ve seen this before, you have. It’s this generation’s version of The Gary & Larry Show featuring Gary Bettenhausen and Larry Dickson as they both swapped feature wins and championships back-and-forth, to-and-fro between 1968-71.
However, Seavey has yet to kick down the door with Swanson scoring the 2021-22 titles in a fashion that came down to the final event. In fact, over the past three seasons between 2021-23, Seavey and Swanson have run 1-2 in the point standings for 22 out of the 29 events held in that time frame.
Entering Du Quoin, Seavey holds the upper hand by just seven points as he moves right into his wheelhouse on the dirt where he has finished second and first over the past two seasons in 2021-22 at Du Quoin while Swanson is a two-time winner of the event in 2010 and 2017.
SEAVEY – A MONSTER ON THE DIRT
Logan Seavey seemingly holds the key to the dirt tracks of late on the USAC Silver Crown trail. He’s now won five of the last seven in that stretch, including the last two, and hasn’t finished outside the top-five in his last 12 appearances dating back to 2021.
He already won on the other Illinois dirt mile in Springfield just a couple weeks ago and now aims to become one of the very few to sweep both Springfield and Du Quoin champ car races in the same year.
That’s a list of drivers that includes Tony Bettenhausen (1951), Sam Hanks (1953) Jimmy Bryan (1955-56), Johnny Thomson (1958), A.J. Foyt (1964 & 1967), Al Unser (1970), Mario Andretti (1973-74), Gary Bettenhausen (1983), Jack Hewitt (1986-87-93), Chuck Gurney (1989-94-96), Paul White (2001), J.J. Yeley (2002), Tracy Hines (2006), Brian Tyler (2008) and Chris Windom (2018).
Showing his versatility, Seavey is one of only three drivers to win both a stock car and champ car race at Du Quoin, scoring an ARCA stock car victory in 2018 and a USAC Silver Crown triumph in 2022. Jimmy Bryan and A.J. Foyt are the only others. Pretty good company to keep.
SEVEN HORN WINNERS ON HAND
Seven past Ted Horn 100 winners are represented in this Saturday’s Ted Horn 100 at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds.
Defending Ted Horn 100 winner Logan Seavey leads the cast of 36 USAC Silver Crown entries this weekend at the one-mile dirt oval. Seavey’s main nemesis in the championship fight is Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.), a two-time winner of the event in 2010 and 2017, the first of which was his first career USAC Silver Crown victory.
Two-time Ted Horn 100 winner Shane Cockrum (Benton, Ill.) grew up and resides just down the road from the Magic Mile where he won back-to-back in 2014-15.
Peru, Indiana’s Russ Gamester, the 1997 race winner, is the most experienced in the field with 22 Ted Horn 100 starts dating back to 1989.
Kansas, Illinois’ Shane Cottle (2007), Elkhart, Illinois’ Chris Urish (2013) and Crawfordsville, Indiana’s Jacob Wilson (2019) have all scored on the Du Quoin Mile as well.
Interestingly, for six of the seven past winners in Saturday’s field (all but Seavey), their Du Quoin win also marked their first career USAC Silver Crown victory. That includes Swanson, Cockrum, Gamester, Cottle, Urish and Wilson who all hold The Magic Mile near and dear to their hearts.
A LEIN MACHINE FOR COCKRUM
It was just a short while ago that Shane Cockrum thought he might not even have a ride for the Du Quoin race this year after the engine blew on his BLS Motorsports No. 71 during practice a couple weeks ago at the Springfield Mile.
Due to a recent racing accident, Mitchel Moles is sidelined for a bit from the Hans Lein-owned No. 97. The first call the team made to fill in for Moles was to Cockrum, who is undoubtedly one of the most popular winners ever at Du Quoin.
Hailing from nearby Benton, Ill., about 15 minutes away, Cockrum received a raucous response following back-to-back Ted Horn 100 wins in front of the home crowd in 2014-15.
Entering Saturday, Cockrum owns an incredible run of consistency, having finished inside the top-five in all eight of his Du Quoin Silver Crown starts since 2013 with wins in 2014-15, a 2nd in 2017 & 2022, a 3rd in 2018, a 4th in 2013 and a 5th in 2016 and 2021.
His 2022 Du Quoin run included his first career Silver Crown pole award, and ended in a heartbreaking manner, running out of fuel while leading on lap 86. After fueling up, he recovered to finish as the runner-up. Not only is he fortunate to have a ride for Saturday’s race, he also has a bit of a score to settle after last year’s sorrowful ending.
COTTLE (AND PEPPERIDGE FARMS) REMEMBERS
Like Cockrum, the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds are a bit of a happy place for Shane Cottle.
Cottle and his family regularly made the trip down to southern Illinois when he was a kid to catch both the USAC Silver Crown and ARCA Stock Car races. In fact, one of his earliest racing memories involves watching Jack Hewitt charge from 18th to win the champ car race at Du Quoin back in 1987.
In 2007, Du Quoin became even more special to Cottle when he captured the pole and raced to his first career USAC Silver Crown victory on the same night aboard Larry Contos’ Hat World machine.
Two weeks ago at Springfield, Cottle nearly picked up his second career dirt mile Silver Crown victory when he stepped into Chris Dyson Racing’s No. 9 for the first time and promptly led 47 laps with a spectacular drive.
The lead and the race win slipped through Cottle’s fingers on a restart with 13 laps remaining as Seavey drove around the outside of him in turn one, relegating Cottle back to second. All in all it was a great day, but it was also one that could’ve been way sweeter for the veteran driver who was visibly stung by the result.
But here lies another opportunity for Cottle to find not only redemption, but also another special win in his home state.
THE YEAR OF THE ROOKIE AT Du QUOIN?
Interestingly, no track on the USAC Silver Crown schedule has seen more first-time USAC Silver Crown winners break through than Du Quoin.
Since the series’ inception in 1971, 14 different drivers have earned their first career Silver Crown victory at The Magic Mile and this year’s class is hellbent on trying to make that 15.
Top veterans are included in this group, among them being Davey Ray (Davenport, Iowa), Chase Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) and Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio), all of whom are USAC National winners.
Taylor Ferns (Shelby Township, Mich.) earned the first ever top-five finish by a woman in USAC Silver Crown history at Du Quoin in 2013. This will be her first series start at the track since that day.
Mario Clouser (Auburn, Ill.), fourth in USAC Silver Crown points, is on-board for his Du Quoin debut as is top Silver Crown Rookie Kaylee Bryson (Muskogee, Okla.), USAC National Sprint Car and Midget winner Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) and 360 Sprint Car legend Wayne Johnson (Tuttle, Okla.), all of whom are highly capable of becoming number 15.