Editor’s Note: Kody Swanson secured his record-extending eighth USAC Silver Crown Series championship this year. Click here to read about his title season.
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Outside of Kody Swanson, the 2024 season will be remembered for the emergence of five first-time USAC Silver Crown winners, the most in a single year with the series since 2010. Unquestionably, one of the most major of all milestones occurred in mid-May at the Belleville High Banks in Kansas when Kaylee Bryson became the first woman to win a USAC nationally sanctioned event in the 69-year history of the organization.
In just his second career USAC Silver Crown start, Daison Pursley scored, perhaps, the most exhilarating victory of the year. Pursley erased a two-plus second deficit over the final few laps in June at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, then took over the lead with a highwire high side pass of Justin Grant off the fourth and final turn on the 50th and final lap.
Dakoda Armstrong’s journey to a first career USAC national victory included its share of twists, turns and excursions that took him down a variety of paths throughout the past two decades of his career behind the wheel. During the final 12 laps of June’s round at Wisconsin’s Madison International Speedway, he went from being on the verge of his first career top-five finish with the series to leading his first ever laps to becoming the 2024 season’s third first-time USAC Silver Crown race winner after race-long leader Leary fell out due to a flat left rear tire on lap 89.
After five career runner-up finishes in USAC Silver Crown competition, Kevin Thomas Jr. had no desire for any more “second” thoughts during USAC’s inaugural run at Hutchinson, Kansas’ Salt City Speedway in July. In a late-race battle for the lead, he and Leary touched wheels, resulting in Leary toppling over while Thomas continued onward to victory to become the third-straight first-time Silver Crown winner on the season.
To finish first, you must first survive. Mitchel Moles did just that during September’s 4-Crown Nationals at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway where he was practically the last one standing during the 50-lap race, overcoming a near devastating accident with a lapped car and flat tire after flat tire for his competition down the stretch. In what was the 100th USAC Silver Crown race ever held on a half-mile dirt track, Moles became the fifth and final first-time series winner of the season.
Less than two months after becoming a first-time Silver Crown winner, Dakoda Armstrong made himself a two-time series winner on the biggest and fastest track on the circuit, the 1.25-mile paved oval of World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. While running second to Swanson with two laps remaining, Swanson’s engine suddenly expired. Given the reins to the lead, Armstrong felt he might’ve been running out of fuel but managed to fend off the field on a late restart to make it to the finish line first once more.
When it came to dirt mile season in August, Grant had the field covered. At both Springfield and Du Quoin, Grant was picture perfect by setting the fastest pace in practice, scoring the pole position, then going on to lead every lap in both features to become the first driver to sweep to victories on both Illinois miles in a single season since Chris Windom in 2018.
In a year in which he had won 15 times across USAC’s National Sprint Car and Midget divisions to that point, Logan Seavey had to wait patiently until he could taste victory once again with the USAC Silver Crown series in October’s Sumar Classic at Indiana’s Terre Haute Action Track.
Furthermore, Swanson’s qualifying run of 30.239 seconds at WWT Raceway set a new speed record average of 148.814 mph, the fastest lap ever turned by a traditional USAC Silver Crown car in the 54-year history of the series. On the run, Swanson bested the former mark of 146.699 mph, set by none other than himself in 2022 at the same track.
Swanson led all drivers with 466 laps led and seven fast qualifying times. Swanson and Grant notched 10 top-five finishes apiece, best in the series. Logan Seavey, meanwhile, finished inside the top-10 in all 14 events. Five drivers started all 14 events: Grant, Leary, Nathan Moore, Logan Seavey and Swanson.
Leary advanced more positions in a single race than any other driver throughout the season. His 22nd to 3rd run at IRP in May came in an unfamiliar car borrowed from fellow competitor Bryan Gossel. In fact, Leary advanced 18 or more positions in three different races throughout the Silver Crown season, just the second driver to do so in series history after Brian Tyler in 2004. Leary also traveled from 20th to 2nd at Belleville and 24th to 6th at Terre Haute.
With a pair of top-five finishes on dirt (3rd at Salt City) and pavement (4th at Madison), 6’8” tall Trey Osborne finished sixth in series points to earn Rookie of the Year honors with the series.
Meanwhile, Gregg Cory earned the Engler Machine Fast Pass title for the 2024 USAC Silver Crown season. The first car running a lap down received a fast pass and their lap back at each race on the schedule. Cory earned five fast passes in all, which earned him a $5,000 reward – $2,500 to him as a driver and $2,500 for his Williams-Cory Racing team.
Kyle Steffens, a long-time veteran of the modified ranks, posted a career-best fifth in Silver Crown points after scoring five top-10 results, including a best of 7th at both Salt City and Du Quoin.
After 42 seasons of competition, the Bateman Racing team bid farewell following the 2024 season. Originally driven by Randy Bateman, the team continued on after his death from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in 2017, led by his wife, Patty, and several friends. In 2024, the team was stellar with driver Jerry Coons Jr. at the controls, recording four top-10 finishes in all four of the team’s starts.