Kody Swanson and Chris Windom will square off for the 2016 USAC Silver Crown Championship title this Saturday night, September 24 in the season-closing 35th “4-Crown Nationals” at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
The spotlight rests squarely on Swanson and Windom Saturday as Swanson’s point lead stands at just 10 as he aims for an unprecedented, third consecutive Silver Crown championship. Windom is seeking his initial USAC National crown.
Swanson has only one career top-five finish at Eldora in the champ cars. That came last year when he finished runner-up to Christopher Bell. In 2014, Swanson led 28 of the 50 laps, but bowed out of contention with a flat tire while leading with just four laps remaining, ultimately finishing ninth. Prior to that, Swanson took finishes of eighth in 2013, ninth in 2012, 11th in 2011 and 12th in 2010.
Windom, on the other hand, has yet to finish outside of the top-three in his three career “4-Crown” Silver Crown starts. He was the winner back in 2013 and followed that up with a second place run in 2014 and a third place result in 2015.
Swanson’s 2016 wins have come in the “Hoosier Hundred” at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, the “Rich Vogler Classic” at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind. and the “Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial” at Salem (Ind.) Speedway.
Windom has been victorious in a pair of events this season including the “Ted Horn/Bill Schindler Memorial” at Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove Speedway and the “Ted Horn 100” at the Du Quoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds. Windom has finished inside the top-five in all eight Silver Crown events run thus far in 2016.
Former “4-Crown” Silver Crown race winners expected to compete Saturday night at Eldora are Windom (2013), Jerry Coons, Jr. (2007 and 2014) and Dave Darland (20004-05-08-09).
Spectator Gates open at noon, while hot laps are set to begin at 4:30pm with qualifications and racing to immediately follow.
Saturday night’s card at Eldora also features the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, the USAC Midget National Championship and the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions.
- administrator on Sep 20, 2016
- Article Date: 9/19/2016