Story By: RICHIE MURRAY / USAC – BROWNSBURG, IN – The final countdown. The last waltz. The season finale.
However you call it, it’s the championship round of the 2024 USAC Silver Crown season, and it commences this Saturday, October 19, at Brownsburg, Indiana’s Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The aptly named Championship Saturday will feature a field of 18 USAC Silver Crown drivers and cars on the .686-mile paved oval.
Among them are championship contenders Kody Swanson and Justin Grant. Swanson holds a six-point edge over Grant in the series standings entering the final event of the season.
Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) has won eight USAC Silver Crown races at IRP in his career, tied with his brother, Tanner Swanson, for the most all-time. This past May at IRP, he earned his 10th career USAC Silver Crown pole position at the track before leading all 100 laps en route to victory.
Meanwhile, Grant (Ione, Calif.) owns four top-five finishes at IRP with a best result of third
in October 2023. He has won on the pavement with the USAC Silver Crown series before, scoring the 2021 Rich Vogler Classic at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway.
Among the drivers in the Silver Crown lineup for Saturday are three past IRP Silver Crown winners, including Swanson (8), plus six-time winner Bobby Santos (Franklin, Massachusetts) as well as Russ Gamester (Peru, Ind.), a winner with the series at IRP in 2000.
Three more drivers have been knocking on the door of late for a win at IRP. Tyler Roahrig (Plymouth, Ind.) was a runner-up finisher at IRP in 2021. So too was C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) who collected a second place result in 2022. Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.), the most recent USAC Silver Crown winner two weeks ago at Terre Haute, has twice finished second at IRP in 2023 and again in 2024.
Returning to the lineup are a slew of past top-10 Silver Crown performers at IRP. Chief among them are Nathan Byrd (Goodyear, Ariz.) and Dakoda Armstrong (New Castle, Ind.), each of whom have finished sixth in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
Recently crowned Trans Am SGT champion Kaylee Bryson (Muskogee, Okla.) is back in the IRP lineup following a 7th in 2023. She’s joined by the 2024 season’s top USAC Silver Crown Rookie, Columbus, Ohio’s Trey Osborne (9th in 2024). New Castle, Indiana’s Kyle Robbins (10th in 2019), Shelbyville, Indiana’s Gregg Cory (10th in 2022) and St. Charles, Missouri’s Kyle Steffens (10th in 2024) have all had solid finishes at IRP.
Also back in the field are Fresno, California’s Cody Gerhardt (13th in 2018), Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania’s Dave Berkheimer (21st in 2022), Kaufman, Texas’ Nathan Moore (21st in 2024) and Silver Crown newcomer Jake Trainor (Medway, Mass.) who already owns three midget wins at IRP between 2023-24. Trainor, the 2023 Little 500 winner, will make his USAC Silver Crown debut behind the wheel of Sam Pierce’s #126 as a teammate to Bryson.
Race Details
Championship Saturday on October 19 features the USAC Silver Crown National Championship, plus the 500 Sprint Car Tour and Pavement Midgets at Brownsburg, Indiana’s Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The main gate and pit gates open at 9am Eastern. The drivers meeting will take place at 11:30am and the front gates open at Noon. 500 Sprint Car Tour Practice #1 begins at 12:30pm followed by Midget Practice #1 at 12:55pm, USAC Silver Crown Practice #1 at 1:20, All-Star Pavement Midget Practice #1 at 1:50, 500 Sprint Car Tour Practice #2 at 2:15pm, Midget Practice #2 at 2:40 and USAC Silver Crown Practice at 3:05pm.
After practice, 500 Sprint Car Tour Qualifying commences at 3:35pm, followed by Midget Qualifying at 4pm, USAC Silver Crown Qualifying at 4:20pm, All-Star Midget Practice #2 and Qualifying at 5pm, Opening Ceremonies at 5:20pm, the 40-lap 500 Sprint Car Tour Feature at 5:30pm, the 30-lap Midget Feature at 6:05pm, the 20-lap All-Star Midget Feature at 6:35pm and the 100-lap USAC Silver Crown Feature at 7:10pm.
Advance tickets are on sale now. Tickets will also be on sale at the gate on race day. Tickets for Championship Saturday are $25 and is general admission seating. Kids 12 & under are FREE with an adult present. Pit passes are $35 apiece.
USAC SILVER CROWN ENTRY LIST: (18)
08 KYLE STEFFENS/St. Charles, MO (Steffens Motorsports)
5 DAKODA ARMSTRONG/New Castle, IN (C & A Motorsports)
6 C.J. LEARY/Greenfield, IN (Klatt Enterprises)
7 KYLE ROBBINS/New Castle, IN (KR Racing)
14 CODY GERHARDT/Fresno, CA (Davey Hamilton Racing)
22 LOGAN SEAVEY/Sutter, CA (Rice Motorsports-Abacus Racing)
26 KAYLEE BRYSON/Muskogee, OK (Sam Pierce)
31 DAVE BERKHEIMER/Mechanicsburg, PA (Berkheimer Racing)
32 GREGG CORY/Shelbyville, IN (Williams-Cory Racing)
40 NATHAN BYRD/Goodyear, AZ (Legacy Autosport-Robert Wilson Racing)
41 TYLER ROAHRIG/Plymouth, IN (Michael Newman)
48 (R) NATHAN MOORE/Kaufman, TX (Chip Thomas-Joe Moore)
51 RUSS GAMESTER/Peru, IN (Gamester Racing)
77 KODY SWANSON/Kingsburg, CA (Doran-Binks Racing)
81 (R) TREY OSBORNE/Columbus, OH (BCR Group)
91 JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA (Hemelgarn Racing)
98 (R) BOBBY SANTOS/Franklin, MA (DJ Racing)
126 (R) JAKE TRAINOR/Medway, MA (Sam Pierce)
(R) represents a USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year contender