There was not a lot of racing this 4th of July weekend. But, there is at least one Northern California driver who deserves special recognition. That is Kody Swanson from Kingsburg, California, who is our “NorCal Driver of the Week”. Kody returned to racing after a near fatal crash at the Tri-State Speedway in Indiana on May 21st. He spent a day and a half in ICU after being life-flighted to the hospital in Evansville. He had fractures to his pelvis, left collarbone and head. It is hard to believe that in a little over 2 months he could be back on the track again.
Kody recently had this to say about his accident: “I’m really lucky,” said Kody, who while unconscious momentarily stopped breathing. “It’s life-changing when you get knocked unconscious and they’re cutting your driving suit and the helicopter is there. At first I thought: I don’t really need to do this anymore. Then after I started healing … it’s just something I want to do. I plan to make a full return in all three race classes.”
Kody raced in the USAC Pavement Series in Toledo on Friday and then the National Midget Series race at Grundy County Speedway in Illinois on Saturday. Once he gets back into shape, I’m sure he’ll be back to winning races and championships.
Firestone Indy Lights
No racing this past weekend.
Upcoming Race: Sunday, July 10th, the Streets of Toronto from Toronto, Canada.
Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series
No racing this past weekend.
Upcoming Race: Friday & Saturday, July 8-9, the Continental Tire Sports Car Festival at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
IZOD IndyCar Series
No racing this past weekend.
Upcoming Race: Sunday, July 10th, the Honda Indy Toronto from Toronto, Canada.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
No racing this past weekend.
Upcoming Race: Thursday, July 7th, the UNOH 225 from Kentucky Speedway.
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East
No racing this past weekend.
Upcoming Race: Friday, July 15, the New England 125 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
NASCAR K&N Pro Series West
Last Weekend’s Race: Saturday, July 2nd, the Southern California Toyota Dealers 200 from the Toyota Speedway at Irvindale.
Upcoming Race: Sunday, July 10, Coors Light 200 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington.
Derek Thorn from Lakeport was the highest finishing NorCal driver this week in the K&N Pro Series. He started 8th and finished in second place, driving the Four Star Fruit/Hronis Racing Chevrolet for Byron Campbell of Visalia.
Eric Holmes from Escalon earned another top 5 with a 4th place finish after starting 6th. It was his 2nd top 5 in a row after coming in 3rd at Infineon the week before. Eric was the series champion in 2006, 2008 and 2010.
Jason Fensler from Wilton, CA had his 3rd top 10 finish out of the 3 races he has entered. He qualified 5th and came home 10th driving the Pick N Pull/Simple Green Chevrolet for Team Cass Racing.
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Last Weekend’s Race: Friday, July 1st, the Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona International Speedway.
Upcoming Race: Friday, July 8th, the Feed The Children 300 at Kentucky Speedway.
No NorCal drivers in the race.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Last Weekend’s Race: Saturday, 7/2 the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
Upcoming Race: Saturday, July 9th, the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. (Inaugural Cup Series Race)
A.J. Allmendinger from Los Gatos qualified 9th and after an up and down day raced through the smoke on the final lap to finish in the 10th spot. This allowed A.J. to remain in 15th place in the points standings.
Jeff Gordon from Vallejo started 4th and raced to a 6th place finish, his 7th top 10 of the year. Jeff moved up to 8th in the points after 17 races.
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
No racing this past weekend. The next event is the 14th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals from July 7th to the 10th at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois.
USAC Amsoil Sprint Car National Championship Series
No racing this past weekend.
Upcoming Races: Friday, July 8th in Gas City, IN; Saturday, July 9th in Kokomo, IN and Sunday, July 10th in Lawrenceburg, IN.
USAC Amsoil Pavement Sprint Car Series
Last Weekend’s Race: Friday, July 1st in Toledo, Ohio.
Upcoming Race: Thursday, July 7th at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.
Kody Swanson from Kingsburg, CA raced for the first time since his horrific crash on May 21st in Huabstadt, Indiana. Kody was knocked unconscious and sustained fractures to his head, pelvis and left collarbone but has worked hard to be able to get back to racing. He finished in the 12th spot and is now 4th in the points standings.
Tanner Swanson from Kingsburg qualified first and finished in 2nd place in the 30 lap feature. Tanner is in 3rd place in the points standings only 2 points behind leader Bobby Santos III.
USAC Mopar National Midget Series
Last Weekend’s Races: Friday, July 1st in Toledo, Ohio and Saturday, July 2nd at the Grundy County Speedway in Morris, IL.
Upcoming Races: Thursday, July 28th at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis and Friday, July 29th at the Indianapolis Speedrome.
Kyle Larson from Elk Grove qualified 7th and finished in 2nd place on Friday night in Toledo, Ohio. On Saturday in Illinois, he qualified 3rd, won his heat race and finished 3rd in the 50-lap feature race. Kyle is 3rd in the points standings, 45 points behind points leader and fellow NorCal driver, Bryan Clauson.
Tanner Swanson from Kingsburg had the fastest qualifying time on Friday and finished in 4th place. On Saturday, he was the second fastest in qualifying and again finished in the 4th spot. Tanner is now in the 10th position in the points standings.
Bryan Clauson, who grew up in Antelope, CA qualified 4th and finished in 3rd place on Friday night in Ohio. On Saturday, he was the 10th fastest in qualifying and raced to a 6th place finish. Bryan is the current points leader by 6 points over Darren Hagen from Riverside, CA.
Kody Swanson from Kingsburg in his 2nd race back finished 2nd in the Semi to make it into the 50-lap Feature race on Saturday night at Grundy County Speedway where he came away with a 15th place finish.
USAC Silver Crown Series
Racing this past weekend was postponed due to poor track conditions in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Upcoming Race: Thursday, July 28th at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series from Dodge City, Kansas
Last Weekend’s Races: Friday July 1, and Saturday, July 2: Boot Hill Showdown from Dodge City Raceway Park.
Upcoming Races: Friday, 7/8 at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, WI and Saturday, 7/9 at Beaver Dam Raceway in Beaver Dam, WI.
Jason Meyers from Clovis had a great weekend in Kansas. On Friday, he won the Dash and started 1st in the A Main and finished in 3rd. On Saturday, Jason won the Dash again, so he started 1st and finished in second place. He is still 3rd in the points standings only 11 points behind Donny Schatz.
Paul McMahan from Elk Grove won his heat on Friday, started 8th and finished in the 6th spot. Then on Saturday he started 13th and finished 9th winning the KSE Hard Charger Award. Paul is currently in 7th place in the standings with 2 wins so far this year.