USAC Silver Crown Pounds Madison Pavement Friday Night
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Oregon, Wisconsin (June 22, 2022)………Jumping on the dirt. Jumping on the pavement. Jumping all around.
But jumping around could also be the motto for the USAC Silver Crown series, which competes on both dirt and pavement surfaces. Through the first three events, we’ve witnessed three different race winners with Justin Grant taking Terre Haute Action Track’s dirt, Bobby Santos scoring on the pavement of Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park and Logan Seavey on Pennsylvania soil last weekend at Port Royal Speedway.
The Dairyland 100 has been mastered by Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.), who has won both series events at the half-mile paved oval in 2018 and 2019. Swanson possesses the one-lap track record for the series at Madison with a time of 16.852 sec. (106.812 mph), set in 2019. Swanson’s 100-lap time of 36:49.04, set in 2018, is the record for the distance.
Similar to Seavey, C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) made his best impression on pavement at IRP as the 2019 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion finished 4th, the best result of his Silver Crown career off the dirt and will be making his Madison debut this Friday night.
Bobby Santos (Franklin, Mass.), a recent winner in May at IRP for the first time in Silver Crown action since 2018, has earned two consecutive top-four results in Silver Crown competition at Madison, finishing 2nd in 2018 and 4th in 2019.
Eric Gordon (Fortville, Ind.) earned his one USAC Silver Crown win in the state of Wisconsin via the Milwaukee Mile during his Rookie year of 1990. Gordon started 3rd in the 2018 Madison race and was running 5th when he lost the brakes just 17 laps into the 100-lapper. The nine-time Little 500 winner and National Sprint Car Hall of Famer found a bit of redemption a year later in 2019 when he started 10th and finished 5th.
At Madison, Patrick Lawson (Edwardsville, Ill.) was 14th in 2018 and 19th in 2019; Derek Bischak (Angola, Ind.), the 2019 Silver Crown Rookie of the Year, was 18th in 2018 and 8th in 2019; while 2014 USAC Midwest HPD Dirt and Pavement Midget champion Austin Nemire (Sylvania, Ohio) was 16th in 2019.
First-time Madison visitor Taylor Ferns (Shelby Township, Mich.) is coming off the best result of her USAC Silver Crown career in May at IRP where she finished 3rd, which was the best result by a woman in series history.
The field is complimented by series Rookie of the Year candidates, the versatile Nathan Byrd (Goodyear, Ariz.), Paragon Speedway sprint car track champion Gregg Cory (Shelbyville, Ind.), Midwest Supermodified Series champion Mike McVetta (Grafton, Ohio) and the winged pavement sprint car and Little 500 experienced Tom Paterson (Argos, Ind.).
Friday night’s Bytec Dairyland 100 at Madison is Salute to America Night featuring the USAC Silver Crown National Championship, Midwest Dash and will also have double features for NASCAR Late Models, plus the area's biggest and best aerial and ground fireworks display.
Tickets sold at the gate are $25 for adults, $22 for seniors, $15 for students age 12-17, $5 for kids age 6-11, and free for children age 5 and under. Pit passes are $30 for members and $40 for non-members.
Advance tickets are available at misracing.com/tickets with adult tickets at $20 and seniors $18. A family ticket plan for 2 adults and up to 4 students/children is just $50.
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MADISON USAC SILVER CROWN ENTRY LIST: