WINDOM BECOMES 10TH TO WIN THREE-STRAIGHT IN SILVER CROWN WITH SUMAR CLASSIC VICTORY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
An early start was on the horizon as several drivers loaded up their equipment at Lawrenceburg’s USAC National Sprint Car Midwest opener from the night before, got a couple hours sleep (if they were lucky), before heading across the Hoosier state to the Terre Haute Action Track for the USAC Silver Crown season opener and the 17th running of the “Sumar Classic.”
Despite owning a Silver Crown title and three career USAC Sprint victories at Terre Haute, including last October’s “Jim Hurtubise Classic,” the “Sumar” was one trophy Chris Windom did not yet possess.
The night was short, but Chris Windom’s good fortune would not take a rest as he lined up ninth behind a group that included the three most recent “Sumar” winners, ProSource pole sitter Kody Swanson, C.J. Leary and Shane Cockrum, who would sweep his way to the lead on the opening lap from his outside second row starting position.
On lap 19, Leary reeled in Cockrum, sliding underneath for the lead as Swanson came along to take second at the line. Leary’s lead would be relatively short-lived, however, as Swanson continued to push his line up to the high side of turns three and four where he rode the rim past Leary and into the lead with a quarter of the race in the books.
While past “Sumar Classic” winners owned the first half of the 100-lapper, the second half would belong to the defending series champion Chris Windom who had steadily worked his way to the front, utilizing the bottom of the racing surface to march his way through the pack, chomping away at the interval between he and leader Swanson.
The two series champs worked the inner rail after Swanson moved back to the bottom between turns three and four. Windom stuck a nose under Swanson entering turn three, inching along the inside guardrail until the exit of turn four where he was able to clear Swanson to take the top spot by a car-length at the start/finish line as flagman Tom Hansing displayed the crossed flags.
Windom had opened up a near full-straightaway lead over new second-place runner Leary with two-thirds of the race in the books, while Swanson occupied third. And with 18 to go, Windom’s lead had grown to seven seconds and the insurmountable advantage seemed unattainable for second on back until eighth-running Bill Rose slowed with an apparent driveline issue to bring out the caution.
With the field bunched up, Windom’s lead was now gone and he would have to contend with defending race winner Leary in the closing laps. However, Windom was able to get a solid jump with the lapped cars of Johnny Petrozelle and Joe Liguori standing between the front two on the lap 83 restart, thus allowing Windom to break away as Leary fought his way around the two to give chase.
Windom and Leary worked the bottom lap-after-lap as Leary slowly, but surely chipped away at the gap. By lap 92, Leary had sliced Windom’s advantage to under a half-second and was still closing.
If you recall, it was at this juncture one year ago when Leary made the race-winning move for the win, but this year’s lap 93 did not work in his favor as he began to lose valuable ground and Windom started to distance himself from Leary once-and-for-all. Windom had withstood the challenge, taking the victory by just a tad under two seconds over C.J. Leary and Kody Swanson.
Windom’s sixth career Silver Crown victory continued a streak of different “Sumar Classic” winners each year going back to 1999 and gave Gene Kazmark his first USAC victory as a car owner in the team’s first Silver Crown start since 2001. The car was the very same one Windom drove to the series championship in 2016, but, amazingly, the first time Windom and much of his crew first met was on race day morning.
Windom's third-straight Silver Crown victory earned him a spot on an exclusive list that includes just nine others to accomplish the feat: Mario Andretti (1974), Tom Bigelow (1975-76), Rick Hood (1985), Jack Hewitt (1986), J.J. Yeley (2003), Jay Drake (2004), Tyler Walker (2004), Dave Steele (2005) and Kody Swanson (2014-15).
Furthermore, Windom became just the fifth driver in series history to follow up a win in the previous season’s final race with a victory in the season opener the next year, joining Al Unser in 1974, Tom Bigelow in 1976, Jerry Coons, Jr. in 2011 and Kody Swanson in 2015.
Windom takes the early Silver Crown point-lead by six markers over C.J. Leary and Kody Swanson, who are knotted up for second while series rookie Hunter Schuerenberg and his Nolen Racing teammate Jerry Coons, Jr. complete the top-five.
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2017 USAC SILVER CROWN DRIVER POINT STANDINGS
1. (73) Chris Windom (Canton, IL)
2. (67) C.J. Leary (Greenfield, IN)
3. (67) Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, CA)
4. (61) Hunter Schuerenberg (Sikeston, MO)
5. (58) Jerry Coons, Jr. (Tucson, AZ)
6. (55) Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, OK)
7. (52) Dave Darland (Lincoln, IN)
8. (49) Damion Gardner (Concord, CA)
9. (46) Dakota Jackson (Elizabethtown, IN)
10. (43) Joss Moffatt (Columbus, IN)
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2017 USAC SILVER CROWN OWNER POINT STANDINGS
1. (73) Gene Kazmark #92
2. (67) Chuck & Tammi Leary #30
3. (67) DePalma Motorsports #63
4. (61) Gene Nolen Racing #120
5. (58) Gene Nolen Racing #20
6. (55) Paul Martens #48
7. (52) Carla & Steve Phillips #27
8. (49) Klatt Enterprises #6
9. (46) Gene Nolen Racing #201
10. (43) Williams & Wright Racing #32
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2017 USAC SILVER CROWN SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Apr 2: Terre Haute, IN – Terre Haute Action Track
WINNER: Chris Windom
Apr 29: Avondale, AZ – Phoenix International Raceway
May 25: Indianapolis, IN – Indiana State Fairgrounds
May 26: Brownsburg, IN – Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis
Jun 16: Mechanicsburg, PA – Williams Grove Speedway
Jul 20: Brownsburg, IN – Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis
Jul 28: Toledo, OH – Toledo Speedway
Aug 12: Salem, IN - Salem Speedway Fueled by the Hoosier Lottery
Aug 19: Springfield, IL – Illinois State Fairgrounds
Sep 3: Du Quoin, IL – Du Quoin State Fairgrounds
Sep 23: Rossburg, OH - Eldora Speedway
------------------------ KEY DEFINITIONS -------------------------
(D) represents a dirt event
(P) represents a pavement event
# represents a daytime event
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RACE WINS:
1. (1) Chris Windom (Apr. 2 at the Terre Haute Action Track)
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LAPS LED:
1. (51) Chris Windom
2. (24) Kody Swanson
3. (18) Shane Cockrum
4. (7) C.J. Leary
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TOP-FIVE FINISHES:
1. (1) Jerry Coons Jr., C.J. Leary, Hunter Schuerenberg, Kody Swanson & Chris Windom
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TOP-TEN FINISHES:
1. (1) Brady Bacon, Jerry Coons Jr., Dave Darland, Damion Gardner, Dakota Jackson, C.J. Leary, Joss Moffatt, Hunter Schuerenberg, Kody Swanson & Chris Windom
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RACE STARTS:
1. (1) Brady Bacon, J.C. Bland, Patrick Bruns, Steve Buckwalter, David Byrne, Shane Cockrum, Jerry Coons Jr., Shane Cottle, Dave Darland, Damion Gardner, Justin Grant, Dakota Jackson, C.J. Leary, Joe Liguori, Joss Moffatt, Austin Nemire, Johnny Petrozelle, Aaron Pierce, Bill Rose, Hunter Schuerenberg, Casey Shuman Mark Smith, Kody Swanson & Chris Windom
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TOP “ROOKIE” FINISHER OF THE RACE:
Apr. 2: Terre Haute Action Track – Hunter Schuerenberg (4th)
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KSE RACING PRODUCTS “HARD CHARGER” OF THE RACE:
Apr 2: Terre Haute Action Track – Dave Darland (20th to 7th)
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WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER:
Apr 2: Terre Haute Action Track – Patrick Bruns
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PROSOURCE FAST QUALIFYING TIMES:
1. (1) Kody Swanson
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QUALIFYING RACE WINS:
1. (1) Mark Smith
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ALL-TIME USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP RACE WINS:
1. [23 wins] Jack Hewitt
2. [17 wins] Brian Tyler
3. [16 wins] Dave Steele
4. [15 wins] Kody Swanson & J.J. Yeley
6. [14 wins] Dave Darland & Chuck Gurney
8. [12 wins] Jimmy Sills
9. [11 wins] Bobby East
10. [10 wins] Gary Bettenhausen & Mike Bliss
12. [9 wins] Tracy Hines
13. [7 wins] Jerry Coons Jr., Rick Hood, George Snider & Tanner Swanson
17. [6 wins] Tom Bigelow, Russ Gamester, Kenny Irwin Jr., Jason Leffler, Bobby Santos, Ken Schrader, Al Unser & Chris Windom
25. [5 wins] Mario Andretti, Donnie Beechler, Pancho Carter, Jay Drake, Tony Elliott, Bud Kaeding, Sheldon Kinser, Larry Rice
33. [4 wins] Jeff Swindell & Rich Vogler
35. [3 wins] Steve Butler, Shane Cockrum, Cameron Dodson, A.J. Fike, Levi Jones, Kasey Kahne, Jim Keeker, Steve Kinser, Bobby Olivero, Johnny Parsons, Aaron Pierce, Ron Shuman, Tony Stewart, Tyler Walker, Paul White
50. [2 wins] Pat Abold, Steve Chassey, Bryan Clauson, Larry Dickson, Bill Engelhart, A.J. Foyt, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Larson, Ryan Newman, Joe Saldana, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Cole Whitt, Josh Wise & Doug Wolfgang
64. [1 win] Teddy Beach, Christopher Bell, Jeff Bloom, David Byrne, Marvin Carman, Shane Carson, Bob Cicconi, Herb Copeland, Shane Cottle, Bruce Field, Aaron Fike, Chet Fillip, Bob Frey, Eric Gordon, John Heydenreich, Gary Hieber, Shane Hmiel, Shane Hollingsworth, Jimmy Horton, Jackie Howerton, Kevin Huntley, Kenny Jacobs, Bubby Jones, Keith Kauffman, Jimmy Kite, Chuck Leary, C.J. Leary, Eddie Leavitt, Jason McCord, Jim McElreath, Lealand McSpadden, Mat Neely, Brad Noffsinger, Stevie Reeves, Wayne Reutimann Jr., Danny Smith, Kevin Thomas, Rich Tobias Jr., Chris Urish & Billy Vukovich
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ALL-TIME USAC SILVER CROWN DRIVER CHAMPIONS:
1971: George Snider; 1972: A.J. Foyt; 1973: Al Unser; 1974: Mario Andretti; 1975: Jimmy Caruthers; 1976: Billy Cassella; 1977: Larry Rice; 1978: Pancho Carter; 1979: Bobby Olivero; 1980: Gary Bettenhausen; 1981: Larry Rice; 1982: Ken Schrader; 1983: Gary Bettenhausen; 1984: Dave Blaney; 1985: Rick Hood; 1986: Jack Hewitt; 1987: Jack Hewitt; 1988: Steve Butler; 1989: Chuck Gurney; 1990: Jimmy Sills; 1991: Jeff Gordon; 1992: Steve Butler; 1993: Mike Bliss; 1994: Jimmy Sills; 1995: Tony Stewart; 1996: Jimmy Sills; 1997: Dave Darland; 1998: Jason Leffler; 1999: Ryan Newman; 2000: Tracy Hines; 2001: Paul White; 2002: J.J. Yeley; 2003: J.J. Yeley; 2004: Dave Steele; 2005: Dave Steele; 2006: Bud Kaeding; 2007: Bud Kaeding; 2008: Jerry Coons Jr.; 2009: Bud Kaeding; 2010: Levi Jones; 2011: Levi Jones; 2012: Bobby East; 2013: Bobby East; 2014: Kody Swanson; 2015: Kody Swanson; 2016: Chris Windom