American Racing News Vol 1, Issue 2 Issue 4 | Page 42

SWANSON BEATS THE RAIN, LIGHTNING AND WINDOM
IN GATEWAY SILVER CROWN SHOWDOWN
Tanner Swanson maintained his dominance of the
paved ovals on the USAC Silver Crown series schedule, winning his fourth race in his last five appearances
on the hardtop, warding off threatening skies and an
old-fashioned Midwestern thunderstorm in Saturday
afternoon’s Vatterott College “Silver Crown Showdown” at the series largest venue, the 1.25-mile Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois.

In the second half of the race, Tanner, little-by little,
was able to open up his lead over Windom as Nemire
began to fade somewhat in the third spot.

Tanner began the race from the pole position after
taking ProSource Fast Qualifier honors earlier in the
day.

Tanner grabbed his first career victory at Gateway,
leading the final 34 laps to defeat a distant Windom,
who led 25 in the first half of the 60-lap event while
Nemire, David Byrne and Joe Liguori rounded out the
top-five.

With storms imminent, the urge to get to the front in a
timely manner weighed heavily on each competitor as
their race could be interrupted at the drop of a hat, and
the drop of precipitation.
As flagman Tom Hansing threw up the crossed sticks
indicating the halfway point, the temps had cooled
considerably and the winds flared up as the sun
drenched St. Louis afternoon quickly became a distant
memory and the main race now became the sprint to
defeat the rain before the checkered.

42 | American Racing News | Asphalt

With 10 to go, Tanner’s lead was three-plus seconds
over Windom and his time up front went undaunted the
rest of the way, except for a little precipitation on the
white flag lap.

During Tanner’s victory lane celebration, the skies
finally relented, opening up a deluge of rain upon fans
and competitors alike. But, it was not enough to throw
a damper on the Kingsburg, California native’s celebration after racking up his second series victory of the
season in his Bowman Racing/Bowman Properties –
Bowman-Elmore Racing/Beast/Kistler Chevy.