Official News from TK Motorsports 3-time USAC

Official News from TK Motorsports
3-time USAC Western States Sprint Car Champions
TK Motorsports Hits Summer Stride in Western States Sprints
In 2009, the USAC Western States Sprint Car series has largely been dominated by the
TK Motorsports #17 & #75. Starting out the season strong, the TK Motorsports team has won
four of the six series events thus far. With results highlighted by One-Two finishes at
Roseville’s All-American Speedway and Salt Lake City’s Rocky Mountain Raceway, and two
more stand alone victories at All-American Speedway in Roseville, the team leads both the
driver and owner points standings. Even in the events where the TK team did not come home
victorious, they have remained a strong presence in the series, bringing home second place
finishes in each of those races.
At this point in the season, Tanner has moved into the Driver’s point lead, by virtue of his
strong feature finishes. In the first six races, Tanner has one fourth, three seconds, and two wins,
with two of his seconds being part of TK Motorsports’ One-Two finishes. Competing in only a
partial 2009 schedule, Kody has also finished well, with two series wins, one second and one
DNF due to a hub failure. Combined, Tanner and Kody have brought the TK Motorsports team
four victories, four second place finishes and one fourth in only six events thus far this season.
Although Tanner won the most recent series event, coming August 1st at All-American
Speedway in Roseville, the two brothers are set to do battle again in event number seven, as the
USAC Western States Sprint Car tour travels to Madera Speedway August 15th.
The TK Motorsports team in Victory Lane
after sweeping the Western Sprint Event One-Two in Salt Lake City, Utah.
USAC Western States Sprint Cars
June 27th at All-American Speedway
Tanner Swanson and the TK Motorsports team proved why they are the defending USAC Western
States Sprint Car Champions on June 27th at All-American Speedway. After being caught up in a practice
incident, Tanner and the TK team rolled out Kody’s car for the night. Tanner quickly adjusted to the different
car, preparing for qualifying and posting a lap of 13.02 seconds,
earning him the 5th position. Tanner started the 100-lap feature
event on the outside front row, but fell back to the 4th position at
the beginning of the race. As the race wore on, the Champion
showed through, as Tanner climbed to the 2nd spot and set his
sights on the leader. Running up to the back bumper of race
leader Tony Hunt, Tanner searched for a way around but could
not make the pass, settling for a 2nd place feature finish.
USAC Western States/BCRA Midgets
July 3rd at Shasta Raceway Park
On a special Friday night event July 3rd, at Shasta Raceway Park, Tanner Swanson made his second start
in Nick Rescino & Paul Eskesen’s #10c. The night started out very similar to Tanner’s first start with the team,
setting quick time, pacing the 3/8 mi. paved oval in 13.789 seconds, out qualifying his competition by nearly
two-tenths of a second. As determined by the USAC/BCRA Midget procedures, Tanner would start the feature
event in the tenth position after an invert of the 10 fastest qualifiers. At the start of the race, Tanner began his
charge toward the front, however, an engine problem developed early in the 30-lap event, severly hindering his
progress. However, Tanner soldiered on, earning his team a solid 6th place finish despite the engine problem.
USAC Western States/BCRA Midgets
July 18th at Madera Speedway
As the USAC Western/BCRA Midgets returned to the one-third mile Madera Speedway, Tanner
Swanson was looking for his third midget win of the season at the California racetrack. The day started out
positive, as Tanner set fast time in qualifying and ran well in his preliminary event heat race. However, based
upon his strong qualifying run, Tanner would have to start at
the tail of the field due to the invert of the ten-fastest qualifiers.
In the early going, Tanner quickly moved through the field
running up to second place. However, after a restart in the first
half of the race, the brakes went out on the McKenney Racing
#88, making it very difficult to continue on, let alone compete
for the win. Tanner never gave up, constantly searching for a
way around race leader Chad Nichols, but never completed the
pass, ending the 40-lap event with a solid second place feature finish.
USAC California Ford Focus Midgets
July 25th at Rocky Mountain Raceway
Tanner made his California and Utah Ford Focus Midget debut at Salt Lake City’s Rocky Mountain
Raceway, driving for Fresno’s Western Speed Racing. Tanner qualified the Western Speed #40 in the 7th
position, missing the feature event invert by just one position.
Tanner won his preliminary heat race and made some changes to the
car, attempting to improve the handling for the feature event.
Starting from the 7th position, Tanner moved quickly through the
field, running as high as second in the early laps. From there the
chase was on, as Tanner set his sights on race leader Kipp Posey,
running him down and pulling alongside for the lead when the
caution came out. Tanner made many challenges for the lead, but never could pull off the pass, finishing the
event in the second position.
USAC Western States Sprint Cars
July 25th at Rocky Mountain Raceway
Entering the July 25th Western Sprint Car event, Tanner Swanson was tied for the series point lead. In
the first four races of the season, Tanner had one fourth, two seconds and one win, all strong performances from
the defending series champ. Tanner looked to improve upon his season’s results with a strong run at Rocky
Mountain Raceway, and started out doing just that, posting the 2nd fastest time in qualifying. In his preliminary
heat race event, Tanner took it easy, feeling out the car for the night’s feature event and still came in with a 2nd
place finish. The stage was set for a great race in the feature event, as virtue of a six-car invert, Tanner would
start next to his brother Kody in the third row, after qualifying one-two earlier in the night. At the start of the
race, brothers Kody and Tanner made a mad dash to the front, Kody taking the lead on lap 5 with Tanner racing
into the 2nd position by lap six. Tanner quickly closed the margin to his brother, catching him every lap until
the lead was 2 car lengths, where it stayed to a caution on lap 22. After the restart, Tanner pressed hard,
keeping close and looking for an opportunity to take the lead. A few laps later, the handling on Tanner’s #17
began to fade, letting Kody slip away. Tanner held on to run a solid second place, filling out his night full of
2nd’s and expanding his point lead to 30 over the nearest competitor!
USAC Western States Sprint Cars
August 1st at All-American Speedway
Coming off of a strong 2nd place finish at Rocky Mountain Raceway, Tanner Swanson continued his
dominance of the USAC Western Sprint series by winning the August 1st event at Roseville’s All-American
Speedway. Qualifying in the 6th position, and starting the
feature event from the pole, Tanner trailed early leader Shauna
Hogg for the first 6 laps. However, from lap 7 on, it was all
Tanner in the 50-lap feature event, taking the victory by nearly
4 seconds!
For this event, Tanner stepped into TK
Motorsports’ Wysong Chassis, giving the #75 the point lead in
the Owner’s points category!
Upcoming Events:
Tanner: USAC Western States Sprint Car-
August 15th at Madera Speedway in Madera, CA.
For more information on Tanner, visit…tannerswansonracing.com