FOR JOE! SWANSON’S SPECIAL SCORE NETS $10,000 AT AMARILLO

Jake Swanson captured his first USAC AMSOIL Sprintcar National Championship victory of the year on Saturday night, October 18,  at Amarillo, Texas’ Route 66 Motor Speedway. (Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Amarillo, Texas (October 18, 2025)………”This is for Joe.”

To Jake Swanson, Joe Daming was like a second father. In February of 2024, Daming expressed to Jake that his dream was for Swanson to one day take his team to the national level. One day later after that conversation, Daming passed away unexpectedly at the age of 47.

Committed to carrying on Joe’s legacy, Daming Swanson Motorsports was formed shortly thereafter, and in 2025, Swanson, along with the Daming family, took the team on the road full-time with the United States Auto Club (USAC) AMSOIL Sprintcar National Championship.

Hard work, dedication, desire and dream all came together in unison on Saturday night as Swanson took the team to victory lane for the first time in USAC competition by scoring a $10,000 triumph in the series’ debut at Amarillo, Texas’ Route 66 Motor Speedway.

But in truth, this win was worth so much more. This was Jake’s dream. This was Joe’s dream. And, at last, those dreams had come true with a victory in the 47th race of the USAC National Sprintcar season aboard the Daming Swanson Motorsports/Inland Rigging – Dougherty Motorsports/DRC/1-Way Chevy.

“Joe is so stoked right now; he’s upstairs pounding beers, I know it,” Swanson said with a smile. “To the whole Daming family, thank you guys for giving me this opportunity and letting me take all your stuff and turn it into a national winning program. I just can’t believe we were able to do this.”

For Anaheim, California’s Swanson, it was his first USAC win in more than two years, since a USAC Indiana Sprint Week score in July of 2023 at Putnamville’s Lincoln Park Speedway. Furthermore, it was the seventh win of Swanson’s USAC National Sprintcar career, tying him for 66th place all-time alongside the likes of Bobby Santos, Bobby Unser, Brady Short, Briggs Danner, Darren Hagen, Doug Kalitta, Jim Keeker, Josh Wise, Kenny Irwin Junior, Kevin Doty and Kevin Thomas.

When Jake and his wife, Jess, moved from California to Indiana in early 2021, the Daming family welcomed them with open arms. The Swanson/Daming combo won frequently on the local level in the Hoosier state during the years between 2021-2023, and to this day, several of the same individuals responsible for that success are still involved, all of whom are essentially important for making this dream a reality.

“We started in the local realm and we’ve come here and have now won on the national stage,” Swanson reflected. “There are literally like 10 people that we could not do this without. This thing does not get to the racetrack without them. We’re racing on no money, no budget. We’re literally racing on winnings. So, thank god we won tonight because I’m relying on sponsorship to get us up and down the road. I definitely don’t have deep enough pockets to run this deal.”

This year, especially of late, Swanson had displayed flashes of brilliance that demonstrated how close the team was to breaking through. A solid stretch leading into the weekend saw him tally six top-fives in a span of seven starts. On Friday, he set a new track record in qualifying at Dodge City and followed up by establishing yet another track record in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying on Saturday at Route 66 with a time of 13.648 seconds.

With the top-six inversion, Swanson lined up sixth in the feature. However, as the festivities had barely gotten underway, a major calamity encompassing 10 drivers littered the front straightway with damaged racecars. At the conclusion of the opening lap, ninth starting Wyatt Burks slapped the outside wall at the exit of turn four. As his car crawled slowly down the front straight, mass carnage ensued, resulting in Justin Zimmerman, Saban Bibent, Anton Hernandez and Caleb Stelzig all flipping upside down. All were able to walk away.

Bibent returned to the fray after several teams chipped in to help repair his ride in the Indy Metal Finishing Work Area. Initially, Bibent was the front runner for the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the night based solely on his last lap, last turn pass to gain the final transfer spot in his heat race. After returning to action and promptly driving back up through the field to complete the race with a damaged racecar and a 13th place finish, he clinched it.

While Kevin Thomas Junior controlled the pace for the first half of the 30-lap main from his pole starting position, Swanson was rising up the pylon. Swanson took second from Danner around the outside on lap eight, then quickly chopped Thomas’ lead from a full second to a half-second to where he was right on his bumper on lap 16 and ready to pounce. Right there and then, Swanson raced by Thomas on the back straight to take his spot at the front of the field.

With two to go, Thomas found his second wind and took a swing at Swanson for the lead. Thomas briefly held a car length lead midway through turns one and two, but as he drifted up toward the top of the second turn, Swanson’s momentum was at warp speed as he escaped from Thomas off the edge to retake the lead for good.

Swanson finished off the 30th and final lap roughly 2.5 car lengths ahead of Thomas, 0.213 seconds to the better at the stripe. Mitchel Moles slipped by for third late in the going with C.J. Leary fourth and Logan Seavey rounding out the top-five.

Swanson not only entered the win column for the 2025 USAC season, he also put his name into the record books as a first-time USAC winner as a car entrant. And he accomplished the deed with the Daming family by his side, including crewman Austin Daming, Joe’s son.

“Austin and I have spent countless hours in the shop,” Swanson revealed. “Three years ago, he had hardly ever been at the racetrack before. Now, he’s a good wrench. I love what we’ve done and I’m so proud of my guys, my people.”

Joe’s wife, Jenny, was overcome with emotion and was present in victory lane for the special moment.

“I’m just so grateful to be here,” Jenny said. “I’m so grateful for Jake and all of our crew for fulfilling Joe’s dream. I can’t tell you how special it is to watch my son continue to work hard every day and to help make Jake’s dream come true too.”

After leading half of the race before finishing as the runner-up, Thomas would certainly have wanted to be one spot better. That said, no one was better than him across the two nights of racing this weekend at Dodge City and Route 66 where he finished third and second, respectively. By earning the most combined points throughout the pair of nights, Thomas collected an extra $2,000 for his efforts as the High Plains Thunder Bonus winner.

Gunnar Setser advanced seven positions from 13th to sixth in the feature to receive Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors. Furthermore, he extended his USAC National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year point lead from five to 14 over Hayden Reinbold with just three races remaining.

Paul White picked up an extra $250 from ProSource’s Buck Rice. The 2001 USAC Silver Crown Champion was the top finisher from the POWRi Elite Non-Wing Sprints, tallying a 15th place result while fellow Elite competitors Cooper Sullivan (16th) and Caleb Stelzig (20th) also earned bonuses.

Trey Osborne certainly had the speed but not the good fortune. He started the evening by qualifying fifth out of the 31 cars on hand, but in his heat race, he blew a tyre, which destroyed the shock, Jacobs Ladder, radius rod and torque tube studs. In the semi-feature, the driveshaft sheared the splines off at the start, ending his night on the spot. For his misfortune, Osborne was the recipient of the ProSource Hard Luck bonus.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINTCAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: October 18, 2025 – Route 66 Motor Speedway – Amarillo, Texas – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track – Co-Sanctioned by POWRi Elite Non-Wing Sprints

HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-13.648 (New Track Record); 2. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-13.686; 3. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-13.738; 4. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.748; 5. Trey Osborne, 6T, Ebert-13.821; 6. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-13.886; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-13.888; 8. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.929; 9. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.937; 10. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.021; 11. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-14.082; 12. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-14.089; 13. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-14.149; 14. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-14.154; 15. Saban Bibent, 98, Wedgewood-14.159; 16. Anthony Nicholson, 16, Nicholson-14.199; 17. Wesley Smith, 2B, 2B Racing-14.220; 18. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-14.229; 19. Don Grable, 45x, Budlong-14.292; 20. Chris Douglas, 56, Douglas-14.602; 21. Caleb Stelzig, 21, Stelzig-14.616; 22. Paul White, 1, White-14.663; 23. Anton Hernandez, 38, Oeschger-14.737; 24. Justin Zimmerman, 31m, Herrel-14.842; 25. R.J. Miller, 34, Miller-14.902; 26. Colt Treharn, 77, Treharn/Seals-14.960; 27. Nathan Moore, 6, Moore-14.994; 28. Brian Morris, 199, Chitty-15.048; 29. Bryan Debrick, 36, Reed-NT; 30. Dakota Earls, 15E, Earls-NT; 31. Cooper Sullivan, 79F, Fry-NT (time of 15.099 disallowed due to illegal left rear tire).

CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Gunnar Setser, 4. Wesley Smith, 5. Caleb Stelzig, 6. R.J. Miller, 7. Trey Osborne. NT

K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Stevie Sussex, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Briggs Danner, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Paul White, 6. Kobe Simpson, 7. Cooper Sullivan, 8. Colt Treharn. 1:56.22 (New Track Record)

USAC GEAR THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Anton Hernandez, 5. Saban Bibent, 6. Don Grable, 7. Nathan Moore. 1:57.45

COOKOUT FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Wyatt Burks, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Anthony Nicholson, 5. Chris Douglas, 6. Justin Zimmerman, 7. Brian Morris. 1:59.26

ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kobe Simpson, 2. Justin Zimmerman, 3. R.J. Miller, 4. Don Grable, 5. Nathan Moore, 6. Cooper Sullivan, 7. Colt Treharn, 8. Brian Morris, 9. Trey Osborne. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jake Swanson (6), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 3. Mitchel Moles (7), 4. C.J. Leary (4), 5. Logan Seavey (5), 6. Gunnar Setser (13), 7. Briggs Danner (2), 8. Justin Grant (11), 9. Stevie Sussex (10), 10. Hayden Reinbold (3), 11. Kyle Cummins (12), 12. Wesley Smith (16), 13. Saban Bibent (14), 14. Anthony Nicholson (15), 15. Paul White (20), 16. Cooper Sullivan (24-P), 17. Chase Stockon (8), 18. Don Grable (17), 19. Wyatt Burks (9), 20. Caleb Stelzig (19), 21. R.J. Miller (23), 22. Anton Hernandez (21), 23. Justin Zimmerman (22), 24. Chris Douglas (18), 25. Kobe Simpson (25). NT

(P) represents a POWRi Elite Non-Wing Sprints provisional starter

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 16-30 Jake Swanson.

**Saban Bibent, Caleb Stelzig, Anton Hernandez & Justin Zimmerman flipped on lap 2 of the feature.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINTCAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-3219, 2-Mitchel Moles-2867, 3-Logan Seavey-2823, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-2775, 5-Justin Grant-2690, 6-Briggs Danner-2623, 7-C.J. Leary-2559, 8-Jake Swanson-2548, 9-Chase Stockon-2164, 10-Gunnar Setser-2098.

USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-213, 2-Gunnar Setser-157, 3-Briggs Danner-147, 4-C.J. Leary-141, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-135, 6-Justin Grant-124, 7-Logan Seavey-122, 8-Kyle Cummins-116, 9-Hayden Reinbold-112, 10-Chase Stockon-110.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINTCAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: October 24-25, 2025 – Central Arizona Raceway – Casa Grande, Arizona – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track – 58th Western World Championships

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Logan Seavey (13.972)

Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Jake Swanson (13.648)

Car IQ First Heat Winner: Mitchel Moles

K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: Stevie Sussex

USAC Gear Third Heat Winner: Chase Stockon

Cook Out Fourth Heat Winner: Wyatt Burks

Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Kobe Simpson

Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Gunnar Setser (13th to 6th)

Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Saban Bibent

Oklahoma Tidbits Lowest Pill Draw: Dakota Earls

ProSource Top Elite Qualifier: Kobe Simpson

ProSource Top Finishing Elite Drivers: Paul White (15th), Cooper Sullivan (16th) & Caleb Stelzig (20th)

ProSource Hard Luck: Trey Osborne

High Plains Thunder Bonus: Kevin Thomas Jr.