Swanson has made five starts in his Pay Less Little 500 career. He made his debut with veteran owner and crew chief Tom Brewer in 2015, driving the SpeedChasers No. 64, before moving over to Hoffman Auto Racing the next year and notching his first of three Little 500 victories in the iconic red No. 69.
His last three starts have all come in the yellow Nolen Racing No. 4, a ride that has stabilized Swanson at Anderson and catapulted his name into the conversation with some of the greats in event history.
However, it’s not as if he was bad in either of his other two rides, by any stretch. Swanson has made his name as a long-distance specialist, whether he’s racing Silver Crown or in a 500-lap sprint car event.
“Something that’s personally neat to me is that I’ve been able to lead laps in all three different cars,” noted Swanson. “I wasn’t able to win in that first start for Tom (Brewer), but I was fortunate enough to win one for the Hoffman family and now I’ve picked up two for Gene Nolen. It’s really been a lot of fun.
“I love the Silver Crown races because they’re long and you’re never out of it, and that’s how I feel about the Little 500 — you just have to be persistent and not give up on it if you don’t start out quite right.”
After winning Gene Nolen’s first Little 500 last year and picking up a Silver Crown ride with him this season when the Depalma Motorsports No. 63 team closed after last season, Swanson and Nolen quickly established a to-do list of things they wanted to accomplish together.
Winning the Little 500 has been crossed off the list.
“When I came over to race full time with (Gene) Nolen, one of our goals was to repeat at the Little 500, and the other was to win his first Silver Crown championship,” noted Swanson. “We downsized a little bit in pursuit of those goals, with just one Silver Crown car and then Shane and I at the Little 500 and I think our strategy has proved to be a pretty good one so far. We just have to keep working at it.”
Amid his reflections, Swanson noted his third Little 500 win has its own special notes to it, just as many of the other big victories in his career have had their own unique hallmarks as well.
“It’s definitely up there,” said Swanson. “To win my first was cool, but Richard Hoffman had been chasing that victory for a while, because it was really the one thing in short-track racing that they were missing. To be able to do that for them was awesome, and then to turn around and do the same for Gene was important to me as well.
“This one was for me, though, to prove that we could be a contender in any year,” Swanson added. “It was really neat to have a good car all race long and to get the job done. There’s not many guys who have won the Little 500 more than once, and there’s even fewer who have won it three times.
“To be on that kind of an exclusive list means a lot to me.”
The Little 500 will be televised during a two-hour edition of SPEED SPORT on MAVTV at 7 p.m. on July 11.