INDIANAPOLIS — USAC National driving champions Justin Grant, Buddy Kofoid and Kody Swanson shared the spotlight along with other 2022 USAC champions and special award recipients at Friday night’s 67th USAC Night of Champions celebration at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in downtown Indianapolis, Ind.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
From the sunshine in the state of Florida back in February all the way until late November on the beach in southern California, and practically everywhere in between, 82 USAC National events were held from coast-to-coast during the 2022 USAC National season.
We were witnesses to monumental achievement in the USAC National ranks from start to finish – highlighted by the most prolific season in National Midget history to a first-time Sprint Car champion and the bar being raised even higher in the Silver Crown ranks. We saw a myriad of first-time winners as well as the rise of a number of talented women behind the wheel and turning the wrenches on their way to unprecedented success in the series.
Like all seasons, we have those particular moments that will forever live on in our memory banks. As another year closes, we celebrate the accomplishments of this year’s best, and we salute those who finished the yearlong journey with excellence.
AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR 1ST PLACE DRIVER: Justin Grant, Ione, California
RICHARD HOFFMAN AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR 1ST PLACE ENTRANT: TOPP Motorsports, Rochester, Indiana
The combination of driver Justin Grant and entrant TOPP Motorsports is the longest, continuously tenured team on the USAC National Sprint Car tour, and in their fifth consecutive season together, they finally reached the mountaintop in 2022.
This year, Grant recorded an impeccable 37 top-ten finishes and was running at the finish in all 39 races on the docket without a single DNF. His six victories on the season came in many of the series’ most marquee events, starting off at Winter Dirt Games, followed by an Eastern Storm round at Williams Grove, a W at the Bill Gardner Sprintacular, twice at Kokomo and, finally, in the 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora while grabbing top honors as a first-time Indiana Sprint Week champ.
Throughout the season, Grant was always in the thick of the hunt. That’s demonstrated by the fact that he was involved in the four closest finishes of the USAC National Sprint car season, winning three of them and finishing second in the other.
Grant previously captured a USAC Silver Crown championship in 2020 and now he’s a first-time USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National driving champion.
NOS ENERGY DRINK NATIONAL MIDGET 1ST PLACE DRIVER: Buddy Kofoid, Penngrove, California
NOS ENERGY DRINK NATIONAL MIDGET 1ST PLACE ENTRANT: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Indiana
Driver Buddy Kofoid and entrant Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports put together one of the most spectacular seasons in USAC National Midget history and delivered a second driving title and a record-extending 12th entrant championship for his team.
In a dominant display, Kofoid became the first repeat driver champion since Bryan Clauson in 2010 and 2011. His 13 wins in 32 starts place his win percentage at 40.63 percent. That’s the highest winning percentage in series history in terms of a driver’s victories compared to the number of total events on the schedule. Furthermore, he’s now one of just five drivers to reach at least 13 triumphs in a season and the first since Rich Vogler in 1988.
In the spring, Kofoid became the first driver since Kyle Larson a decade ago to reel off four wins in a row. He captured Indiana Midget Week for second straight year, plus the BC39 and the Hangtown 100, and his final championship point margin of 203 points is the largest in 18 seasons.
SILVER CROWN 1ST PLACE DRIVER: Kody Swanson, Kingsburg, California
SILVER CROWN 1ST PLACE ENTRANT: Doran-Dyson Racing, Lebanon, Ohio / Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
In 51 years of USAC Silver Crown racing, the number 1 had never won the championship, but if there was anybody who was up to the task to alter that half-a-century narrative, it was Kody Swanson.
Swanson became just the third driver in USAC history to earn seven national championships within a single division along with A.J. Foyt & Mel Kenyon, and in 2022, he notched three wins on the pavement in succession at Winchester, Toledo and WWT Raceway where he turned the fastest lap in a tradition USAC Silver Crown car at nearly 147 miles per hour.
In the end, Swanson overcame a deficit to thrust himself into the point lead and to a championship in the season finale to become the first driver since 2016 to overtake the point leader for the title in the last race of the season.
In a unique partnership, Swanson wheeled entries for a pair of legendary sports car outfits that teamed up for left turns only, and it paid off with a seventh series driving championship for Swanson and a first entrant title for both Doran Racing and Dyson Racing.
INDIVIDUAL & SPECIAL AWARDS
MIKE CURB USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP: Justin Grant, Ione, California
Justin Grant had a special season on the USAC trail in 2022, and with it, comes the special awards too.
For the second consecutive year, no other driver started every USAC National event throughout the year like he did, and no driver accumulated more total points in the three national divisions during the course of the 82-race campaign.
In all, Grant totaled 4,991 points, more than a thousand markers over his nearest competition, to earn the $10,000 bonus. This is his third overall Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Championship after previously winning the award in 2017, 2021 and 2022.
JOHNNY CAPELS USAC CHIEF MECHANIC OF THE YEAR: Jarrett Martin of Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports
Beginning this season, USAC’s Chief Mechanic of the Year Award was named in honor of championship winning mechanic and USAC president, Johnny Capels. The Golden Greek Award is earned by the top mechanical achievement from USAC’s Silver Crown, AMSOIL National Sprint Car and NOS Energy Drink National Midget season.
In the history of USAC racing, only three others have been named the top chief mechanic multiple times. Nobody had ever won it in consecutive years. That is, until 2022 with Jarrett Martin.
It seems fitting that the most recent multi-time recipient prior to tonight’s ceremony is Keith Kunz. With Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Martin has turned the wrenches on back-to-back USAC National Midget championships for driver Buddy Kofoid during one of the most historic and successful stretches in series history.
BUBBY JONES MASTER OF GOIN’ FASTER CHAMPIONSHIP: Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
This year, USAC National Sprint Car racing added a new chapter with a 10-race “season within a season” throughout the year called the Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster series Presented by Spire Sports + Entertainment.
Brady Bacon won the opener. Brady Bacon won the closer.
With those two bookend victories at Lakeside and Perris, he accumulated the most points throughout the miniseries to earn the title by 34 markers, earning a custom trophy provided by Potter Metal Art along with a $10,000 dollar bonus.
PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER: Justin Grant, Ione, California
Justin Grant’s season required him to be on the horse and pass a ton of cars in order to become the ProSource Passing Master for the second year in a row.
In fact, no driver advanced more positions in USAC National Sprint, National Midget and Silver Crown racing than Grant throughout the entire season than him in 2022.
Adding it all up, Grant moved up a combined 213 positions in the 82 total feature events. In those 82 feature starts, Grant advanced forward from his starting spot in 43 of them.
BOB STROUD NATIONAL MIDGET ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Mitchel Moles, Raisin City, California
Mitchel Moles’ performance throughout the season earned him the 2022 Bob Stroud USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year award.
Moles was one of three first-time USAC National Midget winners who emerged during the 2022 season with victories coming in his first ever visits to Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway and Illinois’ Wayne County Speedway at the Jason Leffler Memorial.
His sixth place finish in points was buoyed by eight top-five finishes and 109 laps led, and he was the only Rookie to start all 32 events. In fact, he’s the first Rookie since Lonnie Caruthers in 1977 to start as many series races in his first year.
SILVER CROWN ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Gregg Cory, Shelbyville, Indiana
Gregg Cory isn’t your average Rookie. He has a long track record of success in TQ Midgets, full-sized midgets, Thunder Roadsters and Sprint Cars where he was a past Paragon Speedway track champion.
Now, he’s the 2022 USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year.
In 2022, Cory made his first foray into USAC Silver Crown racing and made it a successful one. He appeared at all 11 events on the schedule on both dirt and pavement and raced his way into a top-10 finish during May’s Carb Night Classic at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
NATIONAL SPRINT CAR ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Emerson Axsom, Franklin, Indiana
This year’s USAC National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year, Emerson Axsom, got off on the right foot with wins in two of his first three starts this season in February at Florida’s Bubba Raceway Park, then collected a third win late in the season in the series’ debut at Cocopah Speedway.
His three wins this season are the second most by a Rookie in series history and his fifth place finish in the standings made him just the second driver to finish inside the top five of the points in the past 18 years.
With 15 top-fives, 13 top-tens and three fast qualifying awards to his credit, he becomes the eighth teenager to win the award.
JASON LEFFLER AWARD: Bobby East
Bobby East was among the elite during his time with the series. Like Jason, Bobby was a multi-time USAC National champion, doing so with the Midgets in 2004 and twice in Silver Crown competition during back-to-back seasons in 2012-13.
The roots of the Leffler and East family run deep in USAC with Leffler scoring all four of his USAC titles with Bob East as his crew chief. East, meanwhile, captured 32 feature wins wrenched by his father. Jason was also a mentor to Bobby as he was rising up the ranks.
RACE ORGANIZER OF THE YEAR: Kasey Coler, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park
Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park has been one of the strongholds of the United States Auto Club since 1961 and has hosted a total of 336 series events on its oval, road course and it’s roval over the years.
In recent years, track General Manager Kasey Coler has spearheaded a complete revitalization of the westside Indy venue that has created a renewed interest among participants and fans for the first time in several years. He’s made America’s Great Race Place truly great once again, and now he’s the 2022 USAC Race Organizer of the Year.