Hoosier Hundred: Bobby Santos wins after Kody Swanson slows

BROWNSBURG — Bobby Santos III could only watch from second as Kody Swanson remained firmly up front in Friday night's Hoosier Hundred at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Once the 2020 Little 500 winner saw his main rival's car crawling to a halt after leading the first 115 laps, Santos climbed to a lead he would not relinquish as the No. 98 DJ Racing machine saw the checkered flag first in the 70th anniversary of the USAC Silver Crown classic.

"We had a good car, I mean I felt like I had a really good car," Santos said. "We weren't, obviously, perfect, (Swanson) was obviously a little bit better, but it's a 100-mile race and that's what Silver Crown racing is, 100 miles. It's pretty cool to get a chance to win this race."

Swanson started outside of Santos on the front row and picked up the lead coming off Turn 2. Despite four cautions in the first 100 laps, Swanson pulled away to a healthy lead over the Massachusetts native.

Swanson's car slowed on the main straight and stopped in Turn 2, bringing out the caution. The No. 77 Doran Racing entry was silent with a mechanical failure.

"It looks like the camshaft broke or the cam drive broke and it stopped turning the power steering pump and fuel pump, so that's pretty much game over," said Doran Racing owner Kevin Doran. "It's pretty bad, I mean it's our first DNF for the team in two years for Silver Crown racing and we pride ourselves on preparing a good car. It's tough and it takes a lot of points off the table and a lot of money. It was a good paying race and it's a prestigious race. It's a hard one to lose."

Santos kept his car in the lead and pulled away from the pack, finishing over four seconds ahead of Logan Seavey in second and Tyler Roahrig in third to win $25,000 after 146 laps around the .686-mile oval.

A pavement racer like Santos never figured that a Hoosier Hundred win was in the cards. The Hoosier Hundred traditionally was a dirt race until the dirt mile at the Indiana State Fairgrounds underwent a surface change and conversion to a harness-training facility.

"This race is meant to be on dirt. I understand that and I’m a pavement guy," Santos said. "I mean, the chances of me ever winning this race if it was on dirt is zero, so I’m very thankful for the situation but I also understand history. This race probably should be at the Indy mile, but that's not an option, so it's here."

The 30-lap midget feature that preceded the Silver Crown race went caution free as Jake Trainor went from fifth to first by the fifth lap and led the rest of the way to win over Santos and Chuck Gurney Jr. Former Indianapolis 500 competitor JR Hildebrand finished 10th.

In the USF2000 race, Mac Clark dominated as the Canadian driver won the Freedom 75 from pole position over Evagoras Papasavvas in second and third-place finisher Simon Sikes, who started ninth. It was the rookie's first pole and race win of the 2023 USF2000 season. There was one caution on Lap 12 for Danny Dyszelski's stalled car.

The final race of the Carb Night Classic program was the 90-lap Freedom 90 for the USF Pro 2000 cars. Salvador de Alba dominated the race from second on the grid and led all but the first lap to win. Jack William Miller led the first lap under yellow after race control waved off the start of the race.

The race ended under yellow after Christian Weir spun and hit the Turn 4 wall, damaging the left side of the car. Joel Granfors finished second ahead of Miller in third.