500 Sprint Car Tour Roundtable: Volume 7 - Media Members
500 Sprint Car Tour Roundtable: Volume 7 - Media Members
Today’s Question: What driver/drivers has impressed you the most at this point in the 2023 season?
Dave Argabright (MAVTV)
Although giving praise to Kody Swanson has become almost 'old news,' he has looked particularly sharp this year. Kody and the Doran Racing team have arrived at every event this year ready to race, and their results have been impressive. They have raised the bar in terms of series competition and show no signs of letting up. It's shaping up to be another stellar season for Kody and the team.
Ken De La Bastide (Herald Bulletin)
It's hard not to be impressed with all the competitors with the 500 Sprint Car Tour, but two drivers stand out thus far in 2023.
The first is no stranger to sprint car racing and has scored two wins with the series.
Kyle O'Gara has learned to master the always tough Anderson Speedway posting two wins on the Indiana oval. But O'Gara this year has finished only once outside the top ten and over the last three races has two runner-up showings and a fourth at Nashville. He currently is third in the point standings, which is the position he finished in last year.
The second driver is Ohio competitor Jack Macenko running as a rookie and competing for the first time in a sprint car for Brad Hayes Racing. Macenko had been competing in the Kenyon Midget Series and just missed out on the championship in 2022. Since moving up the ladder to non-wing sprint cars, Macenko has not finished outside the top ten and is improving with each race. What has been impressive is that Macenko is earning the respect of the veteran drivers by knowing when to race hard and when to let the leaders go past. His career best finish to date is a fifth at Anderson Speedway.
Zach Hiser (Horsepower Happenings)
If you're thinking about the 500 Sprint Car Tour in 2023, you have to be thinking about Tyler Roahrig. The former Outlaw Super Late Model standout has made it very clear over the last five seasons that open-wheel cars are second nature. The back-to-back Little 500 Champion has proven this season that he's no one-trick pony. In both appearances at Berlin Raceway, he out-qualified the competition by at least two-tenths of a second before dominating each main event for wins. Then, he backed those races up by finishing no worse than sixth at tracks like Nashville Fairgrounds, Toledo, and Anderson. The Plymouth, Indiana driver now trails seven-time USAC Silver Crown Champion, Kody Swanson by just eight points with three races remaining in the season. The CB Fabricating No.56 has yet to finish outside the top ten this season, a perfect recipe to track down his first 500 Sprint Car Tour Championship.
Linda Mansfield (Speed Sport News & Restart Communications)
Obviously I’m going to say Kody Swanson. He’s simply incredible and leads the point standings despite the very close fields in the 500 Sprint Car Tour. He is legendary, super professional, and a nice guy to boot. But I also want to give a nod to Jackson Macenko. He’s young, but he’s kept his nose clean and is sixth in the point standings, only 91 points out of the top five. He’s seeing most of these tracks for the first time but he’s respectful of his learning curve, and that shows in his results. He’s a marketing student at the University of Cincinnati. He’s also a great example of the talent that is coming into the 500 Sprint Car Tour from the USSA Kenyon Midget Series.
Dave Sink (Pavement Pounders)
Dakoda Armstrong is a driver that stands out to me and has caught my attention. He has been winless with the series, but this is by far no indication of his performance. He tends to qualify well and is always a top five car each race. He narrowly lost last year's championship which is a good indicator of his consistency. He has also led a number of laps this year. When he does get his first win, I believe it will propel him to many more wins with the series.
Kelland Sloan (500 Sprint Car Tour)
Had it not been for an engine failure during a triumphant drive at Toledo Speedway, Kyle O’Gara could be at the center of a very tight three way battle for the 2023 season championship alongside Kody Swanson and Tyler Roahrig. O’Gara began the 2023 season picking up where he left off, with a win at Anderson Speedway. He has since racked up five top-five finishes with three top-three’s including his victory at Anderson. His only blunder came in a disappointing finish at Toledo after driving to the front of the field and suffering an engine failure.
Kyle O’Gara trails championship leader Kody Swanson by a margin of only 66 points. With only three races left in the 2023 season, and a couple wild card tracks at that, I wouldn't be surprised if O’Gara finds himself atop the standings when the season comes to a close at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on October 14th, capping off an already impressive 2023 500 Sprint Car Tour season.
Jim Tretow (MAVTV)
There has been some incredibly close racing in the 500 Sprint Car Tour's second season. The veterans are proving they are the best in the country at what they do on pavement, and it's been a pleasure to see and call their race craft. It's crazy to come to expect the consistent precision we've continued to experience from the series' brightest stars in each and every race in 2023.
This is a hard question to answer in picking out just a couple of the impressive drivers in the series. Every driver and team is putting forth great effort to compete, which I admire and appreciate greatly. Here's a few that stand out in 2023:
1. Jackson Macenko, leading rookie. Racing and winning in the USSA Kenyon Midget Series prepared Jackson well at familiar race tracks with his Brad Hayes Racing team. The jump is a big one, for certain. Jackson's been showing speed and consistency, and his pace is improving every time he climbs in a much faster, much heavier sprint car.
2. Jake Trainor, the Lucas Oil Little 500 winner, for the limited amount of experience he has in sprint cars - at IRP last October and at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in July in 500 Sprint Car Tour points events - set quick time and was right in the thick of things at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway until overheating issues forced a late race retirement. The kid is quick in well-prepared Seymour Racing equipment!
