Kody Swanson Battles Back From Injury To Chase Another USAC Title
Kody Swanson Battles Back From Injury To Chase Another USAC Title
Kody Swanson has been rehabbing an offseason injury that left his 2024 USAC Silver Crown Season in doubt. He's back to chase another title.
For any racer with the level of accomplishments Kody Swanson has accrued throughout his career, there are always obstacles to overcome and hills to climb en route to a successful season.
Swanson knows this all too well, and to prove it, heโs racked up seven driving titles and 40 victories on his illustrious USAC Silver Crown resume. However, the 2024 season has presented him with an unanticipated obstacle unlike any other heโs ever faced.
On Christmas morning roughly three-and-a-half months ago, Swansonโs season and the future of his racing career instantly came into question in a split second. An accident at his parentsโ house in Kingsburg, Calif. resulted in a severely broken left foot. Swanson was ultimately rushed into surgery that same day.
After returning to his parentsโ home, he remained there until after the new year until he was cleared to fly back home to his Brownsburg, Ind. residence. Fitted with an external fixator designed to keep his fractured bones stabilized and aligned, Swanson arrived home and made an appointment with Dr. Timothy Weber and his team at OrthoIndy, which has been the location of many racecar driver restorations over the years.
An MRI was followed by a CT scan to see the lay of the land, so to speak, and on January 12, Swanson underwent a second surgery to install plates and screws into his foot. The physical anguish in the aftermath of the accident goes without speaking, but the mental agony that goes along with it can prove to be just as painful.
โAt the beginning, it was really hard to know what the status was,โ Swanson began. โMy first thought was, โwell, Iโm going to miss the Chili Bowl.โ At surgery that first night, I found out what theyโd seen after theyโd gotten inside and saw what kind of damage was really done. The numbers they threw out ended with six months, and you think, โwow, am I really going to be out through the month of May and through June?โ Then itโs, โwhatโs the recovery going to be like after something this big?โโ
Among the individuals who have been key in Swansonโs recovery is USAC Triple Crown champion Tracy Hines. Hines can relate to Swansonโs predicament. In 2007, Hines suffered a fractured pelvis, a broken left femur and a dislocated right knee, among injuries, in an off-road dirt bike crash. Hines encouraged Swanson to keep his mind on the task at hand and laid out the stark realities of the situation and the expectations of whatโs in store in the days, weeks and months ahead.
โTracy is someone that Iโve leaned on pretty heavily, especially at the beginning, in knowing what to expect, making sure I ask the right questions and what I need to be aware of on my end so I can try to help the healing process as much as I can,โ Swanson explained. โJustin Grant is another one who encouraged me to get into OrthoIndy where they have such a great group whoโve seen things like this before. Just like you want the right people working on your racecar, you also want the right people patching you back together. Iโve been really fortunate that on every step along the way, Iโve had great help.โ
However, from the start, Swanson wasnโt keen on the idea of an agonizing six-month wait to get back to work.
โPushing forward, itโs like, โokay, thatโs our official timeline,โโ Swanson remarked. โIf I do my job all the way right, maybe itโll heal quicker. So far, Iโve been fortunate that thatโs whatโs happening, and itโs been healing really well. I had regained my stability and was able to begin walking ahead of schedule. I was able to put weight on it and do all those things to try and regain the mobility and strength that I had lost over that time.โ
Through rigorous rehabilitation sessions and physical therapy, Swanson began to see the improvements as well as the figurative light at the end of the tunnel. He took on the anti-gravity treadmill at 35% weight starting February 13, and from that point forward, made regular visits to the gym at PitFit, despite still utilizing crutches.
โThey brought me a chair and allowed me to sit down,โ Swanson recalled. โI could do some upper body work and do whatever I could to try and keep my cardio and my body strength up in order to recover as quickly as I could to be ready for that first opportunity.โ
A major milestone was reached on March 4 when Swanson took his first steps without the aid of crutches by walking across a parking lot with full weight. Throughout the three-month process, Swanson spoke of how he made it a priority to take advantage of the forced slow down.
โI feel like if God wanted me to see something through this to make sure I didnโt miss it, itโs that there are so many things in this fast-paced life that we take for granted. I have an even greater appreciation for it now and enjoy the little things so much more.โ
In a sense, this isnโt completely new territory for Swanson. During the 2011 USAC National Midget Hut 100 at Haubstadt, Indianaโs Tri-State Speedway, a turn three ramp over another driverโs wheel sent Swanson into a series of flips that resulted in a broken skull and pelvis (in two places) as well as a fractured collarbone. However, the difference in this recent incident is that the bones needed to be reset in his foot. Itโs a surgery and recovery that Swanson admitted was โa different experience.โ
With that said, Swansonโs mindset was also set on getting back behind the wheel of a racecar. After all, a mere eight weeks after the 2011 accident, he was back in victory lane at Indianapolis Raceway Park with the USAC Silver Crown series.
On April 4, Swansonโs X-Rays allowed the surgeons to give him the blessing to get back on track. On April 9, he returned to the seat of the Doran Racing sprint car for a practice session at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway where all went well. Now the focus is set to โrace modeโ for the USAC Silver Crown opener on Saturday, April 20, at Ohioโs Toledo Speedway.
โAs you recover, you just focus on the next one โ the next opportunity and the next race โ and itโs the same way Iโve approached it before,โ Swanson revealed. โIt would be great to kick off the comeback with a win, but at the same time, the series is as competitive as it gets, and there are a lot of guys wanting to win all the same. For me, itโs just about focusing on trying to be as ready as I can be for it.โ
Swanson is thankful for all the support heโs had along the way from the people whoโve helped directly, to the people whoโve called, and especially his wife, Jordan. As Kody puts it, sheโs had to help patch him back together twice now in addition to keeping the household going with two young sons to care for.
Heโs mentally and physically preparing for the demanding 100-lap, 50-mile test on the half-mile paved oval of Toledo, and as everyone has become undeniably aware of by this point, Swanson wonโt allow himself to be outworked and he wonโt miss any details along the way. Even an unintended pun couldnโt slip by Swanson without a laugh.
โTime will tell to see how good it goes, but Iโm going to put one good foot forward to try and be as ready as I can be.โ
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