Bobby Santos, III Claims Third Tony Elliott Classic Victory at Anderson

Bobby Santos, III earned his fourth career yourBIGplans.com 500 Sprint Car Tour victory on Saturday night, winning the 11th Tony Elliott Classic at Anderson Speedway.

On a chaotic night at the Indiana quarter-mile, Santos successfully navigated through it all for the win. Santos drove his way from the sixth starting spot, taking the lead on lap 77 as the front-runners negotiated lapped traffic. A multi-car incident soon followed, with Santos and Nathan Byrd making contact and triggering a melee that ended the night for Kyle O'Gara and Dakoda Armstrong.

Santos maintained the lead on the restart and paced the field for the remaining 22 laps for the victory.

"First of all, I've got to thank my mom for drawing the six," said Santos. |That made that exciting. We had a great car tonight, from off the trailer, the car was just rolling awesome. We have not had a car like that at this place in a long time. When the car's right, we can pass at this place. That's what made it fun."

The victory marks Santos' third in the Tony Elliott Classic, having also won the event in 2020 and 2022.

"Most importantly, running this race in the name of Tony Elliott. I'm probably one of the few in this field that actually got to race with Tony, enjoyed my time racing with him. Spent the last handful of years getting to know his family, his wife, his brother, his brother's wife, Cindy, just their whole family.

"I've got to thank the Elliotts, really appreciate everything they do for the sport."

Kody Swanson, who won both the Glen Niebel Classic and the Little 500 at Anderson this year, crossed the line second in another strong showing at Anderson.

"Shoot, we had a great race here at Anderson, right? A lot of traffic, which that's part of it, that's part of the game. I've been on the good end a few times, but not tonight. Every time, I seemed to lose another spot. Kyle got me there, and so did Bobby. They did a good job, so congrats to Bobby on the win.

"Sorry for whatever ended up taking Kyle out there. We were all on top of one another through traffic. Certainly, the three of us were really racing clean together and racing hard, racing for the win. We knew it mattered. Bobby there at the end, he was just the class of the field the last 20."

Jackson Macenko finished third after battling brake issues throughout the day at Anderson. It made for a challenging day for the driver who entered the evening second in 500 Sprint Car Tour points, but he made the most of the day.

"We had a bunch of brake issues [in practice]. Just trying to overcome that. We didn't really know where the handling of the car was, because in practice, I had my brakes sticking. Qualifying, I felt like I really didn't have brakes. We were almost throwing a dart blind. Tony really put me in a good position.

"We had a pretty good car. I felt like I could challenge and make moves. When they started going three-wide in traffic, I started to think, man, there is a wreck coming, I don't know if it's worth really forcing the issue. I felt like they were forcing it enough. I don't know, I was able to sneak through. I had a good battle with Kody, who was a little too good for me on the exit of the corner to make a real run."

Brian Vaughn finished fourth, with Donnie Adams, Jr. rounding out the top five.

The yourBIGplans.com 500 Sprint Car Tour heads to Toledo Speedway on October 3. The rescheduled event is now part of Toledo's Stars, Stripes & Speed Fest, which will also feature USAC Silver Crown and Outlaw Late Model competition.

-Photo credit: Koty Geyer

Tony Elliott Classic Unofficial Results