California's Kody Swanson passed local driver Jeff Bergener in the 36th lap to go on and win the Rocky Mountain Sprint Car series debut at Rocky Mountain Raceways, his third win in his number 17 car.

"I had to work for this one," Swanson said. "I tried to be patient."

The Rocky Mountain Sprint Car series debut was also Sasselli's Utah debut. She finished sixth out of seven racers in her heat and 17th in her first main event driving one of the three Jim Waters' cars in the Young Automotive group.

After a successful midget car career, Sasselli, a California schoolteacher, stepped up to sprint car racing for the first time at RMR.

"There's going to be a learning curve but I have to continue to win," she said. "I was always on the podium in midget car racing and I have to be consistently winning to show I made the right move."

Sasselli's crew chief Myrel Sasselli, also her dad, expects her success to continue.

"Everything is going to be just fine," Myrel Sasselli said. "She has always been at the front of everything whether it's asphalt midgets or whatever she has always been in front."

Sasselli, tied for the most USAC career feature victories by a female driver with five, became the first female to win the Multi 600 points championship in 2002 after five years of finishing second.

Last year, Sasselli missed most of the season after suffering serious injuries in an automobile accident. She raced at the Irwindale Speedway in August after recovering and won her heat and finished second in the main event for midgets.

After over 20 straight years of racing Sasselli wasn't used to not racing. She said, "It was a long recovery I wasn't even concerned about racing at first. I thought I wouldn't drive again. For the first time in 20 years I wasn't driving, I missed it."

Saturday was her first time racing a sprint car and her first time back full time. At age 8, racing go-karts, Sasselli knew she wanted to get into racing. Sasselli, one of two females in the sprint car race, said she gets more respect than she did a few years ago but females are still an oddity in the male-dominated sport.

"Women drivers have come a long way but it's still a novelty. I find that novelty kind of insulting," Sasselli said.