SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Logan Seavey, the 2023 USAC Indiana Midget Week champion, truly thought it was all over after Circle City.
After the utmost heartbreak of seeing a surefire victory go to the wayside just three laps from the finish line due to an ignition switch failure, the Sutter, Calif. native was certain his opportunity to capture the Indiana Midget Week title had gone to the waste bin.
Yet, as it turned out, that’s only where the story of Seavey’s triumphant week began.
“Really, at that time, I didn’t think we had a chance,” Seavey admitted. “Up to that point, Jacob Denney had been lights out, but they had their issues as well, but this is an odd week. Nobody was great all week and everybody had something go wrong, made mistakes or whatnot. Ultimately, we filled that role of being the guys who were good every time at the racetrack and could make moves to get to the podium, qualify well and have a really stellar week.”
One race later on Wednesday night, Seavey conjured up a masterful late race drive at Gas City I-69 Speedway, zipping around the outside of Emerson Axsom with two laps to go despite the ailment of a destroyed left rear shock. The emotion was raw, and tears of joy were shed as Abacus Racing won its very first race, a goal they had set when they hired Seavey to be their wheelman late in the 2022 season.
“These guys want to win, but they had never even led a lap before we got to this year, no podiums or anything,” Seavey revealed. “I knew we could get there eventually. We were okay in May, but not lights out by any means. To think we were going to win that first one for them at Circle City, and for it to go bad, was as heartbreaking as it gets. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait too long to get another chance.”
After initially dismissing the notion of an Indiana Midget Week title, Seavey suddenly found himself third in the standings with three races to go in an annual week that is truly a testament of “survival of the fittest.”
A repeat winning performance wasn’t quite in the cards for Seavey on Thursday at Lincoln Park Speedway. Nonetheless, a third-place finish did pay dividends, moving him up to second in the IMW standings, which essentially was the lead with actual point leader Buddy Kofoid’s exodus from the series following the LPS round.
Seavey, celebrating his 26th birthday on Friday night at Bloomington Speedway, doubled up as both the official new Indiana Midget Week point leader and brand new overall USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship point leader following a second consecutive third-place result in his Abacus Racing/Indy Custom Stone – CG CPAs – Dozer’z Nut’z & Bolt’z/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
Showcasing just how much confidence they had throughout the week, the team didn’t panic when faced with another set of seemingly dire set of events just as their car was being pushed off for practice in what turned out to be the final round of the series on Saturday at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
Just after engine heat, the team heard an undesirable noise emanating from under the hood, which ultimately forced them to a backup car. Seavey promptly responded to the set of circumstances by setting second quick time, winning his heat, and finishing second in the feature, thus solidifying his position at the top of the USAC Indiana Midget Week leaderboard with his fourth-straight “podium” finish.
With Sunday’s rain out in the intended series finale at Kokomo Speedway, Seavey had clinched the title in very much the same manner as he did during his first in 2019, escaping the rain at Kokomo to celebrate with his team in the drier climate of his team’s race shop, a sort of déjà vu moment, and a welcoming into an exclusive club.
“Buddy (Kofoid) texted me and said, “welcome to the two-time club,” Seavey relayed of the message sent by the 2021-22 IMW titlist. “It’s cool to do it not just once, but twice, and just to be that strong. It was pretty much a top-three every night since our one failure, but it seemed like everybody had one bad night. This is a tough week; it was hot all week; tracks were tough with big curbs, and it was really technical everywhere we went, but that fits my style.”
Seavey became just the sixth driver to win the USAC Indiana Midget Week title on multiple occasions in his career, joining Shane Cottle (2005 & 2006), Tracy Hines (2008 & 2010), Bryan Clauson (2009, 2011 & 2016), Rico Abreu (2014 & 2015) and Buddy Kofoid (2021 & 2022).
Furthermore, Seavey joined Rico Abreu (2015) as the second driver to win both the Chili Bowl Nationals and the Indiana Midget Week title in the same season.
With those crowns already on his mantle, plus his presence as the current USAC National Midget point leader, it’s a far cry from where the team began the season, as they began to jell and form a foundation. Seavey and Abacus entered Indiana Midget Week eighth in series points, but now stand as the toast of the town with the season entering the summer stretch.
“For this team to build me two new cars this year and be that good is really amazing, and when we pulled out a backup car for Lawrenceburg, we nearly won with it too,” Seavey lauded. “We just have so much speed right now with good cars and good engines and a good crew to make sure we’re fast all night. We’re all having fun racing and that’s what it’s all about.”
Abacus Racing owner Brent Cox’s dream to start a team began on September of 2020 in his garage as he was watching the live stream of a USAC National Midget event on FloRacing. The tight-knit group came together with an ironclad goal, and with the entire team pulling in one direction all together, they were able to accomplish a feat they’ll always remember.
“This is what wins championships,” Cox stated. “This team never gave up, and no matter how much success we had this week, they never stopped working on the cars. It was a constant flurry of activity. The path to get here was not easy. As a team, there are so many components that have gotten us to where we have gotten. I know that if you remove any one of a key few, we are not where we are at today.”
Elsewhere throughout Indiana Midget Week, Jacob Denney (Galloway, Ohio), who just graduated from high school a week earlier, stood tall when posed with the final exam of answering not one, but two slide jobs levied by two-time USAC National Midget champ Buddy Kofoid during the final six laps en route to capturing the opening round of the series at Haubstadt, Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway, his first win for the Tom Malloy owned team.
Due to weekend sprint car obligations, Kofoid was only available to Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports for the first four rounds of the series. However, he sure made the most of his brief, but thrilling appearances. Kofoid was the lone multi-time winner of the week, scoring victories at Circle City and Lincoln Park, plus a second at Tri-State and a fourth at Gas City. When he left after Thursday’s round, he held a commanding 46-point lead, but his absence for the final two rounds dropped him down to eighth in the final tally.
Gavin Miller made his grand introduction to the USAC National Midget racing stage during USAC Indiana Midget Week. The leading USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship Rookie of the Year contender, six-time USAC National .25 Midget champion and micro sprint standout from Allentown, Pa. earned his first career USAC national victory on the big stage at Bloomington Speedway. Additionally, he passed 35 cars throughout the week to earn the Indiana Midget Week ProSource Passing Master title.
After a tumultuous Indiana Midget Week without only one top-10 result in his first five starts, Ryan Timms (Oklahoma City, Okla.) broke through for a victory in what his first ever visit to Lawrenceburg Speedway during the series finale on Saturday night, giving his Kunz/Curb-Agajanian its third-straight IMW victory with a third different driver following Kofoid and Miller. Following Kofoid’s departure, Timms assumed duties in Kofoid’s ride, and achieved a strong finish to the week.
In the end, Seavey captured the Indiana Midget Week championship by 31 points over Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) who finished as the runner-up in the IMW standings for the second consecutive season. Meanwhile, Bryant Wiedeman (Colby, Kan.) earned a career-best third-place result in IMW points.
Jade Avedisian (Clovis, Calif.) earned the best points finish by a woman in IMW history, taking fourth while also tying as the best finishing woman in an IMW feature event. Her third place run at Lawrenceburg equaled the third-place result by Holly Shelton at Lawrenceburg in 2017. Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) rounded out the top-five in the standings, topping off with back-to-back runner-up feature finishes at Gas City and Lincoln Park.
Axsom and Seavey shared honors as the driver leading the most laps throughout Indiana Midget Week with 29 apiece. Four different drivers achieved five top-tens in six IMW events: Jade Avedisian, Justin Grant, Logan Seavey & Bryant Wiedeman.
Justin Grant was the only driver to capture multiple Honest Abe Fast Qualifying times, topping the leaderboard during the last two nights at Bloomington and Lawrenceburg. Brenham Crouch, Justin Grant, Buddy Kofoid, Daison Pursley and Logan Seavey each won a pair of heat races during the week. Tanner Thorson made the biggest single-race charge during IMW, advancing from 17th to 4th during the feature at Circle City.
Forty-two drivers appeared in a 2023 Indiana Midget Week event. Seventeen individuals started all six IMW feature events: Jake Andreotti, Jade Avedisian, Emerson Axsom, Chance Crum, Jacob Denney, Justin Grant, Jesse Love, Chase McDermand, Cannon McIntosh, Gavin Miller, Daison Pursley, Taylor Reimer, Hayden Reinbold, Logan Seavey, Kevin Thomas Jr., Ryan Timms and Bryant Wiedeman. Nineteen drivers were in attendance at all six events, adding Thomas Meseraull and Chelby Hinton.