SEAVEY OVERCOMES OBSTACLES TO REACH USAC STAR STATUS
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (May 3, 2020)………Logan Seavey came to racing in a different way than most of his counterparts. His immediate family wasn’t born and bred in the sport nor were they race fans as far as Logan knew.
For the Sutter, California native, it was through family friends where he developed the bug for racing near the beginning of his elementary school days and got his shot behind the wheel of an outlaw kart, where he ultimately worked his way up through the ranks into becoming the 2018 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget driving champion, just the third to accomplish the feat in his Rookie year with the series along with Danny Caruthers in 1971 and Christopher Bell in 2013.
However, no travel through the ranks goes without paying its dues on track, but for Seavey, he was dealt a blow off the track just as his career was about to take off.
A congenital heart defect present from birth was making it harder for him to breathe just as he was set to make the transition from outlaw karts to midgets during his teenage years, delaying the next move up the ladder in his burgeoning career.
“When I was three, four, five years old, I had some x-rays on my chest,” Seavey recalled. “They found something was up with my heart. My heart actually shifted to the opposite side."
As he was growing, the issue worsened. One of his veins was in the wrong spot and he was only getting about half the oxygenated blood he needed. The older he got, the harder it became for him to breathe, and the decision was made that it was ultimately time to have the surgery in late 2016.
“As a racer, you try to put it off and keep racing,” Seavey admitted.
After a highly successful run in his late teens where he was racking up wins and championships in the outlaw karts, Seavey traveled to the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Okla. in early 2016 and received his indoctrination to the event by getting an opportunity to hot lap a midget. That whole year, Logan’s hope was to go midget racing a couple more times and, ultimately, make it out to the Midwest for the racing season.
“I figured that was my shot to do it and that heart surgery came up, and I didn’t know if that was going to be the moment where it killed my chances of moving out east and try to chase the dirt life,” Seavey admitted.
In September of 2016, Seavey had open-heart surgery. However, with his true competitor spirit, he asked if the surgery could be pushed back to where he didn’t have to miss as many races and could still make it to the Chili Bowl in early 2017.
Following the surgery, Seavey was back in an outlaw kart by the beginning of December, a mere 10 weeks later. He then jumped into a midget in January 2017 as an official Chili Bowl Rookie and his second overall midget start.
From there, it’s basically history. Seavey became a USAC National champion in 2018 and now owns six wins with the Midgets and one with the sprint car as he competes full-time for Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports on the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship schedule, currently residing fifth in points and is one of the premier stars of the series at just 22 years old.
You can watch the full-length interview and tour of the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports shop with Seavey right now on FloRacing / https://bit.ly/2Vtrwdd on Inside the Ride with host Rob Klepper. There, you will also have access to other Inside the Ride episodes featuring Chad Boat and Kody Swanson.
For more information regarding Inside the Ride, stay tuned to www.FloRacing.com, USAC’s website at www.usacracing.com, USAC’s social media channels at www.facebook.com/usacracing, www.twitter.com/usacnation and on Instagram @usacnation.