NEMA is an all-pavement midget series with one additional twist – they race with a wing.
“You are locked down and you carry a lot of speed into the corner,” Trainor said. “It is a lot of fun.”
When officials from Indianapolis Raceway Park signaled an intention to revive midget racing on the facility’s paved oval, it became clear that support from NEMA teams was critical. Trainor’s previous experience with USAC and his miles of testing were about to pay off.
In 2020, he made the long haul to Indiana with his father to race at IRP for the first time.
At the time the Seymours were paired with Jake’s hero — Bobby Santos III. Matt Seymour remembers the night well. Santos picked up the win, but Trainor turned more than a few heads.
“He finished fifth or sixth,” Matt Seymour recalled. “People might not have noticed, but with the equipment and motor he had that was pretty good. To be just 15 years old and battle with Tanner Swanson the whole race impressed us.”
Bob and Matt Seymour knew the score. There was no way Trainor could compete for wins with the better teams, so they offered an engine for his next trip west. He got even more attention at IRP when he chased Santos to the line and took the second step on the podium.
The relationship with his important patrons grew stronger. Trainor not only won championships with Matt Seymour but began working full time in the shop. Everyone benefited from the arrangement.
“It helps me to work on the car six days a week,” Trainor said. “I know I have put every bolt on the car so that makes me more comfortable.”
One key to his success is that his team truly enjoys being around him.
“The one thing he has in his favor is his personality,” Bob Seymour noted. “Those guys just like being around him. We are talking about 50- and 60-year-old guys and he’s a kid. They have put a good car and motor underneath him and he has been up to the task.”
Matt Seymour adds another wrinkle to this story, noting, “We just keep putting him in tougher situations and he always excels.”
That theory was put to the test in May. At the end of 2022, Trainor returned to IRP in a midget owned by Jeff West with Matt Seymour serving as crew chief. Trainor set fast time but a broken rocker arm crippled his engine before he could battle Santos for the victory.
The next time out he was looking for a better outcome, and he got it. Winning at IRP is a big deal. Doing so may carry even more weight among participants than the public at large. The place can vex the very best. Thinking back to winning the Carb Day Classic, Trainor deems the win “unbelievable. I beat a lot of people I idolized growing up.”
If there was a downside to his victory, it was there was no time to let it sink in. He had work to do at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway.
This portion of the story begins with Barry Kittredge, a family member who owns a shop near Seymour Performance Products. One day he dropped by and announced it was time to build a sprint car. They did just that and in 2022 the team took on the Little 500 with Ken Schrader driving. Though, the car failed to finish, it showed plenty of speed.
Trainor got his first start in a sprint car at IRP last October and posted a respectable sixth-place finish. This April the team ventured to Anderson to test on a blustery day. They felt they were fast, but there was no real basis for comparison due to the absence of others and the trying conditions.
They were set to compete on the high- banked oval before the Little 500, but weather hampered their plans. Instead, they tested at Waterford where an odd thing happened. Almost immediately they had a problem with a new steering gear. It struck Matt Seymour as just the kind of thing that might trip one up in the Little 500. Still, their confidence was high because Trainor showed speed.
The dates they had circled on the calendar arrived. It was going to be a busy week as the team hustled between the west side of Indianapolis and Anderson.
The assembled group had spent the previous months harassing Trainor about his level of fitness and he responded by working out diligently. Given his time in the gym and his age, stamina was not going to be an issue.
Things got off to a terrific start at Anderson.