Trevor Casey’s senior year at Southeast Polk High School was supposed to be filled with less stress, more freedom, and big hockey games.
Instead, Casey made a choice – and it’s lead to him traveling to Tulsa, Oklahoma this January to race in the biggest midget racing event in the United States.
“My senior year, I decided to not play hockey and work a job to try and get my race cars going,” Casey said. “I somehow saved up enough money to go and get this midget.”
Casey went on to work at Valvoline during his last year at S.E.P.
He traded practicing every day for going into work to make money, eventually finding his way to the midget he will be driving during the second week of January.
“I kind of regret not playing my senior year,” Casey said. “It was definitely something different from what I was used to. I was practicing every day and then playing somewhere around the Midwest every single weekend. As far as regretting it, though, I feel like racing is something you can do competitively forever. I might have a better chance of going pro in racing than I did in hockey.”
He’ll take his first step towards that next month.
The Altoona native will be participating in this year’s Chili Bowl Nationals, a week of racing that pits 300 of the best drivers from around the country against one another.
The list of names includes NASCAR’s Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Kasey Kahne, Chase Briscoe, the World of Outlaws’ Brad Sweet, David Gravel and more big names from around the motorsports world. The talent in Tulsa is immense.
Even Brett Moffitt is taking his first shot at a Golden Driller.
“It’s definitely really intimidating,” Casey said. “I think I’ve been thinking about the Chili Bowl ever since I got a midget. Obviously, you have guys like Larson and Christopher Bell in a race that you’re in. It’s pretty scary to think about.”
That won’t stop Casey from doing his thing, though.
In just his third start in a midget, Casey ran against the POWRi national tour, taking on drivers from the top teams in the sport.
“I felt like this year, I just gained experience every lap and definitely running with those national series guys at Keith Kunz and Dave Mac Motorsports – chasing those guys around that track has improved me so much,” Casey said. “I actually like the small tracks a lot, so I feel like we have a pretty good advantage (there) going into Tulsa.”
The experience on the short track – that particular set of races coming from K.C. Speedway – will help Casey as he takes to the Tulsa Expo Center.
“I don’t think I’m fully prepared for what the track is going to do,” Casey said. “I hear a lot about the flips that take place down there, so I feel like just missing the wrecks and running the clean race is going to be the key.”
Casey knows that being successful in the event is going to be tough.
However, he says a good week for him would be racing on the later side of Saturday’s action.
“A good week would be doing well in the qualifier night and make the A and then just (avoiding) the alphabet soup on Saturday,” Casey said. “I feel like that’s everyone’s goal. Really, I just want to have fun and experience it.”
That’s the part of racing that Casey traded from hockey.
Big games turned into big races – none that Casey has competed in before being bigger than this one.
“I just love going racing,” Casey said. “That’s the main part. I just love going out and having fun every weekend. Even though we have to travel to go racing every weekend, it makes up for it.”
The 2021 Chili Bowl Nationals will kick off on Monday, January 11 – the day of the College Football championship game. ARD will have full coverage of the racing action, which concludes Saturday, January 16, and you can find updates on how Casey is doing on social media at @AlwaysRaceDay.