Logan Seavey finds his confidence and a Golden Driller with legendary Chili Bowl victory

TULSA, Okla. — Logan Seavey admitted he had lost a bit of confidence in himself.

Entering the 37th edition of the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals, Seavey hadn‘t won a midget race in more than a year.

He went so far as to ask Kevin Swindell, his midget car team owner and crew chief each year at the Chili Bowl, if he was going to have him back to compete in the 2023 edition of the race.

“We kind of leave this race every year and we just kind of look at each other and nod, like, ‘OK, we‘ll do it again next year,‘” Seavey said. “This year, I was like, ‘Hey, what are your Chili Bowl plans? I know you‘re building a car.‘ He said, ‘Yeah, I‘m building a car.‘ I said, ‘Well, whose driving it?‘

“He said, ‘Well, you are if you want to.‘ That‘s all that was said.”

Fast forward to Saturday night inside the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Seavey suddenly has all the confidence in the world following a convincing drive to victory in the Chili Bowl.

“As soon as we got in this car, instantly I had a lot of people see it visually, we had a lot of speed and I was comfortable right away and able to drive really hard,” said Seavey, the 25-year-old from Sutter, California. “That‘s what it takes to win this race. You have to be comfortable enough to run 100 percent for 55 laps. That‘s what it takes to win.

“My confidence turned around pretty quickly.”

Winning the Chili Bowl is no easy task. That has been proven time and time again by those who have won and, perhaps more importantly, those who have not.

In the 37-year history of the Chili Bowl, 23 drivers have visited Victory Lane. Seavey became the 23rd different driver to win a race that dirt racing legends like Doug Wolfgang, Steve Kinser and Dave Darland and modern stars like Chris Windom, Justin Grant and Buddy Kofoid have failed to win.

Things got off to an ominous start a week ago when, as the team was putting the finishing touches on Seavey‘s new race car, they attempted to fire the engine for the first time.

Except the engine didn‘t fire.

Rather than panic, the Swindell-led crew figured out the problem and got the car running in time for Sunday‘s practice day. It was obvious to Seavey then that he had a car capable of winning the Chili Bowl.

He backed up his belief with a dominant victory in his preliminary event Friday, which he followed early Saturday evening by securing the pole for the 55-lap finale via the annual Pole Shuffle.

All that remained were 55 of the most intense laps in midget racing.

Intense, as it would turn out, was the operative word. Seavey led the opening 20 laps of the race, but just as he was about to catch slower traffic, second-place Cannon McIntosh rocketed past him to take the lead.

That could have been the end of a magical run at the Chili Bowl for Seavey, but he remained focused on his mission. Ten laps later, Seavey dove back under McIntosh to regain the lead.

Despite near constant pressure from McIntosh and defending Chili Bowl winner Tanner Thorson, Seavey survived to claim his first Golden Driller trophy. His name now can now be mentioned in the same breath as Sammy Swindell, Tony Stewart, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and more as a Chili Bowl champion.

“I just happened to make the move at the right time, and it worked out,” Seavey said. “For right now, it feels awesome. It didn‘t even set in until I got the Driller.”

He also joined his team owner and crew chief, Kevin Swindell, as a Chili Bowl winner. Swindell, who won four-straight Chili Bowls as a driver from 2010-13, saw his driving career end after a brutal sprint car crash at Knoxville Raceway in 2015.

This year Swindell branched out, forming his own midget team rather than working as part of his father Sammy Swindell‘s program. Saturday‘s Chili Bowl was his first as a midget team owner.

“I‘m just so happy to do it for Kevin. He deserves it,” Seavey said. “He‘d probably have a lot more if it wasn‘t for his accident. It means a lot to win this race in general, but to win it in the No. 39 in our first try is really, really cool.”

Legends are made inside the SageNet Center every January. Now Seavey can count himself among one of those legends. Like the winners before him and the winners that will follow him, he will forever be known as a Chili Bowl winner.

Confidence is no longer a problem for Seavey. Now all he has to do is look at his new Golden Driller and know he has what it takes. He proved it not just to himself, but to the entire world.