At age 14, Trevin Russell doesn’t have much time behind the wheel of a full-size car, let alone in a race car. However, experience can be a great teacher, unfortunately, as he found out at the end of May at US 36 Raceway in Osborn, Missouri. The incident occurred during the green-flag lap of his heat race.
“He’s never driven in snow, slick conditions, or even driven a full-size car on the road,” his mother, Beth Thornton, said. “His first two weeks, he started at the tail of the pack and worked his way up. This week, he had some confidence and went a little too far up the track and into the berm. He rode the guardrail and took down the catchfence.”
Trevin was not injured. He sat in a full-containment seat and wore a Simpson helmet paired with a Zamp head-and-neck restraint. The crash damaged mainly some bolt-on suspension parts and some sheet metal.
“He was nervous when he got out of the car, his adrenaline was rushing,” said Beth. “He was disappointed in himself. We reassured him that his car was repairable. He only complained of soreness from the belts of his harness.”
Trevin had previously competed in go-karts.
“I hadn’t raced much on dirt,” Trevin, of Elwood, Kansas, said. “I learned the cushion could be mean to you. You have to let off the gas if you don’t want to put it into the fence.”
Trevin Russell plans to return to competition soon. He has a wealth of knowledge to draw from. The third-generation racer can gleam advice from his father, Dustin Thornton, uncle Jay Russell, and grandfather Sherrill Russell.
“There is only one other rookie in pure stocks,” said Trevin. “I want to get back out there and do well. I’m having fun racing, but I would like to be the rookie of the year.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
