This year, Trevor Jones competed full-time in the NASCAR Youth Series schedule, traveling the country to places like Las Vegas, Talladega, Florida and the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway competing in quarter-midget races.
Trevor Jones earned a national championship in the Heavy Honda division and two regional championships in the Heavy Honda and Heavy 160 classes.
“It was sweet,” Trevor Jones said. “We traveled the whole country going for this. It was cool because it was my first-ever national chance to get the championship.”
Trevor Jones earned wins in Las Vegas; Wall, New Jersey; and the Brickyard in Indianapolis in the Heavy Honda division.
Classes are determined by age, weight and motor, mother Jessica and Kyle Jones said.
The challenge of getting to know the field of drivers he’d compete against was something he enjoyed most during his first full year in the NASCAR Youth Series, Trevor Jones said.
“I had to adapt really quickly on how others raced me and how they raced, but I caught on to that quick, and once I got that, I just raced the same kids basically every week,” Trevor Jones said. “It was cool though.”
Kyle Jones has served as a coach and mentor for his son, along with Jessica Jones and grandparents.
“He raced quarter midgets when he was a kid, and he was really good at them, so he knew his stuff and that helped us a lot,” Trevor Jones said.
Among Trevor Jones’ biggest wins came at the Brickyard in Indianapolis in July.
The event drew hundreds of racers, Kyle Jones said, and was a spectacle to take in.
“It’s over the Fourth of July week, and they usually get anywhere from 500 to 600 cars there for that for 13 or 14 different classes,” Kyle Jones said. “That’s the biggest quarter midget race of the country.”
If you see Trevor Jones racing, you’ll see him in a blue and green quarter-midget car, which are specially prepared for a family-oriented sport that encompasses the NASCAR Youth Series, Jessica Jones said.
“I do like how they’re designed,” Trevor Jones said. “Like, the chassis of my car that I have is really safe because there’s the thing on the side, and it protects your shoulder, and none of the other cars have that. It’s really safe for quarter-midgets because none of the others have them.”
Trevor Jones also secured sponsors for his quarter-midget over the course of the season. He approached companies such as his mother’s workplace Benjamin Steele Co., Beach Manufacturing Company, Sheehan Brothers Vending and Stout Sales.
“He went in there in his suit jacket and proposed, ‘Hey, will you sponsor my race car?’” Jessica Jones said. “And he did that with all the local sponsors, so I’m pretty proud of that because it’s just teaching him some of (the) things that you have to do in life, the values of things.”
While Trevor Jones competed on a national circuit, there are also local options available for racers who want to get their start, Jessica Jones said.
The Miami Valley Quarter-Midget Racing Association operates out of the former Kil-Kare Raceway in Xenia and offers a local route to racing for kids ages 5-17.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to be able to go to the national level, but you can if you want to take it just as little as running in just your local track,” Jessica Jones said. “If you remember at Miami Valley out at Kil-Kare, then you can just run there on the races that they run.”
This first year racing the NASCAR Youth Series schedule was new for Trevor Jones, but not unfamiliar to his family.
NASCAR drivers such as Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon and Carson Hochevar got their starts racing quarter-midget cars, much like Kyle Jones.
For Trevor Jones, racing is a lifestyle, and having his family surround him during his national championship run was special.
“I’ve always looked up to being a champion,” Trevor Jones said. “It’s unreal. I never thought I’d be here in my five years of racing.”
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