Spoon River Speedway
Alabaman gets exposure to black dirt of Illinois
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Sam Seawright (right) with crew chief Michael Page (left). (joshjamesartwork.com)
BANNER, Ill. (May 6) — Sam Seawright has raced farther from his Rainsville, Ala., home only once before this week’s Illinois Speedweek trek — a 2021 trip to Texas Motor Speedway — with his haul to the Land of Lincoln checking in at nearly 11 hours for Wednesday’s opener at Spoon River Speedway.
In fact, the 22-year-old hasn’t ventured outside the Southeast much in recent years. His last trip beyond his native region came in June 2023 at the Dream at Eldora Speedway. Outside that, and a lone FloRacing Night in America start at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway in April 2022, where he finished 13th in the B-main, his Midwest appearances have been few and far between.
Now having taken over the reins of Coltman Farms Racing’s premier ride this season — one that, thanks to Brett Coltman’s backing, has the resources to make far-flung trips and perhaps a 2027 World of Outlaws Late Model Series run feasible — Seawright knew it was only a matter of time before he embarked on a stretch like this week: four straight nights on Illinois Speedweek.
“I just came to get the experience in case we decide to run like the Outlaws or something next year,” Seawright. “I just figured we'd come and try because I've always kind of run better on these little bullrings, like smaller tracks, but, you know, that's usually mostly what all these up here are. So, I figured we can give it a shot and just kind of see what we got.”
Surprisingly, Seawright doesn’t talk like a driver intimidated at the tall order ahead of him on his maiden voyage to Illinois.
His first trip to Illinois aside, the FloRacing Night in America fields are competitive. In Seawright’s consolation race Wednesday at Spoon River, the top four drivers transferring were Ryan Gustin, Ryan Unzicker, Ricky Thornton Jr. and Josh Rice, a stiff group to throw an Illinois rookie off his game.
Seawright started sixth and finished seventh in that B-main, three spots shy of a transfer, later admitting he “wasn’t worth anything” upon packing up his equipment, but praised the track for being “badass.” When he arrived Wednesday, the 3/8-mile oval reminded him of a similar place in his home state.
“I was like, ‘Dang, I went to the wrong place.’ I thought it was East Alabama with shorter straightaways,” Seawright said, comparing Spoon River to East Alabama Motor Speedway, as both tracks have no walls outside the frontstretch, are bowl-shaped and sit down into the landscape.
The rest of Illinois Speedweek at Lincoln, Farmer City and Fairbury will offer Seawright his first true taste of Illinois black dirt. He’s embracing the challenge and, while there will be a learning curve on the unfamiliar surface, believes his driving style may translate better than expected.
Seawright doesn’t see himself as the prototypical Southeastern driver known for being straight and smooth, but instead is more aggressive, on-the-offense by nature.
“I feel like I'm always a little bit too aggressive at home,” Seawright said. “That’s what we've always thought, like on them slicker, like red-dirt tracks and stuff, I don't have anything left about 10 laps into the race because I'm up there trying to make something happen and you just can't, you know? I may make myself look like an idiot or we may turn some heads. I don't know. We'll just see.
“I feel like there'll be a big learning curve as far as how much the track changes throughout the night. Like, if you go out there and set fast time, that don't really mean anything because the track changes a lot and I don't know what adjustments it takes to keep the car good throughout the night here, but maybe we can make some good guesses and, you know, make it work.”
What is familiar for Seawright this week — and this year — is his crew. Seawright’s basically taken his crew from his family operation — fourth-year crew chief Michael Page and 11th-year tire specialist Donny Walker — and segued that over to the Coltman Farms Racing operation. Fellow Coltman Farms driving teammate Luke Morey of Zeeland, Mich., has tagged along this week on the crew as well.
Twice Seawright has contended for his first victory with the Maysville, Ga.-based Coltman Farms Racing team he joined in February. Seawright finished second to Hudson O’Neal in March 22’s Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series feature at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala. In April 2’s Schaeffer's Spring Nationals event at I-75 Raceway in Sweetwater, Tenn., Seawright finished third behind Dale McDowell and O’Neal. Overall, he has two top-five runs and seven top-10 finishes in 21 starts with the team. His lone 2026 victory came at Talladega's Ice Bowl in January.
“Yeah, I'm just here because of Brett Coltman,” Seawright said. “We’ve never come this way this far to race just because it's always costing so much to get here. And without him, no, we wouldn't be here and just want to say thanks to him for the opportunity for sure. … It takes a lot to get here. It takes a lot to go anywhere nowadays, though, going up and down the road with these trucks and all that.”
What would make a successful trip to Illinois for Seawright? Qualifying for features? Top-10 finishes? More than that, he says. Fleshing out a notebook that’ll better suit him for future trips to Illinois is just as, if not more, important than sheer results.
“We plan on winning every night, but you have to be realistic, too,” he said. “I’ve never been to none of these places. So if we just learn a lot and get a lot of laps and like I said, I want to win, but if we can get some top-fives and just be up there in the running and make it look like we belong here, that's all I really care about.
“I feel like anything outside of winning, if I didn't come to win, I would just sat at home. I mean, my ultimate goal is to win, but if we can just, like I said, just get good notes for this kind of dirt and just be competitive, that’s all I really care about.”
Seawright could be preparing for a rookie campaign on the World of Outlaws circuit next year, too. So if he and the Coltman Farms team pull the trigger on that pursuit, this week will give him at least a starting reference point for how to approach the hallmark Midwest black dirt.
“We don't really know. It's just kind of all up in the air,” Seawright said. “We’ll see how things go, but that's the reason we're coming to some of these places like this just to kind get notes for this kind of dirt. That way, because, you know, a lot of them tracks are black dirt and that style of racing. So we just wanted to come, and that way if we do run the Outlaws, it's not so much of a learning curve.”
