By Richie Murray
Speedway, Indiana (December 4, 2025)………With a focus solely on the pavement tracks throughout the 2025 USAC Silver Crown National Championship season, Jake Trainor’s performance earned him Max Papis Innovations Rookie of the Year honors.
The pavement specialist from Medway, Massachusetts started all six asphalt track events on the 13-race schedule this past season en route to a 19th place finish in the overall series standings aboard the Klatt Enterprises/Wilwood Disc Brakes – Brown & Miller Racing Solutions – Klotz – Hoosier Tire/Beast/Ford.
In doing so, Trainor became the first Massachusetts native to capture the USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year award. In fact, across all three of USAC’s national divisions, he’s the first Bay Stater ever to collect the Rookie of the Year distinction. He’s also the first pavement only competitor to corral USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year since Derek Bischak in 2019.
“It’s kind of crazy; I was not expecting it at all,” Trainor said of being named the series’ top Rookie. “It’s really cool with the history of the USAC Silver Crown series and to do it for Bob and Terry Klatt, and all the history they’ve been able to accomplish together. Just to be able to do it with them, it’s really special. I’m very grateful for Bob and Janice East and Terry taking a chance and giving me an opportunity this year.”
Trainor’s finish of fifth at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park was the best among all series Rookies on the season and proved to be his best result of the year. In fact, he dug deep after starting 16th by climbing up 11 spots to score a top-five finish in the longest race of the season at 146 laps and 100 miles on the .686-mile paved oval.
“That run at the Hoosier Hundred was really cool,” Trainor fondly recalled. “That race in itself, there’s a lot of history behind it. We didn’t qualify all that great and we weren’t having a great day up until the race. I knew we had the speed to be up front. That’s why it was so discouraging to qualify in the back. But I was able to drive up through the field, which was really fun.”
In fact, the longer distances coupled with the challenge of figuring out a new type of racecar while simultaneously visiting an array of racetracks he’d never before laid eyes on proved to be his biggest hurdle to overcome.
“It’s a different style of racing with longer races and the different feel you get with such a long and heavy car like that,” Trainor explained. “It was a challenge for me to learn the new racetracks on the go. I was really struggling with that as I tried to learn both the racetrack and the racecar at the same time.”
Trainor is a first generation racer, with his introduction to the sport coming from sitting in the stands with his dad as a six-year-old. Trainor remembers a chance meeting at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway’s World Series event in which a promotional booth for the Little T Quarter Midget Club was set up in the midway. One thing led to another, and Jake’s father soon sold his prized Corvette, and with the money, purchased a quarter midget, starting him on the path toward a racing career.
After quarter midgets, Trainor stepped into Eastern Midget Association competition by the time he was 11 at tracks based around the North Carolina area, then began with the northeast United States based NEMA Lites series where he eventually became a two-time series champion in 2021 and 2022.
Away from the racetrack, Trainor’s life is racing. He works full-time for Matt Seymour Racing at the team’s Marlboro, Massachusetts shop, maintaining all of the team’s midgets and sprint cars on a day-to-day basis. Trainor has won numerous midget races for the Seymour team at IRP, and this past May, captured his second career victory in the Little 500 Sprint Car race at Indiana’s Anderson Speedway with the team.
2025 USAC SILVER CROWN ROOKIE DRIVER POINT STANDINGS:
POS. PTS. DRIVER, HOMETOWN
1 238 Jake Trainor, Medway, Massachusetts
2 181 Jackson Macenko, Cincinnati, Ohio
3 166 Saban Bibent, Cincinnati, Ohio
4 156 Danny Jennings, Norman, Oklahoma
5 130 Travis Mahoney, Oglesby, Illinois
6 110 Kip Hughes, North Enid, Oklahoma
7 89 Tom Savage, Red Lion, Pennsylvania
8 68 Colton Bettis, Lutz, Florida
9 58 Aric Gentry, Robards, Kentucky
10 56 Will Armitage, Athens, Illinois
11 54 Rob Caho Jr., Rush City, Minnesota
12 39 Ricky Thornton Jr., Chandler, Arizona
13 37 Alex Bright, Collegeville, Pennsylvania
14 35 Dave Doran, Cincinnati, Ohio
15 31 Mark Bitner, Columbus, New Jersey
16 27 Steve Gennetten, Gravois Mills, Missouri
17 26 Tim Kent, Bristow, Oklahoma
18 25 Kale Drake, Collinsville, Oklahoma
19 19 Kyle Wissmiller, Saybrook, Illinois
20 18 Joe Trenca, Phoenix, New York
21 16 Chelby Hinton, Dubberly, Louisiana
22 10 Mike Adkins, Bellevue, Washington
USAC SILVER CROWN ROOKIES OF THE YEAR:
1981: Jack Hewitt, Troy, Ohio
1982: Keith Kauffman, Mifflintown, Pennsylvania
1983: Rick Hood, Memphis, Tennessee
1984: Dave Blaney, Hartford, Ohio
1985: Steve Butler, Kokomo, Indiana
1986: Kenny Jacobs, Holmesville, Ohio
1987: Jeff Swindell, Memphis, Tennessee
1988: Gene Lee Gibson, Richwood, Ohio
1989: Jimmy Sills, Placerville, California
1990: Eric Gordon, Greenfield, Indiana
1991: Stevie Reeves, Indianapolis, Indiana
1992: Jim Keeker, Cicero, Indiana
1993: Randy Tolsma, Meridian, Idaho
1994: Kenny Irwin Jr. , Indianapolis, Indiana
1995: Chuck Leary, Greenfield, Indiana
1996: Ryan Newman, South Bend, Indiana
1997: Jimmy Kite, Stockbridge, Georgia
1998: Todd Kane, Powell, Ohio
1999: Paul White, Temple, Texas
2000: Kasey Kahne, Enumclaw, Washington
2001: Aaron Fike, Galesburg, Illinois
2002: Matt Westfall, Pleasant Hill, Ohio
2003: Ron Gregory, Noblesville, Indiana
2004: Aaron Pierce, Muncie, Indiana
2005: Josh Wise, Riverside, California
2006: Mat Neely, Robinson, Illinois
2007: Cameron Dodson, Greenfield, Indiana
2008: Steve Arpin, St. Francis, Ontario
2009: Kody Swanson, Kingsburg, California
2010: Bryan Clauson, Noblesville, Indiana
2011: Kyle Larson, Elk Grove, California
2012: Kyle Hamilton, Danville, Indiana
2013: Chris Windom, Canton, Illinois
2014: Caleb Armstrong, New Castle, Indiana
2015: C.J. Leary, Greenfield, Indiana
2016: Casey Shuman, Tempe, Arizona
2017: Joss Moffatt, Columbus, Indiana
2018: Kyle Robbins, New Castle, Indiana
2019: Derek Bischak, Angola, Indiana
2020: Bryan Gossel, Fort Collins, Colorado
2021: Logan Seavey, Sutter, California
2022: Gregg Cory, Shelbyville, Indiana
2023: Kaylee Bryson, Muskogee, Oklahoma
2024: Trey Osborne, Columbus, Ohio
2025: Jake Trainor, Medway, Massachusetts