It’s been a busy several months for Wainfleet, ON’s Austin Seburn, a 12-year-old driver who started the year racing against some notable names in the U.S. in just his second season of competition.
Seburn first became interested in racing while playing with Hot Wheels at four-years-old, before the interest shifted to watching old NASCAR races on YouTube. He also watched his brother race and kept asking to get behind-the-wheel himself.
“I just said to my mom and dad, ‘hey, can I race?’ and they avoided it like it was the black plague,” said Seburn. “They said no a lot and, one day, we went to Merrittville (Speedway) and I said ‘hey, can I race?’ and they thought about it and here I am now.”
Although his brother decided to switch sports, Austin remained motivated to be more successful than his sibling. Nicknamed ‘The Hurricane’ when he was a toddler, since he wouldn’t sit still, the young racer is well travelled early in his career.
Seburn started racing a flat kart at Merrittville and Flamboro speedways last season, winning several races before getting the opportunity to test a bandolero at Florence Motor Speedway last fall. He returned to race at the South Carolina track a few weeks later and caught the attention of Kyle Beattie, the CEO of Sprint Kart Enterprises (SKE).
Following a test session in North Carolina, SKE signed a deal with Seburn that saw him race winged karts in the U.S. southeast this past winter, while also racing a legend car at Auburndale and Citrus County speedways, in the lead-up to Daytona Speedweeks.
The amount of events and selection of vehicles is a big difference that draws Seburn towards racing in the U.S. versus Canada; he finds the competition to be a bigger challenge as well, which helps him learn more.
“When you go there, you race a lot, you probably won’t win…the competition’s way too difficult because they grow up on it,” said Seburn. “It feels like a whole different racing world. There are more people there who race, and they’re a lot harder (to beat).”
Seburn got the opportunity to race against the kids of NASCAR Cup Series stars, such as Brexton Busch, Keelan Harvick and Brooklyn Newman. While he admits that it’s hard not to get carried away by those names, he remembers that they’re just kids as well and not to think of them having a different skill level.
Racing in the States has also given Seburn the opportunity to meet current and former Cup Series drivers, such as Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr. He got to meet his hero, Jeff Gordon, at a seminar in Amelia Island, FL, where he spent some time standing with Gordon’s group outside the venue. Seburn told Gordon that he’ll drive for him one day.
Seburn’s first U.S. win came on the Easter weekend, in a box stock, at North Carolina’s HorsePower Park. He says it felt really good to lead the pack for the first time in six months and to do so against drivers who are competitive at Millbridge Speedway, where he raced regularly. Despite the physical nature of the race, he was able to focus on the task at hand.
“First there was a heat and I got bumped around, pushed, and got into the infield, and I got very upset,” said Seburn. “But I had to control myself; by the time the race happened, I controlled myself down enough to just focus on getting the lead and I did that.”
Seburn will race locally this summer at Ohsweken Speedway and Tillsonburg’s Little Middleton Speedway; he’ll also join the Great Lakes Legends Series for a few races and will spend time practicing at Flamboro Speedway. He’s especially looking forward to the Ohsweken Northern Micro Sprint Nationals here in Canada.
Austin will return to the U.S. for a two-week Midwest tour in August, visiting one track each in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. His future goal is to race in the NASCAR Truck Series; if he reaches that level, his next goal would be to advance to the Cup Series.
Seburn would like to thank his sponsors Right Choice Auto & Leisure, Peoples Choice Warranty, Welland Chevrolet, SKE and Kyle Beattie Racing, D&D Cutting and Coring, The Joie of Seating, Conte’s Collision Centre and Northern Corvette. You can follow his efforts on Instagram @canadian_hurricane.
