When the 2025 Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota season began at Farmer City Raceway, Trifecta Motorsports teammates Kameron Key and Michael Faccinto hardly knew each other before the April weekend.
In the four months since pairing up, the relationship between them and their partners as octane-paced friends is something team owner Steve Carbone has taken note of and welcomes with open arms.
“It’s been really good,” Carbone said. “Probably the most surprising thing out of it all is how Michael, Kameron, and the wives have gotten along, so the chemistry altogether has been super fantastic. And, we’re finally starting to speak each other’s language, so the results are starting to show. It’s been a lot of fun, and we’re one of the only few teams that’s why we do this.”
Key enjoys the respect and support that he shares with his teammate off the track, while also racing wheel-to-wheel with him at each event.
“Before this year, I really didn’t know him that well,” Key said. “Now, we’re just barely halfway through the year, and I feel like he’s one of my better friends, and his wife and my fiancé are really close too. We get along great; we can go do stuff away from the racetrack. I want to see him do good, and he wants to see me do good too. We’re competitors, but we’re supporters of each other, and it’s awesome.”
Michael echoed the camaraderie that he, Kameron, and the Trifecta team have shared, which has helped the Hanford, CA driver become more comfortable at unseen tracks that Kameron or the team have participated in to share their knowledge.
“We’ve got these bigger tracks that we don’t really see in California with a Midget,” Faccinto said. “It was a lot for me to learn about the pace, momentum, and everything about Midget racing on these larger kinds of tracks.
“We get to these smaller racetracks that I’m really comfortable on, so I’m really excited for those because I think we can have a lot of speed. Kameron’s been super great as a teammate. We were able to bounce ideas off each other, and he’s seen some of these tracks before running Sprint Cars, so it’s nice to have that to bounce back on.”
Finding a baseline setup that fits Key and Faccinto’s driving styles has been one of the unique challenges Carbone and Trifecta Crew Chief Bobby Milliser faced at the start of the season.
“Everybody that’s done this, Kameron and Michael too, they have their own terminologies and things they want,” Carbone said. “We’re not good enough to where we have a set package where you can get in, and we tell you the way to drive it to get to the front. So, it’s all about leaning on each other and trying to build something that works. So, we’re pointed in the right direction, and we’re almost there.”
“A lot of the navigation comes with having a starting point,” Milliser said. “That one page in the notebook is the difference between unloading remotely close or unloading guessing. Their experience, matched with the ability to communicate what they’re feeling, has really started to turn the corner towards great feedback and communication. They’re working together well, so that really helps because when you have great teammates, anything’s possible.”
In August, the team visited Xtreme Victory Lane for the first time in the 2025 Series season when Key captured the Federated Auto Parts Ironman 55 finale win. The driver and team’s first dumbbell trophy left an impact on Carbone and Key for more personal reasons in their racing lives.
“What was neat about (the Ironman 55) win was that we’ve got several (wins) with guys like Zach Daum and Tanner Thorson,” Carbone said. “But the Ironman is my second favorite race outside of the Chili Bowl. To drive from eighth, and it’s a short list of guys who’ve been able to drive by (Series points leader) Jacob Denney, we just flat out beat everyone that night. There’s very few nights you get to say that.”
Key, a native of Warrensburg, MO, remembers growing up near I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park and attending the Ironman with his family. The win continues to resonate with him as a validation for completing a dream since childhood.
“Coming into and through the year, I’ve thought that we could get a win, or multiple,” Key said. “You get to the halfway point of the year and don’t have one yet, so you start to question a little bit if you’re going to be able to get it done.
“But man, the race car that night was so good. Not only the best car I’ve had this year, but one of the best cars I’ve ever driven. To go from eighth and drive away, it was just awesome. To be able to come to a track that I love so much, and win the highest paying race of the year, it all worked out perfectly.”
Milliser said he knew he had something special on his driver lineup when Key made his Xtreme Outlaw Midget debut in 2024 at Jacksonville Speedway and contended for the win between the two nights. With the Ironman win, he’s working to get Faccinto’s No. 5U a turn at parking in Victory Lane.
“(The Ironman) was a culmination of just being consistent,” Milliser said. “Kam’s super talented, and we’ve had a few bad runs or bad luck, but we knew the win was coming. The Quick Times, Heat wins, they started adding up, and he was fighting for wins straight out of the box. So, we knew we had something special.
“Michael’s really turned it on here in the summertime months, which we expected. As these tracks start to slow down, slick off, and it gets hotter, you can’t just pin it to the floor. But, we’re making strides in the right direction.”
Faccinto has yet to score a podium with the Series, but owns five top fives and 12 top-10s. He set new milestones during the Appalachian Midget Week with starts on the pole at Linda’s Speedway and Path Valley Speedway, and first laps led in a Feature at Linda’s.
“I’m very happy with the run,” Faccinto said. “There’s definitely some things I could have done to make it easier on myself, but we keep it going with the progression. We’ve worked all year on finding balance, making me comfortable, and I think we finally have that. These (PA) races have really, really helped me, so hopefully, we can continue this string through the rest of the season.”
In the remaining deck of races for the season, Key’s experience at the two upcoming Illinois tracks could help Trifecta chase a second Xtreme Outlaw Feature win in 2025. The Missourian has a 2022 MOWA Sprint Car win at Highland Speedway – the sight of the Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series finale – and owns a MOWA top five from the 2024 Xtreme doubleheader at Jacksonville Speedway.
On the flip side, Key is going to make his first career appearances at Doe Run Raceway on Sept. 5, and at Millbridge Speedway for the Xtreme Outlaw Midget World Championship on Nov. 3-4.
“Jacksonville, last year, was the first race I got to run for Trifecta,” Key said. “We went out the first night and almost won the Feature, then ran really close and got a top five the second night. We have a ton of speed there, and I’ve raced a lot a laps with the Sprint Car too. Highland, I’ve got a (MOWA) win there, so I’ve got great memories of those places, but super pumped for the other two (tracks) I haven’t been.”
Key and Faccinto climb aboard their Trifecta Motorsports Midgets for the Xtreme-POWRi Challenge Series finale weekend at Doe Run Raceway on Friday, Sept. 5, and Highland Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 6.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
