heyyy that timeline totally works, sam got his claws in racing about 10 years ago but didn't get really serious about it until like, 7 years ago? young kids being dumb and all. sam could have just been a creep about it and found some way to get in touch with him after his comeback just to pick his brain about his maneuvers and, depending, could have like figured some kind of fix or upgrade for whatever we're calling what they race (ships? what is vernacular) that like, cut seconds off or gave him an extra boost or something? then that way jae could have put him in touch with the benevolence position?