CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Buddy Kofoid is not afraid.
Kofoid, the 19-year-old racing sensation from Penngrove, Calif., would be forgiven if he had second thoughts about climbing into a race car after what happened to him last July 24 at Minnesota’s Elko Speedway.
He was making one of a handful of scheduled starts in an asphalt late model as he prepares for the inevitable next step in his motorsports journey. However, things went wrong when he crashed and broke his right wrist and his left foot.
It couldn’t have happened at a worse time. Kofoid was in the midst of an intense fight for the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series championship with Chris Windom. Missing a race was akin to giving up his shot at the title.
That was unacceptable.
He had a special cast made for his arm that matched the curvature of the steering wheel in his Keith Kunz Motorsports midget. If it meant he was going to stay in contention to win the series championship, that’s what he was going to do.
Windom managed to sneak ahead in the standings and after the 4-Crown Nationals at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, Windom had a two-point edge on Kofoid. After the Harvest Cup at Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway, Windom’s advantage ballooned to 13 points.
But Kofoid wasn’t finished.
After a pair of races at Arizona Speedway in early November, the margin remained 13 points. That’s when Kofoid went on the offensive.
He won the next race at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway, which combined with a seventh-place run by Windom put Kofoid back in the championship lead by four points. However, a poor run on night one of the Hangtown 100 at Placerville (Calif.) Speedway put Windom back ahead by 13 markers.
Night two of the Hangtown 100 saw the roles reversed, with Windom finishing a frustrating 15th, while Kofoid ran fifth and claimed a 12-point lead in the standings
A runner-up finish in the Hangtown 100 finale, combined with a fourth-place effort by Windom, pushed Kofoid’s advantage to 18 points. Next up was California’s Merced Speedway and Kofoid was ready for the challenge.
Kofoid ran third on the first of two nights, while Windom struggled to finish 11th. On night two, both drivers stepped up their game. Kofoid raced to his sixth victory of the season and Windom finished a close second. That set the stage for the Turkey Night Grand Prix season finale at Ventura (Calif.) Raceway.
Kofoid entered the 98-lap Turkey Night feature with a 41-point edge. All he needed was a solid finish to lock up the championship. He did better than that, leading laps and finishing second to race winner Logan Seavey.
The season wasn’t easy as there were times where it wasn’t any fun and times where Kofoid was in a lot of pain, but there was never a time that he was afraid. As Kofoid explained, the incident at Elko and subsequent injury was nothing more than a fluke.
“I know getting hurt, it can happen,” Kofoid said prior to the Chili Bowl in January. “That deal (at Elko) was kind of a fluke deal. I got pretty much drove into the back of and turned around. It wasn’t a freak deal, but everyone says you can’t keep your hands on the steering wheel and everyone thought that was what happened. It didn’t.
“The only thing we can think of is the engine and transmission moved to the left and the shifter moved all the way over and I think it tagged my wrist somehow when it moved all the way over. So it was a weird deal.
“I’m not worried about any of that whatsoever.”
If Kofoid was afraid, he wouldn’t be lining up such a diverse schedule for the new season. He’ll be back with Keith Kunz Motorsports to defend his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series championship, but he also has a lot more racing on his docket.
He’ll be driving a sprint car as often as possible as part of a new team formed by Indy Race Parts’ Bernie Stuebgen and Leighton Crouch, while also jumping back in a late model to continue his development program as his schedule allows.
“I should still be very busy this year,” Kofoid said. “I’ll get a lot more sprint car races, hopefully. In 2021 I think I ran maybe 20, so hopefully I can double that this year and then, hopefully, I’ll have some more serious pavement races.”
Being fearless is among the most important requirements to be a professional race car driver.
So far, it seems like Kofoid fits the bill.