When the 2017 season had come to a close, Simpson was ready for a hiatus. Coming off an impressive year, Kofoid was able to land a ride for Doug Rutz for 2018. Stateside, one of Buddy‘s biggest wins came at the Summer Nationals at Washington‘s Skagit Speedway, but a trip to New Zealand brought even more attention his way. Racing for owner Daniel Anderson, with Rutz also on hand to lend support, Kofoid won six of the seven races and was the New Zealand National champion. It was a signature accomplishment, as he joined Sammy Swindell and Jonathon Allard has the only Americans to ever wear the crown.
With a new season about to get underway, Kofoid got a bit restless. During the 2018 season he began searching for opportunities to race in the Midwest, in part because he just wanted the chance to compete more often. Knowing he couldn‘t begin this process blind, he reached out for a bit of help. “I called Carson Macedo,” he says, “and asked him if he could point me in the right direction.”
Macedo suggested that he contact Mike Linder, who managed a car owned by Ed Neumeister. Buddy followed up on Macedo‘s recommendation and feels that Carson also continued to endorse him. What began as a night here and there grew to more regular work. “I ended up doing about 16 races for them” he recalls. “It was funny because I was their ninth or 10th driver. Then they hired me and the next year I became their only driver.”
In 2019 his primary job was to compete at Fremont and Attica Raceways, and also vie for the points in the Attica Fremont Championship Series. New location, same strong results. Kofoid would win the Fremont sprint car title and finish second in the final AFCS standings. He would also score his first All Star Circuit of Champions win at the Ohio Sprint Speedweek finale at Ohio‘s Wayne County Speedway. As good as this all was, things were about to get a whole lot better.
It was late September and his mind was already occupied with thoughts about the next season. Then, a virtual lightning bolt struck. “I was rolling down the road to a sprint car race,” he says, “and I get a text message from Jack Irving, who runs the Toyota driver development program. It was something about helping me get in the program and that Keith Kunz Motorsports would be in contact with me soon. So, I am on Cloud Nine. It was like wow, that is pretty cool, and I had no idea that this could happen.
“The next week Keith (Kunz) called and gave me the rundown, and said we will be running in Jacksonville, Illinois the next week. Mike Linder let me borrow a car to get there. Keith told me to be down there (Columbus, IN) by 10 o‘clock. So, I got up super early, grabbed my seat, gear bag, steering wheel, and bolt kit and I got there about 9:30 or 9:45. I got fitted in the car and stayed with Logan Seavey in his house in town.”
The fact is that this all didn‘t happen by chance. Kunz had been watching Kofoid for a full year and was confident he had what it took to be successful in one of his midgets. Their first go as a team would be the aforementioned Friday night show in Jacksonville, Illinois. In an auspicious start to his KKM career, Kofoid sallied forth and won the feature. A few more races with KKM convinced everyone that he was ready to become a fulltime team member in 2020.
While it is always exciting to be armed with a good car when you enter the Chili Bowl Nationals, the pressure is really on when you race for a top-caliber group. By the time Kofoid had completed his first night of action indoors at Tulsa, he had everyone‘s attention, including winner Christopher Bell.
Bell, a man held in the highest esteem by his peers, took a moment in the post-race press conference to mention Buddy‘s podium finish. Looking over at Kofoid, Bell said, “I literally see me, like, right here.” He also admitted that he had been watching the young driver‘s rise to the top for some time and, thus, was not unduly stunned at what had just transpired. While Kofoid wasn‘t able to pull off the miracle on Saturday night, he still mustered a seventh-place finish and earned Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year honors.
With the Chili Bowl behind him, it was time to get down to the business of taking on the full USAC National schedule. As Keith Kunz develops drivers, he commonly seeks out opportunities for some to get a rare chance in a winged sprint car. There are good reasons for this tactic. Certainly everything slows down when you jump back into a midget, and to be successful in both disciplines the charge is to keep the car as straight as possible. In this case, Kofoid had excelled in sprint cars, but really had very little midget experience coming into the year. This was all part of the equation that suggested that this was going to be an interesting year for Kunz.
KKM was proceeding forth with one of their youngest slate of drivers in team history, while the overall USAC midget field was as deep as it had been in years.
Buddy began the year with a solid podium run at Ocala, Florida and, after the checkered flag had dropped, Keith Kunz was right there for a post-race debriefing. However, an interesting dynamic was at hand. KKM fields a full fleet of cars, and throughout the year a variety of drivers will come and go with a core group signed on for every race.
Shortly after the season began, Buddy began working with crew chief Jarrett Martin. At just 24 years of age, like his driver Martin was traversing slightly uncharted territory. One thing Martin had on his side was a firm foundation in the sport. His grandfather Jerry fielded sprint cars in Arizona for years, and his father Steve spent plenty of time behind the wheel himself. As for Jarrett, he is no stranger to hustling a sprint car as well, and has spent a great deal of time in the micro ranks.
Even now when an opportunity presents itself, he dusts off the family micro and races in Indiana. His journey to KKM is also noteworthy. In Arizona, Martin was working for Steve (Paint by Steve) Singhurse and had a dream of working for a World of Outlaws team. He asked Steve to draw on his many connections and, while nothing materialized on the World of Outlaws front, Singhurse did help Martin connect with former KKM team member Al Scroggins.