Martin says he pestered Scroggins and then took the time to meet with team personnel when they raced at Bakersfield. About a month later, Jarrett took a call from former racer and KKM associate Jay Drake, who asked him to report in two weeks. Not wasting any time, Martin packed up his belongings and headed east.
In 2019 he was primarily involved with managing tires for the team, but on a few road trips he shared a hotel room with Kofoid. This time allowed the pair to build a relationship, and in conversation they realized that they had once competed against one another in Indiana.
There was a lot on the line for both men heading into the 2020 season. By the time the year had drawn to a close, Kofoid had the upmost faith in the man primarily responsible for preparing his car. “He is so smart,” Buddy says. “And he learns so quickly. He also isn‘t afraid to reach out to others.” Nonetheless, anyone who has ever done this dance understands it is a process and, over the course of an intense year, there are going to be swings in performance and, by definition, corresponding swings in mood.
No matter how well-resourced this team was, anyone who could view their situation with a clear eye knew it wasn‘t going to be easy. “I think what really challenged both of us,” Martin says, “is that nearly everywhere we went this year it was the first time there for both of us. We tended to do a lot better when we ran the same track two nights in a row, or when we would race five or six races in a row and could build our rhythm up. That‘s how I feel. When we would run well, it would all snowball and get better, but when we had bad runs that would snowball too.
“There was a point there two or three months ago where we really weren‘t running well, and we had to sit down and figure out what was going on and what we needed to do. It got tough there, but I figured that would make the difference for us. When things got hard, we had to see if we could still get it done and bounce back.”
As central as anything to their development as a unit was the approach taken by Kunz as they found their way. “Keith is pretty good about leaving us to struggle through this on our own,” Martin says. “I definitely give him credit for that. If we were going to succeed together, we were going to have to struggle and figure it out. I feel like we have come a long way in that department, not just him but me too. We are still learning.”
While it is difficult to clearly articulate, Kofoid felt he got a better handle on what it was really going to take to win. “The more I raced, the more I learned about how to finish. It was one thing to be good early, it is another to be good late. I have figured that out and Jarrett has gotten better too.”
Martin agrees, noting, “Not only did he learn how to put a whole main event together, but I‘m learning how far to go and how to be good throughout the entire race as far as the car goes. Part of that is experience.” The end result of their hard work is reflected in how they rounded out the year. “We were so good in the last month,” Buddy reflects. “I could do whatever I wanted in the car; I could pass and I could find speed.”
The bottom line is that this is an organization that holds high expectations, marked by a pedigree of winning big races and championships. The honor role of drivers who have performed for KKM includes current and slam-dunk future Hall of Fame members. Martin knew full-well that there were expectations for performance coming into the year. “It is hard to know what to expect when you get here,” he says. “And I can‘t imagine what it would be like as a driver. As for the crew chiefs, the drivers are looking at us and Keith and Pete (Willoughby) are looking at us too.”
Kofoid is acutely aware of his surroundings too. “Obviously you feel pressure,” he says. “And last year was a lot of pressure. You‘re just nervous 24/7. But I wasn‘t uncomfortable. We had a good run at the Chili Bowl, so that took some pressure off of me for the upcoming year. It was still going to be tough, and it was tough. The more we raced, the better we got, and then the better I got. That took some pressure off but, to me, you should always feel pressure and be a little nervous because that‘s a good thing.”
Martin felt he came in with a bit of a buffer because he realized that none of the key team principles expected this lineup to immediately set the world on fire. “I talked to Pete,” Martin says. “And he said that, while some of our young guys are not as good as the top guys are now, they are better than those guys were at the same age. That says a lot. He also told me early in the year that he didn‘t expect to win many USAC races. So having an over-performing year from what was expected was pretty cool for everybody.”
When it came to competing with POWRi, Kofoid had a monster year, winning early and often. However, grabbing his first brass ring with USAC proved to be more elusive. “POWRi is good,” he says. “Don‘t get me wrong, they attract good guys. But USAC attracts all of the guys.”
Surprising to some, the matter of winning a USAC race didn‘t just rest with Kofoid. Heading into the month of September, KKM had not scored a USAC National win in well over a year. There was definite hope in the air when all signed in at Missouri‘s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex, a place where KKM was yet to experience defeat.
True to form, Cannon McIntosh broke the team‘s slump on night number one. The following evening Buddy finally had his moment. Jarrett Martin remembers the feeling of both relief and elation. “I remember Pete telling me we were the class of the field for the weekend,” he says. “And he also said that was getting back to the way things used to be. That was something to hold on to and gave you something to shoot for going forward.”
In a storyline that has played out a thousand times in all sports, once Kofoid crossed this threshold he was a beast down the stretch. In mid-November, in a great homecoming for his crew chief, Buddy was the star of the midget portion of the Western World at Arizona Speedway.