CONCORD, N.C. — There’s a new rising star on the national Midget circuit. His name: Karter Sarff.
Six career feature wins with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota ranks the 21-year-old racer from Mason City, Ill., fourth on the Series’ all-time wins list, following his sweep of the Ironman 55 weekend at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in early August.
Each of those wins have come in the last 12 months, all built on the hard work he and his father put into their operation. No hired crew members, no major corporate sponsors — just father and son both at the track and in their home shop, as it’s been since Sarff began his racing career at five years old.
“It’s been pretty surreal, and it’s been a lot of fun, obviously,” Sarff said. “Our team I feel like has come a long way from when we first started. I’m just happy to see where it’s come.”
For two consecutive nights at I-55, Sarff was the fastest driver in the national midget world. He led 39 of 60 contested Feature laps, won a Heat Race and garnered his third Whitz Racing Products Quick Time Award of the season. When the weekend was over, he had collected a grand total of $11,500, including a $7,500 check as victor of the richest race in Series history Saturday night and his fourth win of the season — second only to championship points leader Cannon McIntosh.
Looking back, Sarff said he’s proud of the feat and knows the weight of what he was able to accomplish that weekend, but that hasn’t changed his mindset going forward.
“I still feel like I’m just a little kid racing quarter midgets; I don’t feel any more special than I did back when I was a little kid,” Sarff said. “I’m just hoping to keep growing and stay humble just to show kids that are coming up that you don’t have to change when you start winning races. Just keep being you.”
In keeping his sharp skills and humble personality, Sarff has gained the respect of his competitors — most notably fellow Illinoisan and inaugural Xtreme Outlaw Series champion, Zach Daum.
“Karter Sarff – you’ll never have an issue racing with him, and he’s still a kid,” Daum said. “He’s only 21. I remember when Karter started racing quarter midgets.
“Karter’s just a good kid and his results are showing it right now. For not being a full-time guy, he’s won just as many races as anybody else has. He does it cleanly. He doesn’t tear nobody up, he doesn’t crash nobody, he races hard.”
“I’ve always been a big fan of Zach’s; I have his midget diecast here at the house,” Sarff said. “He was always someone I watched when I was real young and wanted to run midgets. It’s really cool to have the respect from him and be able to race with him every weekend.”
In his time watching the veterans of midget racing like Daum, Sarff has picked up on their techniques and applied them to his own style, which he said keeps him going fast and out of trouble.
“Maybe it’s the way I was raised, but I always wanted to gain the respect of everyone I was racing,” Sarff said. “Especially racing adults being a young kid, I didn’t want to be one of those kids that just went out there and drove like an idiot and crashed everyone.
“That’s just the way I was raised; it’s the way I want to win races.”
His surge of success in the midget, which began after his first two Xtreme Outlaw Series wins in 2023 afforded him several new opportunities in 2024 with Chase Briscoe Racing (CBR). The NASCAR Cup Series star and former dirt track racer tapped Sarff to drive a second CBR entry at the Chili Bowl Nationals in January, where he qualified for his first career A-Main in the marquee midget event.
His crew chief during the event was Paul May — the former Winged Sprint Car racer from Terre Haute, IN, and Briscoe’s Sprint Car crew chief before he made his move to full-time NASCAR competition in the late 2010s. Together, May helped Sarff punch his ticket into the Chili Bowl main event via transfer spot in the final B-Main and finished 18th in his first A-Main start.
Since then, May has continued to provide Sarff with his midget and sprint car expertise throughout the season, resulting in four Xtreme Outlaw Series wins and his first career sprint car victory with the Midwest Open Wheel Association (MOWA) in April.
“I work on all my own stuff here at my house, and Paul usually just texts me what he wants on it,” Sarff said. “We scale it and go through it over the phone. Paul never gets to come to our shop because he’s in Indiana and I’m in Illinois. So, we just have a package that we go through, scale the car, show up to the track and that’s what we got. It seems to be working good so far.
That sprint car win also came driving for CBR — one month after Briscoe announced Sarff would be in the driver’s seat for the reopening of his sprint car team.
“Once I started the NASCAR journey, I always knew I wanted to stay a part of the sport as an owner give back to drivers I felt like deserved opportunities because I wouldn’t be where I am today without the same thing,” Briscoe said in a team press release in March. “I’m super excited this year to have Karter Sarff try wing Sprint Car racing, he did an amazing job in our midget at Chili Bowl and he has a bright future ahead. It will be a lot of fun for me to be able to race a few races this year with my dad again and then watch him and Karter go run as well.”
Sarff started on the pole and led all 25 laps around the 4/10-mile of Red Hill Raceway in his first race out with the CBR Sprint Car team, led by Briscoe’s father, Kevin.
“With Kevin, he’s just real knowledgeable with everything as well,” Sarff said. “Listening to what he says about things, how things work, I’ve been able to build a pretty good notebook in my head of how things work and how things should work.
“They’ve been a lot of help to get my knowledge to where I want it to be. Obviously, I still have a lot to learn, and I’m just happy to be around a good, smart group of guys.”
As the midget season winds down, Sarff has reflected on what’s brought his career to this point. Thirteen months ago, he was a regional Midget racer still looking for his first major breakthrough. Now, he’s a budding open-wheel talent racing for a NASCAR star’s team and a threat to win any national Midget series event he competes in.
“I’m not sure what clicked for me, but I think the Sprint Cars helped a lot,” Sarff said. “Just slowing the Midget down, and I think my racecraft has improved a lot for whatever reason. I guess just watching, paying attention and learning from my mistakes.”
Sarff will be back in action with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota — Sept. 13-15 for a three-race swing through his home state at Southern Illinois Raceway, Highland Speedway and Adams County (IL) Speedway. Advance sale tickets are available at the link below.