INDIANAPOLIS — Buddy Kofoid is the defending winner of the Driven2SaveLives BC39.
After waging war with Cannon McIntosh at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year — slide job after slide job — the California native narrowly prevailed in the 39-lap feature.
“I didn’t think I was going to have a chance to win, just because of how the track was,” Kofoid said. “It was just right around the bottom and then all of a sudden it finally got slick and I moved up and was like, ‘Oh, thank God.’”
The gift of the high groove is what paved the path to victory as Kofoid joined the ranks of former winners Brady Bacon (2018), Zeb Wise (2019) and Kyle Larson (2021).
“Because it’s at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it’s an event that honors one of the best (Bryan Clauson), it’s a good crowd and it pays good — all that combined, I feel like it’s top three or top five in things that I’ve won,” Kofoid said.
This year, the Toyota development driver is back in Indianapolis to see if he can recreate some of the magic he found last season during Thursday’s preliminary night program.
However, he won’t be able to defend last year’s victory during Saturday’s $20,039-to-win main event. Due to his World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series schedule with Roth Motorsports, Kofoid will be heading east to contest Friday’s National Open at Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove Speedway.
“Having different commitments changes your plans sometimes,” said Kofoid, who has won three World of Outlaws races this year. “I still wanted to come here even if it was just for Wednesday and my prelim. I still wanted to be a part of it in some way.”
The two-time USAC national midget champion expects there will be a few challenges that come with bouncing from the BC39 to Williams Grove, though he’s confident he’ll be able to tackle them with ease.
“You go from one extreme to another, from the BC39 being a really short, small track to Williams Grove, which is a super long paperclip and a half-mile,” Kofoid described. “I’ve done it enough to where I feel pretty comfortable going from the midget to the sprint car.”
It will still be a busy stretch for Kofoid, being in a car four of seven nights this week.
But for the 21-year-old, he believes the constant dose of racing is what keeps him sharp.
“My staying fresh is doing it every week. Whether it’s only Friday and Saturday or whether it’s a week, a whole week or three days,” Kofoid said. “I feel like a lot of the good guys that do it professionally for a living, they stay fresh by doing it all the time.”