SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Just four days before the start of USAC Indiana Midget Week, Karter Sarff didn’t have a team and Paul May Motorsports didn’t have a driver.
Just nine nights after a chance phone call, both became first-time USAC Indiana Midget Week champions in 2026, with Sarff earning the $15,000 top prize, and totaling $24,750 when all added up for five nights of work.
On the strength of a first USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory in round two of the series at Paragon Speedway, plus three top fives and five top 10s in five feature starts to go along with three fast qualifying times, Sarff and May conquered the USAC Indiana Midget Week crown by a three-point margin, the third closest points differential in IMW’s 22-year history.
With the title, Sarff, who hails from Mason City, Illinois, became the first Land of Lincoln racer to capture the Indiana Midget Week crown since Shane Cottle in 2006.
“It hasn’t even really set in yet,” the 23-year-old Sarff, nicknamed The Shark, remarked. “With all the hard work we’ve put in, I’m just grateful for Paul, grateful for Toyota, and everyone who’s a part of his car who helps make it happen. We weren’t even planning on doing it until last Friday, So, this is super cool and I’m just grateful for everyone who’s part of it.”
May, a longtime winged sprint car driver, gave a call to Sarff just last week when a previous deal had fallen through for another driver to wheel his Paul May Motorsports/Peffley & Hinshaw Wrecker Service – Factory 71/Ripper/Speedway Toyota No. 71m.
“Last week started out that he wasn’t even going to run Indiana Midget week, so I made a phone call to ask Karter to fill in for a driver that couldn’t make it for me,” May revealed. “Karter and I are super competitive together and we knew we had a chance at it. I just didn’t know that it could really happen.”
Sarff and May’s working relationship came together three years ago when Sarff drove the Chase Briscoe Racing midget at the Chili Bowl Nationals, and May was serving as the team’s crew chief. At the time, midget racing was still brand new to May.
“I didn’t really know him before then, and throughout all the success, I think we worked really well together and wanted to do more. We had speed right out of the gate, and then I went on to work on his 21k for the next two years pretty much full time. We had a lot of success at the local level, the Xtreme Outlaw series, and POWRi (with whom Sarff was a champion in 2023). Here we are all these years later and we’re Indiana Midget Week champions. That’s pretty cool.”
Indiana Midget Week started off fairly pedestrian for Sarff, all things considered, taking a 10th place finish in Tuesday’s opener at Circle City. But throughout the week, qualifying set the team up for success, generating superb feature starting spots each night.
Sarff reeled off three quick times in the first three events at Circle City, Paragon and Lincoln Park, running his streak to an Indiana Midget Week record five consecutive quick times dating back to the previous two events of 2025.
“I think, ultimately, what won us the championship was qualifying,” Sarff acknowledged. “To do five in a row was cool. Paul’s just really good. I mean, that’s all there is to it. At a lot of the tracks, we struggled in hot laps. Then, we go out there and go quick time. That just shows how good he is with keeping up with the track and knowing what I like and getting me comfortable.”
On night two at Paragon, Sarff earned the rare distinction of winning his first career USAC National Midget feature and the Indiana Midget Week title in the same week, just the third driver to accomplish the feat: Shane Cottle (2006) and Christopher Bell (2013). But of all the places on the docket Sarff thought he had a good chance to break through, Paragon was not top of mind.
“Definitely not the first race track I thought I was going to get,” Sarff admitted. “To get the first USAC win knocked off was really the ultimate goal this week. To be able to come out with the championship at the end of it is just awesome.”
For May, the moment could certainly be described as “super special” and he rates it as one of his finest accomplishments in motorsports.
“In all honesty, as a crew chief, I probably only have maybe 50 races under my belt,” May estimated. “To be able to knock off a win while only having very little experience is pretty cool. As a car owner in general, I probably only have 20 races total, ever. To get our first win that quick is really, really cool.”
