By Rickie Murray
Indianapolis, Indiana (December 14, 2019)………Buddy Kofoid and Daison Pursley will fill two slots on the full-time driver roster for Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian as the pair pursue Rookie of the Year honors with the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship in 2020.
Penngrove, California’s Kofoid came aboard to pilot a midget for KKM on the November western swing in 2019 where he made four feature starts, topping out with a 6th place result in the season finale at California’s Ventura Raceway, finishing as the second-best Rookie at the Turkey Night Grand Prix.
The 17-year-old versatile 2019 Fremont (Ohio) Speedway wing sprint car champion is pumped for his opportunity to join a legendary team which has produced 11 USAC National Midget owner titles between team principles Keith Kunz and Pete Willoughby with drivers Jason Leffler, Cole Whitt, Bryan Clauson, Christopher Bell, Rico Abreu, Tanner Thorson, Spencer Bayston and Logan Seavey over the past two-plus decades.
“I’m really excited to run for Keith and Pete next year with Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian,” Kofoid said. “I’ve always wanted to drive for them, and it’s been a fun experience so far this year. I’m looking forward to doing a lot more next year. They have a great reputation and have had some of the best drivers, so I know I will learn a lot.”
Pursley, of Locust Grove, Okla., also made four series starts for KKM on the 2019 western trip, finishing a best of 12th on the final night of the Western World Championships at Arizona Speedway.
The 15-year-old 2017 USAC Micro Sprint champion got off to a fast start in his USAC Midget career, winning his heat race in each of his first two career series appearances in November at Arizona.
“Everybody races really clean,” Pursley observed. “There’s a lot of respect on the USAC tour and there’s a bunch of good guys out there. I need to work on things to get better because they’ve got more experience than I do. USAC’s been around a long time and this is where you want to be if you want to be the best in dirt racing.”
As Rookie hopefuls Kofoid and Pursley take their turn behind the wheel, they aim to follow in the footsteps of previous USAC National Midget ROY’s out of the KKM fleet such as Darren Hagen, Clauson, Kyle Larson, Abreu, Bell, Carson Macedo, Tanner Carrick and Seavey.