By Linda Mansfield
GAS CITY, Ind., June 7 — This Friday night Gas City I-69 Speedway hosts one
of the most anticipated races of its season with its leg of the 18th annual
Indiana Midget Week for the USAC NOS Energy Drink national midget series.
Adding more excitement to the night will be the addition of non-wing sprint
cars to make an open-wheel doubleheader.
Michael “Buddy” Kofoid of Penngrove, Calif., is the early favorite, as at press
time he had won two of the three completed Indiana Midget Week features.
He is also the defending winner of this event on Gas City’s quarter-mile dirt
oval. Approximately 30 other midget drivers from around the country will vie
to be the one who pulls into victory lane after the checkered flies at the
conclusion of the 30-lap midget feature Friday night.
With a USAC NOS Energy Drink national midget feature victory for Kofoid on
June 2 prior to Indiana Midget Week, he became the first driver to win four
of the division’s races in a row since Kyle Larson in 2012-2013.
Only seven previous drivers in the 67-year history of USAC national midget
racing have strung together four feature victories in a row: Shorty
Templeman (1956), Mel Kenyon (1969), Rich Vogler (twice, in 1979 and
1988), Kevin Olson (1987), Billy Boat (1995-1996), Dave Darland (2003) and
Larson (2012-2013). Kenyon signed autographs in Gas City’s new “Rumble
in Fort Wayne” Autograph Zone last Friday night. Darland has two top-three
finishes in non-wing sprint car features at Gas City already this year, and
Larson won Gas City’s Indiana Midget Week event in both 2013 and 2020.
After taking the checkered flag in 2013, Larson accidentally tipped his
midget over onto its side while doing donuts in celebration. He climbed out,
scrambled up onto the overturned car, and waved to the crowd
enthusiastically. He didn’t have as memorable a victory lane celebration in
2020, but he came from 14th to win the feature that night. Who finished
second? Kofoid.
Kofoid leads the Indiana Midget Week point standings at press time
followed by Justin Grant (Avon, Ind. by way of Ion, Calif.); Thomas
Meseraull (Waveland, Ind., by way of San Jose, Calif.); Kyle Cummins
(Princeton, Ind.); Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, Calif.); Bryant Wiedeman
(Colby, Kan.); Kaylee Bryson (Muskogee, Okla.); Taylor Reimer (Bixby,
Okla.); Jacob Denney (Galloway, Ohio) and Jade Avedisian (Clovis, Calif.).
It’s possible that the winner on Friday night at Gas City is the first woman to
win a USAC national midget feature. Several women are expected to enter,
including Bryson, who advanced 18 positions from her 22nd-place starting
position to finish fourth in round three of Indiana Midget Week last Sunday
night in Haubstadt, Ind.
Another driver to never count out is Shane Cottle of Kansas, Ill., a multi-time
Gas City sprint car track champion and the 2005 and 2006 Indiana Midget
Week titlist. He may enter both divisions, and he knows Gas City like the back
of his hand. He finished second in the sprint car feature at Gas City last Friday
night.
If Kofoid has garnered most of the headlines in the midgets recently, who
will win the 25-lap non-wing sprint car feature Friday night at Gas City is
anyone’s guess. In the three races held so far this year there have been three
different winners: Tye Mihocko of Phoenix, Ariz.; Meseraull, and defending
track champion Scotty Weir of Marion, Ind.
Going into Friday’s races Weir leads the current track sprint car point
standings followed by Colten Cottle of Kansas, Ill. (Shane’s nephew); Matt
Goodnight of Muncie, Ind.; Korbyn Hayslett of Troy, Ohio and Kyle Shipley of
Lebanon, Ind.
The pits will open at 3 p.m. Friday night and the grandstands will open at 5
p.m. Hot laps are scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Tickets and pit passes will be sold at the gate. General admission tickets are
$30, student tickets are $10, and kids 12 and under are free. A pit pass costs
$35.
Gas City I-69 Speedway is located on State Road 22, approximately a half-
mile west of exit 259 of Interstate 69, about halfway between Indianapolis
and Fort Wayne, Ind.
For the complete 2022 schedule and more information see the track’s
website at gascityI69Speedway.com and also follow its social media outlets.
The track is on Twitter (@GasCitySpeedway), Instagram
(@GasCitySpeedway) and Facebook (GasCitySpeedwayOnT