Up-and-coming racer Buddy Kofoid (center red car) would like to forget this spill. It occurred during the 31st Annual Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania.
“The two drivers in front of me ran into each other,” Kofoid, 19, of Penngrove, California, said. “I was in the outside groove above them when they washed up the track in front of me in turn three. I couldn’t miss them.”
Kofoid then flipped. The sprint car, owned by CJB Motorsports, uses a chassis from JEI Performance Fabrication. After the accident, the ride needed new wings, a rear end, and bolt-on suspension parts. Kofoid walked away unscathed.
He sat in a ButlerBuilt full-containment seat, with a Schroth Racing five-point harness. Kofoid paired an Arai GP-7 helmet with a Simpson Hybrid Pro head-and-neck restraint system.
While Kofoid has raced sprint cars since 2014, the Toyota Racing Development-backed driver currently leads the national midget point standings in USAC, driving for famed car owner Keith Kunz.
This year, Buddy Kofoid embarked on a new challenge. He made his pavement late model debut earlier this season at South Sound Speedway in Rochester, Washington. This week he traveled to Madison International Speedway in Oregon, Wisconsin, to test. He plans to steer a pavement late model for Dan Fredrickson Racing, of Lakeville, Minnesota, for eight races.
“In transitioning from dirt to pavement, I have to learn a whole different mindset while racing,” said Kofoid. “[On dirt,] you are racing in a short feature that literally is a sprint to the finish. On pavement, you have to be there for the long run. Everything [on pavement] is critical and has to be precise. You have to be able to run a line, hit marks, know your roll speed, and not slide in the turns. It is a completely different deal than dirt racing.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
