By Jason D Searcy
410 Sprint Car driver Michael Kofoid from Penngrove (CA) better known as “Buddy” Kofoid is having an incredible year with the World of Outlaws. In just his second year on the tour he is currently second place in points behind David Gravel with 8 wins and 29 Top 5 finishes in the first 50 races of 2025. We shouldn’t be surprised at his success because he had an incredible season in his rookie campaign with the Outlaws last year, he finished fourth in points and scored 7 wins in 2024.
Kofoid had made some waves Nationally by being part of the Toyota Driver Development program along with 18 year old William Sawalich from Eden Prairie (MN) who is now competing in the NASCAR Xfinity series.
Buddy is known as being soft spoken when he is not behind the wheel but both smooth and aggressive in the driver's seat. He is very personable with the fans, making him a crowd favorite.
23 year old Kofoid has been successful on every step of his racing career, he started winning 360 Sprint car races at the age of 13, travelled to New Zealand and won races in 410 sprints at the age of 16, won Championships in New Zealand at 17 and was the USAC National Midget Rookie of the year while winning 3 National races by the age of 18. He ended up as the USAC Midget National Champion both in 2021 and 2022.
Five years ago Kofoid worked on the craft of Late Model racing on the asphalt here in Minnesota at Elko Speedway, he worked with former ELKO track champion and ASA Midwest tour Champion Dan Fredrickson in 2021.
“Our time working with Buddy was an absolute pleasure,” said Fredrickson. “His ability to provide precise feedback lap after lap, along with his remarkable memory of how the car reacted to even the smallest adjustments was impressive. As everyone can see, his car control is truly something special. Buddy is one of those people that once you get to know him, you have a friend for life. His parents really raised him well. Our whole family is glued to the TV for all his races and to see his success is truly awesome,” said Fredrickson.
Kofoid recently remarked that his time in Minnesota was memorable. “It was fun, ELKO definitely is a different place for sure. I had some good times there but also some not so good times, I got crashed and it actually broke my wrist and foot so both good and bad but it's cool,” said Kofoid. Buddy recovered from that crash and still won the USAC Midget National Championship that year, even driving while wearing a cast on his wrist.
Buddy raced in a Late Model at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in both 2021 and 2022, he also had a few starts in the ARCA and Camping World Truck series showing some great potential driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports at the Bristol dirt race before getting caught up in a wreck.
NASCAR can stay on the back burner for now because Kofoid has received a lot of National exposure with his recent success on the dirt tracks. He has really excelled in the Sprint Car with the World of Outlaws, Kofoid recently finished second place behind #41 Carson Macedo while racing the “Big O” showdown at Ogilvie (MN) Raceway. “Ogilvie Raceway is fun, we've been in contention both times we've been here so I'm happy about that and I'm proud of my team for getting me comfortable (in the feature) because most of the day I wasn't. It felt like we were really off and Dylan, Nate and Gage worked really hard and figured something out that we needed,” said Kofoid.
“This season has definitely been even better than last year, which is what you want to do, I'm happy with our outright speed and overall it's been really gratifying to be in contention most nights and that credit goes to Dennis and Teresa Roth for allowing, Dylan, Nate, Gage and I to be together for believing in us to be able to showcase what we can do,” said Kofoid.
2025 has been a showcase for Buddy Kofoid and how he can elevate a race team, even a historic team like Roth Motorsports. He has won many championships in the decade or so that he has been racing but a World of Outlaws title would top them all. That title is elusive but something that is quickly becoming within reach and one that would be very well received by his growing number of fans, including a bunch from right here in Minnesota.
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