Bloomington Speedway has been a part of USAC Indiana Midget Week since nearly the beginning of the mini-series' institution, which made its first appearance on the schedule in 2008.

However, it finds itself in a new position as the leadoff hitter of the seven-race, nine-night USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship mini-series, which starts Friday on the southern Indiana red clay.

They say you only get one shot at making a first impression, and for Buddy Kofoid, he made it a lasting impression during last year's Indiana Midget Week round at Bloomington.

In the ensuing moments after earning his first career IMW victory, the Penngrove, California, native let it be known that his initial impression of his first visit to Bloomington's 1/4-mile was that it now was on his personal list of favorite racetracks. It was easy to see why, as he used the win as a springboard to the IMW title and, ultimately, the USAC national crown.

Kofoid enters the event with a 1-0 record in USAC Midget competition at Bloomington, but he certainly will have to contend with a myriad of others who are determined to discover the same launching pad Kofoid utilized in 2021.

Series point leader Justin Grant (Ione, California) finished a best of second during IMW at Bloomington in 2017, in addition to ninth in 2021. The 2020 USAC Silver Crown champ also owns the 10-lap track record for USAC National Midgets at Bloomington, a 2:03.18 set in 2019.

Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Oklahoma) has posted past successes in USAC Sprint Cars at Bloomington, winning twice there in 2019 and 2021. He has been solid in a midget too, and with his TKH Motorsports No. 21H, he will be looking to build upon his past IMW results at Bloomington, which consists of a career-best finish of fourth in 2021, to go along with a pair of sixth-place results in 2017 & 2019 and seventh in both 2008 & 2016.

Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, California) possesses a pair of top-10 IMW finishes at Bloomington, each of which came nearly a decade apart from each other, finishing ninth in 2010 and eighth in 2019.

Logan Seavey (Sutter, California), the 2019 Indiana Midget Week champion, used a runner-up finish at Bloomington to elevate himself to IMW champ status that season. Seavey, the 2018 USAC National Midget titlist, scored a seventh-place finish at Bloomington in 2021.

Bryant Wiedeman (Colby, Kansas) was superb in his first Bloomington IMW go in 2021, finishing fifth in his debut run. Ethan Mitchell (Mooresville, North Carolina) experienced one of the finest nights of his young career in 2019 when he set the fast time in qualifying and finished a solid fifth in the feature. Steve Buckwalter (Royersford, Pennsylvania) last made an IMW appearance at Bloomington in 2016. His record in the event includes a fifth-place finish in 2010, sixth in 2009 and 10th in 2011. 

Zach Daum (Pocahontas, Illinois) has finished within the confines of the top-10 at Bloomington on two occasions, grabbing sixth in 2014 and 10th in 2017. Jason McDougal (Broken Arrow) returns to Bloomington's IMW event after collecting his best career series finish at the track of 10th in 2021.

Coming back the Bloomington lineup as well are series winners Cannon McIntosh and Kyle Cummins. McIntosh (Bixby, Oklahoma) was 12th in 2021 but did capture the sprint car feature win that same night. Cummins (Princeton, Indiana) has won a handful of sprint car races in his career at Bloomington but would like to add a midget win to his resume there.

Brenham Crouch (Lubbock, Texas) took 18th in 2021, while Sam Johnson was 19th in what was each driver's first USAC starts at the track. Bryan Stanfill (Bakersfield, California), a USAC Midwest Regional winner at Bloomington in 2021, looks to make his first USAC national feature appearance at the track.

A large selection of drivers will be trying to crack the lineup for the first time in their USAC careers at Bloomington on Friday. 

Among those are third-place points driver Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, California), plus multi-time series fast qualifier Taylor Reimer (Bixby), third-place Port City finisher Kaylee Bryson (Muskogee, Oklahoma), 2017 BCRA Midget champ Maria Cofer (Macdoel, California), third-place Ocala finisher Jade Avedisian (Clovis, California), Badger Midget champion Chase McDermand (Springfield, Illinois), USAC Midwest Regional Midget feature winner Chance Crum (Snohomish, Washington) and two-time USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget titlist Jacob Denney (Galloway, Ohio), plus Kiwi Travis Buckley (Auckland, New Zealand), Hayden Reinbold (Gilbert, Arizona), CB Industries Rookies Dominic Gorden (Clovis) and Jace Park (Overland Park, Kansas) as well as Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports newcomers Mariah Ede (Fresno) and Cade Lewis (Bakersfield)

Bloomington's Indiana Midget Week round will feature the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Bloomington Sprint Cars and IMCA Mod Lites.

Pits open at 4 p.m. Eastern, with grandstands opening at 5 p.m. The drivers' meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. and cars will hit the track at 6 p.m.

Tickets and pit passes will be sold at the gate. Adult general admission tickets will be $30, with ages 10 and under free. Pit passes will be $35 for adults, while ages 10 and under are $15.

Every Indiana Midget Week event will be streamed LIVE here on FloRacing.