The drive to win, the will to succeed and the dedication to winning a USAC Indiana Midget Week title are among the ideals that have been racing through USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship drivers' and teams' minds over the past week.

However, as anybody will tell you, winning a feature at Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, Indiana, is pretty dang cool, too.

That's where the action is this Saturday night in the penultimate round of USAC Indiana Midget Week, where the USAC National Midgets will visit for the 15th occasion during IMW and for the 86th time overall dating back to USAC's inaugural season of 1956.

Kokomo is where things get real for the Indiana Midget Week contenders, with a championship at stake and each point signifying the polar discrepancy between jubilation and despondency.

IMW point leader Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, California) has finished inside the top 10 in each of his two Kokomo IMW starts over the past couple of seasons, recording a seventh-place finish in 2021 and 10th in his rookie season with the series in 2020.

Last Sunday's Tri-State Speedway IMW winner, Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, California), won the USAC Regional Midget portion of the Kokomo Klash in 2020. He's the owner of three career USAC National Sprint Car wins at the track and has finished inside the top 10 during Indiana Midget Week at Kokomo on three occasions - ninth in both 2010 and 2020 and bested by fifth in 2021.

Tanner Thorson's charge late in the going allowed him to score a narrow victory in the Kokomo IMW round of 2020. The 2016 USAC National Midget champion, who hails from Minden, Nevada, finished seventh at Kokomo's IMW that same year and also been eighth (2014) and ninth (2017).

Justin Grant (Ione, California) is a three-time track champion at Kokomo (2017, 2019 and 2021), owning four USAC National Sprint Car wins to his credit at the track. The 2020 USAC Silver Crown champ turned in a best Kokomo IMW performance of second in 2021, along with a fourth-place effort in 2017.

Logan Seavey (Sutter, California) has seen success as both a USAC National Midget champ (2018) and an Indiana Midget Week champ (2019). He also knows success at Kokomo, having won a USAC National Sprint Car race there in 2019 and picking up a third-place finish during the Indiana Midget Week round of his championship season in 2018. He reached the top 10 once more at the track during IMW in 2021, taking 10th.

Jason McDougal (Broken Arrow, Oklahoma) has reached victory lane in a sprint car on the local level at Kokomo. He's eyeballing a first midget win at the track come Saturday, after two career podium finishes during IMW at Kokomo with third place in both 2018 and 2021.

Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Indiana) has racked up three career USAC National Sprint Car victories at Kokomo, including his first in 2016. At Kokomo during 2020 IMW, Cummins finished an impressive fifth.

Also re-entering Kokomo's IMW lineup are St. Peters, Missouri's Sam Johnson (11th in 2018), Bixby, Oklahoma's Cannon McIntosh (12th in 2020), Muskogee, Oklahoma's Kaylee Bryson (12th in 2021), Colby, Kansas' Bryant Wiedeman (14th in 2021), Mooresville, North Carolina's Ethan Mitchell (19th in 2020) and Lubbock, Texas' Brenham Crouch (20th in 2021).

Three drivers shooting for a first Indiana Midget Week feature start at Kokomo have already stood in BC victory lane in their careers. Chase McDermand (Springfield, Ill.) captured a USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget feature victory in 2018 at Kokomo and also finished 2nd in a USAC Regional Midget event there in August 2021.

McDermand finished as the runner-up that night to Chance Crum (Snohomish, Washington) who picked up the Regional score that evening. Also a winner at Kokomo is Jacob Denney (Galloway, Ohio), a USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget victor near the end of the 2020 campaign.

Hayden Reinbold (Gilbert, Arizona) eyes his first Kokomo Indiana Midget Week start. He finished 22nd with the USAC National Midgets at Kokomo in the fall of 2020 and was third in USAC Regional Midget competition in August 2021. 

Bryan Stanfill (Bakersfield, California), a 2020 USAC IMRA SpeeD2 Midget titlist, was 17th in the 2021 Kokomo Grand Prix.

Maria Cofer's father, 1994 USAC Western States Midget champ Johnny Cofer, raced at Kokomo with the USAC National Midgets in 1990, where he finished fifth. For Maria Cofer, this will mark the 2017 Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) champion's first Kokomo Indiana Midget Week appearance.

She's among the first-time Kokomo Indiana Midget Week hopefuls, along with top series rookie Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, California) and CB Industries teammates Jade Avedisian (Clovis, California), Jace Park (Overland Park, Kansas) and Dominic Gorden (Clovis).

Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports' Taylor Reimer (Bixby), Cade Lewis (Bakersfield, California), Mariah Ede (Fresno, California) and Australian Speedcar champ Kaidon Brown (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) will be in the field.

There's a contingent from both Australia and New Zealand that'll be on hand with Brown making his IMW debut, along with Aussie countryman Mike Griffiths (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) and Kiwi Travis Buckley (Auckland, New Zealand). 

Bay Cities Racing Association Midgets' 2019 champ, Robert Carson (Concord, California), will be on hand, as well as USAC Western Restricted HPD champ, Blake Brannon (Morgan Hill, California) and All Star TQ Midget feature winner Rylan Gray (Greenfield, Indiana).

Kokomo's USAC Indiana Midget Week on Saturday features the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship and the Kokomo Sprint Cars.

The pits and grandstands both will open at 3 p.m. Eastern, and hot laps will begin at 6 p.m., with qualifying and racing immediately following.

Tickets and pit passes will be sold at the gate. General admission tickets are $30, while kids age 12 and under are free. Pit passes are $35.

All of USAC Indiana Midget Week and all USAC national events throughout the season can watched live and on-demand here on FloRacing.