For Buddy Kofoid, Missouri's Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex is where it all started. For Cannon McIntosh, it was the home of one of his finest driving performances.

Both have experienced some of their most spectacular and monumental moments behind the wheel in USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship competition at Sweet Springs.

Now, two of the most "en fuego" drivers of the 2022 season look to become the first repeat USAC Sweet Springs victors this Friday and Saturday night during the John Hinck Championship Presented By Dahmer Powertrain.

Multiple lead changes and photo finishes - that's been the calling card for USAC racing at Sweet Springs since the series debuted at the 1/6-mile dirt oval in 2018.

This weekend, the field will be chasing $4,021-to-win in Friday's 30-lap feature and $5,021-to-win during Saturday's 40-lap main event. 

The extra $21 represents the car number traditionally sported by the Hinck family's TKH Motorsports midgets, micros and sprint cars normally driven by event promoter, Elite Racing Promotions' Brady Bacon. TKH's Terry and Kelly Hinck are the sons of the race's namesake, John Hinck.

Buddy And Cannon

Four previous appearances by the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship to Missouri's Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex have resulted in events featuring multiple lead changes each year with no less than three drivers taking part in the top spot swap.

Two past Sweet Springs USAC Midget winners are on board for this weekend's events: the two most recent in fact - McIntosh and Kofoid.

One thing both had in common at the time was driving for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports. 

Those victories, coupled with Logan Seavey and Tanner Carrick's wins in 2018 and 2019, respectively, have resulted in KKM holding an undefeated 4-0 USAC record at Sweet Springs entering the weekend.

4-For-4. ????@KKM_67 has a stranglehold of victory lane at @ssmctrack in USAC @NosEnergyDrink National Midget competition.

2018: Seavey
2019: Carrick
2020: McIntosh & Kofoid

Will the feast continue? Who's most likely to end it?

We'll get the answers on Fri. & Sat. night! pic.twitter.com/EE463Qde9i

— USAC Racing (@USACNation) September 8, 2022

McIntosh (Bixby, Oklahoma) was the lone driver to lead both nights at Sweet Springs in 2020. He led just one, the final one, on Night 1, after tracking down the leader on the last lap to win by a nose, making it the closest finish of the entire 2020 USAC season at 0.056 seconds. 

Since then, McIntosh has won two POWRi Midget events at Sweet Springs in July 2021 and July 2022. He'll pilot the family-owned Dave Mac Motorsports No. 08 throughout the weekend.

Current series point leader and reigning USAC National Midget champion, Kofoid (Penngrove, California), found redemption in his Sweet Springs debut in 2020.  

In the Night 1 opener, Kofoid's race was over just half a lap in, after he and Justin Grant went for a mighty flip down the back straightaway, ending both driver's evenings. 

Kofoid returned the following night and endured a ferocious charge from McIntosh 75% of the way through the race, then was forced to hold off more incomers to score the win, which served as his first career USAC feature victory.

Amazin' Daison Returns

Ten months after a horrific crash at Arizona Speedway in November of 2021 left Daison Pursley with a broken neck and spinal damage that briefly left him paralyzed from the neck down, he will return to the cockpit of a USAC National Midget for the first time.

Pursley (Locust Grove, Oklahoma) recently earned his first midget feature win since returning from injury in the POWRi event at Missouri's Lake Ozark Speedway last weekend.

He also sports a POWRi victory at Sweet Springs, scoring top honors in October 2021 and his two top-10 USAC results at Sweet Springs in 2020 came in consecutive sixth-place finishes during his rookie season.

Among Kofoid and Pursley's teammates is Kaylee Bryson (Muskogee, Oklahoma), who made headlines in 2020 with her first career Fatheadz Fast Qualifying time with the series at Sweet Springs. By doing so, she became just the fifth female to accomplish the feat, while her best Sweet Springs feature result came with a 10th-place finish in 2020. With POWRi, she finished second at Sweet Springs in July 2021.

Since then, Taylor Reimer (Bixby, Oklahoma) became the first woman to earn three fast qualifying times with the USAC National Midgets. She ran sixth with POWRi at Sweet Springs in July.

KKM's USAC debuts at Sweet Springs this coming weekend will come from Bryant Wiedeman (Colby, Kansas), Brenham Crouch (Lubbock, Texas), Cade Lewis (Bakersfield, California) and Mariah Ede (Fresno, California). 

Three of the four in this group have competed with POWRi at Sweet Springs, with Crouch finishing second in July, while Wiedeman took third in July 2021, and Lewis was 14th twice in 2021.

Hope Springs Eternal (For Victory)

Grant (Ione, California) holds the 10-lap USAC National Midget track record at Sweet Springs with a 2:03.358, set on Night 1 in 2020. His best feature result at the track was a ninth-place performance in 2018.

Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, California) has finished inside the top 10 in both of his Sweet Springs starts, finishing fifth and ninth on back-to-back nights in 2020.

Two-time USAC National Midget champion Jerry Coons Jr. (Tucson, Arizona) will be back in the seat of the Central Motorsports No. 85. He finished seventh at Sweet Springs in 2019. 

Coons has won a USAC National Midget feature in the state of Missouri before, taking the victory in 2006 at Lake Ozark. The USAC Triple Crown champion has finished on the podium in three of his five series starts this season.

CB Industries team brings three USAC National Midget Rookies to Sweet Springs. 

Leading rookie-of-the-year contender and one-time series winner Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, California) leads a crew that also includes Jace Park (Overland Park, Kansas) and Chase McDermand (Springfield, Illinois).

McDermand will perform his duties in the CBI No. 86 in a one-weekend deal with the team, before returning to his regular ride with Mounce-Stout Motorsports thereafter.

Park and McDermand both have previous POWRi experience at the venue with Park taking fifth in October 2021, and McDermand, similarly, notching a fifth in July. Meanwhile, team owner CBI team owner Chad Boat made two Sweet Springs starts as a driver, finishing 10th and fifth in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Ethan Mitchell (Mooresville, North Carolina) has made three Sweet Springs starts, with a 17th as his best on Night 2 of 2020. His Bundy Built Motorsports teammate, Zach Daum (Pocahontas, Illinois), was a heat race winner and a 13th-place feature finisher in the initial USAC Sweet Springs run in 2018.

For Starters

You can include Chance Crum (Snohomish, Washington) among those making their USAC debuts at Sweet Springs, but not necessarily their first midget start at the track. 

Crum tallied a runner-up finish with POWRi at Sweet Springs in October 2021. Joe B. Miller (Millersville, Missouri) snared a solid fourth just a couple months ago in July. Branigan Roark (Lincoln, Missouri) notched a 12th in 2021.

Hayden Reinbold (Gilbert, Arizona) returns to Sweet Springs after a pair of USAC visits in 2020 but seeks his first pair of starts this weekend. 

This year's USAC Indiana Midget Week feature winner at Lincoln Park Speedway, Jacob Denney (Galloway, Ohio), will make his first Sweet Springs midget appearance of any kind this weekend, along with Austin Barnhill (Wilmington, North Carolina) and Braden Chiaramonte (El Cajon, California).

The Details

The John Hinck Championship Presented by Dahmer Powertrain at Sweet Springs features the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Velox Racing Outlaw Non-Wing Micros and Engler Machine Restricted Micros.

Both nights, pit pass sales will begin at 3 p.m. Central, with the pits cleared at 4 p.m., front gates opening at 5 p.m., the drivers' meeting taking place at 5:30 p.m., the engine heat happening at 6 p.m. All of that will be followed by hot laps, qualifying and racing.

On Friday, general admission tickets will be $25, while children age 12 and under free. Pit passes will be $35. Tickets will be available at the gate on both race days.

On Saturday, general admission tickets will be $30, while children age 12 and under are free. Pit passes will be $40. Tickets will be available at the gate on both race days.

Advance tickets for the event are on sale now at eliteracingpromotions.com.