Kody King, 16, of Clear Lake and a student at Garner-Hayfield-Ventura was one of 15 semi-finalists chosen to possibly earn a spot in the final seven to particpate in the 2024 Kulwicki Driver Development Program.
The drivers range from 14 to 26 years of age and come from Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
“The process to select our 2024 KDDP driver lineup has already required some extremely difficult choices by our organization’s voting panel members,” said KDDP executive director Tom Roberts. “There were 29 different drivers who received votes during the initial round of judging and the board did a fantastic job in narrowing it down to 15 semifinalists. They certainly face an incredible task in selecting just seven drivers out of this group to carry the KDDP colors and compete for the Kulwicki Cup this season.
“The desire to be a KDDP driver continues to grow in the short track racing world each year and I think this distinct group of semifinalists certainly reflects that,” Roberts said. “The quantity of applicants for our 2024 program was very impressive, but it was the quality of competitors who applied that was most striking to us. We had numerous track and series champions among those who didn’t make our semifinalist list this time around.
“Our board members did an absolutely incredible job in choosing these 15 semifinalists,” said Roberts. “I would have welcomed any of the applicants that the board considered into the group. While they were able to narrow it down to these 15 drivers, there were so many more who would have been quality candidates for the seven finalist spots for our 2024 program.”
Clear Lake’s King was the 2022 Hawkeye Downs Late Model Champion, he finished fifth in the Cars Tour Pro Late Model standings in 2022, plans to run the full ASA Midwest Tour Schedule and the Alive for Five Series at Dells Raceway.
King will also be doing special Pro Late/Limited Late Model races as time allows.
“I’m honored to be selected as a semi-finalist with such a talented group of drivers from all over the country and I’m truly grateful to have my name associated with such a prestigious program,” said King. “I really enjoy the competition, trying to find what will make the car better and give me an advantage, and of course, the speed.”
Driver interviews will take place Feb. 27-29 with the final seven drivers scheduled to be announced on RacingAmerica.com on Tuesday, March 19.
The seven drivers will each receive a one-time stipend of $7,777 to cover operational expenses. The organization will work to provide the drivers assistance in important aspects such as publicity, marketing, sponsorship development and industry networking during the season as they compete for the “grand prize.” The Kulwicki Cup winner will pick up an additional prize worth seven times the initial award ($7,777 x 7 = $54,439) and a special unique Kulwicki Cup Trophy. The 2024 KDDP Kulwicki Cup Champion will join the distinguished group of former titlists that includes Ty Majeski (2015), Alex Prunty (2016), Cody Haskins (2017), Brett Yackey (2018), Jeremy Doss (2019), Luke Fenhaus (2021), Dylan Zampa (2022) and Max Cookson (2023).
The Kulwicki Cup competition goes from April 1 through Oct. 31.
You can follow King and his racing ventures on kodyking.net or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KodyKingMotorsports?mibextid=hu50Ix
