Battle For 2024 Kulwicki Cup Shaping Up As Closest Ever

The battle for the 2024 Kulwicki Cup Championship is shaping up to be the closest – and perhaps most exciting – in the 10-year history of the Kulwicki Driver Development Program. At the halfway mark of the annual contest that supports grassroots racers from across North America while honoring NASCAR Champion and Hall of Famer Alan Kulwicki, only 71 points separate leader Levon Van Der Geest from fourth-place Evan Goetz. In between, a mere two points separate second-place Ty Fredrickson from third-place Derek Gluchacki.

At the end of the first reporting period, which included all activities from April 1 through July 14, here’s how the point standings look:

“When our first reporting period for the 2024 season concluded, it was Levon Van Der Geest, our lone returning driver from the 2023 class, leading the competition,” said KDDP Executive Director Tom Roberts. “But the separation from first to fourth is the tightest in program history. We’re only halfway through the season and it’s shaping up to be the most competitive battle ever for the Kulwicki Cup.

“We have 15 additional weeks to consider before the competition concludes at the end of October,” Roberts said. “All of our 2024 finalists have done a great job representing Alan and our program on and off the track this season. They have shown that they know how to win. They are also realizing the importance that their off-track activities play in our points system and are really ramping it up in that aspect.

“The weather has impacted this year’s edition of our program in every area of the country,” said Roberts, “but our drivers have still been able to participate in more races overall at this point than in the last two seasons. Six of the seven have raced in at least 10 races so far and some have even altered their schedules due to the weather, changing tracks in order to race.”

As of this period’s cutoff date (July 14), the number of races that each driver competed in varied from nine events up to 15. The current 2024 KDDP competition (on-track) points look like this: (Points/Wins/Top-5s/Top-10s/Total Races)

2024 KDDP COMPETITION POINTS

(Current through July 14, 2024)

With input received from all of the voting KDDP board members, this was the consensus outlook on the competition so far:

After a slow start to the season, Michigan’s CHASE BURDA has scored three top-five finishes in his last three races including a big JEGS/CRA Series win at Flat Rock Speedway in his home state. Burda continues to split time between his Pro and Super Late Model efforts and has made some gains throughout the season as he continues to face some of the toughest competition in the KDDP.

Young TY FREDRICKSON is the hottest young late model racer in the Midwest and has been turning heads throughout the nation with his breakout Super Late Model performances. Driving for his father, Minnesota short track legend Dan Fredrickson, Ty has scored the most wins so far in 2024. Included are two big TUNDRA series wins, where he is also the points leader…and a season-opening win at the Icebreaker 100 in Wisconsin Dells.

2023 KDDP semifinalist DEREK GLUCHACKI made the cut this year to be a finalist. He is making the most of it, scoring two big wins, including an ACT win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He has been running consistently in the top-10 at several tracks throughout the Northeast. He is a force to be reckoned with in both local and touring races and continues to impress with his social media presence and post-race recaps.

Throughout the history of the KDDP, the program has seen some tremendous talents come out of the Pacific Northwest, from Brittney Zamora to Haeden Plybon. This year, young EVAN GOETZ is establishing himself as the “next great one” from the region. He has “upped his game” in 2024, running consistently in the top-three at Stateline Speedway in Idaho. Many say his victory in the “Wenatchee 200” in June rates as the biggest win by a KDDP driver this season.

Two-time KDDP finalist MAX KAHLER has made the most of his return to the program after a three-year absence. Kahler follows in the tradition of the best Midwest racers. He takes care of his equipment, respects his fellow racers, and no matter where he starts, he passes cars -- lots of ‘em -- to make his way to the front. While Kahler has yet to pick up a win in 2024, he has regularly run up front at Dells Raceway Park and Slinger Speedway against the best competition in the region.

UW-Milwaukee Engineering student LEVON VAN DER GEEST is a KDDP finalist again in 2024 and has made the most of it. He picked up a win at Golden Sands Speedway and is competing against former KDDP Champion Ty Majeski for the ASA Midwest Tour points title. Van Der Geest has been hit with attrition, but when he finishes races, he’s in the top-five. He’s been showing much progress on larger tracks like Madison and La Crosse this season.

This season, BRANDON VARNEY continues the tradition of KDDP candidates running weekly at Oxford Plains Speedway. While his race results have not been as strong as he had hoped, Varney did score a trip to victory lane at his home track in late May. Varney has more starts than any of his fellow competitors and will continue to work with his family-run team to improve. His regular post-race video recaps have been impressive.

The KDDP points system is based on a combination of judging input from members of the voting panel and the drivers’ on-track performance. Voters are asked to rank the drivers from first to seventh in their job of representing Alan and the organization. Points (from 70 for first to 10 for seventh) are awarded for those rankings.

While the manner that judging points are awarded is discretionary, the criteria the seven voters utilize includes:

• Wins/Competition
• Effort & Work Ethic
• Setup/Hands-On & Car Knowledge
• Charity & Giving Back
• KDDP Publicity Generated
• Social Media & Self Promotion
• Presentation Skills

Each voter is also given 10 discretionary “bonus” points to award the drivers for “exceptional contributions” to the program. Community engagement, program representation and social media activities account for much of those points. The remainder of the points come from actual racing statistics (based on each driver’s best 15 race finishes. Race wins award 10 points, with 2nd-5th-place finishes getting 6 points, 6th-10th 4 points, 11th-15th 2 points and 15th-plus 1 point.

During the annual competition, two regular season rounds of judging points are averaged (however, bonus points continue to accrue) and added to a final round of voters’ judging points. The overall competition points (maximum 150 points for 15 wins) are applied and the driver with the largest points total will be the Kulwicki Cup Champion.

“With our unique points system awarding the competitors for both on-track and off-track activities, it will certainly be interesting and intriguing to follow all seven of these promising young racers and cheer them on the remainder of the season,” said Roberts. “We’re confident that we’ll see many additional race wins and celebratory Polish Victory Laps between now and the end of October.”

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The 2024 season marks the ninth fully-functioning year for the KDDP, which was established in 2014 by the Kulwicki estate for the purpose of helping worthy drivers toward reaching their dreams while at the same time keeping Alan’s memory and legacy alive.

The seven drivers in each KDDP class receives a one-time stipend of $7,777 to cover operational expenses. The organization works 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 “Kulwicki Cup.” That award winner will pick up an additional check worth seven times the initial prize ($7,777 x 7 = $54,439) and a special unique trophy.

This year’s Kulwicki Cup titlist will join an illustrious group of former champions that includes Ty Majeski (2015) of Seymour, Wisconsin; Alex Prunty (2016) of Kewaskum, Wisconsin; Cody Haskins (2017) of Marietta, Georgia; Brett Yackey (2018) of Greeley, Colorado; Jeremy Doss (2019) of Upper Lake, California; Luke Fenhaus (2021) of Wausau, Wisconsin; Dylan Zampa (2022) of Napa, California and Max Cookson (2023) of Palmyra, Maine. The program went on hiatus during the 2020 season due to the pandemic.

Since the beginning of the 2015 racing season, the KDDP has assisted a total of 41 different promising young drivers representing 17 states & two Canadian provinces. The Kulwicki Family has provided $871,024 in combined stipend and championship award funding to those worthy competitors, in addition to immeasurable support with publicity, marketing, sponsorship development, industry networking and relationship building. Through the first eight seasons, those 41 drivers have competed in a total of 1,260 races; recording 205 wins, 640 top-five finishes and 892 top-10 finishes.

“While our organization is currently financially solid, our funding is depleting and we have launched a full-scale effort to unite with a major presenting marketing partner for the future,” Roberts said. “We’re confident that with the foundation we’ve laid over the years, our program can be an extremely effective marketing tool for a corporate partner to utilize.”

The next points update for this year’s edition of the KDDP is scheduled for the first week of October.

The KDDP urges you to keep up with all of its news and activities by regularly visiting RacingAmerica.com, the organization’s official media partner.

-Kulwicki Driver Development Program Release