Gunnar Setser of Columbus has quickly established himself as one of the most popular up and coming drivers. Setser has just reached another milestone in his young career – he’ll take on the Lucas Oil Tulsa Shootout behind the wheel of a Columbus-based Keith Kunz Motorsports entry.
Setser has had two years of Tulsa Shootout experience in the past, picking up both heat race and qualifier wins last year, putting him into the feature events. He began his 2020 season in Restrictor and picked up eight Top-10’s and three wins within six weeks. He then moved up to the A-Class and got eight wins in the season.
"I am so excited for this opportunity. Keith is a legend and from my hometown, so it’s super cool that he asked me to drive for him in the Bullet by Sawyer Chassis. I hope to make him proud. A lot of kids dream of driving for KKM, including me," said the 12-year-old Setser, a 6th grader at Rockcreek Elementary School. Setser will competing in the restrictor class. He is the son of Jason and Mindy Setser.
"It’s a good opportunity to run out in Tulsa, hopefully we can make the feature in Keith’s car. I just want to have a good time out there and learn more. My dad used to race for Keith back in the day. He has known about me for a while. I have been advancing and gotten a lot better and I think he saw an opportunity to give kids a chance to run his car."
"I feel like I am pretty confident, and I know it’s a good team that Keith has. It’s top of line equipment and crew and hopefully I can go out there and win a Driller trophy for them. We are going to run Tulsa for Keith and then maybe some more stuff with him as next year moves on."
As far as his future goals the young Setser is already looking ahead to when he turns 16. "Hopefully, we will have a midget by the time I get to that age and advance in those. Then we may get in a sprint car and then just move on through there."
Setser’s father Jason is a long-time successful competitor on dirt in a midget, sprint, and late model racing. He also raced briefly in an asphalt late model car.
"We wanted to bring in young fresh talent to begin our development program and I have been watching Gunnar Setser the last couple of years and going to the Shootout we thought he was a perfect fit for us to go after a Driller in the restrictor class," said Kunz, who plans to field 10 full-size midget cars for the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl next month.
The Tulsa Shootout, taking place December 30 – January 2 at the Tulsa Expo Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma is the largest event for micro sprint racing in the world. To learn more about the Tulsa Shootout, please visit www.TulsaShootout.com.
"I want to thank several people who have gotten Gunnar this far with just 3 years of racing experience under his belt. The sponsors we have are what makes Setser Racing a team. Not just the driver – it’s the people behind the scenes. We are extremely proud of Gunnar, but I think just as proud of the relationships that have been built and that we’ve maintained. Some of them for 20 plus years. Midwest Tube Mills, Rick and Lisa Russell, The Cure Starts Now Indiana Chapter, Integrated Racing Concepts (Bryan Wheeler), Keith Kunz Motorsports, Keizer Racing Wheels, Impact Racing, Hoosier Tires, Aviation Tax Consultants, Fatheadz Eyewear, and our crew including Steve Baker, Corey Cain and Mark Thompson," said Gunnar’s father, Jason.
Kunz approaching win record
There were seven different teams were victorious in USAC’s NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship during the 2020 season, and one of those team owners has elevated himself to within earshot of the all-time lead in the category of most all-time victories as an entrant.
Keith Kunz’s team won five times during the past season with Buddy Kofoid thrice and Cannon McIntosh twice, all of which came in a nine-race stretch late in the year.
Kunz, who earned his first series entrant victory with Page Jones as his driver at Kokomo Speedway in 1992, raised his overall total to 114 feature triumphs, which now stands just 19 behind Steve Lewis/Nine Racing’s record of 133 from 1979-2008. Both the Kunz and Lewis operations have won 10 USAC National Midget entrant championships, tied for the most all-time.
Kunz’s counterparts, Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, have, thus, risen up the all-time rankings to third and fourth in USAC National Midget entrant wins all-time. Mike Curb stands at 113 while Cary Agajanian possesses 99 victories himself. Curb earned his first 14 teamed up with Kasey Kahne Racing between 2006-10.
Corey Tucker entered the top-10 in all-time USAC National Midget entrant victories with a season-leading eight in 2020, forming one half of the series’ entrant champion, Tucker-Boat Motorsports, whose cars were driven to the championship by Chris Windom and to race wins by both Windom and Kyle Larson.
Boat, meanwhile, has elevated himself into the top-30 all-time in owner wins with 18. Clauson-Marshall Racing, who won the series championship in 2019 with driver Tyler Courtney, ranks inside the top-20 in wins, 19th overall with 27 scores.
Prior to the 2020 season, Brodie Hayward last reached USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory lane with Bryan Clauson as his driver in 2016, where they earned a pair of victories. This past year, Hayward tripled his tallies in the owner win column to six with four wins via driver Tanner Thorson.
RAMS Racing delivered yet another winning performance, their second all-time with the series, both of which came with driver Justin Grant.
Tom Malloy entered the winners’ ranks for the first time in his career with the series in 2020, three times in fact, after hiring on Thorson to wheel his ride for the final stretch of the campaign. RMS Racing joined the tide as well this past year, winning its first two series races with driver Thomas Meseraull.
In a comparison between the Kunz and Lewis teams in USAC National Midget competition, Christopher Bell has won more times (23) for Kunz than any other individual while Dave Darland owns the most victories for Lewis with 25. Darland, along with Page Jones, are also the only drivers to win USAC National Midget feature races for both Kunz and Lewis in his career.
Nineteen different drivers have won USAC National Midget feature events for Kunz: Bell (23), Rico Abreu (16), Kyle Larson (15), Tanner Thorson (13), Bryan Clauson (12), Jay Drake (7), Logan Seavey (6), Spencer Bayston (5), Buddy Kofoid (3), Cannon McIntosh (2), Cole Whitt (2), Darren Hagen (2), Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), Darland (1), Davey Ray (1), Jerry Coons Jr. (1), Kevin Swindell (1), Page Jones (1) and Tanner Carrick (1).
