Before moving to North Carolina, Ken Colf’s love for racing was born in New York, watching local heroes like “Barefoot Bob” McCreadie and Tim McCreadie compete around the Northeast.
World Short Track Championship at The Dirt Track at Charlotte allows him to take that passion to the next level and be a local hero on the other side of the fence fans in the stands cheer for.
He’ll compete in the event for the seventh straight year with the DIRTVision Hornet division, which regularly attracts 70 or more entries. It’s not something he ever imagined doing as a young race fan, but World Short Track is an event he’ll never miss.
The event was built for drivers like Colf. It doesn’t matter if you’re a national star, a regional champion, or an every-now-and-then racer, World Short Track Championship – celebrating its 10th anniversary this year – puts them all equally on the highest pedestal for one weekend.
“Just the prestige of the track in general. It’s The Dirt Track at Charlotte,” Colf said. “I had never raced a car before. When I ran my first race, it was at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. I just full sent it. Built the car in three months and was like, ‘OK, this is going to be our first time racing. We’ll go to Charlotte and race.’ It’s Charlotte… I think that’s why a lot of people want to go there. It’s like man, that’s the Charlotte dirt track. When am I ever going to have a chance to do this again?”
His racing career started with a couple of friends getting him into dirt go-karts. He did that for a few years before taking a break from racing. But when he saw the World Short Track Championship for the first time with his wife, Janelle, the spark to race returned.
“If anything, it’s one thing Janelle and I talk about, she says, ‘You’re going to run World Short Track. If anything, if we can’t do anything else, you’re going to run World Short Track,’” Ken said. “Always on the list.”
While his first time competing in the event may not be a highlight on the stats sheet, the experience created a moment Colf will never forget.
“Oh man, it was a bunch of nerves, because, one, you were hoping the car stays together,” he said. “I was super nervous about that. But once you took that first lap, it was all joy. For me, it was so exciting. It was fun. Granted, I didn’t have the car to come close to winning, I think I got lapped twice, but it was just the rush of doing it. I think I was sweating. But once you did it, it was like, bam, it was so much fun. I think I have a picture of me coming off track, coming back to my trailer with one of the biggest grins on my face. It was so exciting and so much fun.”
Since then, his joy also turned into success with multiple top-10 finishes, including five top-10 finishes and one top five, in his last six races at The Dirt Track with his No. 15 Honda Civic Si. Like his heroes from New York, the success also awarded him his own nickname – “Top-10 Ken.”
“I think Rick (Eshelman) came up with the nickname, and it stuck with everybody, so I was like, I’ll take it,” Colf said with a chuckle. “But I don’t like gloating or anything like that. It could be Top-20 Ken and that would still be fine.”
Colf will join more than 400 other drivers for the 10th World Short Track Championship, Oct. 31-Nov. 1, who get to spend the weekend as the heroes of the event. But you’ll also catch him doing what he first fell in love with in New York… just watching as a fan.
For the event schedule and tickets to World Short Track Championship, visit dirtcar.com/worldshorttrack.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch every lap live on DIRTVision.
