Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) celebrates his victory following Monday night’s 39th running of the Firemen’s Nationals at Sun Prairie, Wisconsin’s Angell Park Speedway. (David Nearpass Photo)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (September 2, 2024)………“I saw that trophy Zach (Wigal) was holding last night, and I was like, man, it would be nice to have one of those.”
When Cannon McIntosh hopped out of his car in victory lane following Monday night’s 39th Firemen’s Nationals, he embraced the moment, the opportunity, the check and the trophy that he had desired after finishing as the runner-up 24 hours earlier at Sun Prairie, Wisconsin’s Angell Park Speedway.
McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) seized the moment this time around, heisting the lead from Wigal, the previous night’s winner, on the second lap, then stormed to his first victory at the 1/3-mile dirt oval at the controls of his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Gear Wrench – TRD – Mobil 1/LynK/Speedway Toyota.
“Last night, we were so close,” McIntosh lamented. “I was running it with everything I had, and I felt like I got to (Wigal) there in traffic. He just got through a little bit better than me. But I was hungry for it tonight. Everyone I talked to before the race today, I told them I was going for it tonight, and that’s what we did. In qualifying, you want to be quick time but when you can qualify around the fifth or sixth spot, it’s huge because you get to start on the front row, and we just went all out from there. It definitely feels better to be back on the top step. Podiums are always great, but wins are amazing.”
Dating back to its inaugural edition in 1982, the Firemen’s Nationals features one of the most storied histories in all of midget racing. Boasting a list of past winners that includes eight inductees of the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame and 11 USAC National champions, McIntosh is grateful to be the latest name added to the list.
With that said, to even have his name attached to a USAC National Midget triumph at Angell Park, well, that’s pretty special for McIntosh.
“It means a lot,” McIntosh exclaimed. “Before this weekend, I was watching the highlights from when Jeff Gordon won here (in 1990). He went pretty much four above (the cushion) and that’s all I did tonight.”
Cannon’s latest win was his first in USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship competition since opening night in mid-May and was the eighth overall of his career with the series, which puts him in 84th place all-time alongside Brady Bacon, Merle Bettenhausen, Tony Bettenhausen, Hank Butcher, Kevin Doty, Dan Drinan, Ronnie Duman, Brian Gerster, Kenny Irwin Jr., Eddie Johnson, Michael Lewis, Andy Michner and Josh Wise.
During the heat races, Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports had foreshadowed their prowess across the board on this particular evening, with KKM drivers Gavin Miller, Ryan Timms and Kale Drake winning each of the three heat races. Not to be left out or undeterred, McIntosh and car owner Keith Kunz formulated a familiar plan of attack for the main event.
“Keith and I just thought really hard about what we were going to do, and I gave my input on what I was comfortable with after qualifying and the heat race,” McIntosh relayed. “We just went back to what we did last night. We had done something different in the heat race and we were still good, but with the track work, we went with our gut, and it worked.”
McIntosh started the 30-lap feature from the outside of the front row beside pole sitter Thomas Meseraull. However, it was last night’s winner, third-starting Wigal, who surged to the front on the opening lap when he scooted along the bottom of turns three and four to take over where he left off from the night before. Nonetheless, the tables were turned on the second go-around when Wigal entered turn three high, leaving an open path on the bottom for McIntosh to breeze on by and assume the lead.
Meanwhile, deep into the field, Logan Seavey was relegated to starting at the back of the pack after a broken pump drive shaft prevented him from recording a qualifying lap. Starting 22nd in the feature, Seavey had advanced five positions up to 17th by lap four but was contacted in the rear bumper by Frankie Guerrini in turn four, sending Seavey spinning backwards into the outside wall, albeit with light contact. Restarting at the tail once more, Seavey ultimately advanced +15 to finish seventh to earn both hard charger and Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night honors.
One lap following the resumption of the race, fifth running Meseraull biked on his entry into turn three, then broadsided the wall, which sent him helicoptering through the air multiple times before landing upside down. Meseraull eventually walked away after the accident, but his heavily damaged ride was towed to the pits with him still sitting in the seat, but officially out of the race.
While McIntosh was busy applying the gauntlet on the field to the tune of 1.6 seconds on the ensuing restart, Zach Wigal, Justin Grant and Daison Pursley were running three-wide for second. On the sixth circuit, Pursley slotted ahead of both drivers in a fourth-to-second grab-and-go on the back straight. Wigal, meanwhile, held on with all his might as he half-spun in turn three right in front of Grant, but kept on motoring, still in third, but a long way from the front where McIntosh had established control.
The night’s second and final red flag occurred on lap 11 when Frankie Guerrini (15th) cartwheeled four times at the exit of turn four. After the nasty tumble, Guerrini was able to walk away from the wreckage.
From halfway on, McIntosh was continuously hounded for the lead by Pursley who could never seem to get within a couple car lengths from the rear bumper of McIntosh. As the top two entered the tail end of the field with seven laps remaining, McIntosh nearly sailed it a little too high in turn four on lap 24, coming within a whisker of nailing the concrete. But it was no harm, no foul as McIntosh rooster-tailed the wall and raced away from Pursley once more, maintaining a 1/2-second lead in the process.
“I feel like the car was really good as the race went on and it actually got a little bit tighter as it went on,” McIntosh explained. “I was worried we’d get too free throughout the middle of the race, but the car just came to life as the fuel load kept burning off. I was just watching the laps click off and I saw Daison poke a nose about halfway and I knew I had to give it all from there. I just kept running hard and I didn’t really know what line he was running. Keith (Kunz) said he was keeping it up all the way around, but I stayed with the line I was running. I felt like it was good, and it obviously worked.”
All in all, McIntosh couldn’t be touched down the stretch as he closed out a 0.554 second margin of victory over runner-up Daison Pursley with Zach Wigal third, Ryan Timms fourth and Justin Grant rounding out the top-five.
Prior to the weekend, Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) had made three career USAC National Midget starts at Angell Park. Those results came in the form of an 8th, 9th and 7th. One night earlier, he came home fifth, but in the weekend finale, he improved to second in his CB Industries/PristineAuction.com – NOS Energy Drink – TRD/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“Our car was good tonight, and I felt like I had to try too many lines late in the race to try and catch Cannon because he was just fast enough in three and four where I couldn’t really gain on him or capitalize on one of his mistakes,” Pursley stated. “It’s just part of midget racing with how fast everybody is right now, but overall, it was a good weekend for the team.”
It was a career best weekend for Zach Wigal (Belpre, Ohio). After winning his first career USAC National Midget feature on Sunday night, Wigal finished his first Firemen’s Nationals experience with back-to-back podiums. On Monday night, he raced to a third place result at the wheel of his CB Industries/Dave Knost Auto Outlet – S2 Cyber Security/Spike/Speedway Toyota. His 1st and 3rd finishes on back-to-back nights now stand as the two best USAC National Midget performances of his young career so far.
“(Car owner) Chad (Boat) had the car super hooked up and we were digging,” Wigal recalled. “It was a super technical track. It’s just super awesome that somebody with as little experience as me can come out and run with the best of the best.”
To begin the night, Pursley earned his sixth career USAC National Midget Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifying time. That tied him for 94th on the all-time list along with several drivers. Among them is his car owner, Chad Boat.
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 2, 2024 – Angell Park Speedway – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – 39th Firemen’s Nationals
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-14.617; 2. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-14.813; 3. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.813; 4. Zach Wigal, 89, CBI-14.840; 5. Rylan Gray, 87, RMS-14.852; 6. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.866; 7. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, Engler-14.867; 8. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-14.871; 9. Chase McDermand, 40, McDermand-14.874; 10. Jade Avedisian, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.921; 11. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.957; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-14.957; 13. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.963; 14. Zach Daum, 16, Royal-14.995; 15. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-15.030; 16. Jakeb Boxell, 44, 4 Kings-15.163; 17. Will Armitage, 83, Fatt Right Foot-15.166; 18. Mariah Ede, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.167; 19. Frankie Guerrini, 8, Cornell-15.231; 20. Ricky Lewis, 4, 4 Kings-15.248; 21. Adam Taylor, 7T, ATM-15.592; 22. Cameron Weishoff, 55, Weishoff-16.356; 23. Daniel Whitley, 57A, RAB-NT; 24. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Gavin Miller, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Zach Wigal, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Jakeb Boxell, 6. Frankie Guerrini, 7. Cameron Weishoff, 8. Jade Avedisian. NT
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Ryan Timms, 2. Zach Daum, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Will Armitage, 6. Jacob Denney, 7. Rylan Gray, 8. Ricky Lewis. 2:04.262
T.J. FORGED / CAR IQ THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Kale Drake, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Mariah Ede, 6. Adam Taylor, 7. Chase McDermand, 8. Daniel Whitley. 2:04.108
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cannon McIntosh (2), 2. Daison Pursley (6), 3. Zach Wigal (3), 4. Ryan Timms (7), 5. Justin Grant (5), 6. Jacob Denney (10), 7. Logan Seavey (22), 8. Kale Drake (4), 9. Gavin Miller (8), 10. Chase McDermand (11), 11. Zach Daum (14), 12. Jade Avedisian (12), 13. Mariah Ede (18), 14. Rylan Gray (9), 15. Jakeb Boxell (16), 16. Will Armitage (17), 17. Adam Taylor (20), 18. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 19. Cameron Weishoff (21), 20. Frankie Guerrini (19), 21. Ethan Mitchell (15), 22. Daniel Whitley (23), 23. Thomas Meseraull (1). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Zach Wigal, Laps 2-30 Cannon McIntosh.
**Thomas Meseraull flipped on lap 5 of the feature. Frankie Guerrini flipped on lap 11 of the feature.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-985, 2-Cannon McIntosh-934, 3-Ryan Timms-876, 4-Zach Daum-826, 5-Logan Seavey-812, 6-Justin Grant-778, 7-Jacob Denney-774, 8-Gavin Miller-752, 9-Kale Drake-704, 10-Zach Wigal-688.
USAC NATIONAL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-176, 2-Logan Seavey-165, 3-Robert Ballou-135, 4-C.J. Leary-113, 5-Kyle Cummins-113, 6-Justin Grant-111, 7-Chase Stockon-109, 8-Brady Bacon-104, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-96, 10-Joey Amantea-92.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: September 20-21, 2024 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – 4-Crown Nationals
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Daniel Whitley
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Daison Pursley (14.617)
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Gavin Miller
Rod End Supply Second Heat Winner: Ryan Timms
T.J. Forged / Car IQ Third Heat Winner: Kale Drake
Hard Charger: Logan Seavey (22nd to 7th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Logan Seavey
