Zach Wigal (Belpre, Ohio) celebrates his first career USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship victory following the opening night of the 39th running of the Firemen's Nationals on Sunday at Sun Prairie, Wisconsin's Angell Park Speedway. (David Nearpass Photo) (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (September 1, 2024)………”Some kids dream of winning the Super Bowl or the NBA Finals, but my dream is to be standing here.”
Zach Wigal’s dream came true on Sunday during the opening night of the 39th running of the Firemen’s Nationals at Sun Prairie, Wisconsin’s Angell Park Speedway.
For the 17-year-old Belpre, Ohio native, it was his first career USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature victory. In doing so, he became the seventh driver to win his first USAC National Midget feature at Angell Park, joining an outstanding group that includes Rich Vogler (1972), Dan Boorse (1987), Scott Hatton (2005), Ryan Durst (2006), Michael Pickens (2007) and Rico Abreu (2013).
But for Wigal, it represented even more. Moments prior to strapping in for the USAC Midget feature aboard his CB Industries/Dave Knost Auto Outlet – S2 Cyber Security/Spike/Speedway Toyota, Wigal had lost the lead during the final laps of the accompanying Badger Midget Auto Racing Association Midget feature, leaving him with a sour taste, but also with a little bit of redemption to take care of.
As it turned out, the Badger feature did more than simply add fuel to the fire and desire that was already burning within Wigal. It also showed him the fastest path to take around the 1/3-mile dirt oval, something that 22 of the 24 drivers in the USAC field didn’t have the advantage of knowing by running double-duty. Wigal and Brandon Waelti were the lone two to compete in both feature events.
“The Badger race helped a lot,” Wigal admitted. “The bottom went away during the Badger race, so I knew that before everybody else, which helped a lot. I’m just so thankful that (car owner) Chad (Boat) gave me such a nice car and (sponsor) Dave Knost gave me the opportunity to live my dream.”
Wigal’s recent growing pains had seemingly signaled that he was on the verge of this special moment. All that was required for the 2023 USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget champion was to put together a clean and green run to the distance.
For example, during July’s Mid-America Midget Week, Wigal was arguably in a position to win on three different occasions. At Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Raceway, he spun while running fourth. The following evening at Kansas’ Mitchell County Fairgrounds, he was the fastest qualifier and was running third in the feature when he spun to a halt. In the ensuing race two nights later, he led the initial 18 laps and held a healthy lead when he jumped the cushion and promptly fell all the way back to 12th.
This time around at Angell Park, Wigal was picture perfect for all 30 laps. Starting third, he challenged patiently as two drivers with brand new monarchial-themed teams paced the field for the first four laps. Outside front row starter Kevin Thomas Jr., making his debut for 4 Kings Racing, swiped the opening lap lead before pole sitter Zach Daum, also in his debut for the Royal Power Sports outfit, slid underneath Thomas in turns one and two to rip the lead away on the second go-around.
Meanwhile, Wigal took to the topside, where he had just been beaten minutes earlier in the Badget Midget main event. He used the high line to zip around the outside of Thomas in turn four on lap three to slot into the second position.
On lap five, Wigal stayed true to the upper groove and tracked down Daum in a hurry before hustling around the outside of him in turns three and four to corral the spot. By the time 18th running Jakeb Boxell coasted to a stop on the back straight on lap seven with a broken rocker arm, Wigal had shuffled away to a 1.27 second advantage before the caution. Cannon McIntosh took advantage of the lap eight restart to advance past Daum for the second spot on the low side of turn three.
The name of the game down the stretch was lapped traffic as Wigal held steady up front with a 1.4 second lead, which McIntosh succinctly cut in half with less than five laps remaining. At that point, Wigal had a tricky trek to navigate as he encountered the cars of Rylan Gray, Kevin Thomas Jr. and Kale Drake, all of whom occupied spots at the tail end of the lead lap.
After a slight blip that allowed McIntosh to edge minutely closer to Wigal’s No. 89, McIntosh also had his share of two and three-wide lapped traffic to navigate. But in the end, Wigal managed to separate himself from McIntosh by virtue of a lapped car in between the pair on the white flag lap.
From there, it was all gravy for Wigal as he pumped his fist outside of the cockpit as he neared the finish line, where he crossed 0.672 seconds ahead of McIntosh to become the first first-time winner of the 2024 USAC National Midget season. Logan Seavey finished third with Zach Daum fourth and series point leader Daison Pursley in fifth.
Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) has now finished 2nd, 3rd and 2nd in his three most recent USAC National Midget starts at the wheel of his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Gear Wrench – TRD – Mobil 1/LynK/Speedway Toyota. He finished as the runner-up tonight with his best Angell Park result to date after previously finishing a best of 8th in 2023.
“I feel like I’ve always had really good speed here,” McIntosh explained. “It all starts with having a really good racecar, and right out of the gate, we had one. It really just comes down to me in the seat to go execute for 30 laps. I feel like I fired off right away and started right behind Zach. Obviously, he had a good pace, and I didn’t get cleared as quickly as he did, but still feel like I got through quickly. I was just holding it wide open there and trying to run him down. I was getting tight a couple times there through the middle of the race and adjusted my line. That’s when I started to run him down. I didn’t have much brake, so I just had to figure out how to drive it and just keep running it harder. That’s when I was able to start catching him.”
Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) opened his night as the Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier for the 18th time in his USAC National Midget career, moving him past Dave Steele and Mike Streicher for sole possession of 29th place all-time. The defending Firemen’s Nationals champion’s return to a third-place finish to close out the night was a welcome return of sorts after the team had finished 16th or worse in three of its last four starts with their Abacus Racing/CG CPAs – Indy Custom Stone – MPV Express/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
“It was nice just to have a smooth night at a place I like coming to,” a relieved Seavey sighed. “I just needed to be a touch better there, but obviously, it was a good start to the day. I got off and qualified well and got through my heat race well. I just needed to be a little better against the ledge in turns one and two. I didn’t really know where to be in three and four, so I kind of moved all over the racetrack. I felt I didn’t feel like I could gain. No matter what I did, I feel like I stayed even, then they’d get away from a little bit in traffic. Overall, it was a good, consistent night for us and nice to have everything go smoothly.”
In his first start for Cornell Racing Stables, Frankie Guerrini (San Rafael, Calif.) made the biggest moves in the feature at the wheel of his Behling Racing Equipment – Signs of Life Graphics/Triple X/Stanton SR-11x. In all, Guerrini went +8 after starting 22nd and finishing 14th to earn hard charger honors.
“It was definitely a good ending to kind of a hard start of a night,” Guerrini acknowledged. “I put us behind in qualifying and that kind of hurts your whole night. Thanks to (car owner) Curt (Cornell) and the guys. They got it tuned up pretty good for the feature and it wasn’t too bad there.”
Wigal's move to win his first career USAC National Midget feature was swift and decisive. For that, he also earned accolades with the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 1, 2024 – Angell Park Speedway – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – 39th Firemen’s Nationals
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-14.427; 2. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.606; 3. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.697; 4. Zach Wigal, 89, CBI-14.698; 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-14.729; 6. Zach Daum, 16, Royal-14.740; 7. Jade Avedisian, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.789; 8. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-14.792; 9. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.805; 10. Chase McDermand, 40, McDermand-14.849; 11. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-14.857; 12. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, Engler-14.878; 13. Mariah Ede, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.910; 14. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-14.945; 15. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-14.953; 16. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.007; 17. Rylan Gray, 87, RMS-15.058; 18. Ricky Lewis, 4, 4 Kings-15.118; 19. Jakeb Boxell, 44, 4Kings-15.200; 20. Will Armitage, 83, Fatt Right Foot-15.211; 21. Adam Taylor, 7T, ATM-15.531; 22. Frankie Guerrini, 8, Cornell-15.549; 23. Brandon Waelti, 3w, Waelti-15.573; 24. Cameron Weishoff, 55, Weishoff-16.312.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Jade Avedisian, 2. Kale Drake, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Chase McDermand, 5. Zach Wigal, 6. Mariah Ede, 7. Frankie Guerrini. 1:59:52 (New Track Record)
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Rylan Gray, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Cannon McIntosh, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Brandon Waelti, 8. Will Armitage. 2:01.136
T.J. FORGED / CAR IQ THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Ryan Timms, 2. Zach Daum, 3. Ricky Lewis, 4. Jacob Denney, 5. Gavin Miller, 6. Adam Taylor, 7. Cameron Weishoff, 8. Thomas Meseraull. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Zach Wigal (3), 2. Cannon McIntosh (5), 3. Logan Seavey (6), 4. Zach Daum (1), 5. Daison Pursley (9), 6. Ryan Timms (8), 7. Gavin Miller (4), 8. Jacob Denney (15), 9. Jade Avedisian (7), 10. Justin Grant (10), 11. Kale Drake (16), 12. Rylan Gray (17), 13. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 14. Frankie Guerrini (22), 15. Thomas Meseraull (12), 16. Ethan Mitchell (14), 17. Ricky Lewis (18), 18. Mariah Ede (13), 19. Adam Taylor (21), 20. Brandon Waelti (23), 21. Cameron Weishoff (24), 22. Chase McDermand (11), 23. Jakeb Boxell (19), 24. Will Armitage (20). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 2-4 Zach Daum, Laps 5-30 Zach Wigal.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-905, 2-Cannon McIntosh-856, 3-Ryan Timms-807, 4-Zach Daum-778, 5-Logan Seavey-754, 6-Jacob Denney-716, 7-Justin Grant-710, 8-Gavin Miller-698, 9-Kale Drake-643, 10-Zach Wigal-615.
USAC NATIONAL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-172, 2-Logan Seavey-150, 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 RACE: September 2, 2024 – Angell Park Speedway – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – 39th Firemen’s Nationals
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Zach Wigal (14.604)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey (14.427)
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Jade Avedisian
Rod End Supply Second Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
T.J. Forged / Car IQ Third Heat Winner: Ryan Timms
Hard Charger: Frankie Guerrini (22nd to 14th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Zach Wigal