Ray Harroun (Indy 500). George Washington (U.S. President). Gene Harley (USAC). They all have something in common – they were the first to win in their respective disciplines. During the 2020 USAC National season, there were a number of “firsts” in a variety of categories from on track to behind the scenes and for those who it was a “longtime coming” that we all cheered for this past year.
1. Finally! Meseraull Makes It To USAC Midget Victory Lane
Oct 29, 2020
In his two-plus decades of racing with USAC, one piece of the puzzle had been surprisingly absent from Thomas Meseraull’s resume – a NOS Energy Drink National Midget points-paying feature victory.
After many a close call throughout his career, Meseraull finally sealed the deal on Oct. 10 during Harvest Cup at Haubstadt, Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway, but once again for him, it didn’t come easy.
With an overheating engine and smoke pouring from the headers during the final laps, Meseraull became bottled up in traffic, then withstood a last lap, last corner surge from Tanner Thorson to win by a single car length at the line, with a margin of 0.119 sec. to spare.
While the San Jose, Calif. driver had previously won at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway in 2004 and at the Southern Illinois Center in 2018, both victories were non-championship, special events for USAC Midgets, making this a long-awaited night for Meseraull to mark his initial tally in the series’ win column after making 89 feature starts since his 1999 debut. Furthermore, he provided RMS Racing with its first ever USAC National Midget feature win in one fell swoop.
