BELOIT, Kan. — It had been nearly nine years since the last occasion of an Arizona native becoming a first-time USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature winner.
On Wednesday night, the last and the newest Arizonans to grab a victory with the series were standing side-by-side in victory lane as the winning driver and car owner following the 14th running of the Chad McDaniel Memorial at the Mitchell County Fairgrounds.
The driver, Drake Edwards, took the lead on the second lap and paced the remaining 29 circuits at the wheel of his car owned by Chad Boat to capture victory in Wednesday’s second round of Mid-America Midget Week.
As a driver himself, Boat became a first-time winner with the series in August of 2016. Interestingly, Boat also scored his first victory during Mid-America Midget Week in neighboring Nebraska at Fairbury’s Jefferson County Speedway.
For Boat, it was his 45th career series win as a USAC National Midget car owner, tying him with USAC Hall of Famers Bob & Gene Shannon, who tallied 45 victories between 1958-1976.
As for Edwards, it was his first after he had been knocking on the door for victory throughout his initial full-time season with the series, finishing third twice at Sweet Springs and Kokomo, a race in which he led a race-high 13 laps.
But on Wednesday night, the 2024 USAC Western States Midget series runner-up and Rookie of the Year made his mark on the national scene and stamped his name in the record books in just his 23rd career USAC National Midget feature start.
“I was really worried about taking all year long or not even getting (a win) at all,” Edwards stated. “This is a really, really hard deal and all these guys are really good. It’s been a learning curve, for sure. I think it’s huge. Just for me, it’s a confidence booster. I think we can carry this momentum onto the rest of the week and hopefully the rest of the year and maybe pick up a few more of these things.”
Edwards sported the No. 83 on his ride, which won its first USAC National Midget feature in nearly 47 seasons. Bobby Olivero was the most recent, taking Bill Raney’s No. 83 to the win on August 12, 1978 at Ohio’s Limaland Motor Speedway.
Lining up on the pole in his CB Industries/Avanti Windows & Doors – PristineAuction.com/Spike/Speedway Toyota, Edwards initially endured a rough go on the start, momentarily dropping to fifth as the field hit turn three for the first time behind Justin Grant, Cannon McIntosh, Logan Seavey and Daison Pursley.
However, just ahead of Edwards’ nose, McIntosh and Pursley collided, sending Pursley sliding up to the middle of the track with the wheels locked up and forcing him to a halt. Jeff Stasa, running 22nd, also got collected in the ordeal after contact with the stopped Pursley.
On the second try at a restart, Grant got the upper hand once again from his outside front row starting position to lead the opening lap by a wheel over Edwards. That said, Edwards was in a much better spot this time to pounce on his CBI teammate, sliding into the lead in turn one. In turn three, Grant retaliated by sliding past Edwards, but Edwards succinctly answered by cutting back under Grant to lead lap two by a pair of car lengths.
Rising to the occasion early was sixth starting Logan Seavey who zipped around the outside of Grant for the second spot on the back straight on lap eight. McIntosh, winner of the last two series races, followed suit and surged underneath Grant in turn four to grab third a half lap later.
By lap eight, Edwards’ lead had expanded to well over a second. However, a turn three excursion and bike on the cushion nearly cost him as Seavey reeled himself to within a car length of Edwards’ back bumper. Moments later, Mack Leopard found trouble in the same spot and slipped all the way over the turn three and four cushion before coming to a rest to bring out the yellow flag.
The night’s only red flag was displayed on lap 14 as 17th running Kyle Jones toppled over in turn two.
Down the stretch, Edwards retained full control as he built his lead up to over a second while working through lapped traffic. On the flipside, Seavey’s encounter with traffic didn’t work out as kindly.
As Seavey attempted to slide Ethan Mitchell in turn two, he couldn’t quite complete the slider attempt, instead falling in line behind Mitchell.
McIntosh, with a full allotment of momentum, raced under Seavey on the back stretch for third. Jacob Denney followed McIntosh’s path and charged around Seavey in turns one and two on the 29th go around to take third.
Up front, the story was Edwards, albeit in a line of traffic. After a close call with the 15th place running car of Brecken Reese on the final corner, with the two making slight bumper-to-bumper contact, Edwards ultimately prevailed by a 0.655-second margin ahead of runner-up McIntosh while Jacob Denney took third. Seavey and Grant completed the top five.
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Mitchell County Fairgrounds, Beloit, Kan., July 9, 2025
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.332; 2. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.377; 3. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.421; 4. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-12.446; 5. Justin Grant, 87, CBI-12.475; 6. Drake Edwards, 83, CBI-12.502; 7. Mack Leopard, 86x, CBI-12.544; 8. Jacob Denney, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.557; 9. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.582; 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-12.603; 11. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold-Underwood-12.604; 12. Steven Snyder Jr., 4, RMS-12.610; 13. Chelby Hinton, 4B, Klatt-12.623; 14. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.630; 15. Gunnar Setser, 43, Arnold-12.649; 16. Kyle Jones, 27x, Joyner-12.656; 17. Brecken Reese, 00, Chandler-12.755; 18. Zack Merritt, 43m, Oerter-12.765; 19. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-12.805; 20. Mark Chisholm, 56x, Chisholm-13.022; 21. Trey Zorn, 00s, Chandler-13.027; 22. Jeff Stasa, 91, Stasa-13.106; 23. Caiden Warren, 12w, Warren-13.300; 24. Blake Spicer, 4s, Spicer-13.534; 25. Dylan Doyle, 37, Doyle-13.975; 26. Shaun Shapel, 84s, Shapel-NT.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chelby Hinton, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Mack Leopard, 4. Kyle Jones, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Cale Coons, 8. Jeff Stasa, 9. Dylan Doyle. NT
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Kale Drake, 2. Gavin Miller, 3. Jacob Denney, 4. Hayden Reinbold, 5. Brecken Reese, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Mark Chisholm, 8. Caiden Warren, 9. Shaun Shapel. NT
USACGEAR.COM THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Steven Snyder Jr., 2. Gunnar Setser, 3. Drake Edwards, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Trey Zorn, 7. Zack Merritt, 8. Blake Spicer. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Cale Coons, 2. Zack Merritt, 3. Jeff Stasa, 4. Mark Chisholm, 5. Blake Spicer, 6. Caiden Warren, 7. Dylan Doyle, 8. Shaun Shapel. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Drake Edwards (1), 2. Cannon McIntosh (4), 3. Jacob Denney (11), 4. Logan Seavey (6), 5. Justin Grant (2), 6. Kale Drake (9), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 8. Gavin Miller (5), 9. Daison Pursley (3), 10. Chelby Hinton (8), 11. Hayden Reinbold (14), 12. Steven Snyder Jr. (7), 13. Cale Coons (19), 14. Gunnar Setser (15), 15. Brecken Reese (17), 16. Ethan Mitchell (12), 17. Zack Merritt (18), 18. Caiden Warren (23), 19. Trey Zorn (21), 20. Mark Chisholm (20), 21. Kyle Jones (16), 22. Mack Leopard (10), 23. Blake Spicer (24), 24. Jeff Stasa (22). NT
