CONCORD, N.C. — With two races left on the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota schedule, Fri–Sat, Oct. 4–5 at Jacksonville Speedway, Cannon McIntosh and Ryan Timms are ready to settle the score.
The two teammates at Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports are vying for their first career national Midget series championships and are currently separated by 133 points in the standings.
McIntosh, 21, of Bixby, Okla., has led the points standings nearly the entire season and also tops the win column with six feature wins in 20 starts. He’s been the most consistent driver on tour throughout the year with 19 top-five finishes (18 consecutive), no DNFs and a worst finish of sixth (Aug. 2 at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55).
Timms, 18, of Oklahoma City, Okla., currently sits second in the standings and will need to surpass the 133-point gap to take the championship from McIntosh over the final two races. He’s compiled three Feature wins so far this year and amassed 15 top fives and 18 top-10 finishes in 20 starts.
In addition to their first championships as drivers, McIntosh and Timms are aiming to bring an 18th national midget series championship (12 with USAC, four with POWRi, two with Xtreme) home for team co-owners Keith Kunz and Pete Willoughby. KKM won the 2023 Xtreme Outlaw Series championship with driver Jade Avedisian, which will make the Columbus, Ind.-based team the first in Series history to win back-to-back championships.
Both growing up around the Oklahoma micro sprint scene, McIntosh and Timms were familiar with each other in their first years on the dirt, racing at Micro hotbeds Port City Raceway and I-44 Riverside Speedway. Now, they’re teammates competing against each other for their first national dirt track racing championship.
While they took different paths to become teammates in 2024, they’ve earned each other’s respect along the way.
“I remember watching [Timms] and seeing that he was gonna be good,” McIntosh said. “His dad was a big part of our team. They were a big sponsor for us and helped us a lot. He drove our midget for a bit actually, and then made the transition over to CB Industries, and now KKM. He’s developed really well; he’s done a good job. He races hard, and I feel like he and I have raced back-and-forth plenty and never really had any problems with each other. We both give each other the respect that we deserve.”
“When I was in the micros, I was in the lower classes just because I was a lot younger, but we grew up racing at the same tracks as one another and some of the same races,” Timms said. “I remember watching midget racing when I was still in micros and Cannon was running for his dad. He’s been in it for a while now and he’s got a lot of midget laps under his belt. He’s a tough guy to compete with, but I feel like we help one another and push each other to be better every night. I enjoy racing with him, and I’ve enjoyed this whole season so far.”
McIntosh has been through championship-clinching situations in the past, most recently in 2023 when he battled eventual champion Jade Avedisian through the final three races of the season in Oklahoma. Though the sting of the defeat still lingers in his memory, McIntosh made big changes to his career this year — rejoining KKM in January for the first time since 2021 — and said 2024 has been among the most comfortable seasons he’s ever had in the national midget ranks.
“We were good right off the bat, but I feel like there was still a lot for me to do to get to the point where I was just really comfortable in the car and everything was flowing nice and Keith (Kunz, crew chief) and I were fully trusting each other,” McIntosh said. “It’s really gotten better every weekend we’ve raced.
“We just ran Eldora, and I feel like we were as confident as ever and as good as we’ve ever been. It’s just been flowing really nice.”
This year, McIntosh set a new Series record of 18 consecutive top-five finishes. From the season opener inside the Southern Illinois Center until the first night of the Ironman 55weekend at I-55 in August, he finished inside the top five in every Xtreme Outlaw Series main event. Never before in his career has he strung together such consistency, now seven years into his midget career.
“It’s taken time to learn and get better together, because this stuff doesn’t happen overnight,” McIntosh said. “It’s just taken time to build, and we at least had really good runs while we were still doing that. I’m definitely happy with where we’re at.”
McIntosh has also taken a leap in racing discipline this year, evident by his DNF-less season (recorded four in 2023) and change of mindset.
“I think you’ve got to look at the big picture,” McIntosh said. “All the way from the beginning, if you’re not in contention to win every single night, you gotta take those fourths and fifth and just go to the next weekend and fight again. Winning one night and running ninth the next night is just not going to do it. I feel like we’ve been very aware of that, and just known the goal all year.”
Timms has had a strong season as well, tying his personal best for wins in a season at three. He’s been trailing McIntosh by 133 points since early August but has not been able to close the gap due to the rain-related cancelations of the last seven Series events. However, he said he doesn’t hold the rain solely responsible for that gap, as the two 12th-place finishes (Southern Illinois, Millbridge) showing in his results did cost him valuable points in the standings.
“This year has definitely been the most comfortable and confident I’ve been in a midget,” Timms said. “It really sucks having seven rainouts; that definitely makes it much tougher to get the top spot. But I’ve felt really good all year. I can remember times when I was running top five and would overdrive it or get in the cushion too hard, take myself out or have to restart at the back, or just have bad luck.”