Thomas Meseraull and Cannon McIntosh at the Chili Bowl, one year later

'TMez' will always offer a colorful quote, no matter the topic, whenever you ask

Walking down Main Street of the Tulsa Expo, Thomas Meseraull was focused on his next destination.

Maybe it was a parts vendor or perhaps lunch since this was the mid-afternoon track preparation session during Chili Bowl Midget Nationals practice day. Nevertheless, he took time to talk about his day so far and optimism for the Ford engine and Spike chassis combination he and Tim Engler have been refining the past three years.

“We should be much better,” Meseraull said. “We spent the year, you know, going through and making better changes with the motor. We have a new package here. It’s brand new as of DuQuoin so excited to get it here. DuQuoin is a smaller track so we couldn’t really utilize the power we’re making.

“But I feel like this is the year we break through.”

Then came the other part of the conversation, revisiting what happened last year when he and Cannon McIntosh literally collided in their B feature. Meseraull had just passed McIntosh, both drivers inside of the transfer, and then came the slider that knocked him out of the race.

McIntosh went on to transfer into the feature and Meseraull was ejected from the building. Meseraull had thrown his steering wheel out of the car when he was sprayed with fire suppressant. It was a misunderstanding, and he was allowed back in, but he was (and still is) frustrated with McIntosh.

“You know, that’s just part of this building and if you don’t come here to sell shirts and have fun, then you’re coming here for the wrong thing,” Meseraull said. “There are just so many cars here and it’s easy to get torn up.

“So, you just cross your fingers and hope you get through that kind of stuff. So yeah, if we have a lucky year and we get through all that stuff, we’re going to put her in the show this year.”

Measured, thoughtful and fair.

For his part, McIntosh said he finally watched that race back a year later because he just wanted to know what he could have done better. He led that race early and then fell back to where he felt he needed to push hard anyway.

At the time, because he had lost so many positions, he thought he was seventh or eighth, and needed to slide Meseraull for the transfer. But he was more focused on the technical whats of the car leading up to that incident.

“I think it was a combination of things,” McIntosh said. “It was also the first time (Jarrett Martin) and I worked together and now Keith (Kunz) is my crew chief and we have a whole different package that we’re on.

“If there’s something that I need, I feel like he’s quick to make an adjustment or if he sees something I’m doing wrong, he’s quick to tell me too. That’s a big benefit and we ran it all year and won races together doing it.”

So, back to Meseraull, was there any regret in the theatrics or all the things he said on camera about McIntosh?

Can’t drive Cannon McIntosh
Cannonball McIntosh

“Yeah, I mean, it’s tough when you just get yard-sailed with a hundred feet to go,” he said. “I didn’t see until I was crashing, so, you know, that’s just part of racing and you know, fuck Canon Macintosh sideways with a big black dildo.”

There went measured.

“He said, what,” McIntosh said with a laugh.

“Really.”

“That’s good to know,” he said, again, with a chuckle. “I’m here to win. I didn’t show up worried about everybody else so you can tell when you’re in someone’s head and they’re already worried about someone else, right.

“I came here with nothing else on my mind but winning the Chili Bowl, and I’m not on my game if I came here thinking about anything else.”

And who knows, maybe they will both meet again in the feature this year because both have the means, experience and programs. McIntosh has won three prelim nights and podiumed in the main event. Meseraull has 10 feature starts with a best finish of eighth.

“We’re not set out to do anything but lock in tomorrow and that’s our goal,” McIntosh said. “You know, even if we don’t, we want to transfer in and hopefully be in the B Main and get as far forward as possible.

“Especially with the main shortened to 40 laps, you’re going to want to start as far forward as possible so winning, running second on a prelim, that would be preferable, but getting as close to that as possible, that’s our goal.”

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