DON MEACHAM, NATIONAL MIDGET HALL OF FAMER, PASSES AWAY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (February 24, 2021)………Don Meacham, a 2013 inductee into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame, and a 13-time winner in USAC National Midget competition who finished 3rd in the 1966 series point standings, passed away Feb. 22, 2021. He was 84 years old.
The Fresno, California native began his career in the late 1950s in California in hard tops before making the transition to midget racing in the early 1960s where he competed regularly with the Bay Cities Racing Association and regionally with USAC when the series traveled west.
Following his father’s death in 1964, Meacham moved to the Midwest where he took on the USAC National Midget trail full-time, winning twice in that initial season, first at Springfield (Ill.) Speedway for the Saeman-Grabow team, then once more at Peoria (Ill.) Speedway for car owner Barney Flynn, ultimately finishing 10th in the final standings.
It was 1966, however, that proved to be the breakout year for Meacham after pairing with car owner Myron Caves. The combo won a series-leading nine USAC National Midget feature events at Indiana’s Muncie Speedway, as well as at the Illinois tracks of Santa Fe Speedway, Bob-Jo Speedway, Tri-City Speedway and both ends of Twin-50-lap events at Fairbury.
Meacham also reigned supreme in ‘66 on his 30th birthday at Pan American Speedway in San Antonio, Texas, at the Allentown Fairgrounds in Pennsylvania, and closed out with a triumph at his home track, Kearney Bowl in his native Fresno, Calif.
That put him in title contention and within striking distance of eventual champ Mike McGreevy and Mel Kenyon all throughout the season before ultimately finishing a close third in the standings, just 42 points out of first place.
The following year of 1967 was another successful campaign for Meacham with USAC where he finished 5th in the standings and notched another score at Michigan’s Flat Rock Speedway.
However, it was late in the 1967 season where Meacham truly pulled off a remarkable feat. On Sept. 3 at Florence, Ky., Meacham was hit in the face by a rock during the feature race, breaking his cheekbone and jawbone. Literally seven days later, Meacham showed his true grit with a grand comeback, setting fast time in qualifying and finishing 6th in the feature at the Kentucky State Fairgrounds.
Meacham won once more, and for the final time, with the USAC Midgets in 1968 at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway for owner Harry Turner. That same season, he made his lone USAC National Championship start, finishing 17th at Sacramento for Ernie Ruiz.
Meacham also became a star down under following his midget racing exploits in Australia and New Zealand in 1967 & 1968 alongside fellow Americans and USAC regulars Bob Tattersall and Billy Mehner. Meacham was victorious in 14 of the 17 races he competed in, winning the Australian/New Zealand World Championship Race.
He made a handful of USAC starts in the following years, regularly appearing in USAC’s National Midget point standings between 1961 and 1971. For many of those years, Meacham was noted as acting as his own chief mechanic and engine builder. A veteran of the United States Air Force prior to his racing career, after hanging up the helmet on his racing ventures, Meacham began an orthopedic business.