From Dick Jordan,
USAC

FT. WAYNE, Ind. –December 30, 2006- Second verse, same as the first.

Well, not exactly, but USAC “Triple Crown” winner Tony Stewart did what many of the sellout crowd wanted – win Saturday night at the Ft. Wayne Memorial Coliseum. And just like he did in Friday’s campaign, he battled from midpack to take the point early.

On Saturday, he started ninth, one spot behind where he was Friday, but it took him one less lap to get to the front. He stayed in eighth after the first lap, then picked off four cars on the second and was past Rich Corson – whom he took the lead from Friday – on Lap 7 on the inside of Turn 2 and ran away.

Without any hesitation, it may also be noted.

In fact, Stewart’s position was never in question. After taking the lead, he put a straightaway between his No. 2 Our Gang Poker Club Munchkin/VW and that of Corson’s Stealth/Fontana by Lap 10. Within three more laps, the Rushville, Ind. native had begun lapping the tail end of the field, and had half the field lapped by Lap 25.

His job was made interesting, however, when the event’s third caution came out for Arin McIntosh’s stalled car. The field was bunched together, and with crafty work of the slower cars, Corson – a Rumble in Ft. Wayne winner in 2004 – was able to close to within inches of Stewart’s car.

But Stewart made no mistake about who was king Saturday. He pulled away to more than double digit car lengths after only two laps of green, then preceded to lap other cars additional times before an incident on Lap 52, which he spun Mike Fedorcak around in Turn 4.

Ironically, it was Fedorcak whom Stewart had purchased the Munchkin from in 2004 at a annual poker party. Stewart had also claimed to be Fedorcak’s assumed son, going under the pseudonym Mikey Fedorcak Jr.

Stewart was never challenged on the restart, and led Dave Darland by more than a straightaway at the checkered flags.

“We got lucky two nights in a row on the starts,” said Stewart, who has won all four “Rumble in Ft. Wayne” races in the last three seasons. “We were just lucky because we were on taking the right line.”

“Every time we’re here, Dave Darland is the toughest car out there, so we just know we need to get out in front as quickly as we can.”

Darland overcame a series of hard times throughout the evening. He was involved in an incident near the completion of the second heat, which forced him to compete in the consolation race. He also was involved in a three-car tangle with McIntosh and Tony Elliott on Lap 28, only to restart. Elliott had just taken second at that point.

Filling out the remainder of the Top 5 were Corson, Fedorcak and Kyle Robbins.

Corson, Elliott, Tracy Hines and Kyle Robbins won heats, while Stewart, McIntosh and Patrick Wilda won semi-features.

USAC MIDGET CAR SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS
Fort Wayne, Indiana – Memorial Coliseum Expo Center
9th Annual “Rumble in Fort Wayne”

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Tony Stewart, 2, Stewart-7.920; 2. Mike Fedorcak, 97, Stewart-8.298; 3. Tracy Hines, 10, Moore-8.334; 4. Dave Darland, 0, RAD-8.390;
5. Arin McIntosh, 8, Reed-8.397; 6. Mel Kenyon, 61, Kenyon-8.451; 7. Brandon Knupp, 15x, Knupp-8.464; 8. Jason Hart, 19, Davis-8.466; 9. Tony Elliott, 7j, Williams-8.488; 10. Lou Cicconi, 56, Rencurrel-8.495; 11. Matt Estep, 25, BRP-8.498; 12. Patrick Wilda, 33p, Wilda-8.503; 13. Ryan Miller, 87, Miller-8.504; 14. Ginny Quinones, 00, Quinones-8.509; 15. Derek Bischak, 3x, Barnett-8.573; 16. Kyle Robbins, 17x, Robbins-8.573; 17. Kyle Hamilton, 33, Hamilton-8.594; 18. Doug Dietsch, 0x, Dietsch-8.604; 19. Dakoda Armstrong, 17, Armstrong-8.610; 20. Kevin Studley, 41, Griffith-8.610; 21. Bobby Smith, 8x, Epperson-8.641; 22. Cale Conley, 3, Conley-8.669; 23. Jacob Wilson, 07, Team WBR-8.724; 24. Brian Olson, 41x, Griffith/Horn-8.725; 25. Adam Schuyler, 56x, Schuyler-8.752; 26. Billy Hulbert, 5, Hulbert-8.756; 27. Drew Charlson, 21, Fuhrman-8.763; 28. Jimmy Light, 22, Givens-8.765; 29. Jeff Wimmenauer, 15J, Wimmenauer-8.822; 30. Jack Arute, 7, Armstrong-8.824; 31. Basil Hicks, 22x, Hicks-8.866; 32. Zach Leeke, 19x, Leeke-8.904; 33. Rich Corson, 15, Corson/Savage-8.911; 34. Dave Fuhrman, 32, Fuhrman-8.973; 35. Jason Therkelsen, 11, Therkelsen-9.334; 36. Palmer Eicher, 54, Eicher-9.495; 37. Mike Schenker, 32x, Fuhrman-9.863; 38. Deano Lennon, 27, Lennon-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (12 laps) 1. Corson, 2. Elliott, 3. Wimmenauer, 4. Schuyler,
5. Hamilton, 6. Miller, 7. Stewart, 8. McIntosh, 9. Schenker, 10. Smith. No Time
SECOND HEAT: (12- laps) 1. Kenyon, 2. Fedorcak, 3. Hulbert, 4. Fuhrman,
5. Conley, 6. Arute, 7. Quinones, 8. Dietsch. No Time
THIRD HEAT: (12 laps) 1. Hines, 2. Bischak, 3. Knupp, 4. Armstrong, 5. Wilson,
6. Charlson, 7. Hicks, 8. Therkelsen, 9. Estep. No Time
FOURTH HEAT: (12 laps) 1. Robbins, 2. Studley, 3. Olson, 4. Light, 5. Leeke,
6. Eicher, 7. Wilda, 8. Darland, 9. Hart. No Time

CONSI #1: (12 laps) 1. Stewart, 2. Knupp, 3. Smith, 4. Hamilton, 5. Fuhrman,
6. Olson, 7. Arute, 8. Schenker, 9. Estep. No Time
CONSI #2: (12 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Wilda, 3. Hart, 4. Dietsch, 5. Light, 6. Schuyler,
7. Conley, 8. Hicks, 9. Therkelsen. No Time
CONSI #3: (12 laps) 1. McIntosh, 2. Wilson, 3. Leeke, 4. Armstrong, 5. Eicher,
6. Quinones, 7. Cicconi, 8. Wimmenauer, 9. Hulbert. No Time

FEATURE: (60 laps) 1. Tony Stewart, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Mike Fedorcak, 4. Kyle Robbins, 5. Billy Wease (#19), 6. Derek Bischak, 7. Rich Corson, 8. Brandon Knupp, 9. Jacob Wilson, 10. Kevin Studley, 11. Mel Kenyon, 12. Patrick Wilda, 13. Arin McIntosh, 14. Tony Elliott, 15. Tracy Hines. No Time

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Corson, Laps 7-60 Stewart.

NEXT USAC EVENT: January 20, 2006 – Columbus, OH – State Fairgrounds Expo Center – “Rumble in The Buckeye State”

Have an opinion on this story? E-MAIL KARNAC to send a letter to the editor!