An all-too-familiar face returned to Allen County War Memorial Coliseum victory lane when Tony Stewart took the Midget win Dec. 27 of the Rumble in Fort Wayne.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee showed he can still get around the tight track, having started ninth and worked his way through the field for his first Rumble win since 2011.
Stewart made a move around Ohio Sprint Car ace Cap Henry with 15 laps remaining, making a furious charge through the field look like nobody’s business. It was his 10th Rumble win, extending his record for most Midget wins in the event.
“It’s hard. It’s feast or famine here. There are so many things that can happen in these races,” Stewart said. “You’ve just got to hope everything goes right. Starting ninth and then at the first red that came out there, we were back to 10th. We thought, ‘Well, if we can get back up to sixth, that would probably be a productive night.’ I had no idea we would get the rest of them. I don’t necessarily think we got better. I don’t think we fell off quite like everybody else did.”
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It was redemption for Stewart and Tony Stewart Racing as a whole after the team suffered major misfortune with himself and drivers Mike Fedorcak and Rico Abreu last year. The team, along with Sprint Car team owner Sam McGhee, put in late nights through Christmas and leading to the Rumble. It made the win all the more special for the Indiana-born driver.
“I can tell you it’s more gratifying tonight. We worked till 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve before we finally quit for the night. Then we still had a little bit of work to do on Thursday before we came up,” Stewart said. “Sam deserves all the credit for getting these things nice. Without him, none of these cars would have gotten here.”
The win broke a tie with the late Rich Vogler for the most indoor Midget wins all-time in North America. Stewart also owns two Chili Bowl wins and a triumph at Du Quoin.
Having been to the Rumble nearly every year of its existence, it’s a race he looks forward to attending every year.
“It’s a fun event. All of our friends, we get to race and hang out with each other,” he said. “It’s not the same atmosphere as Chili Bowl, but not everybody that’s here gets to go to Chili Bowl, either, and I get to spend more time with them here than I would get to at Chili Bowl. It’s just fun for us. I’d love to be in Australia racing with Donny (Schatz) right now, but this is something that from the day I bought the first Munchkin, it has been a passion, I guess.”
Just one night after scoring his first Rumble in Fort Wayne in eight years, Stewart made it a clean sweep of the weekend with another trip to victory lane Dec. 28. It was the 11th career Rumble win for the former NASCAR and IndyCar champion, extending a Midget record at the event.
Similar to Friday night, Stewart started ninth after needing a consolation race to earn his starting spot in the A-Main. He quickly worked to third before his march toward the front stalled through the middle stages. He used a restart with 14 laps to go to get by Justin Peck for second, and then wrestled the lead away from former Little 500 winner Kyle Hamilton with just over five laps to go to collect the win.
“This is indoor racing. Anyone that came to watch a parade came to the wrong place,” Stewart said in victory lane. “We get rough and rowdy in this building, and all night, it was like that. Everybody keeps asking why I come to this deal, and it’s because of the fans and the fact that they want to see a show. They don’t want to see us just sit there and ride around and follow each other for 50 laps. That’s the nature of the beast.
“We saw it all night. I don’t know why when I do it (make contact while making a pass), it’s not acceptable, but I think everyone came to see a show, and if they didn’t get a show out of that, I don’t know what else to do, man,” Stewart added. “I sat there and ran 50 laps, and I only leaned on guys a couple of times when I needed to. I never spun anybody out in the two days that I was here. All in all, I don’t think I did too badly. After last year, it’s pretty sweet to be back here winning again.”
Hamilton led from the drop of the green flag until Lap 29 when he gave up the lead to Peck. He would regain it off a bold restart with 16 laps to go and try to run away with the race, but a slew of yellows kept the field close. He would finish the race in second after losing the lead late.
Lucas Oil series holds banquet
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series celebrated the 2019 season in December with the annual awards banquet at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis during the annual PRI Show.
Jonathan Davenport was awarded his third career national championship title, collecting a $75,000 points fund check along with a $10,000 bonus from Sweet Manufacturing, a product certificate from Swift Springs and a championship ring.
Other awards claimed by the 2019 national champion include Midwest Sheet Metal points leader spoiler challenge ($1,000), Wrisco Industries most feature wins ($1,000), Allstar Performance power move of the year ($500 and product certificate), Penske Shocks consistency award ($1,000), Performance Friction Brakes most pole awards ($500 and product certificate), Simpson most heat wins ($500), GEICO TV Challenge runner-up ($2,500) and fourth in Arizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup, presented by DirtonDirt.com ($2,000).
Davenport and the Lance Landers Motorsports team ended their season with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series with 12 wins and 30 top-five and 40 top-10 performances and collected a total of $370,787.60 in earnings.
Tyler Erb received the 2019 Rookie of the Year award. He concluded his first season with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series by totaling six wins, 19 top-five finishes and 38 top-10 performances. Erb received $30,000 for fourth in points and $10,000 for Rookie of the Year. He also was awarded $10,000 for being the challenge winner and $2,000 for runner-up in the race for gas.
In addition to his other awards and honors, he also walked away from the banquet with a ring for Rookie of the Year, two $500 product certificates, a carbon fiber driveshaft, a Performance Bodies product certificate, a free wrap from Slicker Graphics and a product certificate for 10 sheets of aluminum.
James Essex writes a motorsports notebook for The Republic, a sister publication to The Tribune. Send comments to dtrimpe@ aimmediaindiana.com.