Fort Wayne, IN – Tony Stewart of Rushville, IN capped USAC’s 52nd racing season with a 60-lap feature victory in Saturday night’s 10th Annual “Rumble in Fort Wayne” USAC Midget race at the Memorial Coliseum Expo Center. The victory gave Stewart at least one USAC victory in 16 of the last 17 USAC calendar years, missing only in 1999 when he was
concentrating on the NASCAR “Rookie of the Year” honors.
Stewart, starting eighth, passed Geoff Kaiser on the inside of turn one and led the final 44 laps in his Our Gang Poker Club Munchkin VW. Stewart’s teammate, Mike Fedorcak, finished second in the second Stewart entry, while Dave Darland took third, ahead of Derek Bischak and Rich Corson. Ronnie Wuerdeman led the first six laps, then Kaiser led for 11 before
yielding to Stewart.
Friday night’s winner, Billy Wease, stopped in turn two on lap 14 and was unable to restart, finishing 13th. Stewart was the fastest of 48 qualifiers and also won his heat race. David Gough, Tim Jedrzejek and Bischak also won heats. Wease, Darland and Joe Liguori won the consolation races and Daniel Robinson and Doug Dietsch won the
qualifying races.
Stewart’s car was built by second place finisher Mike Fedorcak in 1989. It is one of three Munchkin chassis’ built. Stewart
bought the car during a late night poker game before the ’04 “Rumble.”
United States Auto Club / Racingnation StaffUSAC