{"id":18473,"date":"2012-01-03T02:55:45","date_gmt":"2012-01-03T07:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=18473"},"modified":"2012-01-03T02:55:45","modified_gmt":"2012-01-03T07:55:45","slug":"tony-stewart-wins-rumble-in-fort-wayne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2012\/01\/03\/tony-stewart-wins-rumble-in-fort-wayne\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Stewart wins Rumble in Fort Wayne"},"content":{"rendered":"

RON WARE\/<\/strong>for Van Wert independent sports<\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n

FORT WAYNE, Ind. \u2013 With 56 minutes to spare, Tony Stewart squeezed yet another victory into a year that already was reaching mythical proportions.<\/p>\n

Taking the checkered flag at 11:04 p.m. on New Year\u2019s Eve, the three-time NASCAR champion completed a weekend sweep of the 14th annual Rumble in Fort Wayne indoor midget races, winning Saturday\u2019s 50-lap feature in dominating fashion.<\/p>\n

While he celebrated with a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, not champagne, Stewart seemed to treasure his latest accomplishment as much as his hard-fought Sprint Cup title.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Tony Stewart wins the 14th annual Rumble in Fort Wayne held at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. (Jan Dunlap\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve ever raced on New Year\u2019s Eve,\u201d the 40-year-old Indiana native said, a smile creasing his face. \u201cIt\u2019s been a dream year. I won by first World of Outlaws race and the (NASCAR) championship. Then I won at Conseco (in an all-star kart race in Indianapolis) and won here two times.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a great way to finish the year. It\u2019s going to be hard to keep this up, but it\u2019s going to be a lot of fun trying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Stewart seemed astonished when somebody pointed out that he\u2019s won an amazing eight times in his past 13 races, starting with his 5-for-10 charge to the NASCAR championship. His numbers at the 1\/6-mile track at the Memorial Coliseum Expo Center are similar. After sweeping the two-day program for the second time in his career, he\u2019s won nine times in 14 career starts. He\u2019s been the fast qualifier in each of his past 10 appearances.<\/p>\n

Stewart\u2019s road to victory lane wasn\u2019t smooth, however. A series of caution periods and constant lapped traffic challenged him all the way, even though he was untested after pole-sitter David Gough dropped out on lap 18 with a broken ignition, handing him the lead.<\/p>\n

How tough of a night was it for his rivals? Jon Stanbrough finished second in a car that caught fire early in the race. Rex Norris III, Billy Wease and Dave Darland completed the top five, each taking turns coming from the rear of the field.<\/p>\n

During a caution, Stanbrough pulled into the infield as smoke billowed from his car\u2019s engine compartment. Fire crews doused the small fire, which originated when a piece of heat insulation touched the header, and Stanbrough rejoined the fray.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just trying to light a fire under my driver,\u201d team owner Rick Daugherty quipped.<\/p>\n

Stewart nudged a sliding Gough in turn three on lap nine, temporarily taking the lead, but the yellow then came out for Rich Corson\u2019s spin, restoring Gough to first place. Nine laps later, though, Gough suddenly slowed with a failed ignition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was trying to protect the bottom (of the track) and make it hard for him to get around me,\u201d said Gough, a veteran whose career includes an indoor win at the old RCA Dome in Indianapolis. \u201cI didn\u2019t think he was going to rough me up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart confirmed that he was intent on making a clean pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cGough\u2019s a good race car driver,\u201d he said. \u201cOur car was working so good, it was just a matter of catching him at the right time. I already decided I was going to be nicer tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Smith won the accompanying winged outlaw modified midget feature, while Doug Jones topped a short field in mini-sprints. Jason Dunn dominated in karts, winning three features for the second night in a row. Addison and Bennett Lushin made it a family affair in quarter midgets, each winning a feature.<\/p>\n

Stewart first raced at Fort Wayne in 1999, after he already had won an IndyCar championship and won NASCAR rookie-of-the-year honors. Mike Fedorcak, his indoor teammate and builder of his Volkswagen-powered Munchkin car, figures Fort Wayne hasn\u2019t seen the last of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll still be racing here when he\u2019s as old as I am,\u201d the 57-year-old Fedorcak predicted. \u201cHe just loves it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RON WARE\/for Van Wert independent sports FORT WAYNE, Ind. \u2013 With 56 minutes to spare, Tony Stewart squeezed yet another victory into a year that already was reaching mythical proportions. Taking the checkered flag at 11:04 p.m. on New Year\u2019s Eve, the three-time NASCAR champion completed a weekend sweep of the 14th annual Rumble in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-03 14:49:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18473\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}