‘Rumble’ to salute injured Stewart

Photo credit by: Jim Morrison/Hawkeye Racing News

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – He’s still getting around on a motorized scooter, not a race car, but his badly broken right leg won’t keep Tony Stewart away from the “Rumble in Fort Wayne” indoor midget races.

The three-time NASCAR champion, some two months away from returning to driving, will be honored with a “Salute to Tony Stewart” at the 16^th annual holiday event on Friday, Dec. 27 and Saturday,
Dec. 28 at the Memorial Coliseum Expo Center.
The native Hoosier will enter two cars – Munchkin chassis for longtime indoor teammate Mike Fedorcak and East Coast standout Lou Cicconi Jr. – while also greeting fans and signing autographs both days.
Rumble organizer Tony Barhorst said the recognition is well-deserved for Stewart, who has won a record nine features on the 1/6-mile track and continues to compete regularly on short tracks despite his superstar status.
For Stewart, a trip to the Rumble is something of a homecoming.
“I really enjoy competing up in Fort Wayne and having a chance to run the Munchkin,” he said Tuesday, “so not being in the car this year is a bit different for me, but I’m still looking forward to it. Lou Cicconi is going to run the car this year, and it’s going to be fun to spend time with him and watch him race.
“The Rumble event is a great time for me and the team. We get to see a lot of people that we might only see once or twice a year. It’s also nice that some of my family can make the drive up for this event.
“With the Rumble being held during the holidays, it really gives us not only the chance to race when the weather isn’t the greatest but the opportunity to see a lot of friends.”
Barhorst marvels at Stewart’s drive and his willingness to support short track racing.
“Throughout the history of major sports, it is extremely rare for a three-time champion to return to the roots of where they started,” he said. “This is a chance for us to thank Tony for coming back to short track races and not forgetting where he came from.
“Tony will be doing some interviews between races, and we look forward to hearing about the progress he has made coming back from his injury.”
Stewart, who was injured in a sprint car accident on Aug. 5, said Cicconi will drive his No. 2 Munchkin, while Fedorcak, from nearby Roanoke, will again pilot the No. 97. Both cars are fielded by Tony Stewart Racing, which also competes in the World of Outlaws sprint car series and the U.S. Auto Club’s Silver Crown and sprint car divisions.
Cicconi, who has raced at Fort Wayne twice, is the only driver to win a feature in which Stewart’s car was still running at the finish. That came on the final night in 2008, his most recent appearance, when Stewart ran second in a race that did not have a caution. Fedorcak, the builder and designer of the Munchkin chassis, likewise has one victory (2002) as well as a win at the old Memorial Coliseum track, making him the only driver to accomplish that feat.
“(Mike) and his family are great people,” Stewart said, “and it will be fun to watch him and Lou battle it out on the track this year.”
Some 300 entries are expected in midgets, winged and non-winged modified midgets, karts and quarter midgets. Spectator gates open at 11 a.m. each day, with midget time trials at 6 p.m. and the main portion of the program after 7:30.  Stewart will participate in a free, two-hour autograph session each day.
Information about tickets – including a special VIP package that includes a meet and greet with Stewart – is available at www.rumbleseries.com, along with entry forms and racer’s rate hotels. Tickets may be ordered by mail without a service charge. The event information line is (317) 418-3216. Requests for information may be e-mailed to tbracefest@aol.com.
Photo credit by: Jim Morrison/Hawkeye Racing NewsThree-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart (right) shares a moment with fellow driver Cap Henry at last year’s “Rumble in Fort Wayne.”

Jason Leffler to be honored at 2014 Chili Bowl - Entries now at 263

Photo Credit: Buck Monson 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart are entering next month's Chili Bowl Nationals in honor of late racer Jason Leffler.

Kahne will drive a car entered in combination with Stewart, Leffler's girlfriend, Julianna Patterson, and former father-in-law, Bob East., in the Jan. 14-18 race at the Tulsa Expo Center in Oklahoma.
Plans had been for Leffler and Patterson to co-own the car, and Leffler and East to build it together before Leffler's death in a June sprint car crash. East continued the project following the accident, and Patterson turned to Stewart for help after the three-time NASCAR champion broke his leg in his own sprint car accident last season.
"She told me, I'm going to be a car owner at the Chili Bowl' and I said, OK?' kind of quizzically, and it's just gone on from there," Stewart told The Associated Press. "Bob is building the car. The owner was going to be Jason and Julianna, and I really wanted to be involved."
So did Kahne, who was close friends with the 37-year-old Leffler, a journeyman NASCAR driver who loved racing so much he entered everything he could. The night he was killed in a sprint car race in New Jersey, the winner was guaranteed just $7,000.
Kahne had to first convince his NASCAR team owner, Rick Hendrick, to sign off on his participation in the Chili Bowl. Hendrick hasn't forbidden Kahne from any extracurricular racing, but hasn't exactly rubber-stamped Kahne's opportunities, either.
Kahne felt racing in honor of Leffler at the Chili Bowl, with the promise of raffling off the car after for the Charlie Dean Leffler Discretionary Trust to benefit Leffler's son, would get him the permission from Hendrick.
"There's just a lot of good reasons to get involved," Kahne told AP. "Jason loved Chili Bowl, he was always so good at Chili Bowl and I enjoy driving on dirt. It was just such a good idea for me do it for Jason."
Tony Stewart Racing is assisting East with the engine and driveline. Stewart's involvement in the venture makes Kahne eligible to compete in the Jan. 14 Race of Champions.
"He'll get to race more, more track time. I'm excited," Stewart said. "Kasey and I have owned open wheel teams and competed against each other, but this gives us a chance to work together on something."
The Chili Bowl is one of the most prestigious midget events of the year and has a star-studded lineup. The entry list is nearing 250 already and includes Sammy and Kevin Swindell, Joey Saldana, Bryan Clauson, and NASCAR drivers Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Larson.
It's not the first time Kahne has jumped in to honor Leffler.
Kahne wore a black hat with Leffler's "LEFturn" nickname on it the days after Leffler's death, and reaction was so positive he decided to produce the hat to sell as a fundraiser for Charlie Dean's trust.
His website crashed within minutes of him launching sale of the $20 hats.
"We had a lot of people asking about them after wearing them at Michigan, so I thought, `Man, we can do hats,' because I thought a hat was something people could have forever," he said. "But we just sold thousands and thousands of hats. Way more than we were prepared for.
"My mom and my grandma sent hats out for months and months. Some people started getting upset because it was taking so long to get their hat, but at the end of the day, we had two people doing it. We'd still be selling them, but we had to shut it off because I needed them to catch up. It was close to 20,000 hats, and it worked out really well for Charlie."