FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Midget racing indoors is unique onto itself, but what differentiates the Rumble in Fort Wayne presented by Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales from other events is the rules package that allows racers from either the National, Regional, Kenyon or Focus series to compete as one class.
This year’s event, to be contested inside Fort Wayne’s Allen County War Memorial Coliseum over the weekend of Dec. 27-28, will again follow that concept.
Many doors are opened for drivers from multiple disciplines to tackle the purpose-built one-sixth-mile concrete oval, with a near-even playing field. The tight course, coupled with the ever-changing track conditions of the syrup-based surface is the other equalizer.
Veteran campaigner Joe Liguori finally moved into victory lane during last year’s running and summed up the rules package.
“The Rumble reminds me of the old saying, ‘It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.’ As a competitor who’s driven everything from a Kenyon car to a National Midget, and been competitive in all of them, in the end, all that matters is how much heart you put into it,” Ligouri said.
Another Rumble winner and one of the few drivers to have competed not only in the new Expo Center, but also inside the Coliseum on the converted hockey rink, Mike Fedorcak, described the uniqueness of the package.
“I’m excited to return to the Rumble, where the relatively wide and fast one-sixth-mile track may appear to be small, but the carefully crafted rules package allows equality between the multiple divisions of Midget racing and provides plenty of competitive action and wheel to wheel racing,” Fedorcak said.
Each day of the Rumble in Fort Wayne (Friday, Dec. 27 and Saturday, Dec. 28) features a full program of racing for the Midgets, along with six classes of BRE Racing Engines Quarter Midget racing, Winged and Non-Winged 600cc Midgets and Go-Karts in the 26th running of the popular off-season event.