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Kenyon, youngsters among ‘Rumble’ entries

FORT WAYNE,Ind. – From the return of a 76-year-old legend to the debut of a pair of promising 14-year-olds, storylines abound in the 12th annual “Rumblein Fort Wayne” indoor racing classic.

And that’s just in the midget division.

Mel Kenyon,76, a member of three major auto racing halls of fame, will dust off his helmetand return to the racy, 1/6-mile track at the Memorial Coliseum Expo Center for the first time since 2007. Among his rivals will be two 14-year-olds –Michigan’s Taylor Ferns, who this year set a USAC single-season record for wins by a female, and Indiana’s Kyle O’Gara, whose driving coach is IndyCar star(and sister-in-law) Sarah Fisher.

The two-day event is set for Saturday, Dec. 26 and Sunday, Dec. 27, with complete shows both days. Winged outlaw modified midgets, MiniCup stock cars, karts, Jr.Sprints and JEGS quarter midgets also are on the programs, with midget racing beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets will be available atthe door.

The preliminary entry list, released today, also features Dave Darland, Tony Elliott, Mike Fedorcak, Russ Gamester, David Gough, Johnny Heydenreich, Jon Stanbrough and Billy Wease – all of whom, along with Kenyon, have indoor feature wins on their resume.

Among those looking for their first indoor victory will be Rumble Series veterans David Fuhrman, Kyle Hamilton, Tim Jedrzejek, Geoff Kaiser, Brandon Knupp, Joe Liguouri and Matt Westfall.

“One of the features of our event is we have champions from many different sanctioning bodies and types of race cars,” Rumble Series president Tony Barhorst said. “We have USAC champions (including Kenyon, Darland, Elliott and Gamester). We have the 2008 HOSS winged sprint champion (Kaiser). We have the Midwest Supermodified Association champion (Jedrzejek). We have Russ Gamester returning. He won a race on the original Coliseum floor.

“And then you have Mel Kenyon, an eight-time Indianapolis 500 veteran. And Sarah Fisher,who is entering a team for young Kyle O’Gara, and many other young,up-and-coming midget drivers.”

More than 260 cars are entered in the various classes, including 33 midgets and 30 winged outlaw modified midgets.

Saturday has been designated “Bob Higman Night” in recognition of the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame car owner and mechanic. Ronnie McLean will drive a car carrying the same number and paint scheme that his father, Bob McLean Sr.,drove for the now-retired Higman almost 50 years ago at Fort Wayne.

On Sunday,Fisher will greet fans and sign autographs from 2-3 p.m. in the Indy DownForceFanZone. The 29-year-old Ohio native is a veteran of eight Indy 500s and theonly owner-driver on the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Additionally, ATV stuntman Henry “Pit Bull” Rife, who has appeared on “Late Night With David Letterman,” will entertain during breaks in the racing.

A silent auction of racing memorabilia, benefiting the Kenny Irwin Jr. Memorial Foundation’s Dare to Dream Camp, will be part of the Indy DownForce FanZone.

Further information about the “Rumble in Fort Wayne,” including ticket prices and race headquarters hotel rates, is available at rumbleseries.com or by contacting Barhorst at [email protected].

The entries are listed here: http://www.midgetmadness.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18914

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HOST HOTEL INFORMATION- All feature indoor pools and hot tubs

FT. WAYNE MARRIOTT HOTEL- Featuring Rum Runners Dueling Piano Bar and Grill- Red River Valley Restaurant
305 E. Washington Center Road - Ft. Wayne, IN
(260) 484-0411 (racer’s rate $76.10, normally $127.00)

DON HALL’S GUESTHOUSE
1313 W. Washington Center Road - Ft. Wayne, IN
(260) 489-2524 (racer’s rate $56.00, normally $79.00)

FT. WAYNE COLISEUM HOLIDAY INN & CONFERENCE CENTER
across the street from the Memorial Coliseum 1-800-HOLIDAY, group code CMF. ( Racer’s rate $100, normally $150), shuttle service, complimentary cont. breakfast

Gamester to turn back the clock at ‘Rumble in Fort Wayne’

By RON WARE
Classic Motorsports

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Former USAC national midget champion Russ Gamester will drive a glossy black No. 46 Grant King-VW in this weekend’s 12th annual “Rumble in Fort Wayne.”

But as he settles into the cockpit, the Peru, Ind., driver just might feel like he’s buckled into a time machine.

Gamester will return to his roots Saturday and Sunday {Dec. 26-27} at the Memorial Coliseum Expo Center, racing indoors for the first time since 1997. It will mark his first appearance at Fort Wayne since 1989, when he won the indoor championship on the old Memorial Coliseum track.

“I miss running the indoor races,” said an enthused Gamester, who now competes primarily in the USAC Silver Crown Series and in the annual Little 500 sprint car race at Anderson, Ind. “USAC used to have Fort Wayne, the Indy Coliseum, the Hoosier Dome. Dayton was in there once in a while.

“Those were some good times.”

They were especially good for Gamester, whose calculating style seemed perfectly matched to the demands of the tight indoor tracks, which require a blend of patience and aggressiveness. He twice won the prestigious “Thunder in the Dome” midget race at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, and he also captured the next-to-last race at the former Memorial Coliseum track, boosting him to the 1989 indoor title.

“A lot of these guys grew up racing go-karts or micros,” Gamester said, searching for the key to his indoor success. “I just started racing midgets when I turned 18. I hadn’t raced anything else. I started running all the small stuff – the (Indianapolis) Speedrome, tracks like that – and I adapted to them. I adapted to it really good.

“It’s patient racing. You have to know when to go and when not to go. It’s easy to get torn up.”

Fellow Peru resident Todd Black asked Gamester a few weeks ago if he would race one of his cars in the winged outlaw modified midget division at Fort Wayne. Black has two cars built by Gamester’s older brother, George, who heads up Gamester Racing Products, and wanted a veteran to help set up the chassis.

No sooner had Gamester agreed than Rumble Series promoter Tony Barhorst asked if he would like to race a midget, too. So the Gamesters pulled out of storage the car he won with at the RCA Dome in 1997 and meticulously restored it to near-mint condition. Remarkably, this will be the car’s first race since then.

Back in those days, Gamester harbored hopes of making it to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He won the 1989 USAC national midget championship, finished runner-up a year later to a kid named Jeff Gordon and was runner-up in Silver Crown points in 1999 to Ryan Newman. He passed his Indy Racing League rookie test in March 2000 at Texas and was within a few laps of completing his Indy 500 rookie test that year when the engine blew.

That’s as close as he came to making it to the Brickyard.

“We just couldn’t afford to pay for a ride,” he said bluntly. “It’s the only sport in the world where your talent means nothing and your pocketbook means everything. In hockey, if you have talent, you’ll get to the top. Same thing in tennis. Same thing in golf. Same thing in every other sport.

“Money can buy you a ride, and that’s what’s killed the sport.”

But Gamester, who turns 45 next month, doesn’t want to sound bitter. He’s grateful for the opportunities he’s had.

The Gamester family has been involved in racing since the early 1970s, when his father, Gary, decided to become an owner and bought an old midget one night at a race in Joliet, Ill. The car, as it turned out, was a piece of crap. The frustration grew until Gamester’s late grandfather, George Gamester, finally rolled it into a lake.

“True story,” Gamester said, laughing. “My grandfather pushed it in a lake. He went out bought my dad a car, and we’ve been in it ever since. Billy Shuman and Mel Kenyon were our drivers in the early years.”

This weekend, Gamester hopes to make a different kind of splash.

* * * * *
In addition to midgets and winged outlaw midgets, the “Rumble in Fort Wayne” will feature MiniCup stock cars, karts, Jr. Sprints and JEGS quarter midgets, all racing on a 1/6-mile track. Midget racing begins at 7 p.m. Saturday and at 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets will be available at the door.

More information, including ticket prices and race headquarters hotel rates, is available at rumbleseries.com or by contacting Barhorst at [email protected].