PETERSEN MEDIA
Spending his holiday weekend competing in the family owned midget, Isaac Chapple overcame some bad luck on Friday night, and had forturne fall his way on Saturday night as he charged from last to an 11th place finish in the 50-lap feature event on Saturday night at the Rumble in Ft. Wayne.
The intriguing thing about the Rumble in Ft. Wayne is some of the unique chassis that are put together for the event, and the Wilkinson, IN driver, was no different, as he put an old Stealth dirt car together for the event.
“We had an old Stealth dirt car sitting in the corner of our shop, so we put it together, and went and had some fun,” Chapple said. “I was able to go racing with some of my buddies, and with some help from Bill Guess, we ended up turning in a pretty good performance.”
On Friday night, Chapple timed his CFH Enterprises machine in 20th fastest against the 41 cars entered into the event, putting him on the front row of his heat race.
Getting the jump in his heat, Chapple was in cruise control as he clicked off laps on the tiny confines in Ft. Wayne as he looked to put it in the show, but on the last lap, the youngster clipped an infield tire just short of the finish line, though he mashed the throttle, and came up just shot of finishing with a damaged front end.
With damage to significant to get repaired for the B main, Chapple’s opening night was over.
Back in action on Saturday night, Chapple did not get the qualifying time he was looking for aboard the AR Jackson Plumbing/Brown’s Roofing/Quality Walls and Ceilings machine as he was 33rd fastest amongst the 39 entrants.
Heat race action saw Chapple line up in the fourth row, and work his way up to fourth at the finish, missing out on the transfer spot, and forcing him into the B main event.
Starting eight in one of three B Mains, Chapple gave his machine everything it had as he worked up to the third spot, and challenged the second place car of Derek Bischak, for the final transfer but came up short, and his night looked to be over.
While cars were lining up for the feature, one of the scheduled starters had mechanical woes, and was unable to start the race, and based on his passing points Chapple was the alternate, and tagged the rear of the field for the 50-lap feature event.
Working his way around the tiny track, Chapple was poised to make a run to the front, and go wheel to wheel with some of the sports best.
When the race drew to a close, Chapple crossed the stripe in the 11th position.
“To be so close to making the show on Friday, and making a mistake in my heat, to doing everything I could to make the show on Saturday, it was nice to have some luck to make it in the show,” Chapple said. “We came here to have some fun, and we did, and we accomplished a lot I feel. I’m excited to get ready for the Chili Bowl.”
Isaac Chapple Racing would like to thank CFH Enterprises, AR Jackson Plumbing, Brown’s Roofing, Quality Walls and Ceilings, Facility Concepts, Inc., Playcar, Inc., and Indy Race Parts for their support.
ON TAP: Chapple will now make his Rookie attempt at the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, and his scheduled preliminary night in Friday January 17th.
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