From Rumble Media
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Dec. 26, 2024) – Action for the 26th Rumble in Fort Wayne presented by Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales kicked off Thursday night inside the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum with several returning faces and 38 rounds of practice across 19 different divisions.
A total of 314 cars hit the sixth-mile, concrete-and-soda-syrup oval in preparation for the two-day indoor racing extravaganza, which will again be headlined by the premier national midget division.
Nearly 30 midget entries turned at least one practice lap Thursday, with Ohio’s Cap Henry posting the fastest time of the night at 7.667 seconds (78.257 mph) in his red-and-black No. 41.
It’s a strong start all around considering that Henry’s teammate – Joe Liguori – won last year’s Rumble finale and also topped the first round of midget practice earlier in the evening.
Henry knows, however, that practice at the Rumble is one thing. Racing inside the Coliseum is another thing entirely.
“It’s not that I was unhappy with the race car, but I know that we can be even better than just one single lap,” Henry explained following final practice. “The past couple of years, Joe and I have managed to go back and forth between [setting] quick time in hot laps … but Joe tends to race better than I do, so I’m trying not to focus on the lap time quite as much and focus more on making the car raceable.
“If we can fix up a few of the small things I was feeling tonight, I think we’ll be in a great place. We’re here to race, not just qualify.”
While Henry is a past Rumble winner in the winged 600cc micro sprints, he has yet to collect one of the unique boxing bell trophies that have become a hallmark of Fort Wayne’s annual indoor race.
– Liguori was so pleased with his No. 8up that he elected to sit out the final midget practice, a big smile on his face as he debriefed with Henry in the pit area after all was said and done.
“Last year was great, but that’s in the past and we just have to worry about the here and now,” said the Tampa, Fla., native who recently picked up his second Must See Racing 410 sprint car title.
“Every year on practice day, we go out and make some motor runs, but it’s hard to get a true bearing of what you’ll need because the track might be really, really good on Thursday and then go away by the time you get to the first race night Friday. … It’s great to go fast early, but it’s not when it really counts,” he continued. “I feel like the car free-rolls a lot better than it used to, so that’s at least a positive step and we’ll just see where it takes us going forward.”
This weekend marks Liguori’s 32nd and 33rd attempts in Rumble in Fort Wayne competition, and he hopes to add to his 27 feature starts, second all-time behind only five-time event winner Billy Wease.
– Speaking of Wease, the past Turkey Night Grand Prix winner made his return to the Coliseum Thursday after a one-year absence, behind the wheel of Bill Guess’ potent red No. 99.
Wease noted that getting back to the Rumble was “just like riding a bike” and that he feels confident despite a steering box issue that hampered him during the final practice session.
“We’re pretty good; obviously, the end there wasn’t what we hoped for, but we had a good first session and just had some little things to clean up and fix before we got bit there late,” said Wease, who is seeking his first Rumble win since the 2015 finale. “I think we’re just going to get better throughout the weekend and it’ll be just about staying out of the chaos as best as anyone can indoors.”
– Other former Rumble winners that had strong showings in hot laps included iconic Munchkin chassis fabricator Mike Fedorcak, who turned the second-quickest lap overall at 7.700 seconds with his freshly re-wrapped No. 97, and three-time winner Justin Peck’s 7.874-second clip good enough for seventh.
Also notable was 21-year-old Ayrton Houk, who landed ninth in his first time at the controls of Mel and Don Kenyon’s iconic No. 6 entry. This year is Houk’s third time competing in a midget at the Rumble.
– Thursday’s practice night was a relatively tidy affair, going green at 4:30 p.m. ET sharp and taking the final checkered flag just after 9:40 p.m.
There were no major incidents during the evening, something that promoter Larry Boos later noted “is exactly what we like to see, and hopefully is a good omen for the rest of the weekend.”
– Nearly 350 total entries are expected when the first day of racing kicks off at 11 a.m. ET Friday.
Live coverage of the weekend’s action can be viewed through Pit Row TV, part of the SPEED SPORT Network.