FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Tony Stewart is still the king when it comes to qualifying a national midget on the concrete inside the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.
Stewart blazed to his 13th Rumble in Fort Wayne fast time with a blistering lap of 7.723 seconds (77.690 mph) in the No. 2 Our Gang Poker VW-powered Munchkin midget around the sixth-mile concrete oval.
It marked his second straight time topping the Friday night qualifying session in Rumble competition.
Piloting the Jason Dietsch-owned Mike Streicher tribute car, Pennsylvania’s Tim Buckwalter was second-fastest in the 33-car field at 7.817 seconds (76.756 mph), followed by Stewart’s teammate and car builder Mike Fedorcak in third with a best lap of 7.876 seconds (76.181 mph) in the No. 97 Munchkin.
Former Rumble winners Jim Anderson, Derek Bischak, Justin Peck and Kyle Hamilton completed the top seven. In fact, six of the seven fastest drivers in qualifying Friday own at least one Rumble feature win.
Rumble rookie Troy DeCaire was eighth-best, followed by his two Randall Williams Motorsports teammates in Cap Henry and Joe Liguori.
John Ivy swept qualifying for the two 600cc micro sprint divisions at the Rumble on Friday, turning a best lap of 7.829 seconds () in his winged car and 8.152 seconds in his non-winged entry.
Dylan Woodling and Cap Henry followed Ivy on the winged 600 speed charts in qualifying, while Tyler Fitzpatrick and Tyler Lindsay were second and third, respectively, in non-winged 600 time trials.
Opening ceremonies for Friday’s Rumble racing program are scheduled for shortly after 7 p.m.
RESULTS: 22nd annual Rumble in Fort Wayne Opening Night; Dec. 27, 2019
National Midget Qualifying (best of two laps): 1. Tony Stewart, 2, Stewart-7.723; 2. Tim Buckwalter, 8, J. Dietsch-7.817; 3. Mike Fedorcak, 97, Stewart-7.876; 4. Jim Anderson, 36, Anderson-7.889; 5. Derek Bischak, 31, Bischak-7.900; 6. Justin Peck, 5x, Clay-7.908; 7. Kyle Hamilton, 16, Kenyon-7.940; 8. Troy DeCaire, 67, Williams-7.943; 9. Cap Henry, 44, Williams-7.968; 10. Joe Liguori, 8up, Williams-7.975; 11. Russ Gamester, 46, Gamester-7.997; 12. Brian Vaughn, 49v, TnT-8.024; 13. Nick Hamilton, 6k, Kenyon-8.025; 14. Matt Westfall, 9, Ryder-8.032; 15. Cory Setser, 24, Setser-8.033; 16. Bryan Nuckles, 59, Nuckles-8.036; 17. Travis Welpott, 18, Gorman-8.039; 18. Austin Nemire, 19, O’Connell-8.051; 19. Trey Osborne, 61, Kenyon-8.099; 20. Rico Abreu, 2.5, Stewart-8.185; 21. Chris Jagger, 88, Jagger-8.188; 22. Rich Corson, 15, Corson-8.297; 23. Junior Gould, 65, Gould-8.387; 24. Billy Wease, 99, Burrow-8.447; 25. Billy Lewis, 49, Burrow-8.475; 26. Jordan Caskey, 33, Caskey-8.512; 27. Don Dietsch, 5, D. Dietsch-8.539; 28. Sean Murphy, 4b, Murphy-8.610; 29. Justin Harper, 53, Harper-8.866; 30. Mario Clouser, 99, Guess-9.081; 31. Chris Malaterre, 6m, Malaterre-9.156; 32. Tyler Roahrig, 8r, Brewer-NT; 33. Aaron Pierce, 98, Burrow-NT.
Winged 600cc Outlaw Qualifying (best of two laps): 1. 94-John Ivy, 7.829; 2. 3w-Dylan Woodling, 7.979; 3. 17-Cap Henry, 8.069; 4. 21-Clay Sanders, 8.236; 5. 62-Rod Henning, 8.272; 6. 51-Jason Ormsby, 8.315; 7. 91L-Alexis Adgate, 8.347; 8. 11b-Drew Dorsett, 8.393; 9. 26-Howard McCormick, 8.422; 10. 14-Keith Ousley, 8.455; 11. 87-Nate Franklin, 8.479; 12. 10r-Ryan Ball, 8.520; 13. 84-Bill Dunham, 8.534; 14. 26m-Jason Montel, 8.685; 15. 18-Cody Tyler, 8.778; 16. 35z-Mark Zumbrun, 9.015; 17. 69-Blake Lamb, 9.049; 18. 44-Blake Adams, 9.053.
Non-Winged Dirt 600cc Qualifying (best of two laps): 1. 2-John Ivy, 8.152; 2. 91a-Tyler Fitzpatrick, 8.429; 3. 46-Tyler Lindsay, 8.464; 4. 21-Larry Joe Sroufe, 8.517; 5. 29k-Kelsey Ivy, 8.519; 6. 51-Jason Ormsby, 8.587; 7. 68g-Tyler Gunn, 8.720; 8. 35-Justin Harper, 8.761; 9. 17n-Dillon Nusbaum, 8.782; 10. 83-Dustin Ingle, 8.903; 11. 11-Adam Walker, 8.994; 12. 6-Grant Valkner, 9.006; 13. 7b-Matt Brannin, 9.054; 14. 75b-Brian Busz, 9.061; 15. 2k-Kole Kirkman, 9.070; 16. 27-Jason Montel, 9.081; 17. 52-Brenton Lamb, 9.116; 18. 74-Brent Busz, 9.175; 19. 29-Brandon Whited, 9.178; 20. 12-Blane Culp, 9.251; 21. 57b-Michael Busz, 9.285; 22. 7-Devin Beers, 9.802; 23. 19-Aiden Williamson, 10.128; 24. 79-Chris Malaterre II, 11.691.