Wease completes sweep as Kenyon retires

By RON WARE
Classic Motorsports

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – On a night when auto racing bade farewell to one of its enduring – and endearing – figures, one of his protégés honored him by driving to victory lane.
Billy Wease, one of the scores of young drivers nurtured by the retiring Mel Kenyon, held off a relentless Dave Darland on Sunday to complete a weekend sweep of the midget features in the 12th annual “Rumble in Fort Wayne” at the Memorial Coliseum Expo Center.
The 23-year-old Wease joined two-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart as the only drivers to win both midget features in a Rumble Series weekend. But the Noblesville, Ind., resident knew the day belonged to Kenyon, the eight-time Indianapolis 500 starter, seven-time USAC national midget champion and all-time nice guy who ended a 56-year driving career.
“It’s such an honor to drive in Mel Kenyon’s last race,” said Wease, who remembers approaching the Hall of Famer for advice when he began driving Kenyon Cars at age 12. “He was a big part of me deciding to become a race driver. He’s done so much for racing.”
The 76-year-old Kenyon didn’t add to his 382 career victories, but he persevered to finish ninth in the 60-lap feature after being added to the field by Rumble Series promoter Tony Barhorst. He had finished sixth on Saturday.
“Everybody is congratulating me, and I get a little emotional,” a misty-eyed Kenyon said, pausing. “It’s over. I’m glad we got in the feature. I’d have rather have gotten in ‘lawfully,’ but we were in it -- and the car’s still in one piece.
“Anytime you do something last, it’s one more miracle,” he said, having to pause. “It’s emotional.”
Fellow Indy 500 veteran Tom Bigelow was among those who attended to pay tribute to Kenyon. Long before he made it to the Brickyard and became a USAC champion, Bigelow was a young driver in need of a career break. The Kenyons – Mel and his brother, Don, his lifelong chief mechanic – provided it by hiring him to drive one of their midgets at Sun Prairie, Wis.
Bigelow never forgot, calling Kenyon a clean driver and great teacher who had time for anyone.
“You could always run up there with him without getting in trouble,” said Bigelow, whose first Indy 500 in 1973 was Kenyon’s last. “Once in a while you’d rub, but it was purely a racing incident.
“Mel has always done a super job.”
A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Johnny Rutherford and current NASCAR star Ryan Newman are among those who also drove for the Kenyons early in their careers.
Wease knows he’s not in their company, but he beamed when somebody mentioned that his name is now linked with both Kenyon and Stewart, who swept the Fort Wayne races in 2006. Stewart has won seven times at the 1/6-mile track but elected to race in Australia over the holidays.
“I wanted to tie that,” he said. “Hopefully, one day I can break his record for Rumble wins. This was just a perfect weekend for us. I can’t say more than that.”
Wease inherited the top spot when race-long leader Adam Wilsdon – a 14-year-old in his first weekend in a national midget – struck a tire marker on lap 45 while trying to lap Brandon Knupp. Wease held off Darland over the remaining 16 laps, with David Gough, Joe Liguori and Jon Stanbrough completing the top five.
“I didn’t know how close the guys behind me were,” said a chagrined Wilsdon, who could have taken his time.
Darland kept the pressure on, once tapping Wease in turn four, until a red flag waved on lap 55 to untangle the wrecked cars of Knupp and Mike Fedorcak. But Wease pulled away on the restart to win by 2½ car-lengths.
Darland drove despite injuring his right thumb early in the day when he ran into the back of a push truck that abruptly stopped for a stalled car. The hand swollen, he still participated in an hour-long autograph session, deciding he could wait for X-rays. To drive, he had to remove the wrapping from his hand because his glove wouldn’t fit over it.
“We fell off (at the end),” Darland said. “Every restart, it took me at least three laps for the tires to come in. It was just bad timing on the red there at the end.”
The midget feature highlighted a full day of racing that included Ryan Smith’s victory over John Ivy in winged outlaw modified midgets and Brandon Dunn’s sweep of the senior heavy and senior medium kart classes, capping a 4-for-4 weekend.
Cole Williams repeated in MiniCup stock cars, while Chad Orth, Preston Oberle, John Hawley, Charlie Schultz and Nic Sheppard also bagged kart victories.
Caleb Wilkerson won in Jr. Sprints. Travis Ford, Austin Nemire, Jonathon Lesiecki, Ross Rankine and Danny Leaper earned trophies in JEGS quarter midgets.