Dave Darland (right) inches under Jon Stanbrough en route to victory Saturday night in Ft. Wayne, Ind. (Kevin Lillard photo).
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Car owner Rick Daugherty saw a probable 1-2 finish vanish just five laps from the checkered flag, but that couldn’t burst his bubble.
“This is a contact sport,” a grinning Daugherty said after Dave Darland banged his way past teammate Jon Stanbrough to capture Saturday’s midget race that capped the final night of the 13th annual Rumble in Fort Wayne.
“That’s what I love about indoor racing. It’s kind of exciting.”
After hounding his teammate for several laps, Darland got a run coming off turn two, then bolted to the inside as they reached turn three on the racy sixth-mile concrete track in the Memorial Coliseum Expo Center.
Darland nosed ahead and the cars touched, with Stanbrough spinning to a halt and Darland speeding away.
Darland held off fast qualifier David Gough by 2 ? car lengths following the restart, giving him his second career Fort Wayne victory and 10th top-three finish in 17 career starts.
Derek Bischak settled for third after leading nearly half of the 60 laps. Adam Wilsdon, a 15-year-old who’s headed back to high school, and Jim Anderson, who won here on Friday, rounded out the top five.
In the pit area afterward, Darland greeted a long line of well wishers as Stanbrough stewed a few feet away.
“My car was just real good, and his car was just too tight,” the 44-year-old Darland said. “I got into him. I gave him as much room as I could. He just came down into me.
“It’s bad when that happens with teammates. Indoor racing has a lot of contact. I’m sure there are a lot of people not happy with me tonight.”
Stanbrough couldn’t hide his disappointment but minced his words.
“My car was starting to pick up a push a little bit,” he admitted. “I just didn’t get it through the corner as good as I was earlier in the race.
“I don’t know,” he said, pausing. “What is it to say? It’s disappointing the way it happened. That’s two nights in a row (that an accident took him out).”
Daugherty, who operates a Peterbilt dealership in Findlay, Ohio, called it “just a racin’ deal” after collecting his third Rumble Series victory as an owner — and first at history-steeped Fort Wayne.
Ryan Smith won the accompanying winged outlaw modified feature, leading all 40 laps in beating John Ivy and Larry Joe Sroufe for his second victory here in two years.
Brett Bieber won the slingshot feature.
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