Tony Stewart will drive in a pair of U.S. Auto Club indoor midget car races at Fort Wayne, IN, where he won a 60-lap feature a year ago under an assumed name in an old junker he bought during a poker game the night before. It wasn’t until Stewart pulled into Victory Lane and took off his helmet that the race announcer and fans recognized him — and became extremely excited. “It was just a kind of a joke,” USAC spokesman Dick Jordan said Tuesday. “They didn’t do any advance publicity on him, because he wasn’t sure he was going to run. … This time he’s allowing the promoter to advertise the fact he’s coming.” The Dec. 29-30 “Rumble in Fort Wayne” will be USAC’s final races of the year. Stewart has won 52 USAC features and in 1995 swept all three series championships — Midget, Sprint and Silver Crown. He also has won at least one USAC race each year since 1991 except 1999, when he was the NASCAR Cup rookie of the year.(ESPN.com/AP)(12-14-2005)
