Tony Stewart returned to his short-track roots Saturday, winning the feature in the third annual Battle at the Center on the one-sixth mile indoor Mini Magic Mile at the Southern Illinois Center. The 41-year-old from Columbus, Ind., led all 40 laps in the non-points event organized and sanctioned by the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series. It had 67 entries and brought together many of the best drivers in Midget racing and several more major short-track series. Andrew Felker of Carl Junction, Mo., this season’s POWRi National Midget champion, finished second and POWRi veteran Tim Siner of Dupo, Ill., was third. Stewart won USAC Midget championships in 1994 and 1995 and was USAC’s Triple Crown (also taking the national Sprint Car and Silver Crown) champion in 1995 before moving on to win titles in the IZOD IndyCar title in 1997 and NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2002, 2005 and 2011. ‘It was a lot of fun,’ Stewart said. ‘I was happy with it. We heard this was a good event last year and decided to run it to get ready for the Chili Bowl (run in Tulsa, Okla., Jan. 8-12). We didn ‘t run very good in the Chili Bowl last year. We built the car to the same design that I drove in John Godfrey’s Stealth in 1995.’(Poweri Racing)(12-17-2012)
