Rico Abreu, Annie & Toni Breidinger and Kody Swanson Enter Dec. 28/29 Event
FORT WAYNE, IN (Dec. 12) – With at least nine former Rumble in Fort Wayne feature winners already entered into this year’s 21st annual foray it would be expected that one of them would be the hands-on favorite to move into victory lane during one night of the December 28 and 29 twin bill. However, the entry roster indicates that the challenge to repeat could be heavy.
Among that list is a quartet of California drivers that have reversed the old saying of “Go West, Young Man” to “Go East” and have changed the gender to “Young Driver”. First time entrants Rico Abreu (St. Helena), twin sisters Annie & Toni Breidinger (Hillsborough) and second-year entrant Kody Swanson (Kingsburg) come into Fort Wayne’s Memorial Coliseum with hefty credentials.
Abreu has raced in multiple divisions, on varying surfaces and track sizes, but never in the tight confines of the Rumble 1/6th mile concrete oval. He viewed the event for the first-time last year when he came as a guest of the event’s all-time leading feature winner, Tony Stewart. He saw the challenge and immediately announced that he would be in the event next year.
Next year has arrived and he will be behind the wheel of one of Mike Fedorcak’s renowned ‘Munchkin’ Midgets.
His credentials include the 2014 USAC (United States Auto Club) National Midget championship, a two-time winner of the highly touted Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, has a win in the NASCAR K & N Series and multiple starts in NASCAR’s Truck Series.
The Breidinger girls have never laid eyes on Fort Wayne but bring with them strong bios. Toni is USAC’s winningest female driver and captured the Wester HPD Pavement Series title in 2016. This year her racing scope broadened as she competed in 3 races on the ARCA (Automobile Racing Club of America) tour. Annie has multiple West Coast Midget wins to her name and both have competed in USAC’s Silver Crown Series.
When it comes to USAC’s historic Silver Crown Series, Swanson’s name is synonymous. With his victory in this year’s Four Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway, Swanson not only captured his fourth National Championship (’14, ’15, ’17, ’18) but he became the Series winningest driver with 24 wins, eclipsing the long-time standard set by the colorful Jack Hewitt. He also has triumphed in the rugged Little 500 at Anderson Speedway twice (’16, ’18).
In his Rumble in Fort Wayne presented by Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales debut last year Swanson finished 6th on the opening night and then upped that to 3rd on the closing night.
Confirmed former winners Billy Wease (5), Russ Gamester (4), Justin Peck (2), Dave Darland (2), Fedorcak (1), Jimmy Anderson (1), Derek Bischak (1), Kyle Hamilton (1) and Nick Hamilton (1) will be in force to keep the California foursome from padding their bios. The Rumble’s all-time winningest driver at nine checkered flags, Tony Stewart, is thrashing to get his Fedorcak-built Munchkin into the field as well.