[Task Force]

Corson ends storied career after eventful Rumble Weekend
By Zach Tasker

The 18th annual Rumble in Fort Wayne saw the final race weekend for legendary midget racing driver Rich Corson. The driver from Markham, Illinois who is a former winner of the storied race inside the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Indiana went into the racing weekend announcing that this would be his last start before hanging the helmet up.

After an engine heat and two practice sessions on the opening day of competition, which was Saturday, qualifying was held. In an effort to speed up the show, a new format for this year’s race would see the opening lap of qualifying counting towards Saturday’s event while lap number 2 would count for Sundays contest. Corson would set a lap of 8.446 seconds on lap 1 which put him in 23rd spot while running a consistent lap 2 of 8.616 good enough for 27th position in the 42 car field.

This would put the longtime STARS National Midget competitor starting in 5th position in the evening’s third heat race. Only two cars transfer to the feature from each heat and it would be a heat race stacked with talent and equal cars making it very difficult to pass or make up any ground. Corson would make up one position to finish in the 4th spot.

Up next was the night’s b main with the driver of the white #15 machine starting the 2nd b main in 5th spot with once again only two cars transferring. The veteran racer quickly made up ground and pounced moving up to the 2nd and final transfer spot. Tight racing would see him spun by Brandon Knupp halfway through the race entering turn 1. After the yellow flag, Corson would get his position back and hold on to the transfer spot in the ultra-tight and competitive field. He was able to hold off hard-chargers such as Justin Grant, Dameron Taylor and Taylor Jagger to punch his ticket into the big dance.

The 40 lap feature then came and Corson was able to run a smooth and steady race and pick cars off one by one from his 14th starting spot, eventually making his way into the top 10. However with just 4 laps to go his engine started to overheat causing him to pull off into the pits and end his race prematurely, he would be credited with a 13th place finish. “It was good, you know the crew worked their asses off, we actually found a problem with the racecar. It was dragging a front frame rail and once we got that done the car was actually very good. I just wish we could have done better, in the feature we were very fast, that was the best I ever drove in the feature. During the race, the engine got very hot and I didn’t know that we had already run 36 laps as I was picking myself through the field and realized that when I pulled in we had already run that many laps and to me the feature was too short. I'm used to a long feature run in Fort Wayne and to me, 40 laps isn’t long enough. My crew did well and I was happy with everything but 40 laps just isn’t long enough.”

By earning his spot into Saturday night’s show, he tied another midget racing legend, Dave Darland for 2nd on the all-time feature start list in Rumble in Fort Wayne history with 20. Rich wasn’t ready to rest at 20 though, Sunday would see his final ever start in racing and he wanted to boost that number by 1. After another morning engine heat and practice session, which saw a good rotating car through the corners the lineup would see “Racer Rich” in the afternoons 5th and final heat. He would be starting on pole position and get an early lead on 2nd place runner Justin Grant. However, the last couple laps of the 10 lap race would be a topsy-turvy affair with all the front runners super close together in a pack with lots of contact. Corson would have the lead late but spin after contact only to race his way back up but have more contact on the last lap with Bryan Nuckles. He would cross the finish line in 3rd spot in the heat but get demoted back to 4th spot after being penalized for the contact with Nuckles only to be lifted back up to 3rd due to a disqualification of 2nd place finisher Grant Galloway, still not enough to get into the 40 lap main event. Corson and the team elected not to run the b main bringing an end to his stellar career.

“I got to the lead and my whole game plan was, I had seen what Grant Galloway was doing and I figured if I was going to open up the bottom he was going to take me out and so I slowed the pace down compared to how fast I knew I could run and I tried to hold the bottom as tight as I could because I knew if I didn’t he was going to take me out and I had mentioned to the officials that was going to be an issue and all of the sudden I’m still leading it and I heard Cory Setser on the outside of me and we get a yellow going down the back straight and I’m like ok we have three more laps and we get the green, we get the white and going into turn 1, I talked to Cory afterwards and I gave him plenty of room on the outside and his stance was he went to the outside in turn 1 just to avoid any contact with Galloway because we all knew he was going to take somebody out and I got through turn 1 I got hit but didn’t get taken out. Looking back at it I should have just spun the car out, I tried to regather it up and Nuckles hit me and then I got into Nuckles down in 1 and 2 and I took him out on accident.”

Confusion quickly reigned after the heat “Then I get to my pit and my pit crew is mad because I already went to the officials and told them what I thought was going to happen with Galloway and I watch people swarm over Galloways car and next thing I know the promoter, who is Larry Boos goes in there and approaches the situation and I’m asking officials what is going on, am I in the feature? And I get no answers, I’m pitted next to Galloway at the same time and I can’t go anywhere I’m hearing my name announced on the PA to start the consi and I have no officials telling me where to start or wherever, next thing I know everything is over, I ask the officials what is going on with the ruling did he get DQ’ed, yes and afterwards I gave all my opinions on what happened and it was just a bad deal. I had a good racecar and my crew especially RJ, my son, backed me 100% this whole weekend and Pat Wilda, I can’t say enough for him for what he did the whole weekend,also big thanks to Scott Baran. My guys worked their asses off, we are a small team that went there and made the show Saturday, should have made it two nights in a row to finish my career off but it didn’t happen that way. At the same time I have to thank Heros West, Al Harris for giving me all the support for the sponsorship that he gave me also all the fans that came down, that supported me, that meant a lot to me at the end of the night.”

Even though his career ended on a sour note Sunday, the driver of the #15 Heros West/SET Racing/Wilda Racing Hawk/Fontana is still proud of his career knowing he gave it his all every night on track and even though you won’t see him behind the wheel, he will be at the track helping his son, RJ start his racing career in dirt midgets in 2016.

“I’ll be around, myself, Patrick Wilda and my son RJ worked out a deal where we are going to go dirt racing next year. Pat Wilda doesn’t want to get out of racing, I give him a lot of respect, he lost his son and he doesn’t want me to get out of it and I don’t want to get out of it, but we are going to concentrate on my son going racing now. I want to let him be something and its time. When I came home Sunday night, he beat me home because he drove by himself and I walked into the home and I took out my helmet, it was in my bag and I said here RJ, I give my helmet to you, it’s up to you to carry my name on, there’s where I left it at. It was a good feeling to do that and know that that’s where I want to leave it at. “It’s hard to walk away but its time, I look at fans in the grandstands and sponsors that support me so much. I had so many people ask me this weekend why I’m walking away when I’m still making features. I don’t want to leave now but I do want to leave being competitive. I don’t want to be a field filler where I’m going every weekend and I’m not making the show. I want to thank everyone that has supported me my entire career, it means a lot.”


Photo credit: JessicaJ Photography