FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Audio, story and photo by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman —
It’s been five years, but Indiana native Kyle O’Gara is more than ready to make his Rumble in Fort Wayne return.
O’Gara, a college student at Indiana’s Western Governor’s University, won the 2014 USAC National Pavement Midget Championship and is hoping to parlay his season momentum into a victory at the Rumble — an event that he is enthusiastic to return to behind the wheel of his Indy Trading Post No. 27 Kenyon midget.
“It’s a pleasure to come up here and race with everybody, race with some former teammates and some fellow open-wheel stars,” O’Gara said on Friday at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The last time O’Gara competed at the Rumble was his Fort Wayne debut in 2009.
He was a fresh-faced 14-year-old then.
“It’s been a long time,” the young pilot admitted. “But hey, we just came up here to have fun after a great season so we’ll see what happens.”
The native Hoosier will be one of several home state favorites competing at this weekend’s Rumble, and says he will have a lot of support over the course of the holiday weekend.
“I’ve got a lot of family coming up for the event, and that’s what it’s all about, right after Christmas and the holidays,” O’Gara said.
One of those family members in attendance this weekend will be CFH Racing (IndyCar) team co-owner Sarah Fisher, who will be signing autographs for the fans over the course of the three-day event. O’Gara says without Fisher’s support, he may not be where he is in his career today.
“She’s been huge for my career. Honestly, I don’t now if I’d be here without her. Just to have another set of eyes on the track, she’s been to a lot of the tracks we’ve raced at and it’s helped a lot. Just to have family up here on this (particular) weekend means a lot.”
The 19-year-old has been busy all season long, competing in ten different styles of race cars across various sanctions, including USAC (en route to his National title) and Indy Lights, over he course of the year.
“We raced ten different cars this year, all across the country, from Indy Lights to the midget to an F2000 car,” O’Gara said of his 2014 campaign. “I made my Silver Crown debut, won the National Midget championship — had a really good year.”
“Every car has it’s own characteristics, but there hasn’t been one car that I wouldn’t want to get back in,” O’Gara added. “I’ve just got a lot to be thankful for and hopefully next year goes just as well.”
Next year appears to carry more of the same for the young hotshoe, including a return to the Chili Bowl at the Tulsa (Okla.) Expo Center in January, but he says the Rumble will always be a midget event that is like no other on his schedule.
“We’ve got about a 30 or 40 race schedule next year with our Kenyon midget, the national midget, some dirt stuff. I’m hoping an opportunity opens up in an Indy Lights car, at least at Indy, but this event — it’s special for me to compete in,” O’Gara said. “There’s nothing you can compare it to; it’s like the Chili Bowl — there’s nothing that compares to it.”
“On the pavement side, there’s nothing that compares to Fort Wayne for an indoor race. It’s a huge challenge, we came up here in a Kenyon midget, a little low on horsepower, but we’re up here to have fun and see what we got.”
Listen in to an extended cut of our interview with rising open-wheel sensation Kyle O’Gara live from the Rumble in Fort Wayne:
