FORT WAYNE, Ind. It took veteran Joe Liguori 16 years to finally reach victory lane at the Rumble in Fort Wayne presented by Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales for the first time, but his road to a return trip there ended up being far shorter.

Liguori collected a trophy Saturday night during the national midget finale to the 26th annual Rumble, leading all 50 laps from the pole and winning the back half of the historic indoor racing classic for the second year running.

The driver of the Steadfast for Veterans-sponsored No. 8up outdueled fellow front-row starter Justin Peck on the initial green flag, then held off teammate and Friday night winner Cap Henry for the majority of the distance en route to a $2,000 payday.

It marked Liguoris second Rumble victory in his 29th start. Adding in Henrys victory from the Friday opener, the third-generation driver from Tampa, Fla., has won the last three Rumble midget mains as a car owner inside the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

That is a testament to this team and how hard weve all worked to get to this point, said Liguori after the race. Getting the [winless] monkey off my back last year was pretty good; this second one proves were not just one-hot wonders and that were a threat each and every time we unload in this building.

The infield tire in turn one got pushed out pretty far, so it made it where you had to try and make passes in [turns] three and four and I just had to be smooth even though there wasnt any really big pressure that I felt toward the end.

Pecks quest for a fourth Rumble triumph came undone during the start, when a flat left-rear tire brought him to a stop in turn two and put him out of the race immediately after starting second.

It elevated Henry to a front-row spot beside Liguori for the ensuing restart, and once the pair settled out in the top-two positions, they ran there for the entire distance and were never seriously threatened.

In fact, just three cautions waved during the 50-lapper following Pecks issue on the start, with Travis Welpott spinning in turn three on lap 11 and fast qualifier Kasey Jedrzejek looping his car in turn one with 10 laps remaining.

The most dramatic slowdown came as the leader was taking the white flag, when Shawn Bonar spun in the first corner, setting up a green-white-checkered finish where Liguori pulled away from Henry to win by .443 seconds.

Though Henry had several shots down the stretch to make a move for the win on Liguori in lap traffic, the Ohio driver said he wasnt going to risk spinning out a teammate just to complete a weekend sweep.

I wasnt going to wreck him for a win, Henry stressed. The end goal was to get the best possible result for the team, and Joe has done a lot for me over the years, so hes earned that kind of respect and the important thing was to run one-two no matter what it took.

Ayrton Houk, driving Mel Kenyons iconic yellow No. 6, crossed third ahead of Bryan Nuckles and Mike Fedorcak, who earned his best Rumble finish since 2017 with a fifth-place effort.

Jedrzejek kicked off the night with his second straight fast qualifying time, while Ryan Flores, Jim Anderson, Henry, and Russ Gamester each won their respective 10-lap heat races.

Scott Hampton and Bonar topped the two 12-lap Last Chance Showdowns to lead the final transfer cars into the main event.

Going into the weekend, Liguori said hed retire from Rumble competition if he managed to win both halves of the event as a driver in the same year.

Considering he did run the table, but as a car owner, does that mean Liguori is committing to returning to Fort Wayne for another go in 2025? He was coy with those plans, at least at this point.

Ill be in the building [next year], said Liguori with a smile. What that means well see when we get there.

In other racing action Saturday night, Dillon Nusbaum (non-winged) and Tyler Gunn (winged) split the pair of 600cc micro sprint features that joined the national midget headliner on the event cars.

Gunns victory came in his first weekend racing in the winged class at the Rumble and was the result of a wild 25-lapper that saw multiple drivers spin out from the lead and a late oil-down situation that necessitated a red-flag for track cleanup.

In the end, Gunn took his No. 68g to the outside in the final laps to make passes before bumping Nate Franklin for the lead coming to the white flag. The contact led to Franklin spinning and Gunn inheriting the top spot before hanging on during a green-white-checkered sprint to the finish line.

That was wild, said an exhausted Gunn in victory lane. It was hard fought and Im glad we got rolling there on the top late in the race. That was the key.

Brian Busz, Chase Ridenour, John Ivy, and Kelsey Ivy-Mange closed the top five. Bill Dunham led the first 18 laps from the pole, but lost the lead to Franklin when he slid through oil in turn three and could never fully recover.

Dunham later was involved in a multi-car spin in turn one and ended up ninth in the 18-car field.

The non-winged micro battle saw Dillon Nusbaum take control at halfway after then-leader Gunn spun on the backstretch with a broken right-rear wheel hub.

Nusbaum never relented after that, racing out to a 1.125-second victory over runner-up Kole Kirkman.

Third through fifth were Larry Joe Sroufe, Josh Ross, and John Ivy.

Of note, Chris Neuenschwander led all 20 laps to collect $1,000 as the victor in a special national midget second chance race, which featured drivers that failed to qualify for either 50-lap feature at this years Rumble.

Nick Hamilton was the runner-up, with Tim Creech II, Jack Macenko, and Andrew Royer completing the top five runners.

The 27th annual Rumble in Fort Wayne is slated for Dec. 19-20, 2025.

The finish:

Feature (50 laps): Joe Ligouri, Cap Henry, Ayrton Houk, Bryan Nuckles, Mike Fedorcak, Travis Welpott, Kasey Jedrzejek, Shawn Bonar, Jim Anderson, Ryan Flores, Braiden Black, Scott Hampton, Russ Gamester, Justin Peck.