Fall Brawl - Road Course at Badger Raceway - Muskego, WI

September 21, 2023

Round 2 of 17

Margetta Defeats...Everything!

Muskego, WI -- After battling  and beating cancer this past off season, Dan Margetta has a less significant, but perhaps more fun victory at the Road Course at Badger Raceway, by winning the Fall Brawl, his first time taking the checkers in three years. Margetta held off fellow Hall of Famer Ev Kamikawa by two laps. The newest member of CBD Racing is the only driver to make the final at the two opening rounds of the season and now holds the points lead over last race winner and Fall Brawl pole sitter Matt Hayek. 

The night opened with a previous race winner Matt Hayek taking the Firestone P1 Award in qualifying. The #27 FAST driver was on the front row with Team PenskeHO's Ev Kamikawa, the second row featured Margetta and Kamikawa's teammate John Shea, the #3 making its debut for the season. Hometown hero Dean Strom rounded out the top five.

At the other end of the grid the two members of Team Spehert once again took part in the Last Chance Qualifier, along with FAST drivers John Wiedemann and Steve Rist, again rookie James Spehert would struggle and finish 13th on the night.

The opening heat race saw Shea and former champ Strom battle it out, but ultimately Strom struggled with power and for the first time in the history of the Fall Brawl, someone named Strom or Lack would be putting their name on the trophy football, with Shea moving on, pole sitter Hayek was never much of a factor in the heat and Chris Spehert would finish ninth on the night.

Dan Margetta showed to be very quick on the big road course in the second heat but still had mirror's full of the #12 Verizon car of Kamikawa all the way to the finish, both would qualify for the final. Pete Dorn broke many, many wings and ran to sixth, with Mike Kristof in the #60 SiriusXM car was continuously refueling with Hamm's and the car struggled to tenth because of it.

In the final heat race, defending Husarsbilt Cup champion Joe Heitz ran a solid race and kept FAST driver John Wiedemann behind him with Brad Core's #6 CBD Racing Chevrolet-Daboiler having transmission problems, while, for the second race in a row Steve Rist would crash out of the race early, finishing twelfth.

In the twenty minute final Margetta and Kamikawa traded the lead early, it stayed a solid battle throughout, while just shy of halfway, Heitz crashed out, this allowed John Shea to move on to the podium, ultimately Margetta would hold off the #12 Team PenskeHO and Shea in the #3 just a few laps back. This combination of drivers, who all made starts in the first IndySlotCar season, 31 years ago, were last part of a podium together in 2006.

Next up, the series heads to Turtle Creek Park Raceway, for the rarely contested Turtle Grand Prix, a club car event at the fast Larry Rotter-built race track.

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The Fall Brawl  Fast Facts
Race date: Thursday, Sep 21

Track: Road Course at Badger Raceway, 3.25 mile natural-terrain road course

Race distance:  20 minutes

X:  @indyslotcar

IndySlotCar Website: indyslotcar.com

2022 race winner: Mike Lack (#27 Angry Squirrel Speedsport Honda-Daboiler)

2022 Firestone P1 Award winner: Mike Lack (#27 Angry Squirrel Speedsport Honda-Daboiler)

One-lap qualifying record: Mark Walczak, 4.397 seconds, 2013

Race record: Mike Lack, 238 laps, 2018

YouTube Broadcast: IndySlotCar Channel

At-track schedule (all times local):

6:00 – Gates open

6:30 – Driver introductions

6:55 – Drivers’ meeting (chassis distribution)

7:00 – IndySlotCar Series Practice

7:20 – Qualifying for the Firestone P1 Award (group qualifying/ fastest single lap)

7:45 – Heat races

8:30 – Fall Brawl

Race Notes:

·         Matt Hayek enters round two with the points lead after opening the season with a win at the Trokan Cup 500, the second time the FAST driver has opened the season with a win, the last time, four years ago, when he went on to take four more victories and finish third in the 2019 championship.

·         Mike Lack is the defending Fall Brawl winner, the #26 driver and hometown hero Dean Strom are the only drivers to have won the seven runnings of the Fall Brawl, Strom with four, Lack the other three.

·         James Spehert made his first career start at the Mini Mile, making him the 60th driver in IndySlotCar Series history to attempt to qualify for a race.

·         Rumors are swirling around the paddock that a certain female member of the IndySlotCar Channel broadcast team may make a return to the series at Badger.

·         The Pole-To-Win fund continues to grow, it was last claimed by Joe Heitz at round 12 of the 22-23 season at Rapids, its expected to climb past 80,000 IndySlotCar bucks.

·         Stat watch: Matt Hayek’s Mini Mile win is the 21st of his career, moving him past his FAST teammate Dean Strom to ninth on the all-time list. Brad Core’s final four appearance at the Trokan Cup 500 is the fourth of his career, equaling Andy Spehert and Rick Osterbrink at 29th all-time. Core also moved to 29th on the total Laps list with 4,789 moving ahead of Arnie Lueders and Phil Marich. Pete Dorn now has 118 series starts, that the same total as Hall of Famer Dave Austin, good for 17th.

FALL BRAWL HISTORY (7 EVENTS):

Date                   Race Winner                                    Event Name

9/19/2013        Mike Lack                                         Ricardo’s Pizza presents the Badger Raceway Fall Brawl

9/17/2015        Dean Strom                                      Fall Brawl presented by UFC

9/20/2018        Dean Strom                                      Choco Taco Fall Brawl

9/29/2019        Mike Lack                                         Choco Taco Fall Brawl

9/24/2020        Dean Strom                                      Choco Taco Fall Brawl

9/23/2021        Dean Strom                                      Choco Taco Bomb Pop Fall Brawl

9/22/2022        Mike Lack                                         Fall Brawl