DieHard Edge 500 - Edge Superspeedway

January 21, 1999

Round 10 of 16

MARGETTA MADNESS" CONTINUES WITH DIEHARD 500 WIN

-3rd win of season comes with help in the pits-

New Berlin, WI (Jan. 21, 1999) - The hottest driver on the SlotCART circuit got even hotter here at the Edge superspeedway Thursday, coming up with a flawless performance to win the DieHard Edge 500 race. Dan Margetta did it all here Thursday night. After setting a record for the pole in qualifying, he went on to pilot his Miller Lite Reynard Ford to a heat race victory and a nine-lap win in the Final, taking home $52 (thousand} dollars in pole-to-victory award money as well. The pole was his first in three years and the win was his third this season and fourth of his career. Dangerous Dan also vaulted from six to fourth in the chase for the 1998-1999 championship.

The victory was a true team effort, as the Miller Lite pit crew may have once again been the difference. Margetta's team pulled off the fastest stop of the night at just eight seconds. Runner-up Phil Cianciola came into the pits right behind Margotta, but didn't exit until 25 second later, thanks to a stall and a slow restart. With Cianciola's stop being 17 seconds longer than Margetta's and lap times being around two seconds per lap, do the math. It was the difference in the race. Cianciola, the defending series champion, said, "It's disappointing because I think we had something for Margetta tonight, but we lost this thing in the pits."

Speed was on the mind of Margotta afterward. "This was the fastest I've ever gone in one of these cars. We're going faster than our own technology," he said, making reference to the problems with the lap counting and scoring center endured once again by the drivers. "Cianciola was the guy I was worried about. We were racing really hard out there tonight."

Jim Kaehny made the podium in third, and combined with a heat race win gathered enough points to remain just three back from Cianciola in second place in the standings. Plagued by traffic early in the race, Kaehny was never in contention for the win, even though he ran wheel-to-wheel at times with the leaders.

And once Ev Kamikawa made the Final he struggled mightily with handling and an understeer problem that had

him riding the walls and visiting the infield grass on numerous occasions. He finished well off the pace. After the race Kamikawa publicly questioned Ferrari's commitment to him and the SlotCART effort.

"We're using last year's equipment. Ferrari hasn't filtered the funding we need down to this level of racing. If things don't change we'll have to see where I end up next year," he said.

Dave Austin (5th}, Tom Spehert (6th), and Phil Marich (7th) made up the mid pack, with Penske driver Pat Jarvis making news by making the race. In somewhat of an amazing tale, Jarvis made the field for the first time in his three starts this year, finishing eighth. Amazing in part not only because he was driving a car he had never turned a lap in prior to this open-class race, but also because this was the first time in his career he had ever turned a lap on an oval! He scored four points, the first points of the season for the Bayside, WI native.

"I like this oval stuff," he kidded. "It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it."

Jarvis beat out both rookies in the large field (Mike Prelozni 10th and Larry Rotter 12th) and also beat out the likes of veterans and race winners this season John Baas (9th) and Chad Sorce (11th).

Wearing the hat of series commissioner, Phil Cianciola issued a statement following the race, apologizing to the participants for delays that made for a long evening of racing.

"Once again we find that the new Ortega Timing and Scoring system still has some bugs to be worked out. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience the drivers may have experienced due to some lengthy delays during the running of the DieHard Edge 500. We are making every effort to convert the next stop on the tour to a different type of scoring mechanism that should be more compatible to the computer program, which has worked wonderfully thus far. It is the counting of the cars themselves that has caused problems. We hope to have our new system of counting cars in place at all the tracks the SlotCART series will race on through the rest of this season."

The next race, the Sprecher 400, will be held at Vernon Farms Super Speedway on Feb. 4th.

RACE PREVIEW: THE DieHard Edge 500

0    WHAT: The 6th annual DieHard Edge 500

0    WHERE: The Edge    New Berlin, WI

0    WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 21st  6:30 p.m.

0  DEFENDING CHAMPION:  Ev Kamikawa

0    DEFENDING POLESITTER: Phil Cianciola

0    TRACK LAYOUT: Superspeedway

0  RACE LENGTH: 500 laps

0  RACE RECORDS: Qualifying- 205 laps Dave Austin   1996

Race-      500 laps/19.54 Phil Cianciola 1996

0    RACE#: 10 of 16

0    NEXT EVENT: The Sprecher Race (New Event/De-Slot rule race) Thursday, Feb. 4th

Vernon Farms Super Speedway  Wauwatosa, WI

0    INSTANT REPLAY

Ev Kamikawa and Phil Cianciola finished 1-2 after a tight battle for much of the event. Jim Kaehny made the podium in third place. It was Kamikawa's second win in a row and fourth of the season, extending his points lead at the time. Several cars were banged up in the high-speed, open-class event.

THE DieHard Edge 500 HISTORY

Year

Race Winner

Pole Winner

1994

JIM KAEHNY

JIM KAEHNY

1995

PIEL CIANCIOLA

PHIL CIANCIOLA

1 9 9 6

PHIL CIANCIOLA

DAVE AUSTIN

1997

DAVE AUSTIN

PHIL CIANCIOLA

1998

EV KAMIKAWA

PHIL CIANCIOLA

Things to watch for this year...

He always seems to be fast here, as proven by two poles in a row and poles three of the five years this race has been run, so watch Cianciola again. Former race winners Ev Kamikawa and Jim Kaehny are usually in the thick of things here as well.