2016-17 Round 5
Halloween Havoc - Quarry Heights Raceway - Wauwatosa, WI
October 27, 2016
Round 5 of 16
Wiedemann's October Surprise
See the box score here.
Wauwatosa, WI -- John Wiedemann was the defending champion of the Halloween Havoc and showed how much he loves this holiday with a solid victory again at Quarry Heights Raceway. But, considering the start to the season and reports that the driver of the #19 was even considering retirement, those who might have thought this season was going to be a step backward from the past couple years of challenging his JAM Racing teammate Mike Lack for the Husarsbilt Cup championship, his recent three race stretch could come as quite a surprise. In the month of October (including the West Bend Grand Prix on September 30), "JW" has two wins and a second place, including a Chick-fil-A Brookfield P1 Award, outscoring every other driver and leaping from eighth place to second in three races and sits just eight points behind MaD Motorsports Matt Hayek.
Dean Strom, after missing the Slots-A-Fun 400 zoomed right to the point during qualifying taking the Chick-fil-A Brookfield P1 Award ahead of Lack and Wiedemann.
The heat races saw home town favorite Matt Hayek hold off a charging Mike Kristof, who ultimately lost the handle on his #9 Target Fitz Ganassi Racing Dallara-Honda late in the heat to finish fifth on the night, his best result of the season, meanwhile Dan Margetta, who came into the night second in the championship made an early exit crashing out on lap 40 to finish last. Wiedemann's heat race also saw some carnage as Amy Butler went into the trees on lap 93 with her JAM Racing Dallara-Honda parked in eighth place, Pete Dorn held his own against JW but came up short of the transfer lap total to finish seventh. The final heat race was the most entertaining racing of the night as Mike Lack advanced to the 20 minute final by keeping pole winner Dean Strom behind him, and Fitz Ganassi Racing's Mike Fitzlaff challenging for the transfer spot. Ultimately, "Fitz" had handling issues like his FGR teammate, to finish just behind Kristof in sixth with Lack and Strom moving on.
The Halloween Havoc final saw Mike Lack take the initial lead only to be overtaken by Wiedemann where he would stay to the checkers while Strom and Lack would put on a good show in a battle for the runner-up spot and Hayek would work hard to try and dig out of a hole he dug in the first race to try and move up from fourth, but would come up short settling for his worst finish of the season, but still a terrific start to the season so far with five finals and four podiums.
The parade of holiday races continues in two weeks as another beloved stop of the calendar sees the IndySlotCar circus move to the road course at South Shore Superspeedway for the Turkey Trot. The event has been dominated by Ev Kamikawa, including winning the frozen turkey the last two years, hopefully the Penske HO driver will be cleared by doctors to get in the car, following an accident that has him suffering from concussion symptoms. We know fans and the whole paddock want him there to defend his wins.
###
Halloween Havoc Fast Facts
Race date: Thursday, Oct 27
Track: 2 mile Road Course in Wauwatosa, WI
Race distance: 20 minutes
Twitter: @indyslotcar
IndySlotCar Website: indyslotcar.com
2015 race winner: John Wiedemann, (No. 14 JAM Racing Dallara-Honda)
2015 Chick-fil-A Brookfield P1 Award winner: John Wiedemann (No. 14 JAM Racing Dallara-Honda)
One-lap qualifying record: Dean Strom, 3.987 seconds, 2014
Race record: John Wiedemann, 261 laps, 2015
YouTube Broadcast: IndySlotCar Channel
At-track schedule (all times local):
6:30 – Driver introductions
7:00 – IndySlotCar Series Practice
7:15 – Qualifying for the Chick-fil-A Brookfield P1 Award (group qualifying/ fastest single lap)
7:30 – Heat races
8:00 – Too Clean Laundry Grand Prix (20 minutes)
Race Notes:
· Matt Hayek will arrive at his home track with the Husarsbilt Cup championship lead by 21 points over Dan Margetta.
· Hayek has not finished worse than third this season, with a win, a second and two third place finishes.
· Mike Lack scored his first win of the season at the last race at Stardust Speedway.
· There have been four different winners in the first four races of the season. (In addition to Lack, John Wiedemann, Matt Hayek and Dan Margetta)
· Four different drivers have won the Chick-Fil-A Brookfield P1 Award so far, Hayek, Lack, Margetta and Mike Kristof.
· Quarry Heights Raceway features a gleaming new kitchen area to serve the drivers and teams this season.
Halloween Havoc PRE-EVENT QUOTES:
Matt Hayek No. 15 MaD Motorsports: The kitchen is finally DONE!
John Wiedemann No. 19 JAM Racing: Looking forward to getting back to Quarry Heights where I won last year and hoping that I can Hayek and Lack behind me at this race.
Mike Lack No. 1 JAM Racing: I won a race and I’m only fourth in points…wait, Wiedemann said what?!
Ev Kamikawa No 2 Penske HO: OUCH!!!
HALLOWEEN HAVOC HISTORY (23 events, 1993 - Present)
Year Race Winner
10/28/93 Jim Chitel Miller/Black Cat 250 Shrine Desert Road Course
10/27/94 Dave Austin Happy Hobby Halloween 250-Shrine
10/27/95 Phil Cianciola Red Dog Halloween 250 HO Road America
10/31/96 Dave Austin Red Dog Halloween 250 HORA
10/30/97 Jim Kaehny Red Dog Halloween 250 HORA
10/29/98 Jim Kaehny NTB Halloween 250 HORA
10/21/99 Phil Marich Texaco-Havoline Halloween 250-HORA
10/31/00 Ev Kamikawa Miller Lite Halloween 250 HORA
10/31/01 Dan Margetta Miller Lite Halloween 250 HORA
10/24/02 Jim Kaehny Halloween 250 HORA
10/30/03 Larry Rotter Halloween 250 HORA
10/28/04 Dan Margetta McDonald’s Halloween 250 HORA
10/27/05 Ev Kamikawa McDonald’s Halloween 400 Road Wisconsin
11/4/06 Mark Walczak State Farm 400 Lake Country Motorplex
10/27/07 Dan Margetta State Farm Halloween 400 LCM
10/23/08 Mark Walczak Milwaukee Sporting Goods Halloween Havoc-Turtle Creek
11/5/09 Mark Walczak SportsClips Grand Prix Quarry Heights Raceway
10/28/10 John Weidemann SportsClips Halloween GP QHR
10/27/11 Dan Margetta Halloween Havoc QHR
10/25/12 Dan Margetta Halloween Havoc QHR
10/24/13 Mark Walczak Halloween Havoc QHR
12/4/14 Dean Strom Nightmare Before Christmas QHR
10/29/15 John Wiedemann Halloween Havoc QHR
Most wins – Dan Margetta-5; Mark Walczak-4; Jim Kaehny-3; John Wiedemann, Ev Kamikawa, Dave Austin-2