Halloween Havoc - The Lack Track - West Bend , WI

October 22, 2020

Round 4 of 15

Rist Beats Champ For First Career IndySlotCar Win

West Bend, WI – As with most motorsports series this season, the IndySlotCar season had to deal with schedule changes. The Halloween Havoc, normally contested

at Quarry Heights Raceway, was moved to the Lack Track, the site of the last event, two weeks ago. And whether it was the familiarity of the course or the spirits of Halloween,

the action on the track was the most intense it has been this season so far.

Through all of that, Steve Rist rose to the top to capture his first victory in the IndySlotCar Series at the track that he made his series debut.

Mike Lack, hometown hero and wins leader at the track, topped qualifying with a track record setting run of 3.7 seconds. Rist took the outside of the front row followed by

John Wiedemann and Bill Black, all under the four second barrier.

After heats were set by drivers choice last to first, the first heat featured the top three drivers in the point standings, Dean Strom and Super High Intensity Team,

teammates Lack and Matt Hayek vs Ev Kamikawa. Hayek and Lack quickly pulled away from the other two to decide the race between themselves.

While Hayek led by two laps at the halfway point, Lack came back and challenged him in the second half. When the checkers flew, Hayek had

taken the win with Lack less than a half lap behind. Current point leader Strom finished 3rd in the heat and 8th in the final standings.

The second heat also tightened up at the end. Wiedemann took a four lap lead over Mike Kristof into the second half. But a difficult lane in

the second half and with Kristof on the charge, Wiedemann was lucky to escape with the victory only a lap ahead of Kristof.

The final heat race featured a tight battle in the first half with Rist and Bill Black on the same lap. Rist got it rolling in the second half

and cruised to victory by six laps. Black gave it all he could but missed the transfer position by two laps to Lack.

The final would quickly look like Lack’s to win as he pulled away from the field. The driver who mentioned to the media that he didn’t think

he had a car to compete streaked to a five lap lead as Wiedemann and Rist battled for second place, trading the position back and forth

during the first half of the race. At the halfway break Wiedemann held the second spot by two laps over Rist with Hayek looking for speed in

fourth.

After the break, the top three drivers pitted with 10 second pit stops. Rist was on the move though. With a quarter of the race to go, Rist

dispatched Wiedemann to take second and set his sights on leader Lack. Running laps tenths quicker and with Lack struggling with

handling issues, Rist was able to run down the six-time champion, take over the top spot and never look back. Wiedemann charged to try and

catch Lack but wound up a lap short and had to settle for the bottom step of the podium. Rist’s win was the second of the season for the new

Squirrel Shagged Enterprises team.

With the victory, Rist jumps up to fourth in the point standings which are still lead by his teammate Strom, but now just ten points ahead of

Lack and Hayek just two more points back in third. Just four races in and the championship battle is tight.

Up next is another race with a changed venue. The Turtle Grand Prix replaces the Lucky Bob's Challenge on November 5th at Turtle Creek Raceway for Round 5 of

the 2020-21 IndySlotCar season.

Halloween Havoc Fast Facts

Race date: Thursday, Oct 22

Track: Lack Track, 1.8 mile road course in West Bend, WI

Race distance: 20 minutes

Twitter: @indyslotcar

IndySlotCar Website: indyslotcar.com

2019 race winner: Matt Hayek (No. 15 Alter Ego Racing Dallara-Honda)

2019 P1 Award winner: Matt Hayek (No. 15 Alter Ego Racing Dallara-Honda)

One-lap qualifying record: Dean Strom, 3.717 seconds, 2019 (Quarry Heights Raceway)

John Wiedemann, 3.791 seconds, 2018 (Lack Track)

Race record: Matt Hayek, 282 laps, 2019 (Quarry Heights Raceway)

John Wiedemann, 261 laps, 2018 (Lack Track)

YouTube Broadcast: IndySlotCar Channel

At-track schedule (all times local):

6:00 – Gates open

6:30 – Driver introductions

7:00 – Drivers Meeting/Chassis Distribution

7:05 – IndySlotCar Series Practice

7:30 – Qualifying for the P1 Award (group qualifying/ fastest single lap)

7:50 – Heat races

8:40 – Halloween Havoc (20 minutes)

Race Notes:

· COVID-19 continues to cause changes to the schedule, like the full-scale series which staged double headers at several tracks this season, IndySlotCar instead of the usual Quarry Heights Raceway hosting the Halloween round, returns to the Lack Track for back to back events.

· The Lack Track will become the seventh different track in the 28 year history of the Halloween round to host the race, including Quarry Heights, which holds the record of 11 times; H.O. Road America, 10; The Shrine Road Course and Lake Country Motorplex twice; Road Wisconsin and Turtle Creek Park Raceway each held it once.

· Dean Strom continues his streak of finals to open the season, the only driver to make all three, and holds a 21 point lead in the championship over his former teammate Matt Hayek.

· Matt Hayek is not only the most recent race winner, taking the win two weeks ago at the Lack Track, but he is also the defending Halloween Havoc winner.

· There have been three different race winners and three different pole position winners this season.

· Fans are still awaiting the return of Dan Margetta, after winning the opener, he has been AWOL.

· There is also much anticipation for Joe Heitz first start of the season, but, much luck to his 3^rd Gear Pulls team at the Champ Car event at Road America this Saturday and Sunday.

HALLOWEEN HAVOC HISTORY (27 events, 1993 - Present)

Year Race Winner Event Name Track

10/28/93 Jim Chitel Miller Black Cat 250 Shrine Road Course

10/27/94 Dave Austin Happy Hobby Halloween 250 Shrine Road Course

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

10/27/16 John Wiedemann Halloween Havoc QHR

10/26/17 Mike Lack Halloween Havoc QHR

10/25/18 Mike Kristof Bridgestone Halloween Havoc QHR

10/24/19 Matt Hayek Halloween Havoc QHR

Most wins: Dan Margetta-5; Mark Walczak-4; John Wiedemann, Jim Kaehny–3; Dave Austin, Ev Kamikawa-2