2022-23 Round 6

Turkey Trot - Infield Road Course at South Shore Superspeedway - Saint Francis, WI

November 19, 2022

Round 6 of 17

2022 Turkey Trot

Wiedemann Trots Home With Turkey

St. Francis, WI – For fourteen years in the IndySlotCar Series, John Wiedemann has been chasing a victory in the Turkey Trot at South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course. That chase included a runner-up finish in 2013, eight final appearances and three fourth-place finishes in the last four events. That chase ended tonight with Wiedemann finally taking home the Butterball on his fifteenth try.

Wiedemann's Angry Squirrel Speedsport teammate Mike Lack repeated last year’s feat and started the pole position with a best single-lap qualifying time of 3.123 seconds, quicker than last year’s fast time of 3.276 seconds. Lack now has won the pole four times at the Thanksgiving classic and it was the third time he started from the point this season. Hometown hero Dan Margetta qualified second with CBD Racing’s Bill Black third quickest. Michael Shank-It Racing’s Joe Heitz was fourth and Turkey Trot’s all-time best driver Ev Kamikawa clocked in fifth.

A field of twelve drivers filled up the three heat races and lineups were determined randomly. The first heat set Pete Dorn of CBD Racing against Wiedemann's #29 Honda-Daboiler and both Squirrel Shagged Enterprises drivers, Dean Strom and Steve Rist. The races were run in the ever-popular deslot format and Dorn was the first to be victimized by it. his third deslot ending his evening right as the first half ended with 73 laps, good for eleventh place on the night. Wiedemann controlled the race over the SSE drivers and took the win. Strom struggled with electrical issues in his ride but held off teammate Rist by six laps settling for sixth and seventh, respectively, for the event.

Heat Two featured drivers with a combined 38 finals and twelve wins in the previous 29 runnings of the Turkey Trot, winners of eight of the last ten Trots and all had qualified in the top five tonight. As would be expected it was a tight race in the first half, but the finish was unexpected. Cheap Ganassi Racing's Margetta led at halfway but was in a tight battle with Kamikawa throughout the race with Black and Lack just a few laps behind. Kamikawa took over the point in the second half with Margetta close behind. But, rather than cruise to what seemed to be an easy takeover of the transfer spot, Margetta pushed to try to retake the lead and crashed out of the race with his third deslot and a disappointing ninth place. Kamikawa did cruise to the win and Black said thank you to Margetta and captured the transfer. Lack finished third but with his lap total in the quick race was able to finish fifth overall for the event.

In the final heat, Michael Shank-It Racing teammates Heitz and Mike Kristof were looking to open the floodgates and get to the final. In their way were Angry Squirrel’s Matt Hayek and CBD’s Brad Core. After a scrum at the start, Core showed that he had a fast car and took the lead. Unfortunately, the car proved to be too quick and the CBD driver was snuffed out after three deslots saving his CBD Racing teammate Dorn from finishing last. Hayek's #26 Honda-Daboiler took over the lead, but while battling for the top spot with Heitz's #06 in the second half, Hayek crashed and was also out in tenth place. That left the MSR teammates to finish out the heat. Heitz backed off to roll to the win while Kristof actually found out his car had some speed in it, but he trickled to the finish and settled for eighth.

That left six-time Turkey Trot winner Kamikawa looking to hold off Wiedemann, Heitz and Black, who were all looking for their first bird. Kamikawa and Wiedemann led the field as Heitz struggled early and started amassing deslots. Before the end of the first half, Heitz was out and the podium was set with the order yet to be determined. At the halfway break, Kamikawa held a one lap lead over Wiedemann with Black another thirteen behind. Pitstops kicked off the second half and although they were relatively quick for each driver, Wiedemann had the quickest stop which allowed him to take over the lead. Kamikawa pushed his ride in the outside lane to try to retake the point and pushed a bit too far. A fourth deslot was recorded and Kamikawa would finish third leaving Wiedemann and Black to battle. During the battle with Kamikawa, Wiedemann ultimately built up a lead too big for Black to close and stayed as smooth as Thanksgiving gravy to checkers to score the victory and grab the bird.

The victory makes Wiedemann the first repeat winner of the season and vaulted him to the top of the standings, tied for points with Black. Lack is just a single point back in third place with Rist 35 points back in fourth. Heitz missed one race but made the final in four out of five races, is just a point behind Rist in fifth in the standings. Hayek is in the battle for fourth, just two points behind Heitz.

Up next is the seventh race of the season and another special format with the Duane Sweeney Memorial Grand Prix running in Open Class format at The Road Course at Badger Raceway on December 8th. Lack is the defending champion of the race and winner of three of the last four Sweeney Memorials.

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Turkey Trot Fast Facts

Race date: Thursday, Nov 17

Track: South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course, 2.4 mile Temporary Road Course in St. Francis, WI

Race distance: 20 minutes


Twitter: @indyslotcar


IndySlotCar Website: indyslotcar.com


2021 race winner: Mike Lack (No. 27 Angry Squirrel Speedsport Honda-Daboiler)

2021 Firestone P1 Award winner: Mike Lack (No. 27 Angry Squirrel Speedsport Honda-Daboiler)


One-lap qualifying record: Mark Walczak, 2.852 seconds, 2008

Race record: Ev Kamikawa, 323 laps, 2015


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

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

8:00 – Heat races

8:45 – Turkey Trot (20 minutes)

Race Notes:

· Mike Lack leads the Husarsbilt Cup championship by eight points over Bill Black coming into the Tukey Trot where he is the defending race and pole winner.

· Ev Kamikawa has taken home the most turkeys with six wins, but he also has been the runner-up seven times in his 24 starts in this event. Multi-time winners outscore one-time winners at the Turkey Trot 24-5. Only Dave Austin, John Shea, Jim Kaehny, Larry Rotter and Matt Hayek have won the race a single time.

· There have been five different winners in the first five events of this season, this last happened in 2020, when Dan Margetta became the first repeat winner of that season winning at his home track to take the turkey.

· STATS WATCH: Steve Rist joined Joe Heitz, Tom Spehert and John Baas in the three careers wins department, that’s a tie for 21st on the all-time list. Brad Core’s repeat pole position at the Black Track equals Pete Dorn and Phil Marich, all with two poles, tied for 23rd all-time. Core also scored his second heat win and final four appearance moving to 28th and 31st on those respective lists. First time racer Andy Black won a heat, the first time any driver has done that in the 30 year history of the series, only Dave Rosno made a final four appearance in his debut, at the Shrine Cup 9/8/1994. Mike Kristof moves past series founder and HOFer Phil Cianciola on the all-time laps list to fifth and Matt Hayek passes Larry Rotter to move to seventh with just over 40,000 turned.

TURKEY TROT HISTORY (29 events, 1993 - Present)

Date Race Winner Event Title Track

11/18/93 Phil Cianciola Texaco Turkey Trot Shrine Road Course

11/17/94 Dave Austin Hobby Town Turkey Trot Inside Edge

11/30/95 John Shea Hobby Town Turkey Trot Inside Edge

11/14/96 Ev Kamikawa Hobby Town Turkey Trot Inside Edge

11/20/97 Ev Kamikawa Hobby Town Turkey Trot Inside Edge

11/12/98 Jim Kaehny Hobby Town Turkey Trot Inside Edge

11/18/99 Ev Kamikawa Hobby Town Turkey Trot Inside Edge

11/16/00 Ev Kamikawa Turkey Trot presented by Model Empire Inside Edge

11/15/01 Larry Rotter Turkey Trot presented by Model Empire Inside Edge

11/14/02 Jim Iverson Model Empire Turkey Trot Inside Edge

11/20/03 Jim Iverson Model Empire Turkey Trot Inside Edge

11/18/04 Phil Cianciola Model Empire Turkey Trot Inside Edge

11/10/05 Mark Walczak Model Empire Turkey Troy South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/9/06 Jim Iverson Model Empire Turkey Troy South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/8/07 Mike Fitzlaff Model Empire Turkey Troy South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/20/08 Mark Walczak Turkey Trot South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/12/09 Mark Walczak Turkey Trot South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/11/10 Mark Walczak Turkey Trot South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/10/11 Mark Walczak Turkey Trot South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/8/12 Dan Margetta Turkey Trot South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/6/13 Mike Fitzlaff Turkey Trot South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/20/14 Ev Kamikawa Turkey Trot South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/12/15 Ev Kamikawa Turkey Trot South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/12/16 Dan Margetta Turkey Trot South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/9/17 Mike Lack Turkey Trot South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/8/18 Mike Lack Turkey Trot presented by Firehouse Subs “

11/7/19 Matt Hayek Turkey Trot South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/19/20 Dan Margetta Turkey Trot South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

11/18/21 Mike Lack Turkey Trot South Shore Superspeedway Infield Road Course

Most Wins: 6 – Ev Kamikawa; 5 – Mark Walczak; 3 – Mike Lack, Dan Margetta, Jim Iverson; 2 – Mike Fitzlaff, Phil Cianciola