Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix - Turtle Creek Park Raceway - West Allis, WI

Round 16 of 17

April 2, 2026

Wiedemann Still Owns Turtle Creek Park

(Wauwatosa, WI) -- For the third straight year, John Wiedemann has won the Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix, and for a record-breaking fifth time, won the "Open class" race at Turtle Creek Park Raceway, breaking out of tie with the race's namesake and others. It was also the second win of the season for the defending Husarsbilt Cup champion, sweeping the "open class" races for the third straight season. 

The members of the FAST alliance teams were feeling confident after practice and qualifying that they had the machines this "open class" event to take the checkers. Hometown hero Joe Heitz broke up the FAST party, taking his season-leading fourth Firestone P1 Award in qualifying, ahead of the #10 of FAST's Dean Strom and FAST II: The Castaway's Matt Hayek in his #15 Honda-Daboiler qualifying third, with Spehert Global's Dan Margetta and Heitz's Good Vibes Racing teammate Mike Kristof rounding out the top five.

The opening heat saw all three members of CBD Racing, Pete Dorn, Bill Black and Brad Core, line up against FAST's Steve Rist. Early one Rist went to the lead but soon lost the handling, while Dorn kept his #6 Chevrolet-Daboiler on track consistently, with Black and Core struggling. Dorn would hold on for his fourth final four appearance of the season. The other three would finish with Rist, sixth for the night, Black seventh and Core eighth.

Longtime teammates and rivals, John Wiedemann and Mike Lack, along with Mike Kristof and Ev Kamikawa would compete in the second heat race. Wiedemann and Lack would quickly take the point and trade the lead throughout, while Kristof struggled to keep pace with the FAST alliance cars, Kamikawa had an evil handling car that eventually crashed and ended the Hall of Fame drivers evening in ninth. Lack would eventually get ahead of Wiedemann to take the heat win and the bonus point, but obviously JW advanced on the transfer spot, while Kristof would settle for a second straight fifth place finish.

The hometown crowd was feeling a little nervous as Joe Heitz and his Splenda Good Vibes Racing Chevrolet-Daboiler was looking shaky at the start, trailing Dean Strom and Dan Margetta, and Matt Hayek in to his Mobil 1 machine. However, early on Strom took too much throttle over the bridge and launched himself out of the event on the sixth lap, finishing dead last on the evening. This seemed like a good sign for Margetta who took the lead and felt confident that he had the measure of Heitz, but before midpoint, Margetta also would crash hard and end his race on lap 34. That left Heitz with only Hayek to challenge him and it looked like the 15 was headed for a win with a chance to help his fellow FAST alliance driver Mike Lack keep his closest pursuer out of the final, but deep in to the second half, the Mobil car used the wings it had painted on it to fly into the bridge entrance wall and crash too heavily to return to the track and with that Heitz inherited the ticket to the final.

With Heitz stunned that he was in the final, his focus seemed shaken, while Wiedemann relished the possibility to once again sweep the "open class" races for the season and win at the track he clearly still considers his own. Mike Lack was competitive early on, hoping to make up ground towards the end. Pete Dorn was never a factor and seemed resigned to a fourth place finish, with Heitz well ahead in third. As time ran down Lack did cut into the lead JW had built, but the #9 PNC Bank Honda-Daboiler was no match for Wiedemann's continuing dominance in this format.

With his second win of the season Wiedemann is still within shot of the championship leaders for a chance to defend his third Husarsbilt Cup championship, but he will need help, see the story below. Lack was able to tack on an additional six points to his lead over Heitz heading into the finale. 

The 33rd running of the HO Indy 500 is Saturday, April 18 at South Shore Superspeedway, all the pomp and circumstance that the biggest race of the season deserves will once again determine a championship.

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Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix fast facts

Race date: Thursday, Apr 2

Track: Turtle Creek Park Raceway, 2.8-mile, 9-turn natural terrain circuit, West Allis, Wisconsin

Race distance: 20 minutes

IndySlotCar Website: indyslotcar.com

2025 race winner: John Wiedemann (No. 11 FAST Honda-Daboiler)

2025 Firestone John Wiedemann (No. 11 FAST Honda-Daboiler)

Qualifying record: Larry Rotter, 3.023 seconds, 2005

Race record: Mike Lack, 311 laps, 2020

YouTube Broadcast: IndySlotCar Channel

At-track schedule (all times local):

6:00 – Gates open

6:30 – Driver introductions

7:00 – Drivers’ meeting

7:05 – IndySlotCar Series Practice

7:35 – “Open Class” cars presented for Technical Inspection

7:40 – Qualifying for Firestone P1 Award (group qualifying/ fastest single lap)

8:00 – Heat races

8:45 – Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix (20-minute final)

Race Notes:

·         John Wiedemann might not have Turtle Creek Park Raceway physically in his possession, but he clearly still owns this track with his fourth win at the Larry Rotter-built track, which matches the late Hall of Famers career total.

·         Wiedemann has won the last five “open class” races, both the Sweeney and Rotter Memorials in the 2023-24 and 24-25 seasons and the Sweeney earlier this season.

·         No other drivers have multiple wins besides Lack and Heitz.

·         The Husarsbilt Cup championship is coming down to a shootout between Mike Lack and Joe Heitz. Lack holds a 10 point lead over Heitz, both now have five wins on the season after Heitz took March Madness.

·         STATS WATCH: Brad Core’s appearance in the final four of March Madness makes him the 15th different driver to make an appearance in the finals. Joe Heitz moves ahead of his Good Vibes Racing teammate after being credited with a heat win at March Madness, with 38, good for 15th on the all-time list. Brad Core now has four heat wins, that equals Arnie Lueders career total, the two are tied for 28th. Core also pulls even with Lueders on Finals appearances with seven, 27th on that all-time list. Steve Rist now has as many race starts as Tony Perkins with 103, they are tied at 22nd. John Wiedeman is now tied with Mike Fitzlaff for DNFs with 43, fourth on that list.

LARRY ROTTER MEMORIAL GRAND PRIX HISTORY (23 events, 2003 – 2011, 2013 – Present)

Date                   Race Winner                    Event Name                                                    

3/16/2003        Larry Rotter                     March Madness

3/25/2004        Larry Rotter                     March Madness

3/3/2005           Larry Rotter                     Milwaukee Bucks March Madness

3/30/2006        Mark Walczak                 Milwaukee Bucks March Madness

3/29/2007        Amy Butler                       M&J March Madness

3/27/2008        Mike Fitzlaff                     M&J March Madness

10/23/2008      Mark Walczak                 Milwaukee Sporting Goods Halloween Havoc

4/1/2009           Mark Walczak                 March Madness

3/31/2010        Dan Margetta                 March Madness

3/29/2011        Mark Walczak                 March Madness

3/28/2013        Larry Rotter                     March Madness

3/27/2014        Ev Kamikawa                   March Madness

4/2/2015           John Wiedemann           Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix (track moved to Menomonee Falls)

3/31/2016        Mike Fitzlaff                     Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix

3/30/2017        Dean Strom                      Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix

3/29/2018        Mike Lack                         Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix

4/4/2019           Mike Lack                         Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix

3/5/2020           Mike Lack                         Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix

3/4/2021           John Wiedemann           Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix

3/3/2022           Dean Strom                      Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix

2/23/2023        Joe Heitz                           Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix

3/7/2024           John Wiedemann           Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix (track moved to West Allis)

3/27/2025        John Wiedemann           Larry Rotter Memorial Grand Prix

Most Wins  –  4-John Wiedemann, Larry Rotter, Mark Walczak; 3-Mike Lack; 2-Dean Strom, Mike Fitzlaff