Christmas Classic - Turtle Creek Park Raceway - West Allis, WI

December 18, 2025

Round 9 of 17

Lack Makes Nice List

(West Allis, WI) -- After finding a lump of coal in the first week of December, crashing out of the Sweeney Memorial, Mike Lack made the Nice List two weeks later winning the Christmas Classic at Turtle Creek Park Raceway. The #9 PNC Bank Honda-Daboiler pilot held off hometown hero Joe Heitz and a resurgent Chris Spehert. 

It was Lack's technical alliance teammate John Wiedemann taking the point in qualifying, scoring the defending Husarsbilt Cup champion's first Firestone P1 Award of the season. Heitz's Good Vibes Racing teammate Mike Kristof lined up along side Wiedemann on the front row, with Heitz third on the grid, Spehert Global's Dan Margetta fourth and Wiedemann's actual FAST II: The Castaways teammate Matt Hayek rounding out the top five.

With the large 14 car field, that needed to be whittled down to 12, the Last Chance Qualifier saw the four slowest qualifiers race to determine the two that would advance to the heat races. CBD Racing's Pete Dorn and Brad Core lined up along with sophomore driver James Spehert and FAST's Steve Rist. After the five minute race it was Rist and Dorn advancing, Core credited with 13th and Spehert 14th.

The opening heat featured Heitz, Rist as well as pole sitter Wiedemann and Dean Strom. Heitz opened up an early lead and never really had to look back, it was the battle for second that ran hot for the middle section of the race, with Wiedemann and Rist running together. Ultimately, Wiedemann's #45 Honda-Daboiler struggled with handling and fell back, while Strom had difficulties throughout, leaving "JW" fifth on the night and Strom having to settle for tenth. Heitz's heat win moved him to the final while Rist had to wait and watch to see if his lap total held up.

The middle heat saw second place qualifier Mike Kristof, attempting to match his Good Vibes Racing teammate’s success, but more like the driver who also qualified on the front row, the Java House #20 could not find consistency and fell behind his competitors early. Chris Spehert showing surprising speed, Bill Black running a solid race, while Matt Hayek struggled mightily in a car that he complained felt completely different than in qualifying, falling well behind the others to finish 12th, while Kristof wound up ninth and Black seventh, but it was the elder Spehert showing the way all the way through, taking a solid five lap win and moving to the final.

The last of the heats featured FAST’s Mike Lack, the third member of Spehert Global Dan Margetta, CBD’s Pete Dorn and Team PenskeHO’s Ev Kamikawa. Early in the contest Margetta and Dorn kept pace with Lack’s lead, however as they moved past the halfway mark, the seven-time and current Husarsbilt Cup championship leader took command and was never challenged. Dorn put in a solid performance to finish sixth, a lap behind Wiedemann, with Margetta eighth and Kamikawa struggling to eleventh.

The final was a terrific battle throughout, Chris Spehert trading the lead with hometown hero, Heitz all the way past half distance, Lack was well within striking distance in third while Steve Rist faded early. Pit stops were flawless for the all competitors and as the time ran down Lack found some speed that the others could not match and with just a couple of minutes left, the #9 PNC car opened a multiple lap lead over Heitz, Spehert a couple laps behind the top two, which is how it would finish as Heitz made aggressive attempts to close the gap. 

Lack is the first driver to score three wins on the season, growing a points lead that had been shrinking ever since his second win back at the Halloween Havoc, out to 27 over long time rival John Wiedemann, and 44 over Hayek. This also marks Lack’s 60th career win, extending his all-time record.

The IndySlotCar Series takes the holidays off for three weeks before heading to the traditional second half opener, Raven 250 at Raven Raceway.

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Christmas Classic Fast Facts

Race date: Thursday, Dec 18

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

Race distance:  20 minutes

IndySlotCar Website: indyslotcar.com

YouTube Broadcast: IndySlotCar Channel

2024 race winner: Dan Margetta (No. 27 Team Spehert)

2024 Firestone P1 Award winner: John Wiedemann (No. 11 FAST)

One-lap (Club car) qualifying record: Mike Lack (#1 Angry Squirrel Speedsport) 3.338 seconds - 2018

Turtke Creek (Club car) Race record: Ev Kamikawa (#12 PenskeHO Racing) 262 laps – 2018

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

8:50 – Christmas Classic (20 minutes)

Race Notes:

• The Christmas Classic moves to a new home for the first time in nine years, Turtle Creek Park Raceway will host the race. This will be the fifth different track for the holiday favorite, following the original Shrine Track (3 times), there was Sanibel Speedway (8 times), then Vista Rio Rancho Raceway AKA Shrine Desert Road Course (12 times) and Bermuda Raceway (7 times), including the Shrine's final race last December.

• John Wiedemann has won the most Christmas Tree trophies, five of them, with founder and Hall of Famer Phil Cianciola with four and last season’s winner Dan Margetta adding his third.

• This will be round nine of the 17 race championship, meaning there will be as many races to run after Thursday as have been run before it. Mike Lack holds a slim seven-point lead over John Wiedemann, who jumped to second on the strength of his win at the Sweeney Memorial, JW’s FAST II: The Castaways teammate Matt Hayek is eleven markers behind Lack and Lack’s FAST teammate Dean Strom is only 20 points behind.

• Stats Watch: Dean Strom’s Firestone P1 Award at Badger Raceway was the 25th of his career, the Muskego’s favorite son pulls even with his former teammate and Hall of Famer Larry Rotter, tied for eighth on the all time Pole Position list. Matt Hayek moves to a tie with another Hall of Famer driver, Jim Kaehny on the all-time Heat Wins list with 51, tied for eleventh. Strom’s final four appearance also tied Kaehny on that career stat, they sit at sixth with 95. Hayek moved past a Hall of Famer on the Laps list, now with 47,395, sixth on that list, surpassing Phil Cianciola. Brad Core moved to 26th ahead of Andy Spehert with 8.850 laps turned. Strom moved to eighth on the DNF list with his 37th.

CHRISTMAS CLASSIC HISTORY (30 events, 1993-99, 2001-08, 2010-Present)

Date            Race Winner                  Event Name                                                   Track

12/16/1993 Phil Cianciola          Shrine Christmas Classic             Shrine Road Course

12/15/1994 Dave Austin              Tomy Christmas Classic              Shrine Road Course

12/14/1995 Phil Cianciola            Tomy Christmas Classic               Shrine Road Course

12/12/1996 Jim Kaehny               Tomy Christmas Classic                           Sanibel Speedway

12/18/1997 Jim Kaehny               Tomy Christmas Classic                           Sanibel Speedway

12/17/1998 Dan Margetta           Parma Christmas Classic                         Sanibel Speedway

12/16/1999 Phil Marich                Championship Racing Magazine 400  Sanibel Speedway

12/13/2001 Chad Sorce                Christmas Classic                                   Sanibel Speedway

12/12/2002 Phil Cianciola            Piggly Wiggly 400                                 Sanibel Speedway

12/19/2003 Dan Margetta           Piggly Wiggly 400                                  Sanibel Speedway

12/16/2004         Phil Cianciola            Piggly Wiggly 400                                 Sanibel Speedway

12/15/2005         Jim Iverson                Chipotle Christmas Classic                    Vista Rio Rancho Raceway

12/14/2006         John Shea                  Christmas Classic                                   Vista Rio Rancho Raceway

12/13/2007         Ev Kamikawa             Christmas Classic                                  Vista Rio Rancho Raceway

12/18/2008         Larry Rotter               Christmas Classic                                 Vista Rio Rancho Raceway

12/16/2010         Mark Walczak           Christmas Classic                                 Vista Rio Rancho Raceway

12/15/2011 Mark Walczak           Christmas Classic                                 Vista Rio Rancho Raceway

12/6/2012 John Wiedemann     Christmas Classic                                 Shrine Desert Road Course*

12/19/2013 Mike Lack                   Christmas Classic                                 Shrine Desert Road Course

12/18/2014 John Wiedemann      Christmas Classic Shrine Desert Road Course

12/17/2015 Mike Lack       Christmas Classic Shrine Desert Road Course

12/1/2016 John Wiedemann      Christmas Classic Shrine Desert Road Course

12/14/2017 Matt Hayek Christmas Classic Bermuda Raceway

12/13/2018 Mike Kristof Shorewest Christmas Classic Bermuda Raceway

12/19/2019 Joe Heitz Christmas Classic Bermuda Raceway

12/17/2020 Bill Black Christmas Classic Bermuda Raceway

12/16/2021 Dean Strom Styled Aesthetic Christmas Classic Bermuda Raceway

12/15/2022 John Wiedemann Christmas Classic Bermuda Raceway

12/21/2023 John Wiedemann Christmas Classic Bermuda Raceway        

12/5/2024 Dan Margetta Christmas Classic Shrine Desert Road Course

*-Vista Rio Rancho Raceway returned to original name

Most Wins – 5-John Wiedemann; 4-Phil Cianciola; 3-Dan Margetta; 2-Mike Lack, Mark Walczak, Jim Kaehny