2014 Indyslotcar Rapids Grand Prix

Thanks to our friends at Indyslotcar for providing this story.
STWRWiedemann Spoils Kamikawa Hometown Payday


2014 Indyslotcar Rapids GP
Rapids – John Wiedemann came from behind to spoil Ev Kamikawa's chance to win the 49 thousand IndySlotCar bucks Pole-to-Win prize and take the Too Clean Laundry Grand Prix victory at Rapids International. Wiedemann's win, his second checkered flag of the IndySlotCar Series season, cut down Mike Lack's Walczakian sized championship lead by 15 points down to 66, with Lack finishing third on the night ahead of Dan Margetta.

Home town racer Kamikawa kicked off the night by grabbing the pole position away from defending race winner and last season's top qualifier Wiedemann in the last session of qualifying. Kamikawa's lap of 4.781 seconds bested Wiedemann by just 63 thousandths of a second and just missed the track record by four thousandths. The track was quick tonight, a little slick, and even called dangerous and scary by a number of drivers.

The opening heat race featured the top two in qualifying facing off along with the inaugural race for rookie Corey Galbraith facing off against series commissioner Mike Kristof. Penske HO driver Kamikawa set the pace throughout the race to the checkers to take the win and advance to his 119th final race, moving him into second place all-time in the series. JMM Racing's Wiedemann paced himself behind the race leader and held off the hard charging rookie to transfer to the feature. Galbraith, driving for Penske HO, finished third followed by D&D Racing's Kristof.

While it probably wasn't a very exciting heat race from Cha-Ching Motorsports Dan Margetta's perspective, heat number two produced a good amount of drama. Margetta ran off and left the field in his rear view mirror in winning the race. Behind Margetta was a great battle for the final transfer spot to the feature. D&D Racing's Matt Hayek held down the second spot for most of the race while series point leader Lack and Dean Strom struggled to keep up. A late caution changed all that. Holding a two lap lead over Lack, everything went downhill quickly for Hayek. As Hayek struggled to get his car back to race speed, Lack quickly made up those two laps and moved ahead in the running order. JMM Racing's Lack held on to the transfer spot with Hayek and Strom finishing just a lap behind.

The Too Clean Laundry Grand Prix featured track owner Kamikawa against the top three drivers in the point standings. As the early laps of the race sorted out, Kamikawa took the lead ahead of Wiedemann, Lack and Margetta. The field paced themselves throughout the opening half and Kamikawa built up a six lap cushion over Wiedemann by the halfway break.

Kamikawa's pitstop in the second half was the first bit of misfortune that the driver faced all event long. A penalty after a somewhat slow stop dictated that Kamikawa run the next ten laps with the opposite driving hand. The penalty, along with a routine pitstop by Wiedemann, ended up with Kamikawa giving back a couple laps to second place. Wiedemann picked up the pace with time running out just as the handling started to go away for leader Kamikawa. With only a minute to go, Wiedemann shot past Kamikawa to grab the lead. More handling issues plagued Kamikawa and allowed Wiedemann to coast to the victory and reclaim the Too Clean Laundry Grand Prix trophy.

Lack retains his point lead in the standings by 66 over teammate Wiedemann. Margetta holds down third place in the standings, just 27 points behind Wiedemann and 25 points ahead of Strom. Hayek rounds out the top five and is now only five points out of fourth.

The next round, number eleven in the sixteen race season, takes place in two weeks at another ultra fast track – the Deckertring for the Deckertring GP. Defending Deckertring race winner Wiedemann looks to climb the mountain that is Lack's point lead as the series races towards the three quarter mark of the season.

2014 Indyslotcar Rapids GP In Pictures

The Field races

The cat "Katsu" on the set of the movie "Kittenzilla" being made at Rapids

Imperial Officers attempt to hijack a mail truck. Notice the Rebel Guards trying to stop them from their usual "no cover" positions. Through a hole in the space-time-movie continuum, these forces are battling each other but cannot be seen or felt by those residents in town. They can hear the laser shots. To them they sound like ring tones going off on someone's phone.

The Tony Perkins car exhibit was moved indoors and still proved popular with fans

The media decends on the starting grid

Middle age love in a Mach 5. What could be sweeter?

Gandolf trying to remove the curse from Ev to help him win for the first time in two years in the series. It didn't work...

A promo shot combining ISF GTP cars and the stars of "Kittenzilla"

Lunch for Chopsticks, a star of Kittenzilla!

A piece of the Berlin Wall

Fans gather at the ISF F1 car display to promote the 200th event in ISF history to be held later in the year at the track

A historic display of the Ferrari cars driven by John Shea and Ev Kamikawa during the early years of Indyslotcar. Ferrari set the standard for dominating teams

Imperial guards and Rebel guards join forces to shoot at a monster that arrived at Rapids through a hole in the space-time-toys continuum

Fans waving at their drivers

The Noodles truck was a popular snack attraction...

...but not as popular as the SPAM wagon!

Bathing Beauty Boulder is still a popular spot to watch for and by the ladies

Cobwebs in the lights. Going for an artistic shot here...

Bleachers on the rooftops are always popular

Media announcing...

...what the camera is seeing

The Sears Tower from Grant Park Raceway built and designed by Tony Perkins. Rapids has had a long history of combining parts from defunct tracks into its layout. Kamikawa raced on the track five consecutive times with five victories (four in Indyslotcar and once in ISF) before the track was dismantled.

The iconic Shell sign now stands across Schumacher Straight

The CART FedEx Series starting stand from Grant Raceway Park was also erected in the parking lot of the Porsche dealership. Revisions to the track might not allow it to remain in that area though

Goodbye...until next time...It's Not Bad Being In the Pits...At Rapids!
Steve The Wrench Ratchett

2014 LMP Point Standings Mid-Season

John Weidemann		37
Ev Kamikawa		30
Mike Fitzlaff		27
Mike Lack		21
Todd Wolf		17
Dean Strom		11
Nick Bartolone		11
Keith Lindbeck		10
Mike Dibb		10
Dan Margetta		6
Kenny Dibb		4

2014 F1 Point Standings Mid-Season

ISF F1 2014 point standings as of 12/20/13

John Weidemann		37
Ev Kamikawa		31
Mike Fitzlaff		27
Mike Lack		20
Todd Wolf		19
Dan Margetta		10
Dean Strom		8
Kenny Dibb		5
Keith Lindbeck		4
Mike Dibb		3

2013 ISF Season Review Movie

Ev Gets Screwed Again

The who have a song that says "won't get fooled again."
Indyslotcar driver Ev Kamikawa has a parody of the song he sings that says "won't get screwed again."
Problem is he still keeps getting screwed more often than any other driver in league history.
The latest screw job took place at Badger Raceway for the 2013 Duane Sweeny Memorial race.

Early in the second heat race Ev was down several laps to leader Dean Strom.
Storming back into contention Ev took the lead with three minutes to go.
Track officials announced Ev had a one lap lead on Dean with two minutes to go.
At the one minute mark track officials announced Dean was on the lead lap, although he hadn't passed Ev on the track.
Both drivers battled side by side for many laps.

Ev beats dean at finish line on final completed lap, but time has not run out so drivers continue for the remaining few seconds as they are tied in lap totals. At some point in time, not made clear in the video replays shown at the track, track officials announce time has expired. In the frame shown on replay Dean is indeed ahead by half of a car length when Commissioner Mike claims he called for the cars to stop. As the cars pass out of camera shot Ev is even and passing Dean again. Dean crashes into the wall at the end of the back straight. Ev continues onward for two more track sections before he too crashes.
The lap counter shows Ev ahead at the line and finishing the race in less time than Dean. Ev is ahead of Dean on the track and the corner marshal in the area says Ev has won.
Commissioner K claims time was called as Dean was ahead of Ev by one car length on the back straight and declares Dean the winner, even though where and when time exactly expired and was announced with the cars on track isn't clear, Dean crashed into final turn after Ev passed him and the computer says Ev was the winner.
Victory awarded to Dean and he goes on to win the event.
"You usually race back to the line in any racing event," Kamikawa explained. "I was ahead at the line and ahead on the track. Since both of us couldn't make it all the way around you go back to the previous lap and or use where the cars come to rest. Where someone says 'stop' isn't helpful because do you immediately stop when they start saying the word and you hear the 'ssss' sound or do you stop when you get to the 'p' sound?"

Dean was declared the winner but should he have been? My investigation into league history might prove otherwise.
So far there are at least two cases which prove my point.
By coincidence both precedents involve Kamikawa.

Example number one:
1997 Ford Fall 500 at the Mini Milwaukee Mile.
Pole sitter Ev feel back several laps int he first half to John Baas, teammate with Commissioner Phil.
Ev takes the lead with a few laps to go. Ev is leading the white flag lap but no one is looking at finish line or lap counter. Ev crosses the finish line three car lengths over John. Ev celebrates victory, however the video cameraman, the marshalls, and commissioner were distracted by other events on the track. No one else saw the finish, or at least claims they did. Since no one but the drivers saw the finish, Commissioner Phil declares it a tie. There are no rules in the IndyslotCART rule book to address this situation.
Ev's car is literally torn apart and handed back to him in a plastic bag. Commissioner Phil declares John the winner because according to the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) rule book, in the event of a photo finish the driver that came from further back in qualifying gets the win.

If that precedent was followed in the 2013 Duane Sweeny Memorial then Ev should have been declared the winner as he qualified lower than Dean.

Example number two:
Turkey Trot 2012 at Southshore Speedway. Dan Margetta and Ev are tied on laps with a few seconds to go in a limited de-slot race. Ev has one less de-slot than Dan meaning if he goes off the track once he is done. Dan spins in the hairpin turn and as time runs out and Ev is even with his car while passing him. Effectively the cars are tied in laps and in track position. Ev's car is still under power and Ev de-slots while Dan stays in the slot because car has no power. While no one disputes Ev passed Dan when time ran out and was ahead, the victory is given to Dan because he remained on the track after time had expired and what happened after time was called counts. Even though Ev's last de-slot happened after time expires, officials claimed Dan still won because his car was still on the track.

If this precedent was followed then Ev should have been declared the winner in the 2013 Duane Sweeny Memorial because in addition to being shown ahead on the lap scoring system, Ev was ahead on the track even after time expired.

What should be done to correct this gregarious racing injustice?
The race is in the books.
No changes will be made, however this race will remain one of the biggest debating points in league history.
Maybe the league statisticians should add three victories onto the career totals for Ev.
No explanation. No changing box scores from the past. Just add them in.
One change in the all time stats column. They do it in baseball all the time as hitters get close to milestones, and they even go to the trouble of correcting box scores!
No one checks racing stats as closely as baseball stats.
Did Ev get screwed again?
"Yes!" exclaims Ev.
In my opinion...You bet he did...again!

Until next time...It's not bad being in the pits!

Steve "The Wrench" Ratchett

Wiedemann Doubles Up At 2014 Badger

For the first time in ISF history, three races in a row have been won by the same driver sweeping both events. John Wiedemann became the latest driver to win both events when he swept the F1 and LMP races at the Muskego Grand Prix at Badger Raceway.

The wins were not easy. The long straights of Badger Raceway proved too fast as almost all the competitors had engine troubles of one sort or another. Dan Margetta's Peugot had an engine seize on him twice forcing to drop from the final LMP race. Dean Strom's Audi R15 was also in pieces after hitting the wall. Widemann's Jaguar F1 car broke so completely that the competition committee allowed him to use Todd Wolf's car after that driver was eliminated.
"We thought it would only be fair since it wasn't his fault," said competition director Rex Carz. "Clearly some competitors probably wished we wouldn't have allowed that because he promptly used that car to kick everyone's butt."

In the finals Wiedemann was never seriously challenged. All competitors suffered mechanical failures and electrical failures that robbed everyone of power and the ability to mount sustained threats to "Jota Doughblay." 

                    F1 lineup: Fitzlaff, Strom, Margetta, Kamikawa, Wiedemann, Wolf

The LMP event was the same as the F1 event with cars breaking down.
"These cars were not made to be driven THIS hard," Margetta explained.  
Once again every car had issues.
"We're not sure what happened tonight," said Karz. "We've raced here before with these cars. Maybe the manufactures are still trying to get a handle on the tolerances for the parts so they can last the number of races we require them to. That is why we allowed certain adjustments to the rules for this event."

In the end it didn't matter what the competition director decided as Wiedemann took the competition to the cleaners.

LMP lineup: Fitzlaff, Kamikawa, Margetta, Wiedemann, Strom, Wolf

Wiedemann's Jaguar at speed

Until next time...It's not bad being in the pits!
Steve The Wrench Ratchett

INTERNATIONAL SPORTSCAR FEDERATION
Official Finish, Event # 2014-03
Muskego Prix presented by Too Clean Laundry
November 21, 2013
Badger Raceway

F1 Grand Prix Category -- 16 Minute Final
Pos. Driver Car

1. John Wiedemann-Jaguar
2.  Mike Fitzlaff-Jordan Honda
3. Dan Margetta-Lotus
4. Dean Strom-Renault
5. Everet Kamikawa-Ferrari
6. Todd Wolf- Catheram F1

Fastest Qualifier --Fitzlaff
B Main Winner --Wiedemann

Heat Winners -- Kamikawa, N/A

LMP Category -- 12 Minute Final

Pos. Driver Car

1. John Wiedemann-KIA Peugeot
2.  Everet Kamikawa-Audi R15 Black
3.  Mike Fitzlaff-Nissen LMP
4. Dean Strom-Audi R15
5. Dan Margetta-Peugot
6. Todd Wolf-Design Engine Peugeot

Fastest Qualifier --Fitzlaff

B Main Winner --Kamikawa

Heat Winners -- Fitzlaff, Wiedemann 

Kamikawa Doubles Down at 2014 Rapids GP

 

Everet Kamikawa winning on his home track of Rapids International Raceway, while not uncommon, isn't routine either. Even more rare is Kamikawa sweeping events on a race night.
The last time that Kamikawa won both events at an ISF event was July 2005 at the Turtle Trot.

The wins were not easy. After taking pole position in the F1 division, Kamikawa had to fight to the very last second of the final with Mike Lack. In fact it was only after the checkered flag flew that Kamikawa even knew he was in the lead. A lane jump had given Lack an extra lap in the scoring and throughout the second half of the race track announcers and TV reporters were giving credit to Lack for lead of two laps over the Ferrari. A few spins by Jaguar brought the Ferrari back to one lap down with 30 seconds to go. Slowing down believing he still had a lap lead, Lack let Kamikawa past believing time was on his side. In reality it was a pass onto the lead lap for Kamikawa who gassed it all the way to the line. When scoring was examined Kamikawa was declared the winner.
"It's kind of a cheap way to get the win," Kamikawa said quietly. "Mike drove a great race and it was a good battle all the way."

Kamikawa and Lack finished ahead of Two-time defending champion John Wiedemann. In fourth was rookie Todd Wolf who won his second heat race in as many starts to advance tot he final. "I'm in way above my head," Wolf said over the radio during the race. In hanging on for fourth, he became the first rookie to win two heat races in his first two starts. Returning racer Nick Bartolone finished fifth and fellow rookie Keith Lindbeck finished sixth.

The LMP event was not as hotly contested, but provided many surprises of it's own. John Wiedemann, again the defending series champion, took pole position.
In the heats JW also took one win. The other heat winner was Nick Bartolone.

Bartolone, a former winner of the 2.4 hour race, made his first ISF start since 2010. Competitive in F1, he surprised some in the field with his speed and handling to win the second LMP race.
"I wasn't surprised," said Wiedemann. He's a good racer."
Another driver making his mark in LMP was Keith Lindbeck.
"I'm not good in F1 cars," he explained. "These LMP cars feel better to me."

One near calamity of the event was the collapse of a stage building in the warehouse district. The building was erected for the set of the movie "KittenZilla Times Two." The production company left the building up. Fans thought it would provide new sightlines and immediately rushed inside only to have their weight on the scaffolding collapse the building.
Driver Todd Wolf was closest to the tumbling tower but was unhurt.

In the end Kamikawa's Black Knight Audi R15 too the victory for the second LMP win of his career. "I still suck in this division. Just not quite as bad as before."

 

The next race is the Muskego Grand Prix at Badger Raceway on November 21st.

Until next time...It's not bad being in the pits!
Steve The Wrench Ratchett

INTERNATIONAL SPORTSCAR FEDERATION
Official Finish, Event # 2014-02
Rapids Grand Prix presented by Too Clean Laundry
November 14, 2013
Rapids International Raceway

F1 Grand Prix Category -- 16 Minute Final
Pos. Driver Car

1. Everet Kamikawa-Ferrari
2.  Mike Lack-Jaguar
3. John Wiedemann-Jaguar
4. Todd Wolf-Caterham
5. Nick Bartolone-HRT
6. Keith Lindbeck-Lola F1

Fastest Qualifier -- Kamikawa
B Main Winner -- Lack

Heat Winners -- Wolf, N/A

LMP Category -- 12 Minute Final

Pos. Driver Car

1. Everet Kamikawa-Audi R15 Black
2.  Mike Lack-Toyota Peugeot
3.  Nick Bartolone-Peugot 
4. John Wiedemann-KIA Peugeot
5. Todd Wolf-Design Engine Peugeot
6. Keith Lindbeck-Audi R15

Fastest Qualifier -- Wiedemann

B Main Winner --Bartolone

Heat Winners -- Bartolone, Wiedemann

2014 ISF Rookie & Mega G Rules

Clarification that no one has to provide meal. Drinks would still be great.
IF you want to provide a meal that is up to you but please make drivers aware of that before time.

All the rules the same  for racing except the following:
1. Any rookie driver gets unlimited deslots in heat races, and B-main                               (after every fourth de-slot they will serve a time poenalty just like veteran drivers)
2. Floor rule stays in effect for rookies in B-main and final.
3. Rookie Drivers get 16 deslots in final race instead of 12.
4. At the end of their rookie season, or eigth race whichever comes later, the veteran drivers vote on if they are no longer a rookie (thanks JW for this idea)
5. Drivers that have rookie status revoked by veteran drivers receive four extra deslots per heat and finals for second season only
(no matter if they run once or the whole season)
6. Once a driver completes 16 races or their second season, whichever comes first, they receive the same amount of de-slots as veteran drivers
7. Drivers that return to the league but have more than 16 previous starts (i.e. Cory or Nic)
get an extra four deslots in the heats and finals for the first eight races in the season in which they return or
total of eight races over two seasons if they are part-time racers
8. Drivers who have been away from the series for three years or more and have more than 40 starts (i.e. Chad Sorce or Jim Iverson), receive an extra four deslots in all heat races and finals for one-off races or for a total of five races in their first season if they are returning as full or part-time drivers

After agonizing and many opinions I decided it is time to move to the Mega G chassis for 2013.
GTP will remain the super G+ however F1 and LMP will be the Mega G 1.7 chassis.

After conducting several tests I figured out a way to:
1. make...

the field fair
2. not invalidate previous purchases of Mega G's

F1 and LMP cars must be run box stock including rims, chassis, motors, bodies. The exceptions will be painting and gluing wings that are broken. Both the original Mega G, pictured on the right, and the newer version with the fully enclosed traction magnets, as pictured on the left, will be eligible to run in either F1 or LMP (both bodies use the same chassis).

The difference will be in the tires. Both divisions will be able to run driver's choice of stock tires, pvt01 (the tires we currently use) or the pvt02 (tires used the last year of the ARA superstocks on the lifelikes). In comparing the three tires on stock mega g rims and the new 1.7 chassis version, the lower profile pvt02 tires gripped the best. When compared to a stock tire it gripped a little better, but the stock tire had more top end and glide through the turns while still sticking pretty well. The Pvt01 had more top end and glide than either of the others, however wasn't as grippy. With the variety of tracks the ISF runs on in terms of design and smoothness this will provide an interesting strategy choice. The exception to the tire rule is that if you choose to run the original Mega G, you will not be allowed to run the lower Pvt02 tires. This is because more of the magnet is exposed and sits a little closer to the rails providing better grip even with stock tires. At Rapids the difference between an original Mega G with stock tires and a 1.7 version with pvt02 was very very slight with the 1.7 better in the corners but slower on the straights.

This tire rule does not apply to GTP where the current rule package will remain in effect.

For F1 the rule remains that you can run any team in the history of F1 and can paint the car to match. In LMP there are only two current bodies, Audi R15 and Peugot. You can run any team that appeared at Sebring or Petit LeMans or Road America in the ALMS from 2005onwards.
If you want to run a closed top team you have to use the Peugot body (i.e. Mazda or Astin Martin) if you want to run an open cockpit team (i.e. Porsche, courage, Riley & Scott) you use the Audi body. Since there are multiple Audi teams that have run, there can be multi Audi teams (one designated driving Audi R8, R10, R15, R18) same with other teams. Real teams like Dyson who ran a Lola open cockpit and a Mazda closed cockpit can also be reprensented by two different teams claiming to be Dysons).

Questions?
Feel free to ask.
Ev