Slinger Super Speedway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Slinger Super Speedway located in Slinger, Wisconsin, is a quarter mile paved oval automobile race track with a 33-degree bank. The track billed as "The World's Fastest Quarter Mile Oval."
Contents |
[edit] Track history
The track opened in 1948 and continued with a clay surface until 1973, when it was converted to its current high-banked asphalt state. It also has a paved "X" infield, allowing for Figure 8 racing at the end of the weekly Sunday night race events.
[edit] Weekly divisions
There are seven divisions running for points in a weekly program:
Midwest Modified - open-wheeled cars, descendant of IMCA Modified cars |
|||
- Thunder Stock - completely stock cars, amateur
- Speedway Guest Cars - non-points
[edit] Famous drivers to appear at the track
Davey Allison, Rich Bickle, Dale Earnhardt, Matt Kenseth (1991 Late Model Rookie of the Year), Alan Kulwicki, Robbie Reiser, Joe Shear, Dick Trickle, and Scott Wimmer all competed at Slinger before they moved to NASCAR.
[edit] Slinger Nationals
The track's biggest race of the year is the Slinger Nationals. The 250 lap event occurs in the middle of summer. NASCAR stars frequently come to the circuit for a one time drive in a local car owner's car in the signature race. The event is usually held on a Tuesday night in order for the nationally and regionally known drivers to participate in the Nationals. The winner wins the Larry Detjens Memorial Trophy, which was named for the 1980 winner who died in a racing incident at another Wisconsin track later in the season.
Kenseth was already a Cup regular when he won his second Nationals in 2002.
Three Roush Racing drivers -- one from each of the three national series -- raced in 2006.
[edit] List of Slinger Nationals winners
- 1980 Larry Detjens
- 1981 Alan Kulwicki
- 1982 Dick Trickle
- 1983 Dick Trickle
- 1984 Mark Martin
- 1985 Dick Trickle
- 1986 John Zigler
- 1987 Joe Shear
- 1988 Butch Miller
- 1989 Dick Trickle
- 1990 Joe Shear
- 1991 Joe Shear
- 1992 Rich Bickle
- 1993 Joe Shear
- 1994 Matt Kenseth
- 1995 Butch Miller
- 1996 Rich Bickle
- 1997 Lowell Bennett
- 1998 Tony Strupp
- 1999 Conrad Morgan
- 2000 Lowell Bennett
- 2001 David Prunty
- 2002 Matt Kenseth
- 2003 Rich Bickle
- 2004 Lowell Bennett
- 2005 Nathan Haseleu
- 2006 Matt Kenseth
[edit] Miscellanea
- Current track record was set by Tony Strupp June 12, 1994 at an elapsed time of 11.095 seconds.
- Reiser hired Kenseth to drive his NASCAR Busch Series car because Reiser was familiar with Kenseth after their competition at Wisconsin tracks like Slinger, Wisconsin International Raceway, and Madison International Speedway. The two moved together to Winston Cup, where they became the NASCAR championship driver and crew chief in 2003.
- Scenes for the Alan Kulwicki feature film "Dare to Dream: The Alan Kulwicki Story" were filmed in 2004. The scenes showed Kulwicki's
- An annual fireworks display is held every year on the Sunday prior to July 4th brings in high attendance.