Slinger racers out to defend their turf in 41st Nationals
SLINGER – For a local-level stockcar racer, there's no shame in losing to a NASCAR champion.
Or even to one of the drivers who chases big paydays across the country. The barnstormers wouldn't do that if they didn't win their share.
But honestly, it does get old, and that brings us to the 41st Slinger Nationals set to be run Tuesday at the high-banked, quarter-mile Slinger Speedway.
“Looking back through previous history, a local guy is probably not a favorite to win,” said four-time and defending track champion Steve Apel. “I think out of the last 10 years, eight times it's been a guy that's not been a
local.
“So knowing that, we know our back’s up against the wall a little going into it, but we’ve put together a good enough car that can compete. Hopefully we can hang on till the end and at least be in contention.”
Apel’s math is correct regarding Wisconsin’s premier asphalt short-track special.
In the past 10 years, Dennis Prunty in 2015 and Lowell Bennett in 2010 are the only drivers to win the Nationals in a season in which they also competed for the track’s weekly championship.
During that stretch, 2003 NASCAR champion Matt Kenseth has taken three of his record eight titles, two-time NASCAR champion Kyle Busch has one, and Ty Majeski and Bubba Pollard – who are threats anytime they drive a super-late model – have won one apiece. The other two belong to Chris Wimmer, who raced regionally, and four-time Nationals winner Rich Bickle, who has competed at all levels.
Kenseth won’t be here to defend, but Majeski (2018) and Pollard (2017) are on the entry list, as is Stephen Nasse, another of the elite, national-level racers. Pollard comes from Georgia and Nasse from Florida. Hotshot teens Carson Hocevar and Sammy Smith both have tested at the track in preparation for their Nationals debuts, and 18-year-old Georgia driver Corey Heim, who competes in ARCA, plans to come.
“The advantage is we know what the track’s going to do,” said Apel, who has won the past two features and three overall this season. “We’ve had seven or eight nights before the Nationals to get the car right.
“But the disadvantage we have is we’re all doing it on a budget. There are guys that come in that that’s their fulltime gig. They’re professionals at it.”
As such, they typically have the best cars and engines, access to new technology and plenty of spare parts.
That’s not always the case for those who primarily race in the track’s weekly program.
“I’m running a 2006 Pathfinder (chassis), so you can kind of gauge the equipment compared to brand new stuff out of Rowdy (Manufacturing, Busch’s company) that they’re using all the NASCAR equipment to set up,” said Alex Prunty, who helped his uncles Dennis and David Prunty (2001) when they won their Nationals titles.
“We’re a small team, local, doing it the old-fashioned way by trial, where they’re doing seven-post shaker rigs (for simulation). But at the end of the day, I think we’ve got a really good car. We have a pretty good history of running well at the Nationals.”
Prunty finished second in 2017, and last year he led 44 laps and finished fifth.
Apel was fourth in 2019 after leading a race-high 77 laps. He has finished sixth or better in each of the past six Nationals, and the previous year he came in first but was disqualified for an illegal carburetor.
Apel also led the most laps in 2017. The addition of bonus money for leading laps – put up by fans and sponsors, in addition to the race purse – has made leading more important.
“The reality … without the lap money, everybody used to just ride for those first hundred laps,” Apel said. “But with that lap money, it’s one of those things … you’ve got to go.
“We’ve won a lot of lap-leader money but not the big prize at the end.”
In addition to Majeski, Pollard and Apel, other top picks for Tuesday include Dennis Prunty and Casey Johnson, who race around the state and occasionally venture farther.
Since the Nationals began in 1980, only five drivers racing weekly at the track have won the event: Bennett five times, David and Dennis Prunty, Tony Strupp (1998) and Conrad Morgan (1999).
Although the travelers typically are more practiced in racing longer events, 200 laps with a midway break are manageable. Staying out of trouble and making the proper adjustments are larger keys than the physical part of it.
“I’ve always been a fan of the longer races just because my car prefers that,” Alex Prunty said. “From the driver’s standpoint, half the time my dad doesn’t tell me what lap it is anyway, so I don’t know the difference.
“It’s one of those deals where you’re so in the moment and focused on what you have going on, at that point it really comes down to how you’re driving the car. Did you abuse your tires? You just have to be smart with it.”