SLINGER, Wis. — Take Matt Kenseth, Ty Majeski, Bubba Pollard, Rich Bickle Jr. and a host of other late model stock car racing talent, bring them together and you have the Slinger Nationals.
One of the biggest annual Midwest short track stock car events, the 40th SUPERSEAL Slinger Nationals presented by Miller Lite is slated for Tuesday evening, July 9, at Slinger Speedway.
The high-banked, quarter-mile, paved oval will again be the site of the 200-lap mid-summer classic, which has seen a star-studded cast take the checkered flag previously.
Kenseth, the 2003 NASCAR champion who raced out of Cambridge, Wis., during his short track days, is a seven-time winner of the Slinger Nationals. Kenseth, who competed in NASCAR from 1998 through 2018 and was the NASCAR ‘Cup Champion in 2003 – winning 39 races in NASCAR’s Cup Series division, made his last Nationals appearance in 2016 and came home the winner.
Hailing from Seymour, Wis., Majeski, who has captured three ARCA Menards Series wins this year – the latest coming at the Chicagoland Speedway last week – won the 200-lapper last year, driving his familiar Toby Nuttleman-prepared Ford No. 91.
Pollard, the Senoia, Ga., speedster, won the event in 2017. Earlier this year, Pollard won the ARCA Midwest Tour Joe Shear Classic 200 at Wisconsin’s Madison Int’l Speedway. Bickle, the veteran driver from Edgerton, Wis., is a four-time winner of the annual Slinger contest, having last won in 2013 and will be on hand in his Tony D’Ambrose-prepped No. 45.
Some legendary names in racing like Dick Trickle, Joe Shear, Lowell Bennett, Mark Martin and Larry Detjens have scored Slinger Nationals victories. Trickle, the Wisconsin short track racing legend, won at Slinger four times, with Shear also scoring four victories.
Bennett, a regular late model competitor at Slinger for many years, won the race five times. Detjens, who died from injuries suffered in a racing crash at the Wisconsin Int’l Raceway in 1981, was crowned the first Slinger Nationals champion in 1980.
For more information, go to the speedway’s website at www.slingersuperspeedway.com.