SLINGER, Wis. – Todd Thelen, managing partner, owner and promoter of Slinger Super Speedway, has spent weeks preparing for a season opener he wasn’t sure was going to happen.
On Thursday, Thelen shared the news drivers, crews and fans in Wisconsin have waited a long time to hear.
“I have good news. We are racing this Sunday,” Thelen said Thursday afternoon during a Facebook live event on the track’s social media website.
Thelen couldn’t be reached for direct comments.
The 73rd season of racing at Slinger will start Sunday, three weeks after the originally scheduled opener that was postponed because of the COVID-19 public health crisis. Gates open at Noon and racing starts at 2 p.m. Six divisions are scheduled to compete, headlined by twin 50-lap features for the super late models class. The other divisions will be the limited late model, sportsman, Slinger Bees, modified and Figure 8.
The announcement comes on the heels of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision over Gov. Tony Evers’ extension of the Safer at Home order. The order was initially placed in March and was to expire April 24. Shortly before that, Evers extended the order to May 26, which prompted a lawsuit by lawmakers. The Supreme Court overturned the extension Wednesday.
Before that, Thelen spent weeks meeting and talking to local leaders and health officials, including from the Washington-Ozaukee County Health Department about the need to re-open Slinger and how to do so safely.
“Last thing we want to do is create a hotspot blamed on what we’re doing here at Slinger Speedway,” Thelen said in the chat.
For the last few weeks, the track has been open for testing and several drivers took advantage of that.
“The cars are done so we decided we’d go to the race track and help and support Todd Thelen get through this hard time,” James Swan said last month after a test session at the track.
Seating capacity for fans is going to be capped at 25 percent or less and there will be caps on car counts in each division. Thelen said the reason for that is to protect overflow, while following the blueprint that has been laid out. Concession stands will be open as well and Thelen assured all safe social distancing measures will be followed.
“Weather doesn’t look the best and hopefully it clears out and it’s good all day Sunday,” Thelen said during the live feed. “If it doesn’t clear out, we’re going to turn the lights on and we’re going to stay there until we get the races done within our guidelines and the village of Slinger.”
Thelen has worked diligently to advocate the re-opening of the track, making a case the track is an essential business.
During the chat, he thanked the work of several local leaders including newly elected Washington County Executive Joshua Schoemann and State Rep. Rick Gundrum, who represents the district the speedway is located, for their help and support. The Washington-Ozaukee County Health Department has had a system in place if and when the order was reversed on how the track could open and host racers and fans, Thelen said.
In a video posted Tuesday on the Wisconsin Assembly Republicans’ YouTube page, Thelen, interviewed by Gundrum, pleaded for the track to be reopened.
“The bottom line is typically you pay your taxes, pay your bills and you can run your business,” he said. “How can there be a condo project a few miles down the road that’s got a hundred different contractors on it and that’s deemed essential and my business is non-essential because … I don’t know why.
“I make a living operating about 20 days out of the year on Sundays or Saturday or Tuesday in there, and every day that’s cutback makes it that much harder to make a living.”
Gundrum asked Thelen if the delay to open the season continued, what did the future of Slinger Super Speedway, which opened in 1948, look like?
“I think it could be the end,” he said, “because there’s not too many people like myself that are willing to step in and do what I do and on a tough year like this when you have Mother Nature and government stopping your business, it makes it impossible.”
Thelen also didn’t want to diminish the threat of the virus. He said the virus is “absolutely” real.
On the racing side, Thelen said there are reasons to be excited for the start of the season at Slinger.
He said he watched Alex Prunty, the 2018 super late model track champion, test recently and he thought Prunty looked fast. That led him to believe the long-standing track record set by Tony Strupp (11.095 seconds) in 1994 could be in jeopardy. In recent years, it’s been challenged with laps in 11.1-second range, but not yet toppled.