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4 • RACING INSIDER • April 2018 • Conley Media NEW & USED SALES / LEASING SERVICE NEW & USED SALES / LEASING SERVICE P P AR AR TS TS COLLISION CENTER COLLISION CENTER www.uptownmotorcars.com 262-644-8400 1111 E. Commerce Blvd. (Hwy 60) Slinger Come join theUptown Family today Come join theUptown Family today , after all... Uptown begins with "Y , after all... Uptown begins with "Y ou" ou" Welcome to your friendly, neighborhood Uptown! Welcome to your friendly, neighborhood Uptown! Don't forget about our Price Match Guarantee! By NICHOLAS DETTMANN Conley News Service Already known for its high banks and tight cor- ners, in 2017, Slinger Super Speedway, dubbed the world's fastest quarter-mile oval, made a significant that tightened the learning curve for aspiring race car drivers. Track officials split the Slinger Bees division, or the novice division, into two — Super Beez and Slinger Bees. On the track, the cars look similar and they carry a lot of similari- ties as far as the technical aspect, such both are cars with 4-cylinder engines. The separation is experi- ence level. The Super Beez feature drivers with more experi- ence, while the Slinger Bees is geared more toward the true amateur, someone with maybe one or two years experience, or less than that. Before the split, all 4-cylinder car drivers were in the same division — the Slinger Bees. Todd Thelen, co-promot- er for Slinger Super Speedway, said another rea- son is for the Slinger Bees to also be more affordable, thus keeping interest up. "And making it so that true amateurs an get involved without having to learn the tricks of the trade," Thelen said. "We had kids last year, at least one rookie in the division, hadn't won anything before and he won. That's the idea. "You're not getting beat by horsepower or a bigger checkbook. There's not much you can do to the car, so it puts more on the driv- er." The separation between the Super Beez and the Slinger Bees is with lap time. If a Slinger Bees driver at any point during a prac- tice session, qualifying, heat race or feature turn a lap faster than 15.2 seconds, the driver is black-flagged and sent to the pits. "I looked at where the times were a few years back before cars were really get- ting fast and also looked at where some were in 2016, the guys that more of a stock car and the times they were running," Thelen said. "We told the guys we might adjust it, but we were pretty sure it was close." He added, "It was getting harder to recruit and a lot of the seasoned racers because they didn't have the car that could go a 14- second lap. So they chose to park them or go somewhere else and race." In the inaugural season of the change, it appeared to go over well. "Tom Elsinger, a West Bend kid, he was lucky to run in the top 10 in 2016 in the Slinger Bees division," Thelen said. "In 2017, he competed for a champi- onship and won races. It was exciting racing. There were three, four or five cars every night you weren't sure who was going to win." Milwaukee's Matthew Urban was another one of those drivers who benefited from the switch. In previous seasons, he didn't run a full schedule, but did so in 2017. "It was good to split them up," Urban said. "It gave more people a chance to win. It really gave the slow- er guys a chance to win." Urban his first career feature in the second night of the season. "It was the best feeling," said Urban, who enters his seventh season of racing in 2018. "I won a bunch of heat races and that's cool. It's definitely breath-taking. I didn't have much to say in my (post-race) interview." Urban added one more feature victory en route to the track championship. "I didn't think it was going to happen," Urban said. "I hoped to finish top- three in points." He did, but it was at the top of those top three. Urban and Elsinger weren't alone as far as those who benefited from the split. "Ricky Gebhard, a rook- ie, they struggled in the beginning of the year," Thelen said. "By the end of the year, he won a race. He would've struggled to stay out of the year (in 2016), let alone keep up." Urban said, "It gave a lot of rookies a chance to win. That's awesome and cool to see; to give rookies a chance to compete right off the bat and make it such a longer learning curve." That will likely be a key for the preservation of the sport. "It'll be good," Urban said. "The amateur class will help bring out more rookies and help them shine more." That's exactly what Thelen and his co-promoter Rodney Erickson were look- ing for when the switch was instituted. "There were rookies that were top five right out of the box," Thelen said. "They were all excited. For people to have an opportu- nity to do well out of the box is hard to do. To have that opportunity at the entry level made these guys excited and enthused and wanted to come back." SLINGER SUPER SPEEDWAY This time, a split yielded positive results Slinger Super Speedway ■ Location: 280 Cedar Creek Road, Slinger ■ Website: www.slinger superspeedway.com ■ Tickets: Adults (18-61), $14; Students (12-17) and Seniors (62 and older) $8; Children (6-11) $2; prices vary for special events ■ Race night: Sundays ■ Contact: 262-644-5921; slingerspeedway1@aol.com ❑ ❑ ❑ 2017 Track champions Super late model: Gary LaMonte Limited late model: Ryan Gutknecht Midwest sportsman: Ryan Gutknecht Area sportsman: Paul Wagner Super Beez: Tom Berens Slinger Bees: Matthew Urban Figure 8: Willy Van Camp Bob Schneider Jr./For Conley News Service Matthew Urban (48) won the Slinger Bees track championship in 2017. The Southeastern Wis- consin Short Track Hall of Fame honors and preserves the glory of racing's past in the region. Inside the Wisconsin Automotive Museum, 147 N. Rural St., Hartford, the Southeastern Hall of Fame features race cars spanning several decades, as well as memorabilia and articles. In 2017, the Hall of Fame inductees were Jim Coss- man, Mike Frost, Brian Gilles, Richard Hed, Terry Jeffords, Joel Laufer, Gil Radtke, Dan Sorce, Dick Trickle and Bob Wondra. For more information, visit www.sewishorttrack hof.com. Hall of Fame keeps region's racing history alive SEND $14.95 + $5.00 shipping to: Bill Schley, P.O. Box 91, Hartland, WI 53029 EMAIL… bill@wschley.com "Four Short Years, The Lynndale Farms Road Racing Course" tells the story of a road racing track located near Pewaukee, Wisconsin. The book, written by Bill Schley with John Schoenknecht is 92 pages long with many photos and period newspaper articles. The track only lasted 4 years. 260174002