Mueller
Notches Second of Year! July 19, 1998; Slinger, WI - Brad Mueller (Random Lake) claimed the 60 lap late model feature as Clark presented Round 2 of the Surge Triple Crown Series Sunday night, July 19th, at the Slinger Super Speedway. Mueller pulled to a three car length victory over Cindy Peterson (Butler) as the tandem were the only two drivers to lead in the 60 lap main event for the late models. Mueller made the winning pass working the 43rd circuit as he patiently rode behind Peterson, who started outside of the front row, for the middle third of the contest. Mueller moved around polesitter, David Prunty (Lomira), and into the runner up spot on lap 22 and would follow Peterson until making the pass 21 laps later. Mueller slowly pulled away from Peterson until the third of three cautions flew on lap 45 allowing the field to bunch back up. Mueller, who started third, Peterson and Prunty would edge away from the battle for the fourth spot between Lowell Bennett (Neenah) and Tony Strupp (West Bend). The battle for the top three positions were not challenged the rest of the way and the best race on the track involved the last two winners of the Miller Lite Nationals. Bennett and Strupp, who just earned the 19th Annual Miller Lite Nationals title this past Tuesday night, dueled over the last third of the race, much of it door to door. Bennett, the 1997 Nationals winner, would eventually claim the spot as Strupp would have to settle for fifth as the two crossed the finish line with less than a car length seperating them. In victory lane, Mueller dedicated his win to the memory of a good friend of racing, Ken Johnson. Johnson tragically lost his life just over one year ago and has been missed by many drivers, fans and people in motorsports. Peterson would claim an additional $150.00 for the Mac Tools Half-Way Challenge as she was leading the feature on lap 30. The win by Mueller helped him jump over Strupp and into the third position in the late model season point standings. Bennett has the top spot followed by defending track champion Conrad Morgan (Wales), Mueller, Strupp and Rich Loch (Muskego) in the top five. Jamie Wallace (Pell Lake) took the checkered in the 30 lap late model semi feature to earn one of the two transfer spots into the feature event. The second transfer position went to John Mueller (Hubertus) after a heated battle with Fran Prestay (Twin Lakes) who finished 3rd. John Mueller looked under Prestay working lap 24 and stayed side-by-side until the 3rd and final caution on lap 28 put the field nose to tail. Prestay would never get close enough to challenge for the spot when time ran out. Rounding out the top five was Mike Strupp (Theresa) in fourth and Charlie Thon Jr. (Milwaukee) in fifth. In other late model action, Burton Brown (Neenah) won the consi race, John Zimmerman (Markesan) won the Bumper to Bumper Trophy Dash and Eric Fransen (Franklin) set fast time with a lap of 11.729 seconds. Prestay, also driving in the Midwest Modified Division, would win his 8th feature of the season in that division. Prestay moved into the top five on lap nine and caught race leader John Kruschel (Butler) on lap 18, as the two worked their way to 1/4 lap lead on the rest of the field. Prestay would move outside Kruschel working lap 24 and would complete the pass just one lap later. Kruschel would finish in third after being passed by Florian Wisinski (Greenfield) on the final lap. Wisinski worked hard for his runner up finish as he made contact with a car early in the race as he was running in the sixth spot. The incident dropped him back in the field and allowed the eventual winner to get by him. Showing determination, Wisinski again started his march to the front but would run out of time after gaining the second spot. Rounding out the top five were Jeff Holmgren Jr. (East Troy) and Dennis Prunty (Allenton). Holmgren would later be disqualified. Brian Holtz (Franklin) won the 8 lap Eldorado Trailer Sales Midwest Modified Trophy Dash and Wisinski was fast qualifier with a lap of 12.406 seconds. Paul Wagner (West Bend) would come from his sixth place starting position to win the 18 lap Slinger Stinger feature. Wagner moved into second behind early race leader Bill Shavlik (West Bend) on lap nine and made his move on the inside of Shavlik working lap 13 for the lead. Following Wagner and Shavlik across the line were Roger Schmid (Oconomowoc), Mike Pascavis (Sheboygan) who made the pass for fourth on the final lap and John Wandrey (Allenton). Fast time went to Peter Wiedmeyer (West Bend) who turned a lap of 13.610 seconds. Scott Ascher (Sussex) and Wagner each won their respective 8 lap heat races. Chris Price won his first Figure 8 feature of the ‘98 season. The 10 lap contest seen two major crashes involving the leaders at the time. Price was the beneficiary as he survived the mayhem and finsihed ahead of the 10 car field. In other racing action, Dan and Mark Jung won the Team Cruiser division. Jeff Hoff took the checkered in the Speedway Guest Cars and Donny Rector (Sussex) won the spectator elimination races driving his ‘91 corvette to victory. Results Summary LATE MODEL FEATURE FINISH - 60 LAPS
FAST QUALIFIER - Eric Fransen (Franklin) - 11.729 seconds SEMI FEATURE FINISH 30 LAPS
CONSI FINISH 20 LAPS
MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH - 30 LAPS
FAST QUALIFIER - Florian Wisinski (Greenfield) - 12.406 seconds SLINGER STINGER FEATURE FINISH 18 LAPS
FAST QUALIFIER - Peter Wiedmeyer (West Bend) - 13.610 seconds FIGURE 8 WINNER - Chris Price - 10 laps TEAM CRUISERS - Dan Jung/Mark Jung - 10 laps SPEEDWAY GUEST CARS - Jeff Graff - 6 laps SPECTATOR RACE - Donny Rector (Sussex |