John Mueller Ends 20 Year Drought and Wins the PPC 75 at Sliger!! By Dan Margetta

June 13, 2004; Slinger, WI - It may have taken 20 years to get back, but John Mueller hasn’t forgotten where victory lane is at the Slinger Super Speedway as he held off multi-track champions Lowell Bennett and Dave Feiler to post the win in the Professional Plumbers & Contractors 75-lap late model feature Sunday night.

Photo Highlights

John Mueller waves to the crowd after breaking his 20 year drought at Slinger by topping the evenings Late Model main event. Andrew Morrissey won the Late Model fast dash. #23 John Mueller holds off the repeated challenges of #2 Lowell Bennett to claim the late model feature event at Slinger. The full field lines up for the start of the Professional Plumbers & Contractors 75 lap Late Model feature event. The spoils of victory go to John Mueller (#23) after a well earned win in the Professional Plumbers and Contractors 75 lap Late Model headline event. Wes Biswell (#23) wall all smiles after capturing the Midwest Modified feature contest. Wes Biswell holds off a last lap pass attempt by #3 Jeff Holtz. Pat McIntee (#35) was victorious in the Midwest Sportsman dash race. Jeremy Miller #5 takes the outside past early leader #2 Mike Graczkowski (2nd)  and #20 Colin Bamke (7th) Jeremy Miller receives his accolades in victory lane after topping the Midwest Sportsman feature contest.

“I knew Lowell (Bennett) was going to be good and I really had to pedal it there at the end,” an excited Mueller stated after leading all 75 laps of the event. “He raced me clean there at the end and I knew my car was a little on the tight side and we made a lot of changes,” continued Mueller. “We really weren’t sure where the car was (by race time) and we just said it would be good enough.”

Mueller’s car was good enough to run in the high groove and remain out front while Bennett stalked him, spending nearly all of the 75 laps glued to Mueller’s rear bumper. While it appeared Bennett’s car handled better as he was able to duck to the inside numerous times, Mueller had enough power exiting the corners on the high side to maintain the lead.

Using his outside front row starting spot, Mueller quickly grabbed the lead at the start over Brad Hartman, Bennett, and Austin Konetski. Mueller and Hartman were able to edge ahead of the pack by lap 15 as Bennett and Konetski fought for position with Dave Teske and Feiler. An incident between Travis Dassow and Eric Fransen in turn four produced the first caution flag on lap 18 and soon after the restart, Hartman became trapped on the outside and lost several positions as Bennett, Konetski, Teske, and Feiler all were able to get by. Another caution appeared a few laps later when Chad Barker spun in turn two on lap 23.

Once racing resumed, Mueller continued to hold off Bennett and Konetski while Feiler went to work on Teske, taking the fourth position on lap 30 while further back, Conrad Morgan, Brad Mueller, and Al Schill began to find their way towards the front runners. The top five stabilized during the middle stages of the race with Bennett keeping Mueller honest by staying in his tire tracks with Konetski close behind while Feiler and Teske dealt with a fast closing Brad Mueller and Morgan. Mueller caught Teske for the fifth spot on lap 57 and two laps later, the final caution of the race came when Gregg Haese and Hartman made contact in turn four.

Over the final segment of the race, Bennett tried hard to get the lead by ducking his nose to the inside of Mueller, but each time was unable to complete the pass while Konetski’s car began to skate up the track, allowing Feiler and Brad Mueller to move into third and fourth respectively. Once into third, Feiler was able to track down the lead duo and Mueller found himself racing the final laps with a mirror full of track champions behind him. Mueller hit his marks perfectly in the end and held off both Bennett and Feiler to nail down his first Slinger feature win in two decades. Brad Mueller finished fourth while Al Schill came on strong at the end to take the checkered flag in fifth. Konetski finished in sixth place ahead of Fransen and Teske while Andrew Morrissey and Donavan Morgan completed the top ten.

Chad Barker drove to victory in the 30-lap late model semi-feature and transferred into the main event along with second place finisher Ryan Mathews. Randy Schuler crossed the stripe in third followed by Dennis Prunty and Todd Kluever. Robert Maynor won the 12-lap late model consi, taking the checkered flag ahead of Ed Grober and Jerry Eckhardt. Ron Ragan and Mike McCabe rounded out the top five. Andrew Morrissey was the winner of the fast dash and Brad Mueller set the fastest qualifying time at 11.422 seconds.

Wes Biswell edged Jeff Holtz to win the 30-lap Midwest Modified feature in a close finish.

Biswell jumped into the lead at the start over Ron Schmitt and Jason Feyereisen while Holtz, Dan Miller and Dale Prunty raced in a tightly bunched pack. Schmitt’s night ended on lap seven when a fire erupted on his car and he drove into the wet infield to extinguish the flames as the race remained under green. Schmitt’s misfortunes moved Feyereisen into second place but two laps later, Holtz used the outside to take the spot while Prunty moved into the top five. With Biswell still out front over Holtz, Prunty grabbed fourth place on lap15 and then drove by Feyereisen for third on lap 17. The handle went away on Feyereisen’s car and he began to fade as Miller and Steve Schulz took over fourth and fifth. Eddie Bentfield’s spin in turn two on lap 25 brought out the caution flag and set up a five lap dash to the finish. Biswell was up to the challenge but Holtz would not let him get away and on the final lap, made a strong effort to take the lead on the inside exiting turn four. Holtz’s charge came up just short at the stripe as Biswell hung on for the win. Prunty finished third followed by Miller and Schulz.

Biswell also took the win in the fast dash and Dan Miller followed up his feature win from a week ago by setting fast time at 12.275 seconds.

Jeremy Miller scored the win in a wild 25-lap Midwest sportsmen series feature that finished under the caution flag after a late-race incident.

Colin Bamke led the opening laps over Mike Graczkowski, Jason Taghikhani, and Brad Keith as Miller and point leader Gary LaMonte began to move through the field. Graczkowski was able to pull alongside Bamke for the lead on lap ten and the two raced door to door for several laps before Graczkowski was able to take the spot. Bamke made a charge a few laps later and momentarily was able to get the lead back when the leaders approached a lapped car in turn one, but a spin by Taghikhani in turn three brought out the yellow flag. With scoring reverting to the last completed lap, Graczkowski once again had the lead for the restart over Bamke, LaMonte, Miller, and James Swan. As the green flag waved, Miller, LaMonte, and Swan took to the outside while Graczkowski and Bamke stayed on the inside resulting in a tightly bunched race for the lead. Miller was able to use the outside to take the lead on lap 20 as Josh Bauer got into the act and joined the lead pack. As the white flag waved, a slower car apparently dropped some fluid on the track causing Nathan Fick to spin and as the leaders entered the turn, they began to slide around. Graczkowski made hard contact with the wall exiting turn two and Bauer spun into the infield while the yellow flag waved. Scoring was reverted to the last completed lap as the race ended under the caution flag and Miller was declared the winner. Graczkowski finished second ahead of Bauer, Swan, and LaMonte.

Pat McIntee bested the top six qualifiers to win the fast dash and Jeremy Miller was the fastest qualifier at 12.673 seconds.

Mark Kissinger led flag to flag to win the 12-lap Thunderstocks feature while Aaron Cain finished second and Les Weidenhoeft was third. Joseph Bentfield and Shawn Gavin each won 12-lap Slinger Bee’s events. Ken Kraemer was the winner of the Speedway Guest Car race and Jim Bentzler won the Spectator Eliminator event. Scott Goetzke closed out the night by winning the Figure 8 race.

For Complete results from the RACESTAT computer CLICK HERE

More Than Millwork Presents The Father’s Day Special and Scout Night 2004

Slinger, Wis., (Special) - This Sunday night, More Than Millwork presents the Fathers Day Special and Scout Night at the Slinger Super Speedway. The night will be highlighted by a 70-lap Late Model feature and a full night of racing in all divisions including the Eldorado Trailer Sales Midwest Modifieds, Slinger Bees, Thunderstocks, Figure 8’s, Port A John Speedway Guest Cars, Spectator Eliminators and the Midwest Sportsman division.

More Than Millwork, located behind Uptown Chevrolet in Slinger, is a proud sponsor of the Slinger Super Speedway stand-outs of Late Model driver Brad Mueller and Midwest Sportsman driver Colin Bamke. More Than Millwork offers windows, doors, cabinets and more serving the needs of homeowners, and Contractors. Call them at 262 644 0111 for an appointment to better serve you or just stop in to see what they can do for you.

All uniformed scouts will be admitted free in honor of scout night, and to celebrate Fathers Day, all fathers will be honored with a special contest and giveaways.

Regular Sunday night racing action at Slinger Super Speedway runs through September 19, 2004. In addition, the track will host the 25th Annual Miller Lite Nationals on Tuesday night, July 13th. The show will feature NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers Matt Kenseth and Scott Wimmer. Other drivers include Busch Series driver Johnny Sauter, Craftsman Truck Series driver Chris Wimmer, and defending Miller Lite Nationals Champion Rich Bickle, plus more to be announced at a later date. Advance tickets are available for purchase by calling the speedway’s box office at 262.644.5921.