Slinger Speedway Honors 2007 Champions Prunty, Reynolds, Joosten, Schulz, Goetzke, Lootans, Corallini By Todd Thelen

(Slinger, WI); January 5, 2008 -Slinger Speedway completed its 60th year of racing during the 2007 season and the annual awards festivities capped off another successful campaign for the Worlds Fastest Quarter Mile Oval. The Awards Ceremony took place Saturday evening January 5th 2008 at The Chandelier Ballroom in Hartford with just over 500 guests attending. Dinner was catered by Emily’s Restaurant and preceded the awards ceremony while ACA DJ Brian Redd provided entertainment after all the cash and hardware was handed out.

Heading the list of Champions crowned was defending Late Model Champion and now two time Slinger Speedway Late Model Champion, David Prunty. Other champions receiving accolades were: Limited Late Model – Jon Reynolds Jr, Midwest Sportsman – Kenny Joosten, Midwest Modified – Steven Schulz, Figure 8 – Scott Goetzke, Thunderstock – Seth Lootans, and Slinger Bee – CJ Corrallini. The Late Model Rookie of he Year Award went to Dale Prunty; Limited Late Model Rookie of the Year was Jon Reynolds Jr. and Midwest Sportsman Rookie of the Year was Dan Church.

2007 Late Model Champion David Prunty had a division leading 16 top fives and 7 Feature wins. He won: The Emily’s Restaurant 60, The E. H. Wolf and Son’s BP Fuels 80, The Enders Construction Design 2 Construct 75, U.S. Army 75, Keith’s Marina 85, Transport Services 60 and The Behling Racing Equipment/Old Wisconsin Sausage 75. He also set fast time on 3 occasions and had 1 trophy dash win. For the second year in a row he was also the Pepsi Challenge Champion. He drove the Stone Mountain Access Systems, Luedtke Lumber, Uncle Sam’s Fireworks, Pontiac to his second consecutive Slinger Speedway late model track championship. Finishing in second place was 2007 Slinger Miller Lite Nationals Champion, Lowell Bennett. Lowell is now a four-time Slinger Nationals winner. Third place was Nick Schumacher, while Mike Strupp, Al Schill, Dale Prunty, Josh Bauer, Fred Winn, Conrad Morgan, and John Mueller rounded out the top 10.

Dale Prunty took home the 2007 Rookie of the Year honors by finishing in the top five 6 times, in the top ten 9 times and had 1 trophy dash win. In his first year of running a late model on the high banks of the World’s Fastest 1/4 Mile Oval he finished 6th in the championship point standings driving the number 17 Milwaukee Mile, Lighthouse Lanes, Wiedmeyer Express, Monte Carlo.

Driving the Lucas Oil, Generac Power Systems, Penalty Box Chevy number 45, Steven Schulz won the championship in the Midwest Modified Division. Steven had a division leading 8 fast times and 8 top fives and picked up three feature wins. What has to make this Championship even more special is he also competed each night in the Late Model Division. When the Mod's were in the pits his team had two cars to prepare, and they did a heck of a job. Wes Biswell took runner up honors in the modified division with Steve Huelsbeck, Ron Schmitt, Joe Houpt, John Kruschel, Bill Tandetzke, Matt Pate, Joey Bentfield, and Russ Moberly rounding out the top ten.

2007 Midwest Sportsman Champ Kenny Joosten drove the Warner Concrete, Paulee’s Pizzeria, Johns Snap-On number 47 and led the division in feature wins with 5, top 5’s with 14, and fast times with 6. He also collected 3 trophy dash wins. Dave Thomas finished second in the Midwest Sportsman Division and the rest of the top ten are Pat McIntee, Mike Graczkowski, Jay Schambeau, Scott Schambeau, Mike Borchardt, Jeff Holtz, Danny Church, and Mark Kissinger.

The 2007 Midwest Sportsman Rookie of the year is Danny Church. Danny recorded two top fives and seven top ten finishes. Driving the number nine Olympic Wall Systems, Coldwell Banker Foremost, R&M Sales, Chevy Monte Carlo Danny showed he has the talent to get the job done in the Midwest Sportsman division at Slinger Speedway.

Jon Reynolds Jr. took top honors in the Limited Late Model Championship standings winning the title by 128 points over Chris Ratajczyk. Driving the Kar Korner, Drevdanl Auto, PAC Car Monte Carlo Reynolds recorded 14 top fives, 10 fast times, 3 trophy dash wins and 7 feature wins. Rounding out the top five was Jerry Eckhardt, Chris Blawat, and Tyler James.

The 2007 Figure 8 Champion Scott Goetzke moved up from 5th in the standings last year to claim the title. Runner up was Shane Becker, with Willy Van Camp, in third, Justin Poenitsch in fourth, and Jeff Wohlabe in fifth. All Slinger Speedway Figure 8 drivers put on an outstanding show every Sunday night.

The 2007 Thunderstock Championship honors went to Seth Lootans. Seth had a division leading 17 top five finishes and 10 fast times. Aaron Cain finished second while Paul Konieczny, Ryan Gutknecht, and Dave Edwards rounded out the top five.

CJ Corrallini took home the top honors in the Slinger Bee division by just 7 points over runner up Zach Durham. Third through fifth were Jared Apel, Roman Blank, and Jason Hennes.

The 2008 season will open with a practice day on Saturday April 26th and The Miller Lite Season Opener on Sunday Afternoon, April 27th. May 4th will also be an afternoon race with Mothers Day May 11th starting night racing. Night races will be moved to a new 6pm starting time from the traditional 7 pm start. Our goal in 2007 is to have the races complete by 9 pm! It was also announced the 20th annual Slinger Nationals will be Tuesday July 15th, 2008.

On behalf of track owner-promoter Wayne Erickson, and the entire staff Slinger Speedway would like to thank everyone that has been a part of the success the track enjoyed in 2007 - especially the many fans, teams, and sponsors.