Dennis Prunty and a big check after winning the Slinger Nationals. [Russ Lake Photo]
Slinger, Wis., July 14—Erasing the memories of a year ago where he fell victim to a mechanical failure with the checkered flag in sight, Dennis Prunty once again dominated the Superseal Slinger Nationals presented by Miller Lite Tuesday night at the Slinger Super Speedway and drove to the victory to claim his first Nationals title.
“I always wanted a big check and I don’t know what to do, the girlfriend wants a ring, the kids want to go to Disney, but I want to go the Snowball Derby,” Prunty said after being presented with the $10,000 winning prize and alluding to the end of the year Florida race he has attempted the past few years, “So we’re going to the Snowball Derby baby!”
Prunty took the lead on lap nine and led a whopping 189 of the 199 laps, collecting nearly $6,000 in additional bonus money and survived a late caution period with six laps to go that was set up due to contact between second place running Ty Majeski and a lapped car, which resulted in the lapped car spinning. Majeski, who had cut into Prunty’s lead in the closing laps, was placed at the tail end of the lead lap cars in sixth place for his involvement in the incident which left Conrad Morgan to challenge Prunty for the win.
Morgan, who paced the opening eight laps of the race, gave a valiant effort on the inside for a few laps after racing resumed but in the end was no match for Prunty and he had to settle for a second place finish.
“I’m out of breath and Dennis (Prunty) did a heck of a job,” the 67-year old Morgan said afterwards, “he was tough right from the start and he kept that car going and kept the tires under it all night.” “In this race you have to survive the first 100 laps, then survive the next 95 and race the last five or so and that’s what I tried to do,” Morgan continued, “but he just had me beat.”
Steve Apel came out on top of a torrid battle with Ty Majeski and Dave Feiler in the final laps to grind out a third place finish while Majeski edged Feiler to finish fourth.
“He (Majeski) ran me clean and we gave each other room to race,” Apel stated following the finish, “I probably had a sixth or seventh place car but got lucky on that last restart and was able to come away with a third place finish.”
While Majeski didn’t agree with the late race call that placed him at the back of the lead lap but he charged forward in the final laps and following his fourth place finish gave his version of the incident with the lapped traffic.
“I was going for the win and he (lapped car) didn’t give me a lane in turns one and two and when we got to the other end, he parked it in the middle and I wasn’t expecting it,” Majeski stated, “but it could be a lot worse and we’ll take fourth.”
Following Feiler, who battled Prunty in the middle stages and led the event one time for two laps before finishing fifth, Brad Mueller took the checkered flag in sixth place followed by Ryan Farrell, who completed his first Nationals start with a respectable seventh place finish. Jeff Holtz finished in the eighth position while Matt Kocourek and Andrew Morrissey rounded out the top ten in ninth and tenth respectively.
Among other notable drivers on hand, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series star Johnny Sauter finished 20th after experiencing suspension problems and four-time Nationals winner Rich Bickle was 22nd after tangling early with five-time Nationals champion Lowell Bennett. Bennett continued in the race and finished 13th. Ross Kenseth, who earlier this year made his debut in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, qualified third but finished 24th after experiencing problems with the rear end of his car on lap 11.
Brad Mueller won the 30-lap qualifying race over Andrew Morrissey and Paige Decker who transferred into the main event along with fourth place finisher Ryan Farrell. Natalie Decker finished fifth. James Swan won the 30-lap super late model semi-feature and also transferred to the main event along with second place finisher Casey Johnson. John DeAngelis finished third ahead of Tim Lampman and Dan Church who finished fourth and fifth respectively. Chris Blawat won the 20-lap super late model consi over Nick Wagner and Ryan DeStefano. Ricky Heinan and Jerry Eckhardt rounded out the top five. Dave Feiler was the fastest of 38 super late models to take qualifying times with a lap of 11.304 seconds.
Mike Held used a late race outside pass of Mike Meyerhofer to win the 35-lap late model feature. Al Stippich finished in third place while fast qualifier Jordan DeVoy took the checkered flag in fourth ahead of Kyle Chwala in fifth. The race was slowed by the caution flag a total of four times, the most serious for an incident in turn one that heavily damaged the cars of Jerry Mueller, Alex Prunty, and Joe Bongiorno.