The Slinger Nationals will adopt a new bracket-style format to lock one competitor into the 47th running of the historic Midwest Super Late Model crown jewel. The new Slinger Nationals Bracket Challenge will also set the qualifying order for Tuesday’s qualifying session.
The top 32 cars from practice will be matched based on practice lap times to set the brackets first round. Each matchup will run a three-lap time-trial session. The best lap turned will determine which driver moves on to the next round. There will be four total rounds, with the final round being a four-driver shootout. The final four will be allowed to bolt on a new set of tires before making one last time-trial run.
In addition to the guaranteed starting position the winner of the challenge will also receive $5,000. The results from the bracket challenge will then be inverted to set Tuesday’s qualifying order.
“Last year at the Nationals on Monday night, me and a couple of officials were sitting around watching the draw go on,” said Dassow. “We were watching and wondering what we could do to make this better. We had a couple ideas and things that we could do. Finally we decided to do something on track that would help drum up more excitement leading into Tuesday. The race track is why the place is cool, right? It’s one of those race tracks where it basically puts on its own show, so why not make it the show? So we wanted to do this bracket challenge and make it mean something come Tuesday. We came up with the idea and then different ways to do it. At the end of the day on Mondays everyone usually mocks up anyway, so why not make it so it means something. We’ve got some sponsors involved, so we’re going to be able to pay five grand to win it. The top four will be able to put on a new set of tires, and they’re sponsored tires, so the last four left can go out and try to go for that five thousand dollars.”
In previous years, the qualifying order for the Slinger Nationals was determined via a draw on Monday night. But in 2025, Travis Dassow took over ownership of Slinger Speedway and is looking to try something new in his sophomore season at the helm. The change comes with the hopes of increasing Monday’s attendance and the overall excitement of the Slinger Nationals.
“I think what we’ve been missing a little bit with the Nationals is that the high profile national races have something going on every day,” explained Dassow. “The Nationals kind of missed that on Monday. We have practice for on-track activity, but nothing really exciting. You could go there and see who is racing and see their cars, but that was really it. Now you’ve got something to come to the track for. You can go on Sunday and come watch the Truck series and the other divisions race on Sunday night, then on Monday come watch practice in the afternoon and then watch the bracket challenge. And then that all leads right into Tuesday. Now we’ve got a real three-day show for fans to come check it all out and see something a little bit different every day.”
The 2026 Slinger Nationals will take place July 12-14 at Slinger Speedway.
