Officials from Track Enterprises announced today that the Father’s Day 100, being held at the Milwaukee Mile on Sunday, June 18, will now be a combined ASA STARS National Tour and ASA Midwest Tour points event. This will mark the first time an ASA National division has visited “America’s Legendary Oval” since 2004. The event replaces the previously announced July 11 Slinger Nationals race on the schedule.
An inability to blend the rules packages for the ASA STARS National Tour into the Slinger Speedway Super Late Model rules package is what ultimately forced the change of date and venue.
“We tried,” stated Bob Sargent, President of Track Enterprises, the parent company of the ASA STARS National Tour. “Slinger Speedway Owner / Promoter, Todd Thelen and I worked and worked and worked to find a way to make this happen, but in the end, we just couldn’t work it out.”
The ASA STARS National Tour is structured around three regional touring Super Late Model series: The ASA/CRA Super Series, The ASA Midwest Tour, and the ASA Southern Super Series. A common rules and procedures package for the ASA branded tours was published in December. Blending the rules for three regional tours was a challenge, and then trying to blend in the Slinger track rules became, ultimately, an insurmountable challenge.
“Our goal was to partner with the biggest Super Late Model events in the country, if we could,” Sargent continued. “Clearly, the Slinger Nationals is one of those events. Unfortunately, in the end, Todd (Thelen) had to protect the local racers and we had to protect the integrity of the STARS National tour.”
The biggest challenge of blending the rules packages for the three regional tours surrounded the various engine combinations legal for competition. The ASA/CRA Super Series and ASA Southern Super Series platform runs primarily on a four-barrel carburetor package, while the ASA Midwest Tour and Slinger rules favor a two-barrel carburetor configuration. Numerous different engine types and configurations are approved for the Midwest Tour and even more are legal to run at Slinger.
The Midwest Tour did race at Slinger on April 23, with numerous compromises by both the tour and the track to allow the blending of the regional tour rules to those at Slinger. The Nationals are not a part of the Midwest Tour schedule, just the STARS National Tour, and the variations between the two technical rules packages became insurmountable.
“I knew this would be difficult,” Todd Thelen commented. “I knew there was a wide gap between our rules and the tour’s rule package but Bob Sargent and I were both hopeful we could find common ground. In the end, I have to stand my ground as it relates to Slinger Speedway, our rules and our racers. It’s too bad. Bob, his team, and I worked really hard to make this work,” Thelen concluded.
The Father’s Day 100, scheduled for Sunday, June 18 at the Milwaukee Mile, was originally scheduled as an ASA Midwest Tour event. Converting to a STARS National Tour and ASA Midwest Tour combination event is a reasonable alternative to the Slinger Nationals, from a rules, scheduling, and logistical perspective.
“Milwaukee is a great venue and was originally on our radar as a STARS event,” stated Sargent. “But, there are a lot of great venues and great events in the upper Midwest, including Madison International Speedway, Wisconsin International Speedway and others. We felt like we had a nice mix with those two and Slinger.”
The ASA STARS National Tour opened the 10-race, six-state schedule at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL on Saturday, March 11, 2023. Georgia racer Casey Roderick won the Sunshine State 200 after controversial contact with Bubba Pollard 30 laps from the finish. Race #2 also had drama, as Dan Fredrickson was disqualified for failing post race inspection, with Ty Majeski being credited with the win. Pollard claimed an exciting win at North Wilkesboro in race #3, besting a field of 55 entries that included five NASCAR Cup Series drivers, two Xfinity Series regulars and three Truck Series stars, along with the rest of the top Super Late Model drivers in the country.
Read more Short Track Scene:
