Winners of the two 100-lap late model features that comprised the first
leg of the Slinger Nationals celebrated at Slinger Speedway. From left are Ms.
Slinger Speedway Beth Maaske, the first winner Rich Bickle Jr., Pabst
representative Bob Milkovich, second feature winner Scott Hansen, and Pabst
representative John Laimon. – Al Fortner Photo
Slinger, Wis. (June 13, 1989) – A pair of dramatic finishes highlighted the first round of the Slinger Nationals as Rich Bickle Jr. and Scott Hansen each captured 100-lap late model features at Slinger Speedway on Tuesday night.
Bickle, established as the favorite in the two-round event by virtue of four consecutive regular season feature wins here, wasted little time justifying the pit talk as he cranked out a world record in qualifying, turning a lap of 11.456 seconds on the high-banked quarter-mile.
By virtue of his qualifying lap, Bickle was gridded far back in the 24-car field for the start of the first 100-lapper. NASCAR Winston Cup regular Dick Trickle started from the pole and dominated most of the first half of the race.
After running away from the field, Trickle had leads wiped out by cautions for spins by Conrad Morgan and Al Laufer on laps 16 and 47, respectively.
By the second caution, Bickle, the only driver effectively using the outer groove on the misty, foggy evening, was up to third behind Trickle and Joe Shear.
“I was running better on the outside but with all of the fog and grease on my windshield, I could hardly see anything,” Bickle said.
Despite the tough conditions, Bickle wasted little time driving around Shear, then dropping Trickle to the runner-up spot on lap 57. From there, it looked like clear sailing to the checkered, until Butch Miller worked his way into second place and began closing in on Bickle, who suddenly started having issues getting through the corners. On several occasions over the last 15 circuits, Miller pulled inside the leader only to fall back as Bickle used lapped traffic to perfection in holding off his pursuer.
At the wire, it was Bickle by less than one-car-length over Miller with Trickle, Shear, and Al Schill rounding out the top-five.
However, Bickle’s luck soured in the opening stages of the second 100-lap headliner as a broken right rear hub forced him to retire on lap 12.
Meanwhile, Dennis Lampman, a Slinger regular, was enjoying the ride of his life, running away from the field after starting on the outside of the front row. After a caution for a minor tangle, Lampman had opened up a 20-car-length lead with 25 laps remaining.
At that point, Hansen, who was hampered by mechanical and tire problems in the first race, took second place from Shear and set his sights on Lampman.
“We had to drop out of the first race with a pair of flat right-side tires, but we didn’t use up the left-side rubber,” said Hansen. “We had pretty good tires all around for the second race and that made a huge difference.”
With 15 circuits remaining, Hansen began diving under Lampman on each lap, but it took until the pair exited turn four coming down for the white flag before Hansen finally muscled his way into the lead.
Hansen led the rest of the way to score the victory with Lampman fending off Trickle, Miller and Shear to secure runner-up honors.
Seconds after the event, Trickle crashed hard into the back end of Hansen’s car, inflicting heavy damage.
“I couldn’t see the flagman because of the heavy fog,” Trickle explained. My crew was on the radio telling me what flag he was holding. They were yelling ‘white, white’ when the checkered actually fell. When I finally realized what was going on, it was too late.”
Results –
Feature #1 –
1. Rich Bickle Jr., Edgerton
2. Butch Miller, Coopersville, Mich.
3. Dick Trickle, Wisconsin Rapids
4. Joe Shear, Clinton
5. Al Schill, Franklin
6. Al Laufer, Hartford
7. Jim Weber, Roseville, Minn.
8. Dennis Lampman, Racine
9. Lowell Bennett, Neenah
10.John Ziegler, Madison
Feature #2 –
1. Scott Hansen, Green Bay
2. Dennis Lampman
3. Dick Trickle
4. Butch Miller
5. Joe Shear
6. Al Schill
7. Conrad Morgan, Dousman
8. Al Laufer
9. John Ziegler
10.Mark Martin, Batesville, Ark.
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