Doug Hornickel Photo | fastlapphoto.com

Many consider Oktoberfest the climax of short track racing in the Midwest. While the majority of drivers put their race teams into hibernation for the season no later than Oktoberfest, several local heroes have decided to prolong their seasons and take a trip to the famed Snowball Derby at 5 Flags Speedway in Florida.

With top drivers from Florida, Georgia, Alabama and other powerhouse southeastern states grabbing headlines prior to the Snowball, several Midwestern drivers are heading down prepared to show the strength of their programs.

Among them is Dennis Prunty, who isn’t shy about accepting jeers when he grabs a feature win at Slinger. Prunty is preparing for his second straight December trip to Pensacola.

Last year he gained confidence with a 14th place finish and a 12th place qualifying effort. This year he returns with more respect, but still must face the fact that he is fielding a lower-budget team with little sponsorship help to keep up with the superstars of the south.

The biggest setback for Midwestern drivers is the cost associated with the travel and the expense of trying to compete. Prunty spent a total of $5,000 in his 2010 trip to the Snowball. For his 14th place finish Prunty was awarded $2,000. Not bad for a top 15 finish, but still – a total loss of $3,000. However, Prunty was satisfied with the experience.

“I felt last year that I did learn enough to make it worth spending $3,000,” he said. “All the different stuff you see that teams are doing really taught me a lot. It seemed to make me more confident too. I came back to Slinger and won seven features this year.”

Prunty has anything but an unlimited budget and found some ways to save a few bucks on the way to the Snowball last season. Thanks to family in the area putting him up and Wiedemeyer Express paying to transport his car from his shop in Knowles, Wis. to Florida, Prunty estimates that he saved what would have been an additional $2,500 in costs. His crew also paid their own way to get to 5 Flags.

The biggest cost for Prunty was his $3,800 tire bill. For the 300-lap race Prunty had 16 fresh tires in his rotation. He also purchased ten for practice. Although 26 tires seems like plenty for a weekend, Prunty still felt that he was at a disadvantage with some teams strapping on fresh rubber each time they hit the track for another practice session.

“It is frustrating when I go there to practice knowing that I can’t use 20 tires in practice like other teams,” he said. “This year I’m hoping to do practice on eight tires or less. It is frustrating because you’re not sure how your car is handling and you start to lose confidence.”

Another cost associated with a trip to the Snowball is the extra time spent in preparation for the trip. Prunty ended his season at Slinger in September. He took a trip to race with the CRA Super Series in Winchester (Ind.) in late October where he lost an engine and has been preparing for the Snowball since.

A good amount of time goes into preparing spare parts, as well. “When you’re 17 hours from home you have to think of everything you need. We had my truck and trailer full of every part you can imagine.”

This season Prunty hopes to make an entry into the Snowball a worthwhile trip financially. He feels confident that he’ll build on his 14th place finish from one season ago, which may have been better if not for a few struggles in the pits.

Prunty also said that his finish in the final race of 2010 may affect his plans for 2011. “I’m thinking that if I can come out of the Snowball Derby money ahead, my plans for next are the ASA Midwest Tour and three or four CRA races.” He said he wants to expand on what he has done at Slinger. “I want to get away from being a one-track wonder. I don’t want to be one of those.”

Prunty, however, is still looking for help for his 2011 bid in Florida. “It’s a struggle,” said Prunty, who has several local sponsors who support him for the season at Slinger. “Anything I do extra is out of my pocket. I’ll leave them on the car unless I find someone else, so it gives them a little extra exposure.” This year National Precious Metals will foot the bill for the transportation of Prunty’s racer, as for the tires and extra expenses, Prunty is still in search.

Even if he does go without sponsorship, Prunty is still looking forward to the trip. “People go on vacations for different things. This is no vacation, but the experience I had was good.”

If you want to get involved and help Prunty on his quest to the Snowball he is still open for sponsorship opportunities. Contact Prunty and show him support at www.dennisprunty.com or by e-mail at ddpmotorsports@yahoo.com

By Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., August 15—Mike Egan turned back a strong late race challenge from Brad Mueller to capture his first super late model feature victory in five years in the 60-lap second round of the KFC/Pepsi Challenge Series Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway.

“Towards the end there, the car was getting looser and looser and I tell you, we ran it into the corners so hard I couldn’t believe it stuck and somehow I got ahead,” Egan stated from victory lane, “My spotter told me I really had to pedal because (Mueller) was coming and I was giving it all I had, I didn’t have anything left.”

Tommy Pecaro paced the opening laps before Scott Schoeni took command of the race by lap five, bringing Fred Winn along with him into second place as Pecaro fell into the clutches of Egan, Conrad Morgan, and Mueller in a scrape for third. The yellow flag waved on lap 12 for a tangle between Austin Luedtke and Tommy Hromadka in turn four and during the caution period, championship point leader Lowell Bennett exited the speedway with mechanical issues and retired from the event. Schoeni maintained the lead on the restart as Winn’s car washed wide in between turns one and two, enabling Egan to fill the gap and challenge Schoeni for the lead while Morgan, Pecaro, Steve Apel, and Mueller advanced forward as well. Egan began to pressure Schoeni for the lead, diving to the inside off turn two to take over the top spot on lap 19. With Egan out front, Schoeni began to have his hands full with Morgan, Mueller, and Apel as the three of them tracked him down in a battle for second. Just past the halfway mark, Morgan and Mueller worked their way around Schoeni on the inside to move into second and third respectively as Egan continued to lead. Behind the lead battle, Dennis Prunty and Jeremy Lepak found themselves in an intense struggle for the eighth spot as Prunty sliced in front of Lepak entering turn three and upon exiting turn four, the two found themselves side by side with Lepak on the inside and Prunty in the high line. After two laps of extremely hard racing with some minor door contact, Prunty found himself in the frontstretch wall when the gap between it and Lepak’s car narrowed off turn four, drawing another caution flag. Egan fired his car hard into the corner on the restart and it stuck on the inside line, enabling him to hang onto the lead as Mueller pulled alongside Morgan to hash out second.

by Dan Margetta
Slinger, Wis., August 1—Dennis Prunty took advantage of a late caution flag when Lowell Bennett’s engine expired and held off Conrad Morgan in a photo finish to win the Kwik Trip 60 Sunday night at the Slinger Super Speedway.

“I guess Lowell Bennett blew an engine and I ran the outside of the 16 car (Steve Apel) for a long time and then I had to start on the inside of Conrad Morgan, “Prunty said, reviewing the exciting race from victory lane, “man his car has got some horsepower and it was tough holding him off, I drove my ass off.”

Bennett appeared to have the race in hand as the laps wound down, setting sail to a commanding lead over Apel, Prunty, and Morgan when suddenly his car came to an abrupt stop in turn one with eleven laps to go, belching smoke and flames as the power plant appeared to come unglued. With the current track point leader sent to the pits, Apel took over the top spot for the restart, choosing the inside lane to take the green flag with Prunty lined up to his outside. Apel and Prunty headed into turn one nearly even as racing resumed and the two raced door to door for the lead with neither able to gain any advantage while behind them Scott Schoeni and Conrad Morgan staged their own battle for third. Prunty edged ahead slightly on the outside entering turn one on lap 56 while Apel’s car slid loose as he entered the corner and looped around in turn two to produce the caution flag with just four laps remaining, setting up a shoot-out to the finish between Prunty, Morgan, Schoeni, and Egan. Prunty chose the inside lane for the restart but as the field came up to speed, Morgan held his ground on the outside and once again an intense side by side battle for the lead ensued, this time between Prunty and Morgan. The two took the white flag in a dead heat and Prunty held a minute advantage on the exit of turn two, however Morgan shot ahead by a few inches as they entered turn three. Prunty was able to get a bit of a run exiting turn four which was enough to just spurt ahead at the stripe to take the win by less than a car length over Morgan.

“With five laps to go when I was on the outside of Dennis (Prunty), I thought I could beat him, “Morgan stated after coming up just a half car-length short of the victory, “I think our car was as good as anybody’s at the end, it’s just a little bit rougher to try beat somebody like from the outside with five laps left.”

Mike Egan took the checkered flag in third place and had a front row seat for the spectacular finish as the battle for the win played out in his windshield.

“I’ve got to tell you, they were going at it,” Egan said afterwards, “I’ve never seen two guys race so hard in my whole life.”