Midwest Racing Central Today
"Midwest Racing Central Today" provides coverage and commentary to the short track scene in and around Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan. Our focus is primarily asphalt and dirt track racing on both the weekly track and regional series fronts. This podcast will feature conversations with guests including drivers, track operators, media reporters and industry insiders.
Midwest Racing Central Today
Slinger Super Speedway with Travis Dassow
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Slinger Super Speedway owner Travis Dassow joins the podcast and shares what’s ahead at the iconic track this coming season.
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Midwest Racing Central Today is hosted by Pete Pistone and produced by Mia Pistone
Hi everybody, Stoney here from Midwest Racing Central today. And yes, Mother Nature looks like she's finally cooperating. The racing season here in the Midwest is about to continue this weekend up at one of the most popular and historic racetracks, really, in the country, Slinger Super Speedway. And let's bring in from Slinger Travis Dasaw with us here on Midwest Racing Central. How are you, Travis? Good to see you. Good. Thanks for having me on, Pete. You bet. Well, obviously, for those who don't know, this will be your second year uh at the helm there. Let's talk about year one, sort of, and what you learned and kind of bridge the offseason to get ready for 2026 for your racetrack, Travis.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, last year we we took over, uh it was like the first of March last year. So we only had a month leading into the season to try to get stuff going. And it was like uh it was like drinking through a garden hose, you know, I was uh just trying to learn everything, get everything going. Um, I've been in, you know, I've been in racing for 30 years, but never never promoted, never ran the you know, the other side of things, the concession side and all that stuff. So we learned a lot last year, did some stuff good, you know, there's some stuff bad we did, and uh we had all winter now to kind of go through everything and make some updates, do some different things, and uh, you know, hope now we should be ready to go for this season.
SPEAKER_01So you kind of basically went up from a fan to a driver to now running a racetrack, I guess, right? That's kind of the progression. What are some of the things you sort of learned along the way now that you had an opportunity to kind of see what you do now from the other side, both the Pitgate and in the grandstands?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, when I was uh, I mean, I've been going to Slinger Speedway since I've been four years old. And uh so I started out going in those grandstands and seeing that sort of thing and remember those those days of being a kid and being able to go uh go on Sunday night with my with my dad and my brother, and uh, you know, see that side of it first. And then uh for the last 20 some years racing superlates and different things there and and traveling all over the country racing. We got I got to learn different things and different places that I liked different items at the you know at different racetracks that they did or had or whatever. And um now now owning the racetrack, we uh we have the ability to kind of apply some of those things we liked and some of the things I remember as a kid that maybe what kind of went by the wayside over the last few years and uh started bringing some stuff back that way. And um, it's been fun, it's been something different, but it's been uh it's great to be still in the racing community doing that sort of thing. And um uh it's just a different, it's just the next phase of my racing career.
SPEAKER_01So I when I brought you on and and and I mean this slinger is popular, it's historic, it's famous around the country. I'm I would imagine some of that's gotta resonate with you. How does it feel to be at the helm of a racetrack that has all that history behind it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, being uh being the owner of Slinger Speedway really didn't hit me because of it, you know, it's been I've been going there since for 35 years. Like it's it's just another place, it's a place that I lived 10 minutes away from my whole life. And um once I once I owned it and started having the people calling me and talking about it, and you know, different people and people that have just loved the place that have been going there 50, 60 years, and all the all the different stories I've heard and everything like that. I mean, yeah, I knew a lot of the stories, but there's a lot I don't know too. And just the just the history there is just unbelievable. And the uh the amount, the amount of different racers that have been there, the racers I've won there, won championships there. I mean, that's names you've heard for Sundays for years and years and years in the NASCAR ranks, and uh it's a pretty little, it's a pretty cool little place.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, I bring it up on my NASCAR show on Sirius X7. People know exactly what I'm talking about. I don't even have to say where it is, they know Slinger just by that name because of what you just said. So let's talk about again uh counting year one and some of the things you did in the offseason. Let the listeners and the viewers know some of the things that you are gonna have different this year on the property. I know I follow you on social media. It looks like you're doing some upgrades around the racetrack, Travis.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we've done a lot of work over the winter. Uh, you know, once our last race happened in September, we haven't stopped. Uh I pretty much worked every day at the racetrack until the snow flew, and I've been there every day since the snow's been gone. I mean, and when the snow's been there, the weather this spring's been pretty crazy. But uh we uh we've added uh some fencing. We redid a bunch of fencing in three and four, uh catch fence stuff. We bought uh bought a bunch of fencing from Beaver Dam Raceway, which is a dirt track down the street from us, and they went out of business, which sucks. But um, we were able to secure that stuff that was only four or five years old. So uh we we got a section of that up before the season started, which turned out great. And we're playing the plan is to finish that off in the next year or two to make sure where we got uh the catch fence before was only six feet tall, now it's 12 foot. So it's a it's a big change. It's just people noticed it right away. So everybody uh everybody's been you know pretty grateful for that. That uh we've had some cars get up in that fence in prior years and hopefully we uh we keep them inside the park for safe. So uh yeah, and then we've we've done a bunch of work in the concession stand stuff, you know, just updating, upgrading, cleaning up, doing things like that, uh, a bunch of work in the pits to just try to you know clean up things and make it easier to park a lot of these bigger haulers nowadays. You know, stuff's changed over the last 20 years, and we got to make sure we have room for everybody. So we've been doing that, and you know, we just hit every corner of the of the facility, really. You know, you see one corner or you go to a concession stand or you go to a corner of the racetrack and you go, Man, we really got to do this. So it's like we just kind of hit whatever we can and what time allows, and we'll uh we're we'll be ready to go this Sunday.
SPEAKER_01So I'm uh kind of curious how you get feedback. Let's start with the fans. I mean, you know, you know, race fans, you just have to ask them, they'll give you an answer. But how do you sort of communicate with them to know your experience that they're having, some of the things that are working? And to your point, maybe the some things you want to make better for that fan experience.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, we've uh I've known a lot of the fans that have been there a long time. You know, between fans and sponsors, a lot of them I've actually interacted with in the you know in my 30 years of racing or whatever, and a lot of them don't don't have a problem telling you what they like and don't like. So, which I which I think is awesome. You know, I want to make a place that everybody's you know looks forward to going to every Sunday night. So any kind of uh, you know, opinions or things that need to get worked on, or you know what, we don't notice all of it. You know, we're we're just there every day working on things. We don't we don't notice everything when when the stands are full or whatever and what what people are you know struggling with and need help with. So we've been we've been listening, and that's where we're drivers and fan side. You know, we we try to we've been trying to listen and try to make adjustments and try to make it the best place in the in the Midwest for sure, if not you know, the country to go want to go race at.
SPEAKER_01All right, let's talk about uh the drivers and obviously your schedule, as you mentioned, you gave the ASA Midwest tour there this Sunday. That's what your basically your season opened. Slinger nationals, of course, in July. You have an ASA Stars National tour coming up on Father's Day weekend, but your weekly program, what do you have in store this year for 2026 for the fans every Sunday night up there, Travis?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so we've changed the schedule up a little bit. We've uh we've at lengthened the season a few races because I mean fall weather in Wisconsin has really been pretty decent the last few years. So now we go to the end of September. Um, we continued some of them special events that we do with uh slam fests and stuff like that, and uh monster trucks coming back. But then on the racing side of it, the super late side, we've kind of brought back an old uh one of the things I remember when I was a kid. Uh the triple crown series we had always it was usually sponsored by Coca-Cola back in the day. And it was one of them things where we always saw some of them guys coming over from Michigan and Midwest and different things and come and race. And I want to start trying to build that back up again. So we we started a triple crown series, it's a uh a 7,000 to win superlate show every night, 125 lapper on four tires, and it's a one-day show trying to make it affordable for the guys. And uh, I've had a lot of interest in that. So we have a total of seven superlate shows weekly, and I think I've you know, we've we're gonna have close to 25, 27 cars every one of those shows. So it's it's a big gain from about two years ago. We were they were getting down to about 14 a week. So gaining 10-15 cars a week has been huge, and I mean the fans fans love it, and you start to noticing that that the fans are starting to get a lot more interested and starting to show up a lot more. So you bring the you bring the best cream of crop racers in the Midwest to the racetrack, you're gonna bring the fans.
SPEAKER_01So well, nobody knows this better than you, but when you talk super late models, a big topic of conversation is unified rules and trying to make sure that everybody's sort of at least on the same page. What's that like? I mean, we've got tracks up here in the super late model world that are running on a somewhat regular basis. I got Grundy County down here, they're gonna do kind of what you're doing with the six-pack kind of a deal. So, how's the collaboration, would you say, Travis, on the super late model side with the tracks in our Midwest area?
SPEAKER_00You know, we try to work as as close together as we can. Um, I think there's there's more unity in our area than some of the other parts of the country. Um, you know, and there's a lot of different series across the country and everything like that. And to get them all on the same page sometimes is a struggle. Um, our Wisconsin-based teams along racetracks along with Grundy and Elko and different places like that, Norway up in Michigan. They all uh we all interact during the winter and try to make the best moves we can with with rules and different changes and things like that. And for the most part, I mean, other than maybe a couple little rules here and there, our super late rules are pretty close between all the different racetracks, which is which is pretty amazing. And in so I mean, looking back 10 years ago or so, how far apart a lot of these racetracks were, it definitely makes a big difference for these teams to be able to go and race different places and and not have to change much.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think that that's great. I want to talk about your pro late model division because I think that's kind of growing in our area of the country at Slinger as well. What's that gonna look like for you guys in 26, Travis?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so we uh we made a big change. We uh we had a a good class last year. We were on an American racer eight-inch tire. Um, this year we've we've made a we've made the jump and went to a 10-inch tire to try to improve racing and to try to uh utilize, you know, make the tires last a little longer. So we're not trying to, you know, keep it to a one-tire show, make it economical. So we went to a Hoosier 1070, which is more of an economical 10-inch tire. Um, speeds are gonna pick up maybe a tenth or two, but um I think the racing is gonna be a lot better. And uh I've had a lot of good uh good feedback on that stuff with early testing and things like that. So I think that's really exciting. I the fans are gonna be uh be in for a treat. I think the racing's gonna be a lot better as in the late model and the pro late late model stuff. And uh we uh we we got a couple big shows, like starting with this weekend, we got $2,500 to win for a 75 lap late model show, which I mean I don't know. There's not many in the area that pay that good. So we got uh two of them on the schedule this year, and I think a total of 11 nights for the late models.
SPEAKER_01That's good stuff there. So, what is your kind of your philosophy, Travis, for running a weekly show? I grew up at Rockford Speedway as a fan like you. I got to work there for a while, and you know on Saturday night at 7-Eleven that Baum was gonna go off and they were gonna go racing at Rockford and get everybody out of there by 10 o'clock was kind of the goal. How do you look at running your weekly show there at Slinger?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, that was a big that was a big thing that we did last year. We racing started dragging out a lot, you know, over the last few years. And racing wasn't getting done until 1015, 1030 a lot of times. And that's that's tough on a Sunday night for what whether kids or or parents. I mean, trying to adults having to go to work the next morning. So we kept the start time the same at 6:30. That's been that way for I don't know, 10-15 years at least. And uh, but we really we really put an emphasis to try to be done in three hours, you know, be done by 9, 930. And I think last year we only we only went past 9.30 twice. So I think that I mean the fans love that. You know, we keep the stuff moving, we keep everything rolling along, and it just really it keeps everybody interactive, doesn't get boring, doesn't get slowed down, doesn't get bogged down. It uh we just keep it moving along and get them in, get them out, and they're happy and on their way home.
SPEAKER_01Well, as we all know, uh your signature program is again one of the most prestigious super light model races of Slinger Nationals this year, Tuesday, July 14th. Any changes this year? What's in store when we get up there later this summer, Travis?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so we uh so we always had a Sunday night show, like a lead-in uh prelude to the Nationals, which brought in like the Midwest trucks and a couple other divisions. Well, we always had that that missing point of Monday. We always had practice on Monday, but we never had an event or anything to to kind of get the fans to hang out for three days and watch something, do something. So between uh a couple of us and uh flow racing, we came up with a new idea for Monday night qualifying, uh qualifying draw. So usually we just did like a normal draw and picked it up uh, you know, picked a chip or whatever, and that's your qualifying order for Tuesday. Well, we we came up with a new idea, and I in the asphalt world, I don't know if anything's ever been done like it, which I don't think it has, but uh we're gonna do a bracket showdown, it's called. So we're gonna go off of practice speeds on Monday, Monday during the day, and we're gonna line up a 32 team bracket. So you're gonna have one, you know, fastes in practice going against 32 in practice, and we're gonna have head 16 head-to-head matchups in the first round. Um, it won't be actual head-to-head, but it'll be like qualifying runs. So you're gonna have a car start and on the back stretch, you're gonna have a car starting on the front stretch, and you're gonna get three laps. Fastest lap of those three laps, you move on to the next round. So we're gonna go 16, 8, 4, and into the final four. And uh, we have a sponsor that's been donating uh that's that's sponsored with four new sets of tires, and you're gonna have four guys going for five thousand dollars on a qualifying run, realistically, to try to win uh and and the way that that ends up, so the winner gets five grand, there'll be some other contingencies and different pay throughout that also. But the way you finish in that is the way you qualify on Tuesday. So if you're if you win the if you win the thing, you're qualifying last on Tuesday, which is a usually a pretty good uh incentive at a at our racetrack. Usually you want to qualify a little later, so it should be pretty interesting. You you your first one out, you're gonna qualify 30 or you're gonna qualify first come Tuesday.
SPEAKER_01So very cool. All right, so that's a little different wrinkle. And another thing is that a lot of NASCAR drivers come up and compete. I talked to Carson Hosovar a few weeks ago. I know he's coming. I know we're still a couple months away. How do you expect that to kind of play out this year with some of the NASCAR drivers coming up to the Nationals this year, Travis?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, we already have you know some look some great local talent that's in NASCAR already, too, that's already, you know, committed to come with Ty Majesky and Luke Venhous and Derek Krauss and guys like that. Um, but we are working on a couple others. We're we're close on at least one or two more that'll uh should make the fans pretty happy to bring on in and uh you know make it a great show and uh you know make the 47th at annual nationals uh one of the best that we've ever seen. Look forward to it.
SPEAKER_01All right, before you go, you brought up Flow Racing. We had Michael Rigsby from Flow with us here a couple of weeks ago, and you're a part of that flow program that we see on Sunday nights and some of the special things. Not as you know, not everybody that runs a racetrack is on board with that, streaming versus not streaming. Why are you decided why have you decided to be with Flow Racing and uh and Travis and stream the races every Sunday night?
SPEAKER_00You know, I that that is a big debate, you know, with with track owners and things, if that's if it helps their their product or hurts their product. Um, I'm on the end that I I believe it helps it. You know, I I I'm a fan just like everybody else. And I I I tune into Flow five days a week, you know, and see what's on. You know, I love watching the Lucas Oil dirt and high limit and all that stuff. And it makes me more interested in the product, you know, and I'm not a dirt racer by any means, but I love dirt racing now because of flow racing. And I go to dirt races Friday, Saturday nights whenever I can in the area because of watching that on TV and saying, man, that's cool. Let's go, you know, let's go try something different. And that's kind of what we're trying to, that's what that's what I believe it helps. You know, you get especially in the flow area, because you know, now you have the cars tour and you have some of them other, you know, stuff on flow. But the beginning it was just dirt, and you have a lot of dirt fans. And I I think being on flow gains a whole nother audience that uh, you know, they're gonna watch and they're gonna go, man, you know what? Let's go to the Slinger Nationals this year or something, you know, something different. You know, they're used to going to dirt tracks or whatever, and then we're trying to get some more dirt fans to come over to asphalt world. That's part of it, but then I think you know it's it's just a uh great platform to be on. They their social media stuff is awesome to help promote the racetrack, you know, things like that. I mean, I I get it, you know, if it's bad weather and stuff, I I I wouldn't blame people, some people to stay home and watch it on TV instead. I get it. And that's part of it. You know, you take the good with the bad, but I think there's a lot more upside to it than there is downside.
SPEAKER_01Well, I love watching it uh on Sunday nights for sure. Because I know you're busy, it's a busy week. Very much appreciate your time here. Look forward to coming up there a couple of times this summer, and good luck in 2026, Travis. Awesome. Sounds good. Thanks a lot. That's Travis Dasil from Slinger Super Sweetway. They kick off the season on Sunday. The ASA Midwest Tour is there, and you go up there all summer long. I'm Pete Pistoni, thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time on Midwest Racing Central today.