The legacy of Slinger

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: July 26, 2014

The legacy of Slinger

Young drivers ready for pressure

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

SLINGER — The flames are still burning on top of the torches being carried by the Slinger Superspeedway legends, Al Schill, Lowell Bennett, Conrad Morgan, Jerry Eckhardt, etc. Those were the guys that made the racing at Slinger famous after the track transformed from dirt to asphalt in the 1970s.

However, the flame is starting to flicker.

That’s why May 27 may be the turning point in Slinger Superspeedway history 10 or more years down the line. That’s the hope, at least.

On that date, Steve Apel, Austin Luedtke and John DeAngelis were 1-2-3 in the super late model feature. Each driver is 25 years old or younger.

Toss in young and up-and-coming drivers like Ryan DeStefano and Braison Bennett, also in the super late division, and Slinger is seeing a youth movement ready to take the track into the next 30 years.

The pressure is on.

“We are the future,” DeAngelis said. “Lowell, Conrad, Jerry, they’ve all been racing for so long; it’s expected for them to be out front. To be up there with them and not having as many years under our belt was pretty awesome.

“We’re the future and that’s all there is to it,” he added. “They’re not going to be here forever.”

Those guys aren’t alone.

Other notable drivers younger than the age of 25 include Alex Prunty, a two-time track champion (2010 Slinger Bees and 2012 limited late model), Grant Griesbach and Ricky Heinan, all whom compete in the next tier division under the super lates at Slinger — limited late model.

“You like to see new people come into this sport,” Lowell Bennett said. “Otherwise our sport is going to be dead because I’m going to have to retire unfortunately and you hope to pass on the torch to my son and the other young guys.”

Going into this season, DeStefano, the defending limited late model champion, Braison Bennett and DeAngelis were expected to thrill fans with one of the closest Rookie of the Year battles in at least 10 years in the super late model division. So far, they haven’t disappointed. DeAngelis is the top rookie in the points battle, leading DeStefano by four points. Bennett is 15 behind DeStefano.

“We all used to run limited lates together and beat up on each other,” DeAngelis said. “Now we’re all up in the super lates beating up on each other trying to win Rookie of the Year. It’s tough racing.”

DeAngelis has showcased his ability plenty of times, winning the limited late model on Slinger Nationals night in 2011. This year, he was second fastest in qualifying in the super late model event.

“I was really hoping nobody was going to beat me,” DeAngelis said. “That would’ve been awesome, especially in my first time in a super late. It would’ve been the best feeling there ever was. It was awesome to be second fastest.”

Others like Apel, Luedtke and Braison Bennett have assembled solid resumes, too.

Apel is the defending super late model track champion and is the division’s winningest driver since the start of the 2011 season with 14 victories. Luedtke is the 2010 super late model Rookie of the Year, and Bennett is a sixtime limited late model feature winner at Slinger, which includes a triumph on Nationals night in 2012. Bennett also has eight Slinger Bees feature victories to his credit.

“It’s definitely going to take some of these younger guys to step up to the plate and get better,” Morgan said. “They’re the future of this place. The me’s (Conrad Morgans) and Lowell Bennetts of this place is getting near the end of it.”

The aforementioned legends of Slinger are still competitive, which has given die-hard fans of the track, a blast from the past. This season, Morgan has won two features and Bennett has won one. Schill, one of the winningest drivers in track history, certainly since the track transitioned to asphalt in the mid-1970s, has also visited victory lane. He won two features in 2012.

While it has been great to see the “old guys” still plugging away and running up front, there will be a time they will have to call it a career.

They know that.

The young guns know that. Each are aware of their importance to the race track and its future.

“I really hope a lot of these limited guys start moving up soon because those guys are going to be gone,” DeAngelis said.

Morgan added, “If you don’t have young guys coming up, eventually there isn’t going to be any super late model guys racing anymore. The rest of us are going to pull the pin and go fishing. Somebody’s got to step up to the plate and take over.”

However, what may be different for these young drivers is the challenges the sport of auto racing faces.

When Bennett, Schill and Morgan surged into the picture as young drivers, there was a better certainty racing was going to stick around. The same can’t be said these days as an unstable economy continues to put dents into auto racing, specifically at the nation’s short tracks.

“I was a young guy at one point, too,” Lowell Bennett said. “When I came down here in 1981, the second time I came here I battled with Joe Laufer and won the feature.

“But that was me back then. It’s a very, very important thing. We need to have all ages in this. As I stress to everybody is that we’ve got to keep the fun in our sport. We’ve got to have fun.”

Drivers like Prunty and Braison Bennett have a family name etched deep into local short-track racing fans’ hearts, which makes it almost a must for them to keep going.

“I know we’re the next generation,” said Braison Bennett, who is a third-generation driver. “I’m just doing it for fun; not looking to make it into NASCAR. I just do it for fun, it’s my hobby, it’s what I love doing.

“I will be here awhile. I’ll probably be racing until I’m as old as my dad.

“This track is special to me,” he added. “I’ve been coming here since I was barely able to walk.”

A turning point in Slinger Superspeedway history happened in 1987. The race included NASCAR Hall of Famers Bobby Allison and Dale Earnhardt, plus Alan Kulwicki, Mark Martin, Rich Bickle, Tony Strupp and Joe Shear to name a few. Looking back on it today, it was one of the important moments in speedway history.

The hope is 10 or 15 years from now, people will look back at May 27, as the day Slinger moved into the next generation.

“I think what will be cool is they could look at everybody in that top three ... I think we’ll all have track championships,” Luedtke said. “Multi-time track championships.”

Wisconsin coach hangs on to 2nd-round lead

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: July 23, 2014

Wisconsin coach hangs on to 2nd-round lead

Robbie Ziegler out front by 5 strokes

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

MEQUON — Robbie Ziegler walked off the 18th green at Ozaukee Country Club relieved.

Ziegler finished a grueling and challenging second round of the 113th Wisconsin State Amateur Championship on Tuesday with a 1-over-par 71 to take a five-stroke lead into the third round.

In Monday’s first round, Ziegler, the assistant golf coach at the University of Wisconsin, shot a 4-under-par 66.

Ziegler leads 16-year-old Chris Colla, a junior-to-be at Winnebago Lutheran. Colla won the WIAA Division 2 individual state golf championship in the spring.

“I didn’t know the pins could get tougher, but I’m pretty sure they were,” said Ziegler, a former University of Oregon golfer. “You throw in the heat and the wind, it was a tough day.”

In the midst of a hot and humid day, with temperatures hovering close to 90 during what has been a cool summer, mixed with a swirling wind, the scores soared.

Out of the 165 players in the tournament, only three shot even par (Zach Gaugert, Wil Wittmann and Mike Murphy). Nobody broke par. That’s why Ziegler was so relieved with a 1 over.

“I knew I could maybe extend my lead a little bit or improve ground from the other players because it was tough conditions and I was in the morning wave,” Ziegler said. “But luckily I finished good. It gave me a good taste in my mouth.”

However, Ziegler needed long putts on holes 15 and 16 to make birdie and save what could’ve been a disastrous round and a momentum swing for the entire tournament.

On 16, Ziegler made about a 35-foot putt for birdie, which he said was key during a round filled with challenges.

“I like to think I’m a decent wind player,” Ziegler said. “I was kind of excited when the wind was blowing when we teed off this morning, but I just kind of hung in there all day.”

Colla was hanging close to Ziegler entering the final four holes of his round, but he bogeyed three of his remaining four holes to slip well off the lead.

Of the nine Washington County golfers in the field, only Colgate’s Tom Halla survived and make the cut. Halla is tied for 48th at 13 over after shooting a 5-over-par 75 on Tuesday.

The cut was 14 over.

“(The conditions) were pretty similar,” Jackson’s Nathan Kannenberg said. “It was just the wind was up a little bit more, which made the course a little bit tougher.”

Kannenberg shot 15 over Tuesday to miss the cut at 19 over; this after a respectable 4-over-par showing in Monday’s first round.

“If you didn’t strike the ball well, the wind definitely took the ball a lot,” Kannenberg said.

One of the notables to not make the cut was Mark Bemowski. The 67-yearold Mukwonago native has missed only one cut at the State Amateur since the mid-1960s. Bemowski has 14 golf championships in Wisconsin (six State Amateurs, four Wisconsin PGA Senior State Opens, three State Senior Match Plays and one Wisconsin PGA State Open).

Ziegler’s day started on the par-4 438-yard No. 1 and through seven holes, he was even par for the day. He said patience was the key to getting through those holes. Unfortunately, he had to push the envelope, but not at his choosing. Ziegler and his group were issued a warning for too slow pace of play.

Ziegler said he had a hunch a warning was coming, but when it actually came, that didn’t make things easier.

“It definitely affected me,” he said, adding the warning took him out of a routine, giving him more to think about than just the next shot.

On No. 8, Ziegler bogeyed the par-4 hole to drop him back to 3 under. It didn’t get better as he made bogey on the par-4 No. 10 and No. 12 to slip to just 1 under. He got back-to-back pars on 13 and 14.

Ziegler’s birdies on 15 and 16 changed the round. It got him to 3 under.

“I got out of rhythm a little bit,” he said. “But I just hung in there all day.” In Monday’s round, Ziegler shot 2 under on his last three holes.

“I knew if I just stayed away from big numbers, bogeys are fine,” Ziegler said. “They’re not going to kill you out here, especially with the wind.”

And that’s why he was relieved to shoot 1 over.

“I’m pretty happy with my score with these pins and wind, the heat, it’s pretty darn good,” Ziegler said.

Picking up notes

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: July 23, 2014

Picking up notes

Area players build confidence for school seasons

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

MEQUON — Devon Hanson was thrilled to be at the 113th Wisconsin Amateur Golf Championship this week at Ozaukee Country Club.

His jaw-dropping moment as to the talent level in the field came when Nick Nelson, his playing partner Monday and Tuesday, made an eagle on the par-4 392-yard No. 3.

“He holed out from about 148 yards and that was pretty cool to see,” said Hanson, a junior-to-be at West Bend East.

Nelson’s eagle is one of only four for the tournament through 36 holes, which has University of Wisconsin assistant golf coach Robbie Ziegler out front by five strokes.

“It was a little different from the high school tournaments,” Hanson said with a smile. “It was really cool to watch.”

It was exciting for West Bend West graduate Nathan Kannenberg to be in the tournament as well. After coming up short three times, including twice by a single stroke, the 2011 West grad finally made it to the State Am.

The goal was to make the cut for the third and fourth rounds. Both came up well short, it was still a good time.

Kannenberg finished 19 over for the tournament after shooting a respectable 4 over in Monday’s first round.

“It was nice to finally be able to qualify,” Kannenberg said.

“I was ecstatic,” he added about the opportunity to play in the tournament, which was first played in 1901.

Hanson had his friend and fellow East classmate Alex Manhardt caddy for him.

“It was a lot of fun,” Hanson said. “Just having a friend out there made it a lot easier when I was playing bad to kind of just move on and get over it.”

Hanson shot 13 over in Monday’s first round and 19 over Tuesday to finish 32 over for the tournament.

“It was really cool; just making it on my first try,” Hanson said. “Getting out here and experience it, obviously I didn’t play well these last two days, it was fun to experience.”

In high school, an 89 like Hanson shot Tuesday or even the 83 he shot Monday in many cases is good enough to medal at 18-hole tournaments. In two days, Hanson saw the drastic difference, which his coach Jay Krueger said before the tournament is an eye-opening experience on Hanson’s way to becoming an even better player.

“You’ve got to keep it in the fairway,” Hanson said.

“I learned that after a rough hole you’ve just got to move on,” he added.

Nelson will compete in next month’s USGA Amateur Championship, the same event Erin Hills hosted in 2011.

“It was really cool; he’s a great player,” Hanson said. “I just picked up some stuff off his game and how he manages himself around the golf course.”

Nelson made the cut at 9 over for the tournament, tied for 22nd.

“It was cool to be around him,” Hanson said.

“Just how he keeps his composure,” he added when asked what he learned from Nelson in two days and 36 holes of golf. “He just keeps plugging away. Even if he hit a bad tee shot and got in trouble, he’d still recover and still make a bogey or par still. It was pretty crazy to watch.”

Hanson will be one of the key returning golfers for the Suns next season. East is coming off its first Wisconsin Little Ten Conference championship since 1986. Hanson finished second in the WLT Player of the Year standings to Slinger’s Cal Meyers, who graduated this year.

“I played well in the qualifier so I’ve got to remember that,” Hanson said. “I was able to experience this. Hopefully it’ll bring me some confidence going into the rest of the summer.”

As for Kannenberg, he will be a senior this school year at Harding University, an NCAA Division II school in Searcy, Arkansas, which is about 45 minutes northeast of Little Rock.

He’s had a respectable college career. In three seasons with the Bison, Kannenberg had 77.87 stroke average in 63 rounds played. His best 18-hole round is a 71 at the 2012 David Falconer Memorial. He has four top-10 finishes and one top-five finish (tied for fourth at 2014 Natural State Golf Classic).

He ranks 13th in school history in scoring average and 11th in winning percentage (.526).

“School’s been tough with golf and balancing that,” Kannenberg said. “But it’ll be interesting, me being the only senior on the team this year.”

It may or may not be a challenging year for Kannenberg, who is majoring in biochemistry, and his teammates. There will be six freshmen this season, including Oshkosh West graduate Logan Handy.

“With all the freshmen, I think I’m going to just try and get them really into it and kind of set a standard because they’ll be there the next three years,” Kannenberg said. “I feel like I can be the one to set the tone for Harding golf for the next couple of years.”

He said he’s ready for the challenge. He also proved it on the course.

In a tournament last season, Harding was in a playoff for the team championship honor. Kannenberg made the tournamentwinning putt. “It was fun being underneath that kind of pressure,” he said.

Being the lone senior on a roster full of youth, Kannenberg will likely see more of that pressure.

“We have a really good junior (Alex Williamson) too,” Kannenberg said. “He and I, I think, will be the two that really set the tone.”

Williamson is from Jacksonville, Florida. He is a two-time All-Great American Conference selection.

“He’s really good,” Kannenberg said. “If he can play the golf I know he can, he can play really well. I think if both of us play well this school year, I don’t think there’s anything to stop us.”

Graczkowski wins 1st feature in Bees division

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: July 22, 2014

Graczkowski wins 1st feature in Bees division

14-year-old beats title contender

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

SLINGER — TJ Graczkowski has learned more about his father, Mike, in the last two years than he ever thought he would.

TJ Graczkowski, 14, who will be a freshman at West Bend West High School, in the fall is in his second year in the Slinger Bees division at Slinger Superspeedway. In that time, TJ Graczkowski has learned his dad knows a lot about racing.

“He talks about stuff I don’t even know what it’s about,” the young Graczkowski said with a smile. “But I’ve learned a lot.”

The elder Graczkowski, the 2006 midwest sportsman champion at Slinger, has taken his son under his wing and taught him the ropes of racing.

“Every time he goes on the track we critique how he drives, we critique how Dad had the set up,” Mike Graczkowski said. “The last couple of weeks the communication has been getting really good and he’s been telling me exactly what he wanted.”

That has taken a lot of work.

So finally, the hours each week spent in the shop during the summer and in the offseason paid off Sunday.

TJ Graczkowski won his first career feature, winning the 25-lap Slinger Bees feature at Slinger Superspeedway, holding off one of the division’s top drivers.

You can bet there was pride at the Graczkowski trailer.

“It just lets me know that the Graczkowski name isn’t dead and we’re going to keep winning features until I retire,” TJ Graczkowski said.

“Very proud,” Mike Graczkowski said. “Almost as proud as I was when he was born.”

TJ Graczkowski’s first victory was an impressive one. He chased down, caught and passed Steve Dickson for the victory.

Dickson is tied with two-time defending track champion Nick Schmidt as the division’s all-time winningest driver (14).

“I didn’t expect to catch (Dickson) like that,” TJ Graczkowski said. “He was in front of me and I was going to finish another second. Then I started gaining on him and I was like, ‘I can win this.’” With only a handful of laps to go, TJ Graczkowski pulled off a move like a veteran. He used a slower car as a pick to help get ahead of Dickson.

“Somehow I came out of that with the lead,” TJ Graczkowski said.

Once he passed Dickson, TJ Graczkowski opened up a gap to Dickson right before the checkered flag dropped on the 25-lap feature.

“Usually, he just runs away from me,” TJ Graczkowski said.

“I thought it was going to be a photo finish,” he added. “I just got a little ahead of him and I’m like, ‘I’m in the lead. Oh my God.’” Mike Graczkowski gave up his hobby to help his son get started on his own.

The biggest obstacle at the start was breaking down the language barrier.

At 14 years old, car terminology was a foreign language to TJ Graczkowski. That was especially the case when dad started throwing around terminology only a race car driver would understand.

Mike Graczkowski, like any crew chief in racing, could only do so much. He had to rely on his son to relay important information on how the car was responding to certain set ups, conditions and so forth. To help simplify that, Dad came up with a scale, 1 for car is close to being right and 10 being so terrible the car should be in the wall.

In the weeks that followed, TJ Graczkowski got a better understanding as to how the car was reacting to certain things. In return, Mike Graczkowski has made the right adjustments.

On Sunday, it was TJ Graczkowski that was making the right adjustment calls.

And because of that constant communication between the two, their bond as father and son has gotten stronger.

“It depends on the father-son relationship,” Mike Graczkowski said. “When you have bad days, it really gets tested. But when you have good days, that’s the highs everybody looks forward to.

“Him and I have a really good relationship and he actually enjoys hanging out with Dad and working on the car. For me that’s the greatest gift I could get.”

Early on, the car was set up in one way as baseline. From there, the two have worked hard and closely together to find the right combination.

“He was like, ‘Every time you come off, I want you to tell me what I feel, what it feels like,’” TJ Graczkowski said. “So I did that and it seems to work every time.”

“It wouldn’t be as fast as it is,” he added. “He buys all the parts and gets it set up for me. We just communicate and talk; ‘how does it feel?’ ‘I don’t know. Loose.’ ‘All right, we’re doing this.’ It works every time.”

TJ Graczkowski started racing just a couple years ago in go-karts.

His racing career at Slinger got going in rather surprising fashion.

“We went down to the shop and he forgot something,” TJ Graczkowski recalled. “He parks his super late trailer and he’s like, ‘TJ, it’s in the trailer. Go get it.’ I look in the trailer and I was like, ‘Is that for me?’” Inside was a Slinger Bee, a fourcylinder race car. “He was like, ‘Yeah,’” TJ Graczkowski said. “You can’t say no to that.”

He started up the car and he said it “smoked like crazy but it was awesome.”

Mike Graczkowski raced fulltime at Slinger up until the end of last season. He sold his No. 12 super late model to a driver at Jefferson Speedway.

While bummed his dad gave up his driving hobby, TJ Graczkowski was thrilled his dad would sacrifice something like that for him and knew he couldn’t let his dad down. He wanted to make him proud.

When TJ Graczkowski got the checkered flag, his dad was waiting for him with a congratulations and to slightly embarrass his boy.

“He was like, ‘That’s awesome you ran down (Dickson). I’m so proud of you,’” TJ Graczkowski said. “Dad stuff.”

Not all was kosher for the Graczkowski family.

In the spectator eliminator race, Mike Graczkowski entered his wife’s green Ford Mustang in the event. During his race, another car made contact with Mike Graczkowski, leaving a noticeable mark on the car.

“She already told me I better pay for it or I sleep on the couch,” he said with a big smile.

 

East’s Hanson to play the best

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: July 19, 2014

East’s Hanson to play the best

Suns junior 1 of 9 county players in tournament, which starts Monday

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

West Bend East’s Devon Hanson joined the Suns’ varsity boys golf team at about the halfway point of his freshman year.

One of Suns coach Jay Krueger’s regrets is he wished he had brought up Hanson from the junior varsity team sooner.

“It was pretty evident he had a good skill set to play at the varsity level,” Krueger said.

“I was a little disappointed I didn’t see it sooner.”

On Monday, Hanson, a junior-tobe at East, will be alongside many of the best amateur golf players in the state with the start of the 113th Wisconsin State Amateur Championship.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” Hanson said. “It was my first time trying to qualify for it. So it was cool to make it on the first try.”

The 72-hole tournament will be Monday through Thursday at Ozaukee Country Club in Mequon.

The defending champion is Jordan Niebrugge and is expected to compete in this year’s tournament. There hasn’t been a repeat champion in the State Amateur Championship since Ryan Quinn (2001 and 2002).

“I’m looking to enjoy the experience, playing with some of the best amateurs in the state,” Hanson said, adding his goal is to make the cut.

Hanson is one of nine golfers from Washington County in the tournament.

Also representing the county is Jay Gitlewski (Germantown), Todd Hagenow (West Bend), Tom Halla (Colgate), Jason Jahnke (Kewaskum), Phillip Johnson (Colgate), Nathan Kannenberg (Jackson), Mike McDonald (West Bend) and John Ziemer (Colgate).

McDonald won the tournament in 2011.

When Hanson joined the Suns’ varsity team in 2012, he brought an element to the team that seemed to be lacking.

“Last year, it was consistency,” Krueger said. “As a freshman that was a huge bonus for our team.”

Hanson has maintained that consistency, which is one reason why he made the State Amateur Championship.

During his qualifying round July 1 at River Club of Mequon, Hanson shot a 38 on the front nine and a 38 on the back nine. His goal? To shoot a 76.

“It was pretty good,” Hanson said of his round. “The pins were in a pretty tough spot.”

As a sophomore this spring, he continued that consistency on his way to finishing second in the Wisconsin Little Ten Conference Player of the Year standings to Slinger’s Cal Meyers.

Consistency with his shots was what put Hanson in good position to shoot a low score.

But he also added length to his shots, especially off the tee. Hanson estimated he added about 30 yards to his tee shot.

“I’m still trying to get more distance; still working out almost every day and get even longer (off the tee),” he said. “I feel like the best part of my game is my driving and short game.

“That way the holes become shorter.”

If Hanson can get that aspect covered, Krueger doesn’t believe Hanson can’t shoot lower next spring.

However, believe it or not, there is one aspect Hanson could improve: putting.

Krueger said he thought Hanson was just a bit inconsistent on the greens.

“It’s something he needs to work on and turn into a strength,” Krueger said. “If he was a top-30 putter in the state, then he’d be a top-30 player in the state.”

Hanson said he’s never felt rattled on a golf course, even as a freshman on the varsity team. The way he got through the nerves was he pretended he was playing a round with his friends. And, in a way, that’s almost how golf rounds are setup. You’re playing a round with a colleague and looking to have a good time.

“It’s the way I’ve always approached it,” Hanson said.

He also puts in a lot of work in during the offseason, on the tee box, the putting green and in the gym.

“It’s a lot to walk 18 holes sometimes,” Hanson said. “That way I can have the same energy throughout the round and not get tired.”

Hanson also has an uncanny knack to get out to a fast start, Krueger said.

“He’s got a great demeanor on the course,” he added. “That’s a fantastic asset for him to have.”

Hanson will be paired with Michael Kerns and Nick Nelson for the first and second rounds. Hanson will tee off at 7:48 a.m. on No. 1.

Kerns is a Milwaukee native, and Nelson recently qualified for the USGA’s Amateur Championship, which will be Aug. 11-17 in Johns Creek, Georgia.

“That’s pretty cool,” Hanson said of the opportunity to play with Nelson. “I hope I can pick up some of the stuff he does.”

That’s what Krueger hopes Hanson gets out of this experience.

“I hope he sees what kids his own age and maybe a little bit older than him can do on the golf course,” Krueger said. “I hope he soaks in what all these guys do on the course.”