Published: Sept. 6, 2016
Blawat battles back for track championship
Driver spun out in 1st lap of qualifying
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
SLINGER — One day, Chris Blawat will look back at this day and think, “Wow.”
Blawat spun on his first lap in qualifying after hitting a water
bottle that rolled onto the track under the fence near the start-finish
line and started the feature in 13th place.
Then, he rallied for a third-place finish in Sunday's 100-lap super
late model feature, which was barely good enough to give him his first
career super late model track championship after a spirited
side-byside, back-and-forth battle with the three-time defending
champion Steve Apel for the final 38 laps.
Blawat won the championship by seven points over Apel.
Wow. What a day. What a race. What a comeback.
“I thought we dug ourselves too big of a hole starting 13th,” Blawat said. “... Oh man, this is awesome.”
Dennis Prunty won the feature for his division-leading fifth victory of the season and his nephew, Alex Prunty, was second.
Apel went on to finish fourth and Brad Mueller rounded out the top five.
“We didn't necessarily have a bad night,” Apel said. “We just needed one more spot.”
The 2016 season could be remembered as one of the best in recent memory.
There were eight different winners this season, nine if you count
Matt Kenseth's victory at Slinger Nationals. Dennis Prunty started the
season with back-to-back victories. Then the 2012 track champion didn't
compete June 12, which gave Apel command of the championship. He
looked like he was going to be unchallenged for a fourth straight title.
A fourth straight title would've been historic. Apel would've joined
Schill as the only drivers to win four straight super late model titles
in a row at Slinger and just the seventh driver all-time in track
history to accomplish the feat.
Schill won five straight between 1984-88.
Conrad Morgan, Lowell Bennett
twice, Mueller and Robbie Reiser all attempted the four-peat in the
super late model division, but were unsuccessful.
“If you think about it, that’s between 80 and 100 races that you have
to run really good,” Morgan said. “That’s pretty hard to do. It’s
pretty hard to run good in 20 races, one season. It’s hard to do, takes a
lot out of you.”
At
one point this season, Blawat was more than 100 points behind Apel.
After Aug. 7, Apel led Blawat by 97 points. It was a five-point
difference between Apel and Blawat heading into Sunday’s finale as Apel
had two finishes outside the top 10 in August, while Blawat had strong
finishes.
Alex Prunty
entered the race with an outside chance at winning the championship, 44
points behind Apel. Prunty finished his rookie season at Slinger third
in the championship, 28 points behind Blawat.
“I’m happy,” Alex said. “We’re going up the guys that are the best in the state. It was a real big success.”
Apel won one feature this season, a year after winning six. During his three-year reign, he won 15 features.
“It just wasn’t our year,” Apel said. “We’ve got to put a full year
together out here to win a championship and we didn’t do it. That’s what
it comes down to. Blawat did a good job being consistent with four
wins. I was surprised we even had a chance to win the championship.”
With the title, Blawat becomes the first driver to win the limited
late and super late model titles at Slinger. He won the limited late
title in 2009.
Blawat moved to the super late model division in 2011 and struggled.
In his first nine starts, he had four top-10 finishes. His first feature victory was Sept. 9, 2012. That was his only feature victory in four seasons.
This season, he won four features.
Blawat is now on the same list of drivers that are widely considered
the best short-track racers in state history. Those drivers include Alan
Kulwicki, Reiser, Bennett, Morgan, Schill, Joe Shear, Tony Strupp, John
Ziegler and Rich Bickle Jr.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet,” Blawat said. “I’m just humbled.”
But will the 2016 season be remembered for Apel’s collapse or Blawat’s surge?
Even before Apel’s struggles, Blawat was already on a roll, which started after heartbreak at Slinger Nationals.
Blawat started on pole position for Slinger Nationals but an oil pump
failure forced him to pull off the track before taking the green flag.
“We thought we had a really good car for Nationals,” Blawat said. “But
we just looked at it that everything happens for a reason.”
Since then, Blawat found a rhythm, finishing in the top four in the final seven races of the season, including two victories.
Apel, on the other hand, finished 11th and 19th in the previous two weeks.
Despite the struggles, Apel had a chance to keep his reign. He hit the invert and started the feature on the pole position.
For the first time in four years, it wasn’t his day.
“It’s been an awesome run,” Apel said.
Apel said he will re-evaluate what he wants to do, especially with a 1-year-old son in his life.
“We’ll try to come back a better team, a stronger competitor,” he added.
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