A track opener — even a ragged one — is just the cure for a racing fan's spring fever

SLINGER - Freshly painted metal fiberglass sparkled under a brilliant blue sky, ushering in another racing season in southeastern Wisconsin in glorious fashion.

And then they ran the feature Sunday at Slinger Speedway.

Suddenly the months of tender car care were undetectable again by smudges and scrapes and torn-off body pieces in a ragged 75 laps at a racetrack that had snowbanks just a week earlier. 

“I know we bounced off a couple of guys a little bit, but there was definitely a lot of wrecking behind us,” said Dennis Prunty, whose winning red and white No. 42 came out cleaner than most. “Glad we avoided that.

“You’ve got people leaking water and oil, and then you get sand on the track, and when you start getting sand on the track it gets a little crazy. And then we get some lapped cars that were having issues.”

Spring fever? Sure looked like it. 

Prunty, the 2012 track champion, scored his 50th super-late model victory in face that was interrupted seven times by yellow flags. He held off defending champion Gary LaMonte in a three-lap shootout after LaMonte was involved in the last of those yellows.

“Yeah, the first race of the year you never know what’s going to happen, but generally you can pretty much guarantee it’s going to be pretty wild. It was a little more wild than I anticipated.”

Appropriately enough, a number of cars toward the rear of the field crashed after the leaders had taken the checkered flag, casting some question about whether the race was officially done. 

It was. 

And the season was officially open across this part of the state.

Wilmot Raceway on the Kenosha County Fairgrounds and Beaver Ram Raceway both started Saturday night, and the IRA Sprints series also got its first show in Sunday.

RELATED: 2018 Wisconsin motor sports calendar

With dirt and asphalt ovals, an internationally renown road course and even a couple of drag strips, a Wisconsin racing fan can find a race to attend from late April into early October. 

A list compiled over the off-season by the Journal Sentinel includes five dozen events that go above and beyond the regular weekly shows around the state.

Highlights of the list, which is weighted toward the Milwaukee area, include:

 • The Verizon IndyCar Series (June 21-24) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (Aug. 23-25) weekends at the 4-mile Road America road course in Elkhart Lake in Sheboygan County.

• World of Outlaws sprint cars June 2 at Wilmot Speedway at the Kenosha County Fairgrounds, June 23 at Beaver Dam Raceway and July 6-7 at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond.

• A five-day run through the state by the World of Outlaws dirt late models, beginning July 30 at Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds. 

• And asphalt super-late model specials at Slinger, Madison International Speedway in the Town of Rutland and Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna.

The first big-money regional event comes Sunday in the ARCA Midwest Tour’s $10,000-to-win Joe Shear Classic at Madison, which undoubtedly draw several of the drivers who raced in the Slinger opener. 

The  38th annual Slinger Nationals will draw competition from across the country July 12 for another high-paying event. Immediately after winning last year’s race, Bubba Pollard said he planned to come back from Georgia to defend.

Similarly, the ARCA Midwest Tour’s Dixieland 250 on Aug. 7 at Wisconsin International Raceway is among the state’s most prestigious races for super-late model drivers in the region.

In addition to tracks with regular weekly shows, a number of traveling series spend significant time in the state, most notably the IRA Sprint series for dirt sprint cars, the ARCA Midwest Tour, and the second-year Dirt Kings Late Model Series.