Todd Thelen Reflects on Rewarding Tenure at Slinger Super Speedway

Todd Thelen has always had a mind for business.

“I have entrepreneurial spirit,” Thelen said in an interview with Racing America. “I was selling night crawlers when I was a little kid. There’s always these lakes around here, people fishing.

“I had my own paper route. Right out of high school, I had two snowplow trucks that I worked. I had a full-time job and the snowplow trucks. I’ve always had something going on.”

Until earlier this month, Thelen’s “something” was the Slinger Super Speedway. The high-banked quarter-mile, nestled in the hills outside the village of Slinger, Wisconsin, is one of the state’s most historic and beloved facilities.

For more than a decade, Thelen operated the facility, restoring it as one of the most well-known and beloved venues in pavement short track racing in the country.

Catching the Racing Bug

Thelen caught the racing bug early. He’s been around the sport in some capacity, including competing himself or helping on friends’ race cars, since high school.

“I was still in high school and a buddy of mine was a year old and bought a sprint car. He was racing a hobby stock in high school, I knew him a little bit. Then he bought the sprint car, and I started hanging around with him and pitting for him, crew chiefed his car.

“I graduated high school, worked for five years and we were chasing all over the place. That was when the World of Outlaws started out in Texas at the Devils Bowl, that’s now defunct, the Big H. We didn’t chase anything other than IRA, but we did a lot of traveling to different places on occasion and learned a lot on the dirt side and learned how much I had caught the bug.”

That led to kart racing with the Badger Kart Club and in World Karting Association events. After improving on his race craft, Thelen made the jump to Midget racing.

“I graduated from college, and the summer before I graduated, a guy put me in his Midget,” said Thelen. “We would go load the Midget, the Go-Kart, and the Sprint Car up. We’d run Knoxville Saturday night, I was crewing that car, a different guy now. We’d run the go-kart during the day at Badger, which is an hour less for Angell Park in Sun Prairie, and run the Midget up there. It was a fun, fun time.

“Ran his [Midget] car three times, the next year I bought my own car and started my career job in executive management. I raced Badgers for five years and then had the opportunity to get into a Super Late Model, which was a dream. As a little kid, watching Super Lates at Slinger, back then they were just called Late Models, I always wanted to do that. I teamed up with Conrad Morgan, leased one of his cars, and did that full-time from 1997 to 2001, and part-time in ‘02.”

From Racing to Working at Slinger

After 2002, Thelen began a methodical transition. After building a home and starting a family, Thelen spent a few years working with Morgan before reaching out to longtime track owner Wayne Erickson. In 2005, Thelen went to work at the track.

For some people, stepping away from competition might have been difficult. However, it was a seamless transition for Thelen.

“My dream was to somehow work in an industry that I enjoyed, so work isn’t work,” explained Thelen. “That’s what you do, it’s your passion. Racing was one of my passions. Besides family, racing and duck hunting is really what I enjoy.

“It was a natural transition. I took a suit and tie off and went to work doing what I love to do. It was pretty easy. It was easy at Slinger because when I raced for Wayne, a lot of guys didn’t like Wayne. I never went pissing and moaning and bitching about things. We’d talk about fishing and hunting and good, positive things. When I heard through Conrad Morgan that Wayne was looking for somebody, and I talked to him, it was a natural fit.”

From the start, Thelen made it clear he had bigger aspirations than merely working at the track.

“When I interviewed with him, he was like, ‘What are your aspirations?’ I said, beyond running your sales and marketing team now, one day I want to someday run this place and someday own it. That was very clear.”

He leaned on his business education and experience, which was valuable. However, as anyone who has been to the race track as a driver, promoter or fan knows, nothing can truly prepare you for the unpredictabilty of racing.

“I’ve got a degree, which Wayne liked that. I’ve got a lot of business experience with people. My first job was executive management at Kmart Corporation. You’ve got 150 people under you, and I was used to dealing with a lot of people.

“I go to work with Wayne with all that experience, and you think you know what you’re getting into. That first night, you’ve got your clipboard with your nice list of things of how it’s going to work. Nothing in the racing world goes as expected, it just doesn’t. You know that."

Todd Thelen shakes hands with Conrad Morgan after a feature win for Morgan at Slinger in 2018 (Photo credit: Ron Erstad, Jr.)

Erickson proved an invaluable mentor for Thelen, learning the ins and outs of the job - and just as importantly, what not to do.

“Working for Wayne, he was a good mentor in how not to do things. That sounds bad, but he would say this is how we do it, this is why we do it, but don’t ever do this, or do this, or do this, because you’re going to lose your ass.

“I picked all the good things out of him, put my knowledge of how I run things and treat people, and we did really well. Especially the last five years, the race track was doing really, really well. We’re handing it off in really good shape. That’s a good thing.”

Restoring the Slinger Nationals

In 2013, Thelen took over control of the facility from Erickson. One of his first goals was restoring the Slinger Nationals to prominence.

The Nationals have a proud history, with past winners including the likes of Alan Kulwicki, Mark Martin, Dick Trickle, Rich Bickle, Matt Kenseth and more.

While still a popular event, Thelen believed it had lost some of its luster.

“It was really struggling. Matt [Kenseth] wasn’t racing, I think Ross [Kenseth, Matt's son] was, I think it was 2012. I think Wayne was still there, and he goes, ‘Todd, what’s happened to the Nationals? We’ve got to get this back.’

“He was literally sitting on the front of my four-wheeler talking about it. When I took the track over, that was my number one goal. To get the Slinger Nationals back to a marquee event.”

It’s fair to say that the Slinger Nationals are once again among the top tier of Super Late Model events in the country. For example, the 2023 edition of the event saw the likes of William Byron defend his Slinger Nationals crown from the year prior against fellow NASCAR competitors Chase Elliott and Erik Jones, NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Matt Kenseth, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter and more.

That race was won by a future Truck Series champion, Ty Majeski, as he battled Luke Fenhaus in the closing laps.

“Getting the Nationals back on that platform of what I’m going to call one of the top five asphalt short track races in the country, maybe top three,” said Thelen. “I don’t get very emotional on things, but it checked off the biggest box that I had. I don’t sit and write goals, I have visions. To check that box off was very rewarding on many levels.

“I don’t know how else to answer that. It’s very rewarding. In the 80s and 90s, it was still doing okay. ‘87 was probably the peak, ‘88, when Earnhardt, Sr., Mark Martin, there’s a picture of probably 12 superstars in that picture.

“A few years ago, we had Chase Elliott, William Byron came back the year after he won, there were probably five or six Cup drivers there, Matt was there. It’s just super rewarding.”

When Byron won in 2022, it proved to be one of the most memorable moments from Thelen's tenure - both for the on-track battle and the post-race celebration.

First, there was the late-race duel. As Fenhaus and Majeski battled for the win, as they'd do one year later, Byron reeled them in and passed both drivers on the outside. It was a wildly impressive performance for the southern driver making his Slinger Nationals debut against a pair of former Nationals winners.

“When William Byron won the Slinger Nationals, I’m a big race fan, but I don’t get very emotional and very excited," recalled Thelen. "It was Majeski and Fenhaus battling for the lead, and watching Byron bouncing the car off the backstretch wall like it’s a dirt car, running the high lane, catching those guys. That was one of the most emotional times I had at the race track.

“There’s a video out there of a fan that’s recording that. He’s not a Majeski fan, but after Majeski and Fenhaus get done duking it out, Byron goes around both on the high side. Majeski pulls off, and he’s yelling and hollering, ‘William F’ing Byron! I can’t believe it! This is why we come to Slinger Speedway!’ He’s telling the people around him.

“And I had that same emotion, because I like clean racing. I don’t like it when the NASCAR announcers go, ‘Oh, he’s going to dump him now. He’s going to get to the bumper.’ We don’t race that way in Wisconsin. It happens, but I don’t like it, never have and never will. To watch that race and watch William Byron pass those guys clean was super cool.”

Then, Byron made a memorable impression in victory lane among the Slinger faithful.

“William Byron gained a whole different level of respect and gained so many fans up here. There was a young man from Slinger that had terminal cancer. Our marketing director’s a teacher at Slinger High School. She asks, can you do something for this young man? I said bring him, we’ll let him get autographs, whatever we can do.”

“William Byron went out of his way to talk to this kid earlier in the evening. After the races, I get choked up talking about it, he brought the kid to victory lane for pictures. He called him out and brought him down there. That’s giving back, remembering that. Nobody had to tell him. That opportunity to give back when you have a platform is super rewarding.”

William Byron celebrates his win in the 2022 Slinger Nationals (Photo credit: Will Bellamy)

The SRX Spotlight on Slinger

Slinger Super Speedway also received a national spotlight in 2021, during the inaugural season of the Superstar Racing Experience.

The Camping World SRX Series brought icons such as Tony Stewart, Bill Elliott and Helio Castroneves to Slinger, an all-star cast of racing greats. And in a special twist for the Slinger visit, the winner of the Slinger Nationals earned a spot in the 12-car field to take on racing’s best.

That honor went to Fenhaus, who became the Nationals’ youngest winner and went toe-to-toe with Stewart and Marco Andretti for the win. Both on and off the track, the event was a resounding success.

Luke Fenhaus (4), Tony Stewart (14) and Marco Andretti (26) battle for the lead in the SRX event at Slinger Speedway in 2021. (Photo credit: Zach Evans)

“The event went so well, it was like, what’s next? How do we top this?" recalls Thelen.

“I don’t compliment people maybe the way I should all the time, but I told my staff they didn’t miss a beat that night. They were unbelievable. From the parking, the concessions, the ushers, everyone that was there working on our side of the fence didn’t miss a beat. It was really, really good.

“That was a pleasant, pleasant surprise that wasn’t a vision, it just came about. To land that with people I got to know through the years, it was a cool, cool deal.

“To do that with a capstone like SRX, it was very, very rewarding.”

Thelen Doesn’t Want to Quit Racing Altogether

Thelen admits the transition from ownership happened quicker than he anticipated, which has left him wondering what comes next.

“I’m 60, but I’m only 60, so there’s two ways of looking at it,” he said. “I didn’t plan on doing this now. I thought maybe 63, 64ish, I’d start getting the word out that it’s time. This came a few years early and everything worked out.”

The biggest thing he wants to work on is enjoying life more, building friendships and loosening up from the pressures of track ownership.

“I want to work on my friendships and build camaraderie wherever I go. That sounds trivial to what I said about my vision of enjoying things. I’m pretty black or white. If the sky’s blue, it’s not almost blue, it’s blue. I need to back off a little bit. If someone says the sky is a baby blue today, just say, okay, whatever, that’s fine.

“Lightening up a little bit, that’s a crazy thing to say, but my next 20 years is what people call your golden years, I guess. I’ve got some entrepreneurial things I’m working on the hunting side. I’m an avid duck hunter. We’ll see if those come to fruition. It’ll keep me busy.”

However, he still wants to be part of the racing world, and he’s happy to take a phone call regarding what that might look like for his future.

“The phone’s starting to ring on the racing side to maybe do a couple of things there. I’m not sure what that will be, but I’m going to take some time and see what the best option is.

“I don’t want to do something hastily, just to do it. I want to stay connected to the racing industry somehow. Anybody that’s out there that has ideas, I’m a problem-solver. I’m really good at solving problems, as most promoters are.”

‘The Biggest Thing is There’s Not One Thing’

Thelen insists there’s no secret ingredient to his time at Slinger Speedway. Instead, it’s the culmination of versatility, teamwork and surrounding himself with great people, including his wife Elizabeth and the Slinger staff.

“The biggest thing is there’s not one thing,” said Thelen. “You have to wear physically, literally, 20 different hats and wear them all at the same time. If you focus on one thing, you’re going to fail. The number one thing while you’re wearing all those hats is you have to focus on people. You’re only as good as the people around you. That’s the answer.

“Whether it’s sponsors, racers, race teams, staff, fans, the neighbors, you have to be good to the people and surround yourself with a really, really good staff. We did that with my wife’s help. The business was doing really, really well. That’s the hardest part to walk away.

On March 7, Kelsey and Travis Dassow were introduced as the new owners of Slinger Super Speedway. Thelen is happy with the state of the track as the transition takes place ahead of Slinger’s 78th season of racing, and believes they can continue that tradition if they also

“We’re handing off the speedway in really good shape. If [the Dassows] surround themselves with good people, I think they’ll be fine.”

-Featured photo credit: Will Bellamy