The thrill of spotting NASCAR races at places like Daytona, Charlotte and Talladega is one thing. Going back to Wisconsin to spot Rich Bickle in the 27th-Annual Miller Lite Nationals at Slinger Superspeedway this Tuesday, July 18th will be yet another.

Slinger is an old haunt for this writer – a place where I watched races for years, covered them as a news reporter and later as the track’s public relations director. Eventually, I got the ultimate Slinger thrill working there as a racer spotting Bickle to a Nationals title in 2003.

In short, I’ve got a lot of great history at Slinger.

Opened in 1948, Slinger is the kind of place that if you can race there, you can race anywhere. Think of a mini-Bristol and you have Slinger – slightly larger than a quarter mile and banked to the sky, it’s Mecca for 2,800-pound super late model stock car competition.

Faster than fast, it will take a qualifying time in the 11-second range to win the pole for Tuesday’s 250-lap event. Anything in the mid-12s, and you’re probably on the trailer headed home. Put two dozen or so of the best super late model stock cars and drivers in the land out there for 250 laps, and you have something very, very special.

Winners of the Nationals over the years reads like a who’s who in super late model short track racing. Here’s a list of past champions -

Larry Detjens - 1980

Alan Kulwicki - 1981

Dick Trickle - 1982, 83, 85, 89

Mark Martin - 1984

Joe Shear - 1987, 90, 91, 93

John Ziegler - 1986

Butch Miller - 1988, 95

Rich Bickle - 1992, 96, 2003

Lowell Bennett - 1997, 2002, 04

Matt Kenseth - 1994, 2002

David Prunty - 2001

Tony Strupp - 1998

Conrad Morgan - 1999

Nathan Haseleu - 2005

Over the years, many top NASCAR stars have participated in the event. Included in that group are Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Bobby Allison, Davey Allison, Kenny Schrader, Kenny Wallace and many more.

In short, the Slinger Nationals is one of the best short track races in the country this and every season.

Certainly, winning the event as a spotter with Rich in 2003 is one of my biggest thrills in racing. But Slinger is more than that to me. It’s going back to see old friends – great friends like photographer Russ Lake, track announcer Todd Behling and everybody’s racing priest – Fr. Dale Grubba.

There are others I can’t wait to see again, too many to tell here, and I am eager to spend time with them all.

Throughout the 1980s, I covered the Nationals perched in the infield in Turns 3-4 shooting pictures for personal and professional use with my newspaper and magazine. The times spent there are still some of my favorite memories in racing.

In 1989, track owner Wayne Erickson was gracious enough to allow me to steer the Slinger Superspeedway PR ship. He worked my ass off, paid me better than any local promoter ever did, and provided me a building block that eventually led to a whole new career direction for me when I moved south to Charlotte to do Bobby Labonte’s Winston Cup PR in 1994.

Since then, my life has been a dream I could never have imagined reporting and spotting NASCAR races from coast to coast.

Each year, I have made an attempt to get back to Slinger for the Nationals but unfortunately, I haven’t made that trip since 2003. When I heard my best racing buddy on the planet, my boy Buzz Bickle, was going to run the Nationals again this year, I put extra pressure on Rich to buy me an airline ticket to come up and spot this year’s race.

Fortunately, Rich agreed, got off his wallet to buy the ticket and I’ll be on the call Tuesday night.

Rich (at left in a rare 1987 photo) is the best driver I ever spotted and he’s a god at Slinger – one of the best drivers in the history of the track. If the equipment is right and the spotter doesn’t screw up, we’ve got an awesome chance of winning. It’s going to be a great time – a win or not.

There won’t be any disappointments on this end as I get to spot an old friend in a stellar field of cars on one of the greatest short tracks in the country. The house will be packed, the brats will be sizzling and there will be hundreds of old fiends to spend all too little time with.

Winning would be particularly special as it would allow Rich to join Trickle and Shear – two of the all-time greatest short-track racers ever to strap on a stock car – as the only drivers to win the Nationals four times.

If that happens, my guess is even though I quit drinking quite some time ago, I might have a beer or two when it’s over – just like old times.

I can’t wait.

Tuesday’s Slinger Nationals get underway with open practice at 11:30 a.m. The spectator gates open at 3 p.m. with Midwest Sportsman and Late Model qualifying at 4.

An on-track autograph session and a performance by the University of Wisconsin Marching Band will precede the drop of the green flag on the 40-lap Midwest Sportsman event 7 p.m. and the 250-lap Slinger Nationals a 8 (all times Central).

For more information and tickets to this year’s Slinger Superspeedway Miller Lite Nationals, please log on to www.slingersuperspeedway.com

See you there.