Show-Me State Veteran Mike Slone Looking to Venture East in 2012

Slone to Make the Long Haul From Missouri to CRA & JEGS Events

By Matt Prieur, 51 Midwest Editor - Twitter: @mattprieur

Just 12 hours and 50 minutes, or 806 miles; That’s the distance that Rolla, Missouri veteran, Mike Slone traveled from his home in the Show-Me State to Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, Georgia for his first race of the 2012 racing season. Slone competed in the Rheem 150, a special non-points race for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by GM Performance Parts and while a 19th place finish wasn’t what the 34-year-old had in mind, it was still in his eyes, a good start to the 2012 campaign.

“Absolutely the best drivers in the country are here this weekend,” said Slone, a three-time Super Late Model track champion in his home state.  “Just look around us, there’s Chase Elliott, Mike Garvey, Bubba Pollard; these are guys I read about all the time and now here we are racing against these great drivers.  We’re here with a brand new car, to us, and I suppose we picked a heck of a time to shake this thing down.” 

The car in question is a former Perfect Circle Racecar that was raced up north at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan by Johnny Benson Jr.  In its previous life, Benson had the car painted up identically to his early 1990s red #21 paint scheme he used in the old ASA National Tour days.  It had been last driven by Dave Lake in a CRA Super Series event at Berlin on October 8th, 2011.  Slone picked the car up at the end of the season and brought it back to Missouri to learn the car from top to bottom.

“We won our championships in a Randercar Chassis. But this one is definitely a different animal.” Slone continued. “We’re glad we’re here though, we’re going to start traveling a lot more in 2012 and run with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour and a little bit with the ARCA/CRA Super Series.  It’s a little bit of a haul for us, but we don’t mind it.  The competition is a lot better for us.  As long as we can keep the car together, we’ll make it out to as many as we can.”

Slone started racing in 1999 on the dirt tracks in Missouri.  In 2008 he moved to the pavement and promptly collected the Street Stocks Track Championship at Bolivar.  The following season he moved up to the open-wheeled Modifieds and enjoyed some success there.  It was the 2010 season that he really shined as he stepped up into the Super Late Model world.  In his rookie campaign, he brought home two Track Championships, one at Lebanon I-44 Speedway and the other at Bolivar Speedway.  He repeated the feat at Bolivar last season.

Slone’s No. 77 S.S. Motors Chevrolet will look to become a familiar sight throughout the Midwestern United States as he makes the long haul from his home, which is 100 miles south of St. Louis, to compete in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana in both the JEGS Tour and the ARCA/CRA Super Series.

Mike Slone was one of the Midwestern invaders at SpeedFest 2012.  (Top: SRPMotorsports.com Photo - Bottom: Speed51.com Photo)