WHEATLAND, Mo. – Kyle Slader piles up thousands of highway miles a year, sometimes bypassing tracks closer to his Oklahoma home, to pursue his racing endeavors.
“I like to go out and see a lot of different race tracks,” Slader said. “That makes it a lot more fun. If you get tied down to one race track, I think that kind of burns you out. You aren’t gonna get faster racing at one track every week, so I like to venture out, learn some stuff and try to get faster to help our program.”
For example, four times this year the 24-year-old Slader made the four-hour haul from Muskogee, Oklahoma to Lucas Oil Speedway in south-central Missouri. Each trip had a purpose.
“We were trying things for this weekend,” Slader said of the sixth annual Big Buck 50 Presented by Whitetail Trophy Hunt, one of the nation’s elite races for Street Stocks.
The three-night event – which includes full Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Model programs Friday and Saturday – opens Thursday with practice for both divisions and time trials for the Street Stocks. Qualifying heat races are set for Friday along with dashes for the top two finishers in each heat, before the alphabet mains and 50-lap main event on Saturday.
Slader’s four test sessions, during Lucas Oil Speedway’s Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series season, produced two wins, one second-place finish and one DNF.
“Each time, I went with a different set-up on the car,” Slader said. “I was lucky enough to win two of them. The one that I ran second, the car was out of balance and way too tight. But the reason for the different setups when I was there, in different track conditions, was to see what the car was going to need.
“We were trying stuff and I know what worked and what didn’t work. We won’t have to second-guess anything for a $10,000 race.”
Slader, who also races a B-Mod about once a month, said he’s spent the last several days going over every nut and bolt on his car.
“We have a pretty good weekly program, but for this race a lot goes into it,” Slader said. “We disassemble the car and go over every detail just to make sure there’s nothing we need to replace.
“I mean, between this and Batesville, it’s the biggest races of the year for Street Stocks. You have to make sure that you have your stuff right.”
Ninety-six Street Stocks entered the Big Buck 50 two years ago, when it was a $5,000-to-win race. Last year’s event was rained out and Slader said the anticipation – plus the bigger prize money – has everyone amped.
He expects at least 100 cars with quality to match quantity.
“You have a lot of really fast, good drivers in the Street Stock class,” Slader said. “It’s really competitive and you have to stay on your game and do your homework to be able to run up front with those guys.”
Driving a Tony Jackson Jr.-built car owned by Shannon Scott of Muskogee’s Henryetta Ford, Slader said it’s been a solid season.
A third-generation racer, Slader said a key will be securing a good starting position for Saturday’s 50-lap finale with a good performance in qualifying.
“You really want to qualify for the front row of your heat so you don’t have to do so much hard work driving through the field in the heat races,” he said. “You want to get locked into the show if you can.
“Two years ago, the first time they ran the alphabet mains (on Saturday) I broke in the heat race. I can’t remember if I was in the C or the D, but I came through all of them and got into the A Main, where I broke. So if you qualify good, it starts your weekend out right. If you don’t qualify good, you’re behind the 8-ball.”
No matter where he might start in the feature, Slader said his strategy will be the same. While some talk about extra patient being required for a longer-than-normal feature, Slader said he will be in full-go-mode from the start.
“Lucas is not hard on tires,” he said. “As long as you have a good set of tires, you can get away with driving hard all 50 laps without hurting the tires.”