Dave Slatten began his drag racing career in the late 1960’s, running his 1957 Chevy in factory stock classes at a track near Erie, Colorado. Dave built and raced a variety of Chevies, including a U.S. Army-sponsored 1963 split-window Corvette Banshee IV, part of a three-car team that competed in Division 5 events, ran exhibition races, and displayed the cars at Army Recruiting events.
During those early racing years, Dave opened Slatten’s Automotive in Fort Collins, a general repair shop that evolved into a highly respected facility specializing in high-performance engines. After a break from racing in 1978, Dave returned to the strip with a 1964 Chevelle, then moved into a Don Davis-built 27 “T” roadster to win the 1997 Bandimere Speedway Super Gas title. His next Davis Super Comp ride brought multiple divisional wins and four straight top ten finishes in division 5 points. In 2001, Dave earned the biggest win of his career—Super Gas champion at the Winston World Finals in Pomona, California.
When Bandimere Speedway introduced the Fast 16 and Quick 16 programs, Dave embraced the challenge, winning the 2003 Fast 16 Championship and later adding five Quick 16 titles. It was a Jerry Bickel-built Pontiac Grand Am Top Sportsman car that became Dave’s favorite ride. He captured seven Division Top Sportsman titles, two national event titles, and scored multiple wins across the West with the car, living by the motto: “If you want to be the best, you have to race against the best.”
Dave closed the general automotive repair side of the business in 2009 and moved the machine shop to his home property, where he devoted his time to building high-performance race engines and transmissions, chassis tuning, and serving as a distributor of racing tires, fuel, and parts. With the move, Slatten Racing Engines became a well-known fixture in the drag racing world.
Dave sold the Grand Am in 2021 and moved into the Top Dragster category. After a season of frustration in the new class, Dave made a breakthrough at Topeka in July 2022. After struggling through qualifying, he found the right tuning combination and recorded a career-best 6.01 elapsed time. Dave’s last race was in Montana in August of 2022, where he recorded a top speed of 222 MPH, the fastest he had ever reached in a race car.
The drag racing world and Colorado motorsports community lost one of its brightest stars when Dave Slatten passed away in 2023. His legacy as a racer, engine builder, and mentor is unmatched. His career accomplishments span five decades, proving that for him, racing wasn’t just a sport; it was a dream fully lived. Dave Slatten was inducted into the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2025.
Recent Comments