Vintage

Sprint Car Racing’s Month of Money Kicks Off in Ohio for Tony Stewart Racing

 INDIANAPOLIS (July 13, 2010) – The schedule shows another three-race week for the World of Outlaws (WoO) Sprint Car Series. But everyone who follows and competes in the sport knows this week isn’t just another week. It’s the start of Sprint car racing’s annual “Month of Money,” and the stakes each night rise with extra money on the line. Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz look at this point of the season as a time to get greedy.

Each has pocketed a lot of cash during past July and August Sprint car races, and both are eyeing more of that coveted green. The fun begins with Wednesday’s 22^nd annual Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima, Ohio, and continues at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, on Friday and Saturday night. Eldora hosts its 27^th annual Kings Royal weekend, culminating with a 40-lap A-Feature that pays $50,000 to the winner on Saturday night.

A race that Schatz has not won during his illustrious career is the Brad Doty Classic. It’s a race that honors Doty, a former World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year and teammate to Steve Kinser, who was hurt in a racing accident during the 1988 Kings Royal.  Kinser won the first Brad Doty Classic at Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park in the summer of 1989 and, last year, became the first repeat winner of the event. The race became a WoO-sanctioned event in 2005 and moved from Attica to Limaland in the summer of 2006.

Schatz has four career starts at the Limaland, a quarter-mile dirt oval, and all have come in Brad Doty Classic competition. His best finish came in 2006, when he raced from the 13^th starting position to finish third. Last season, he charged from 18^th to finish eighth.

Schatz will always remember his first visit to Eldora. It was the spring of 1996 and the 18-year-old’s racecar was parked next to Kinser, but Mother Nature decided winter wasn’t quite over and sprinkled a dusting of snow on both his No. 15 and Kinser’s No. 11. The race was canceled, so his first official race at the track came during at the 1996 Kings Royal. The Fargo, N.D., resident made a name for himself by finishing eighth in the nationally televised race. He won his first race at Eldora in grand style, pocketing $100,000 by winning the 2002 Historical Big One. It took him five more years to win his first WoO A-Feature event at that track, which was the 2007 Kings Royal.  The four-time and reigning WoO champion has won three more times with the Outlaws at “The Big E” since then.

Kinser and Schatz are coming off three races last week in Illinois and Wisconsin. Kinser finished third twice and came home ninth on Sunday night to remain in contention for the 2010 WoO championship. Kinser is 26 points out of first behind leader Joey Saldana. He has four wins and a series-leading 33 top-10 finishes. Schatz is in fourth position, 179 points back of Saldana, and has posted a pair of wins, 15 top-five finishes and 26 top-10s.

Donny Schatz, Driver of the No. 15 TSR/Armor All/Chevy/ParkerStore J&J:

Throughout your career you’ve set goals to win as many races you can. This season, the wins have been harder than ever to get. Heading into this week’s action, you are sitting on two wins during the first half of the season. Do you feel confident that you’ll be able to pick up the pace during the second half?

“I certainly hope so. There will be no lack of effort on this team. I’ve said many times that you are only as good as your last race. We finished 11^th Sunday, so that is where we are right now. We haven’t won since Charlotte, so winning Wednesday is the focus. It can start with one race. We haven’t won the races that we have in years past, but we also haven’t been an 11^th-place car every night, either. We’ve seen things change a little bit this year. You’ve seen a couple of guys jump out with some bigger win numbers, and then a lot of other guys spreading out the wins. Track position has been a key. Recently, we’ve been qualifying better and that hasn’t always helped us with track position. We’re simply going to keep working hard and get back to winning races. If there is a time of the year that it’s best to win races, I’d say it’s right now. There are a lot of races. A few of them are offering some big money, so that’s extra incentive as well. I’ve got a championship team here, and we’re going to do everything we can to put some more wins on the board.”

You’ve been known to dominate on the bigger tracks – half-miles, especially. Wednesday’s Brad Doty Classic at Lima is the final short-track race you’ll have for a while. How would a win on a smaller track like Lima help your program?

“Winning anywhere would help. We’ve won a lot of races over the years on big tracks, but we’ve won quite a few on bull-rings like Lima before, too. It’s just a matter of getting your car going forward. One of the things we are really looking forward to at Lima is the racing surface. The guys over there do a great job. The track is small, but they give you a couple of grooves to run on. We’ve been stuck racing on super-fast one-lane tracks and haven’t been able to move around. I know in the heat races alone at Lima, you’ll see a ton of passing. The first time we ran there, I think we came from the middle of the field to finish third and then last year came from 18^th to eighth. If we can have another good track, I think we’ve got a great shot. We’re qualifying better, so that should give us a chance in the heat race, and then it’s back to basics. Get our car good for the end of the night, drive a smart race and see where we end up.”

On the weekend, you’ll return to Eldora Speedway for the Kings Royal. Last year, you won your second Kings Royal. What are the most important factors in winning that race?

“There are certainly several things that have to come together for you to be successful in the Kings Royal. It starts with having a racecar that can remain fast throughout the 40 laps. It’s one of our longer races, and we thrive on those races where having the best car at the end is the key. Before you get that far, though, you have to have some luck. The format is different. In the past we’ve seen them invert six and take three to the feature and the heat winners go to the dash for the top-six spots. Being a heat winner is a big advantage, but winning the heat is pretty tough. Last year, we went out to qualify about halfway through the field and the track continued to get slower. We ended up 23^rd and, as luck would have it, we wound up on the pole of the fifth heat. We won the heat, started on the front row of the dash, and were able to earn a front-row starting spot for the Kings Royal. It’s fun. The place is energized. We race all the time and some nights the atmosphere around you just feels a little different. The Kings Royal is one of those nights. We’ve been fortunate to win it a couple of times there, recently, and we’d like nothing more than to do it again on Saturday night.”