Winning Leads to Winning

INDIANAPOLIS, July 15, 2009: There’s never a night off when you’re chasing a championship. And when you’re the three-time and defending champion, every night brings a different challenge. Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Donny Schatz has climbed the mountain in Sprint car racing and, for the past three years, he’s stayed on top. One of the biggest keys to his success during his championship reign has been consistency in the winning department. All wins look the same in the record books, but the magnitude of some races certainly outweighs others. As the World of Outlaws (WoO) commence the 2009 edition of the “Money of Money,” Schatz once again is on top of the championship standings, and he’s looking to add a few more marquee victories.

This week, Schatz and the rest of the Outlaws embark on some of the season’s highest-paying races, starting with the 26th annual Kings Royal at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Saturday’s 40-lap Kings Royal main event will conclude a week that begins on Wednesday with the Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima, Ohio. The touring Outlaws will then race on Friday night in the Knight Before the Kings Royal event at Eldora. Schatz will be in the familiar TSR No. 15 Armor All/Chevy/ParkerStore J&J for all three nights of action on Ohio soil.

Schatz heads to the Buckeye State with momentum following his thrilling victory on Sunday night at Cedar Lake Speedway in Somerset, Wis. The win was his ninth WoO victory of the season and 97th of his career. It continued a pattern of winning races in July that has been a blueprint to his title runs the past three seasons.

During his 13-year WoO career, Schatz has been victorious at 49 different tracks. He’d like Limaland Motorsports Park to becoming the 50th on Wednesday night. Schatz has raced at the high-banked quarter-mile in three previous Brad Doty Classics. His best finish came in July 2006, when he charged from the 13th starting position to finish third. Last year, he finished fifth in the 40-lap race.

Three of his 97 career Outlaw wins have come at Eldora. The first one came in July 2007, when he wired the field to win the 24th annual Kings Royal by an amazing 7.8 seconds. The other two wins have come in the past two seasons. He won in May 2008 to take the points lead from Jason Meyers, and he won in May 2009 to take the points lead from Steve Kinser, which he has yet to relinquish.

Saturday’s 26th annual Kings Royal from Eldora will be broadcast on SPEED-TV on a tape-delayed basis. The two-hour broadcast will air on Aug. 9 at 5 p.m. EDT. For a complete WoO Sprint Series television schedule, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.

Victories are the focus for the Armor All team as it continues a busy July, which includes 14 races hosted in six states and a Canadian province. Schatz and the Armor All team have completed 36 of the Outlaws’ scheduled 84 nights of racing for 2009. The results include nine victories, 22 top-five finishes and 26 top-10s. Schatz continues to lead the WoO Sprint Series championship standings with 4,993 points.

Wednesday at Limaland, the pit gates open at 4 p.m. EDT, and the grandstands open at 5 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the race can be purchased by calling Limaland Motorsport Park at (419) 998-3199. For more information on the event, visit www.limaland.com.

Friday and Saturday at Eldora, the pit gates and the grandstands open at 2:30 p.m. EDT. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. each night. Tickets for the race can be purchased by calling Eldora Speedway at (937) 338-3815. For more information on the event, visit www.eldoraspeedway.com.

Race fans unable to attend this weekend’s races can catch all of the action on DIRTVision.com. Fans can listen live as Johnny Gibson, “Voice of the Outlaws,” calls the action as he does at all WoO Sprint Series events on the DIRTVision.com cybercast, as well as on the DIRT Radio Network. Go to www.DIRTVision.com for more information on all the site features, including updated results from each night of racing, as well as a chat room to interact with other race fans.

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

All the races are important, but do the races during the “Month of Money” mean more to a team when you race as much as you do?

“We try to look at every race as a night all its own. We’ll do the same things every night to try to win. I will say that when you can get on a roll and have some success during July and August, it really helps. It’s more for the guys who work on these cars. They are the ones who drive all across the country, work all hours of the day. Sometimes, it’s in extreme heat and sometimes it’s late into the night. When you can go out and win the bigger races, you want to go the extra mile. The extra mile is what helps you win.

“Everybody wants to win these races. I’ve got a team that’s experienced what winning the big races feels like. It’s addictive … you want to win them all. Be greedy and have all the fun as a team. I know the Armor All guys (Rick Warner, Shane Bowers and Eric Prutzman) really look forward to these races.”

You’ve won a lot of races during your career but haven’t been able to get the Brad Doty Classic. Is this the year?

“We sure hope it’s the year. I want to win everything, so the fact that we haven’t won the race, yet, puts it right up there on the to-do list. The race really brings out a lot of cars and, in the past few years, I’d say our short-track program wasn’t quite where we wanted it to be. I feel like we’ve made a lot of progress in that area this year. Lima is a really exciting place to race and I know last year I got to see the top-three cars swap the lead on the last lap. This year, I want to be up there doing the swapping instead of watching it unfold.”

For many years early in your career, Eldora Speedway wasn’t a place where you had a lot of success. In each of the past three years, you’ve been to victory lane there. What’s been the biggest difference?

“There have been a number of things that have changed. The track is little different, now. You don’t necessarily have to be right on the wall all the way around. The progressive banking allows for some racing a little below the cushion and through the middle. When we won the Kings Royal a couple of years ago, it was extremely slick and we’ve got a really good program for that type of track. When we were here in May, you had to be up on the cushion and we were able to really get around there. I told my crew afterward that I hoped the track was like this for the Kings Royal because it was the best that I ever felt going around Eldora.”