INDIANAPOLIS (July 6, 2017) –Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing’s (TSR) Donny Schatz has spent more than half of his life traveling up and down the road with the World of Outlaws (WoO) Craftsman® Sprint Car Series. There are a handful of places still on the schedule where the eight-time and reigning WoO champion can call home. He and the TSR Arctic Cat/Ford Performance team return to one of those this weekend as the Outlaws venture to Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wisconsin for the FVP Platinum Battery Showdown.
Schatz makes his way back to familiar soil following a thrilling victory this past Saturday night at the Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron, South Dakota. The Fargo, North Dakota resident wheeled the TSR No. 15 Arctic Cat/Ford Performance/Curb J&J around leader Shane Stewart coming out of turn two on the final lap to secure his 13th WoO A-Feature triumph of the campaign.
The win was his second consecutive victory after he outdueled Kraig Kinser and Brad Sweet four days earlier at The Dirt Oval at Route 66 in Joliet, Illinois. He returns to Cedar Lake as the Outlaws’ most-recent winner at the 3/8-mile, dirt oval following his victory last July. The win was his third in his previous five starts at the track.
Schatz first circled Cedar Lake three days after his 17th birthday back in 1994 during his second season behind the wheel of a Sprint car. He won for the first time there the following September and on May 25, 1996, he won two features on the same night. And he has competed at Cedar Lake in 22 of the previous 23 seasons. It took him longer than he hoped to finally score an Outlaw triumph at the track and that came in the summer of 2008. He made it back-to-back wins the following summer before beginning his run of winning each of the previous three years in July 2014 to give him eight career wins at the track.
The event calls for two complete nights of racing on Friday and Saturday evening with qualifying, heat races, the Craftsman Club Dash, Last Chance Showdown and a 30-lap A-Feature.
With 41 Of the 92 on this year’s Outlaw schedule complete, Schatz has amassed 5,798 points and has a 78-point lead over Brad Sweet in the WoO championship standings. His 13 victories and 32 top-five top all drivers competing with “The Greatest Show on Dirt” in 2017.
For both Friday and Saturday night shows at Cedar Lake, the pit gates open at 2 p.m. CDT and the grandstands at 5 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit cedarlakespeedway.com or call 612-363-0479.
Race fans unable to attend this weekend’s races can catch all of the action on DIRTVision.com. Live video coverage is available on a pay-per-view basis for both nights or fans can listen free as Johnny Gibson, “Voice of the Outlaws,” calls the action as he does at all WoO Craftsman Sprint Car Series events on the DIRTVision.com cybercast, as well as on the DIRT Radio Network. Go to DIRTVision.com for more information.
Fans are encouraged to follow the progress of Schatz, TSR and the No. 15 Arctic Cat/Ford Performance/Curb J&J throughout the campaign on the web and social media. More information can be found at www.TonyStewartRacing.com, www.arcticcat.com, and www.donnyschatzmotorsports.com.
Tony Stewart Racing: Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TonyStewartRacing or on Twitter and Instagram @TonyStewart_Rcg.
Donny Schatz: Facebook at www.facebook.com/DonnySchatz or on Twitter and Instagram @DonnySchatz.
Arctic Cat: Facebook at www.facebook.com/ArcticCat or on Twitter and Instagram @ArcticCat_atv @ArcticCat_Snow
Curb: Facebook at www.facebook.com/CurbRecords or on Twitter and Instagram @CurbRecords.
Ford Performance: Facebook at www.facebook.com/FordPerformance or on Twitter and Instagram @FordPerformance.
Donny Schatz, Driver of the No. 15 TSR Arctic Cat/Ford Performance/Curb J&J:
After a busy 12-race June, the WoO schedule continues a hectic pace in July and August. How much does experience play a factor in being able to maintain the level of success the TSR team has become accustomed to having?
“We have an incredible amount of experience with this Arctic Cat/Ford Performance team. Tony (Stewart) has surrounded me with great people and allowed them to do their jobs. I’m in my 21st season with the Ou
tlaws and (crew chief) Rick (Warner) started a little before I did. We’ve been working together since late in 2005. Steve (Swenson) has been out here almost 20 years and Brad (Mariscotti) has been doing this for almost as long. It’s a mindset that you have to be in during this part of the year. You have to plan. Be organized and ready to make changes at any time. We’ve been to a lot of these tracks and have an idea of what to expect, but no two nights of dirt racing are ever the same. We have high expectations and every one of these races are important. We have a big weekend at Cedar Lake and then we head to Ohio where the pressure gets turned up even higher. We are motivated by those expectations and look forward to the challenges that come with it.”
For almost 10 months a year you bounce around the United States racing at dirt tracks all across the map. How much do you enjoy going back to places like Cedar Lake where your career started?
“It’s great. I love racing as much as we do and seeing both old fans and meeting new ones. Cedar Lake will always be a special track for me. Going there when I just got started and trying to knock the wall down every lap. I learned a lot in those days and the best thing is that it has been a place where I’ve been able to come back to just about every year. In my first handful of years with the Outlaws, I probably put too much pressure on myself to get a win there because the fans were so good to me and I wanted to win one for them. It was fun finally getting an Outlaw win there and to be able to have the success we’ve had there is pretty rewarding. It’s a fun track and the racing is usually pretty spectacular. This team is hungry right now and hopefully we can be in the hunt there again on Friday and Saturday night.”