Tony Stewart Racing: Donny Schatz World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series Fulton Speedway Advance
DONNY SCHATZ
TSR Bad Boy Off Road/Chevrolet Performance Team Looking To Continue Empire State Dominance
INDIANAPOLIS (Oct. 6, 2016) – Building and sustaining a dynasty in any sport is an extremely difficult task, but that’s just what Donny Schatz and Tony Stewart-Curb Agajanian Racing (TSR) have successfully done in the ultra-competitive World of Outlaws (WoO) Sprint Car Series since teaming up in 2008. With a sixth WoO championship within their grasp following another record-breaking season with “The Greatest Show on Dirt,” their legacy in the sport continues to grow.
Success for the team has been widespread, ranging from sport’s biggest stages to conquering new facilities. And in this, his 20th season of competing with the series, Schatz is looking to continue his dominance of dirt ovals in the state of New York Saturday when he leads the Outlaws to Fulton Speedway.
The driver of the TSR No. 15 Bad Boy Off Road/Chevrolet Performance J&J heads to the Empire State for the 75th night of racing in the 2016 WoO campaign with a 284-point advantage in the championship standings and only seven races remaining. The seven-time and reigning WoO champion leads the traveling Sprint car stars to the 3/8-mile dirt oval for the first time since July 2014 and fifth time overall. Schatz has won the Outlaws’ previous five A-Features in New York and has earned 12 of his 227 career WoO A-Feature triumphs in the state, including a 2006 triumph at Fulton.
In each of the previous four seasons, Schatz and his TSR team have made the October tow to Central New York during Super DIRT Week at Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge. The Fargo, North Dakota racer finished second in 2012 before winning the 25-lap WoO A-Feature in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In all three wins, Schatz and TSR were supporting Chevrolet’s Pink Initiative by incorporating the official color for breast cancer awareness and the fight against cancer into their October races. In 2013 and 2014, Schatz wore a pink helmet and pink gloves and, last season, the TSR No. 15 included pink stripes. This weekend, Schatz and TSR will continue spreading awareness with the driver wearing a special firesuit and pink gloves and the car once again carrying pink striping. Anyone interested in donating to Chevrolet’s 2016 Pink Initiative is encouraged to visit www.cancer.org/chevroletmsabc and follow the interactive steps to contribute. The team is encouraging fans to join the cause and spread awareness through social media with images of the car and Schatz using the hashtag #ThinkPink.
Schatz will be chasing his 23rd victory of the season Saturday. In May, he raced to victory at Weedsport (N.Y.) Speedway for the second consecutive season. In 2015, he won the Outlaws’ debut at the track before winning in July at Lebanon Valley Speedway in W. Lebanon, New York and Rolling Wheels last October. In his previous four starts at Fulton, he has raced from 18th to sixth in 2005, was the winner in 2006, finished ninth in 2010 and chased Daryn Pittman to the checkered flag in 2014.
After races were washed out last week by Mother Nature, the team returns to action coming off a victory in the Commonwealth Clash at Lernerville Speedway Sept. 24 in Sarver, Pennsylvania. Schatz lapped up to eighth place before dominating the 35-lap A-Feature and winning by more than seven seconds. The Fargo, North Dakota racer tops the series in wins with 23, top-fives with 55, top-10s with 70 and 10 KSE Hard Charger Awards.
Saturday at Fulton Speedway, the pit gates will open at 4 p.m. EDT and the grandstands open at 5 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. More details are available by calling at (315) 593-6531, or by visiting fultonspeedway.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.
The TSR Bad Boy Off Road/Chevrolet Performance team can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TonyStewart_Rcg, liked on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TonyStewartRacing, and followed on Instagram @TonyStewart_Rcg.
Donny Schatz, Driver of the No. 15 TSR Bad Boy Off Road/Chevrolet Performance J&J:
Late-season success in New York for you and the TSR team has been a trend over the last four seasons. What’s been the biggest factor in maintaining that success?
“We spend a lot of time during the season working to get better and better. And it’s just worked out the last few years that we’ve been really good at the end of the year. Our goal is to be good throughout the season, not just in the summer, not just late in the year. I wouldn’t say it’s just New York, either, but we did have a lot of success at Rolling Wheels. It’s a bigger track that really suits our program well. I wish we were going back there this weekend, too – one night at Rolling Wheels and one at Fulton – but things didn’t work out that way. We are about winning and want to win everything we can. And when you get to this time of the year, you can count with your fingers the number of races left. So there’s a little urgency in that you know there are only so many races left. It turns up the intensity a little bit in our trailer.”
Mother Nature washed out racing last weekend and it was the first weekend since late March that you didn’t race. How ready are you to get back in the car Saturday?
“I’m always ready to race. Tony Stewart has put an incredible team around me. Rick Warner, Steve Swenson, and Brad Mariscotti are the best in the business and everybody got a chance to recharge their batteries last weekend. The good news in the rainout was that they called it on Friday and gave everyone a chance to get back home for the weekend. It keeps things in perspective, but I know by Monday morning we were already starting to think about this weekend and what we would need to do to be ready. We’ve still got some things to accomplish in these last few weeks of the season and we’re looking forward to getting back to the track and doing everything we can to come out on top.”
Sources: Bill Klingbeil with True Speed Communication