Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Schatz has 2 more Outlaw wins then the other Platinum Outlaw drivers combined. Mind blowing stat.  It was a great race last night in Sauk Rapids!

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Sounded like a good race. 

In the last 14 races, Schatz has 8 wins and 3 2nd place finishes. 

For all of the unfair crap he seems to get on these boards, and as much as I hate to see him win at Knoxville you have to respect him.  

During the fog-out race, when they went under caution with 10 to go they asked the drivers to signal thumbs up or thumbs down as they came past the cone to signal if they thought it was safe to finish the race.  From what I've been told, Schatz signaled thumbs up to continue the race when a thumbs down vote would hand him the win right then.

If this is in fact true, how can you not respect that.  He also said in winners circle he thought they could finish the race but understood it was a tough call for the officials.  Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but if this is true I love it.

I used to hate Schatz. Now, nothing but respect. I can't stand watching him whip everyone at Knoxville every August, but he really is a class act. We're witnessing history in the making, enjoy it while it lasts.

What he is doing at the Nationals EVERY year is amazing. To come from the B main to the win against that field of cars was unbelievable. Honestly he is more impressive in a lot of ways than the King himself!

I feel the same way. 

the amazing part is he is a threat every night no matter where he starts cant think of anybody else that you can say that about. love or hate him it shows how good he and his team are.

When it's all said and done, I'm not sure Donny's stats won't compare to The King's. They might even be better. Just enjoy the show!

I too was never a big fan, thought he was a spoiled rich kid. Now he's my fav cause I know he's gonna pass car's. He's clean and always hungry to win. A full season with no DNF's is unheard of. I never thought anybody could win Knoxville nationals from the B. His team is a notch ahead of everybody else. He is the New King of our sport.  

i took my grandson to meet him at Lernerville and told my grandson this is the next king of the outlaws.

he is dominating like the KING did back in his hay day.

Ricky Warner and lack of true greatness for competition. Its like Karl Kinser without Sammy Wolfie and Luna around. 

Luna's Ford engine style that won 2 WoO titles and 3 
Kings Royals before a weight rule against the best EVER
in their prime and now DOMINATES super dirt late model
racing is no longer allowed/wanted in a WoO sprint
car.... Was Luna a miracle worker?

That's gotta be the dumbest...nevermind. Where's my bottle of ez cheese? I'm going back to the Tyler Walker thread.

Really??? I think (and many others would agree with me) that the outlaws right now are as strong from top to bottom as they've ever been. We live in an era where parity is the name of the game. All you hear is people talking about lack of passing due to spec tires, flat wings etc. yet SOMEHOW this guy wins 20 races almost every year against the best sprint car drivers in the while traveling back and forth across the country racing on big tracks, small tracks, heavy tracks slick tracks.....no matter what the conditions, no matter where they go, Schatz always seems to find his way to the front. Sometimes he dominates, sometimes he has to get his elbows up and fight tooth and nail to get it down but no matter what, he gets it done. I don't care if you like him or not but facts are facts and all Donny Schatz does is win races. Not only does he win but he's one of the cleanest drivers and he doesn't bust shit up. I just don't see how anyone can take a damn thing from the guy. I don't own one of his t-shirts and when the outlaws come to central PA I'm rooting for one of our guys to win but the fact is, when he's on, no one can touch him. And back to the issue of parity in the sport, you hear so much talk about starting position being so important. Donny is a decent qualifier but its definitely not his strongest attribute which means more times than not, he has to pass cars to win. Obviously Ricky Warner is an excellent crew chief but if you watch how Donny drives the car during the course of the race, it's pretty obvious that he's the best pure driver there is in today's sprint car racing. I just don't understand why so many people refuse to give this guy the respect he deserves. 

Ask any sprintcar driver who the best is. All of them will say Schatz. Some like Brian Brown will say he is the best in the world.

Sorry, I have to disagree about the WoO being tougher today than in Kinser's, Swindell's and Wolfgang's days. The cars are more even, I'll give you that, because now you buy what you need off the shelf. One thing in Donny's favor is where are all the experienced drivers? There are very few on the tour that have more than a few years with one team, which also makes it easier for Schatz. And in all forms of motorsport, the driver(s) with the biggest bank roll do the majority of the winning. That there have been 14 or so drivers win on the tour this year is strictly a result of front row (or second) row starting positions.  Even Donny has won I believe 10 times from the front row. He has,nt passed that many drivers on his way to victory lane. Is he the best today? The best Team? No doubt. But that does not rate him with Kinser, Swindell or Wolfgang in my opinion. Remember, his team owner won convincingly with another driver before Donny climbed in.

Right on. I'll guarantee he'd change his tune if Schatz was running a Ford. 

You make some good points and I can't argue with that. I think we agree on the main point and that is that Donny is hands down the best of this era. One thing though, to be fair, Donny was winning convincingly as well before he joined TSR. 

I agree fiXXXer. In my opinion the dominance of Schatz Motorsports 15 ( 26 WoO cars ), helped TSR make the decision to hire Donny Schatz.

Lots of valid points. I'm not sure lack of true greatness is one of them but the stats that The Big 3 posses are hard to argue with. The days of Wolfies car being 400 pounds lighter than the next guy are long gone, as well as top wings with 10sf more than the others. So I guess you could say that the innovation is gone as well. But not completely. I think alot of innovation is still being put into shocks and wing shapes. One thing is certain, nobody in sprint car racing has the mental toughness of Schatz. Like all sports, it's a mental game. I'm going out on a limb and saying that's his #1 attribute. Kicking everybody's ass would certainly give anyone a confidence booster but it seems to be more then that for him. He doesn't crack. He has most guys beat when they see the 15 car roll out of the trailer. Here's a quote from Donny himself, he may have been quoting someone else but regardless it rings true. He said, "You know what winners think about? Winning. You know what losers think about? Winners".

When Schatz went with TSR he told Tony that he wanted J&J,Shaver,Pro shocks and Warner.  Schatz has always used these.  Tony said no problem.  This way Schatz continues his relationship with the products that he has always used.  He knows what combinations work for him.  There is some kind of magic in his car. Drivers run high and low, but Schatz can drive thru the middle were others say you can not drive..  Schatz will never win more WOO victories than Steve and he will never win more WOO titles than Steve.  He may win more races  in 1 year.  Steve was younger when he started his winning.  Schatz wins will get fewer a year as he ages, it is a fact of life and we can not fool mother nature.