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

The best that there has ever been at Knoxville. Just keeps getting it done. Hail to Donny!

It's not a Ford! So many dumb asses at the track, don't have a clue! 

Am I missing something? Or are you missing something? I believe he is still behind Kinser in Nationals titles.

kinser has 12.....silly don don fans act like posse fans sometimes...FYI..kinser won three of them WITHOUT wings and in the daytime. JS

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science 
gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” 

And Schatz has done it in a much tougher era. 

I'm very far from a Schatz apologist but it's very clear that he is the GOAT at Knoxville. He just has the place figured out, and he takes advantage of every break he gets there. Not many else can say that.

NO WAY this era is NOT tougher...kinser was beating LEGENDS...this WoO era is no comparison.

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science 
gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” 

At 40, Kinser had 10, Schatz also has 10 at 40. 

Schatz also has a ridiculous record of top 2's, 16 of the last 18.

Timing thing - you can't tell who on the track today is a legend. 

The average car and driver that Kinser faced is not relatively near what Schatz beats right now. He's a magician at Knoxville - I hate it, I like other drivers and want to see others win more often. Hard not to respect what the 15 has done at Knoxville. 

Sammy and Wolfgang were just a little weeee bit better than Graval and Sweet.  

Someone said David had a chevy in last night.  Are we sure it blew up?  Hard to imagine. 

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?

Irrelevent as most of the cars are within a half second of one another now, and in the 80s and 90s, the big 3 were often 1 or 2 seconds faster than the field. 

Plus he just beat Larson, who may be the best driver on the planet.

I don't know about everyone else but my first though was "dammit, I just spent $47.99 when I could have just watched nine reruns for free on YouTube".  Seriously though, we always knew he was going to be good since we first saw him in a 360.  He exceeded our expectations.

We're watching history. Sit back and enjoy the ride.  He's only 40 and for whatever reason NASCAR never came calling.  This dominance could last a couple more decades.

Stan Meissner

Yes Donny is still behind him, for now. He'll pass him in the next 6 years, max. Oh btw, Donny has 12 straight top 2 finishes. Steve never did that. Also, he'll pass Steve in King's Royal wins too. 

Congratulations to Donny, but we will never know if he would have caught Gravel had his engine not blown....

Not a big fan of Donny but I know when I'm watching history in the making. You may never see this ever again in sprint car racing because NASCAR will get that young talent before their sprint car career's really even take off. I think the reason NASCAR never got Donny because he was 30 yrs old when he really took off and that is considered old by nascar standards.

Haha lmao here we go!

look at it this way, engines built for the Nationals don't have much if any life expectancie beyond a FEW nights the tolerances are so tight to maximize performance. So with that being said the move Donny put on gravel in three and four made Gravel stay in the gas hard when he hit the rut, all four tires off the ground, that landing easily could have caused internal damage to gravels engine. Your right we will never know. Bottom line Donny was running at the end and won Gravel wasnt. Really that's all that matters at this point.

I think there is decent chance that nascar demise will allow real talent where it belongs soon. We can hope at least. 

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?

Well let's see.......We are talking about the toughest race in sprint car racing to win. I think most will agree with that. So, in Kinser's prime years, he raced Wolfgang, with a total of 5 Nationals titles. He also raced Lasoski, with 4 Nationals titles, and raced Mark Kinser with 3 Nationals titles. And last I looked, many of Kinser's competitors are also high up on the all time WoO win list. The also rans that Schatz is facing today, that are suppose to be in the "toughest era ever" according to some, can't hardly squeak out a win in the Nationals at all. Since Schatz's run, Shaffer lucked in to a win, and Johnson drove to a win. Schatz is of course one of the very best all time in sprint car racing, no doubt about that. The comparison of Schatz to Kinser is a logical discussion to have. But comparing the competition both faced during their careers is not. 

Its hard to compare era's and how good Steve was compared to how good Schatz is right now.  When Kinser was racing, he was without a doubt the best sprint car driver in the world.  With so many great drivers of today going to Nascar or chosing to stay in their own backyard, you could make an argument that Schatz isn't even in the top two today.  Just think of the possibilities if Bell and Larson only raced winged sprint cars. 

Brandon McLain
United Sprint Car Series Driver
2014 Season
National Rookie of the Year!
National Points - 8th
Southern Points - 3rd
Asphalt Points - 3rd
18 Races, 3 Top 5's, 14 Top 10's

food for thought:

BACK IN THE DAY.......WHAT IF  The KING would have had a mid-race break for Karl to work on his car.........

Lets throw that thought into the mix...........nothing against Schatz.

I mean, Donny could run against more guys with Knoxville/WoO wins if he weren't winning so many of them. Not a good point imo.