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

Johnson outduels Schatz, captures crowd pleasing Knoxville Nationals

Parked it

Flat out awesom A main

First off all I can say is congrats to Jason Johnson, that performance is one for the ages. Unfortunatly {and I should be speaking for every sprint car fan out there}.I'm am sicked bythe disgraceful and disqustinglyCOWARDLY act by the whiny sour little crybaby Donny Shatz. Poor the little Donny Got outdriven, outperformed and flatout Beaten by one the classiest guys in sprint car racing and by-gosh he just COULD NOT handle it. What an ego... to apparently think that you own knoxville Ha!. That's an ego almost as big as his enormous gut! Almost! Once again congrats to Jason Johnson. One of the greatest performances we've seen in a long time. I'm sorry you had to be greeted by the most un-humble unportsmanlike pigs in sports, but don't worry about what Shatz thinks. We all love ya!

Oh Wendal, you never disappoint.

Gotta say I agree but without such harsh personal criticism of Donny.....he showed his displeasure in losing by first crowding and making contact with Jason on the cool down lap.....imitating the contact in turn one between the two with a couple laps to go.....and then by the fact that several drivers made it to the stage area to congratulate Jason ahead of him. You described it right......Donny got raced HARD and didn't like it. Jason didn't roll over and give in to Schatz and he made that evident in his post race interview after climing out of his car...."I know he didn't like it that I crowded him, but shit... I wanted to win!" That's a racer in my opinion. Donny has accomplished much for sure. In my opinion it's come pretty easy for him, always having a large bankroll to support his racing. On this night, he ran into a racer that hasn't had it come easy, and he got out drove! Plain and simple.

I was ecstatic seeing Schatz get beat but you are out in left field. Where do you see any whining out of Schatz in this article or in the post race interview? link: post race interview

 
 
 
They don't even know how to spell sprint car 
much less chromoly...http://www.ycmco.com

Donny was very gracious and complimentary of Jason when he was interviewed in victory lane. He was obviously disappointed finishing 2nd but what racer wouldn't be after battling that hard and coming up just short in the biggest race of the year.

And what you likely didn't see if you weren't at the track was Donny and Jason talking with each other for a couple minutes in victory lane. Looked like two racers with respect for each other. And ended with a handshake and Donny giving Jason a pat on the back. 

Oh bullshit. Schatz was obviously pissed off when they were still in the cars, but showed great sportsmanship during interviews & conversation with Jason

They actually showed them talking on The Cushion. I'm sure Donnie wasn't happy, but he seemed to be OK with Jason, shook hands & smiled at the end

Schatz knows its a competitive sport, got to be aggressive to win....

But I really wish I knew what they were saying!

That was an oustanding Knoxville Nationals but it seemed odd with no Bob Trostle or Steve Kinser.

Johnson did something brown didn't do, raced him hard and wasn't intimidated. 

Go ahead & hit me then !!! Oh wait wrong guys. LOL

Donny losing was the best thing that could happen for Knoxville. Most people get tired of seeing the same guy win it every year and people lose interest and get tired of paying $50 to see Dawny Baker win it.

First off if you're gonna bash the guy, at least spell his name right....it's SCHATZ  not Shatz. Secondly, he is a hard nosed racer who HATES to lose which is what has made him what he is. I saw the interview on the cushion and he was as graceful as anyone would be who narrowly missed out on winning the biggest race of the year and the huge payday that comes with it. As far as his "fat gut", you've gotta be kidding me. Not too many drivers are in as good of shape as he is. He busts his ass in the gym and it really shows.

I'm not a Schatz fan in general.  However, you are correct.  He hates to lose.  He was not happy right after the race, but he handles himself in a professional manner ever time he is put in front of the camera.  He is probably the most professional driver in the world when its all said and done, regardless of what i think about him on a personal level.  

What hotfoot said. Donny leaned on Jason and Jason gave it right back.  Donny is a clean racer but isn't afraid to mix it up when he needs to.  Jason just beat him.  Love the fact that Jason won it on the high side although he was all over the place.

looked like a great track.

Ding ding ding. No disrespect to Brownie but your exactly right. That's the ONLY way Donny Knoxville will be beat at the Nationals. Jason stuck it to him. Brownie didn't. 

When I was in high school I played hockey and we were playing in a tourament one weekend. Towards the end of the game a kid on the other team is trying to skate it into our end against the boards and I hip check him against the boards right as he is about to go by and seperate him from the puck. Few seconds later the play is blown dead and I feel a stick come against my shin guards followed by a shove to my face mask by the kid I checked. He was yelling and shouting how I checked him low I was calling him basically a baby amoung other things as we were using words that would make a Nun have a seizer over. Both of our teams seperate everyone game is over. Next day I am at the same rink and I go to the concession stand to get a gatorade waiting on our next game. As luck would have it, same kid from the night before walks up at the same time. I figured here we go again but I was surprised as he asked who we were playing next, I asked him the same and as we talked he apologized for the slash, I apologized if I hit him too low. Since then we have played on adult league teams together, hung out in college, and have been friends/associates since that time.

Point of the story is during competition when individuals/competitor's adrenaline and testosterone is at their peak, they do not act as they normally do when they are not in that setting. I have many a time done the same thing as what Josh (kid from my story) did to me years ago. You show your displeasure and then you calm down and start thinking logically. 

I have nothing but respect for Donny Schatz and yes like a majority I was wanting anyone but him to win on Saturday but one thing that I will never say about Donny is that he is a dirty racer and that he is classless. I have seen many times where he has shaken the hand of the competitor who he finished second or third too. Losing sucks, he hates losing, that might be why he wins more than 20 races a year and 9 nationals in 10-11years and 2 2nds. What happened saturday was just Donny angry over how he was raced but when it was all said and done, as shown on the cushion, both drivers were talking and Donny shuck his hand over it after all was cooled. Everybodies favorite driver has done the same exact thing that Donny did on Saturday. The only thing different about it is, it was Donny Schatz.