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

Schatz set fast time with the National Dirt Racing League late models tonight in Tucson, AZ, finished 2nd in his heat, and came home 7th in the feature. My question is...do you think other big dogs in the sprint car world could jump into a late model and catch on that quickly, or does Donny just have a special talent that doesn't come around very often?

if by "jumping in" you mean never raced one before i think you would be surpised to find out just how much donny has raced them this last year and how much interest he has put into them. not knocking on his talent just trying to correct you  on how you think he just "jumped in" one...

And he grew up in an area where Late Models rank #1 and Modifieds #2.  Any kid coming up in this part of the country is going to see a lot of Late Model racing if they attend dirt track races while they're growing up.  He must have had his eye on them all that time.  Kind of reminds one of some of there second and third generation drivers who soak it all in just watching and are fast right out of the box when they start driving.  I think they call that osmosis.

Stan Meissner

Anybody who can be a winner in a class of car that turns 11 second laps will be able to get competitive pretty quickly in cars that turn 14 second laps on the same track. 

Loose is when you hit the wall with the rear of the
car, tight is when you hit the wall with the front of
the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and
torque is how far you move the wall.

I personally found sprint cars easier to drive than the full bodied cars when I switched from the full bodied cars to the sprint car.  Sprint cars are much quicker but you can feel what is going on easier and react to it. Also much easier to get them to go where you want on the track.

He had raced them 7 times, mostly at Grand Forks when the WoO had an off night.  Prior to last year he never set foot in a modified or street stock or late model or fendered race car of any kind.  I believe I saw most of his late model races.  He was challenging for a win the 2nd or 3rd time out and as stated here, won the feature race the night the WoO sprints were in Grand Forks last year.  He raced both divisions, won both features.  It must come natural to the guy.  How many late model drivers started in late models and then did this well first year out?  Damned few.    Any late model or sprint driver will tell you going from a 2300 pound stock car to a lightening fast sprint car weighing a thousand pounds less is quite a challenge and vice versa. 

Lawlessness + liberalism = HELL -  NYC, Detroit, Chicago, 
Seattle, LA  Who the H runs those cities. 

I would consider "jumping in" as not having much experience in one. Which he clearly has not.

who can really say just how much time he has had it one...when your boss owns a track and you are donny schatz i am sure he has been in them more than a few times...kinda like rico with a small private track in his own backyard...either way still takes some talent to get into a bunch of differnt cars and be competitive...just ask SMOOOOKE or Larson...they seem to be able to do it as well...

The one thing I would add, and not taking away that he is doing very good and I enjoy that he's doing this and seeing him run the LM and I got to see him run it a few times last year, but usually never do guys get to step into a car that is set up with the best stuff immidiately, have the knowledge of what the track is doing like he does and also Donny is very knowledgeable about shocks and I will guarantee he is able to get the car setup very good with that knowledge. He is also good friends with some of the best WoO LM guys so you know that their giving him advice as well. The situation is just not close to anything else in terms of trying to compare him to Joe anybody else jumping into the car and doing well. Looks like he did good last night finishing 7th, but no one mentioned that the night before he missed making it into the A main.

http://gph.is/XMLGff

So Larsen has been in a Late Model on dirt?  Which tracks and how did he do?  They must have missed that on his bio. 

 Lawlessness and liberalism equals Hell.  NY City, 
Detroit, Seattle, Chicago, Minnepolis, etc. We saw it. 
Burning hundreds of buildings, a thousand assaults and 
dozens of murders. Getting worser and worser.

Pat Doar in 8th right behind Donny. 

Stan Meissner

He's been running one near home and won at RCS.

Stan Meissner

he had never been in a late model till about a week before the prelude race and got into lannigans car that he would drive in the prelude  so it is not like he has had a ton of seat time. and only been in a mod a couple of time previous also

I'm in no way a Schatz fan but he's doing well, but hes also in the best equipment money can buy for sure. He won't half a$$ anything. i would guarantee that. If i had his connections and his money i wouldn't half a$$ anything either. Not taking away from his talent though it does take talent to drive multiple different types of cars no matter the equipment. 

Good drivers can drive most anything.Promoters love it when top drivers try a different venue as it brings extra fans.Late Models at the top level have good purses are highly promoted have TV coverage and the close side by side racing is fun to watch.Take off 1000# and add a wing and they would be three seconds faster but it would be single file locked down racing won from near the front you see too often in WOO.Stewart,Larsen and others love to race and can afford it.Schatz would be competitive at the Chilli Bowl if the rules [or lack of them] would allow heavier guys to compete.The racing so far has had more slide jobs and three wide racing than a whole season of winged cars.It is amazing how they get 300 cars to compete for $10K and the drivers are happy to be there.Cant wait for Sat feature.

Schatz has been at Tucson International for late model racing.  Wednesday and tonight he was fast, in fact he was fast overall qualifier Wednesday and fastest in his heat group tonight.   Officials began to enforce their even start rule and tonight Schatz was the 1st of 3 or 4 to be called for a jump.  His potential heat win and becoming part of the redraw for the 1st three rows went south, then he did not make it out of the B.  The field in Tucson is full of top level late model teams.

http://www.dirtondirt.com/West_7773.html

We're probably getting an advance look at the Donny Schatz retirement plan.  There are a lot of big Late Model races up in our area each season.  Cedar Lake's USA Nationals pays $50,000 to win and is considered one of the big races on the schedule.  Deer Creek has their annual Gopher 50 and there are a bunch of WISSOTA races all around the area that pay pretty well each year.  The Seitz Memorial up at Grand Forks, the Governor's Cup I think still runs at Aberdeen.  That's how former Dream winner Jimmy Mars can run a successful chassis business out of Elk Mound, Wiscionsin, and a mix of local weekly shows at places like Cedar Lake and hit some of the big events. 

The UMSS along with more IRA and World of Outlaws Sprint shows have increased interest in Sprint Car racing around here but the Late Models are still a fan favorite.  I'm partial to the Late Models living about 35 minutes from Cedar Lake and plan on getting out to see them more often this season.  The split between Sprints and Late Models will be around 50/50 if things go as planned.

Stan Meissner