STEVE KINSER & DONNY SCHATZTony Stewart Racing Teammates Lead World of Outlaws into Battle
Versus ‘Pennsylvania Posse’ During Five-Race Eastern Tour
Versus ‘Pennsylvania Posse’ During Five-Race Eastern Tour
INDIANAPOLIS (May 14, 2013) – Spending a week in hostile territory doesn’t sound like an itinerary many rivals would be looking forward to. The World of Outlaws (WoO) STP Sprint Car Series schedule has stops all across the United States and even in a pair of Canadian provinces, but their ventures into central Pennsylvania annually are some of the toughest. The regional contingent of drivers, appropriately named “The Pennsylvania Posse,” provides the Outlaws with the stiffest competition they’ll deal with anywhere all season.
Fortunately, Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Donny Schatz and Steve Kinser have experienced numerous battles with the Posse through the years and have been able to stake their claim on Pennsylvania soil regularly enough to look forward to a five-race swing through Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey starting Wednesday with “The Gettysburg Clash” at Lincoln Speedway in Hanover, Pa. The WoO stars will compete at historic Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa., Friday and Saturday, before racing at Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, N.Y. Sunday, and concluding their first eastern swing Tuesday night at New Egypt (N.J.) Speedway.
Last season, Kinser and Schatz each had shining moments battling Pennsylvania’s finest. Kinser dominated the Outlaws’ stop at Williams Grove in May, claiming both the 30-lap A-Feature and the Morgan Cup, a 12-lap challenge race contested between five Outlaw drivers and five Posse members. The following week, “The King of the Outlaws” led all 25 laps of the A-Feature at Orange County Fair to earn his 572nd career WoO victory. It was later in the year when Schatz flashed his Outlaw mettle storming to a $50,000 victory by winning September’s 50th annual Morgan Hughes Williams Grove National Open. With the victory, Schatz became the only driver to win the prestigious event five times.
Both drivers return to action this week in the Quaker State looking to stay ahead of both the Posse and the rest of the Outlaw contingent that has competed 20 times already in the 2013 campaign. Schatz leads the Outlaws to Lincoln after posting his third victory of the season Saturday night at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway. He drove the TSR No. 15 STP/Armor All/Chevrolet Performance J&J to victory from the seventh starting spot and earned his third consecutive win at the half-mile, dirt oval. Kinser, who will pilot the TSR No. 11 Bad Boy Buggies/J.D. Byrider/Chevrolet Performance Maxim, is in search of his second win of the season.
The tour begins at Lincoln, where the Outlaws competed last May for the first time in 12 seasons. Schatz qualified second and earned a career-best seventh at the 4/10-mile, dirt track. Kinser, who has won 16 of the 39 WoO races at Lincoln, qualified 22nd and drove from 20th to 14th in the 30-lap main event. Kinser leads all drivers with 37 WoO series triumphs at Williams Grove, and 25 of those have been in A-Feature competition, including his May 12 victory last year. Schatz ranks third all-time with 15 total WoO wins at “The Grove.” Ten of those were A-Feature victories. Kinser is also the winningest WoO driver at Orange County Fair Speedway. The Bloomington, Ind., native won his sixth career A-Feature at the 5/8-mile dirt oval last May. Schatz finished second at Orange County in both 2006 and 2007, but he was 12th in last year’s 25-lap A-Feature.
The TSR teammates are hoping to benefit from the busy schedule by making up ground in the championship standings. Schatz, who has amassed 2,815 points and ranks third overall, currently trails WoO championship standings leader Daryn Pittman by 165 points. The five-time and reigning WoO STP Sprint Car Series champion has three wins, eight top-fives, and 15 top-10s to date. Kinser currently ranks ninth with 2,590 points. He has one win, one top-five and seven top-10s this season.
Wednesday at Lincoln Speedway, the pit gates will open at 1 p.m. EDT and the grandstands open at 4 p.m. Qualifying is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. For tickets and more information on the event, contact the track by calling (717) 624-2755, or visit www.LincolnSpeedway.com.
Friday and Saturday at Williams Grove, the pit gates will open at 3:30 p.m. EDT with the grandstands opening at 5:45 p.m. Qualifying is scheduled to begin at 7:45 p.m. For more details and ticket information, call the track at (717) 679-5000 or visit www.williamsgrove.com.
Sunday at Orange County Fair Speedway, the pit gates will open at 3:30 p.m. EDT with the grandstands opening at 5 p.m. Racing is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. For more details and ticket information, contact the track at (845) 342-2573 or visit www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net.
Race fans unable to attend this weekend’s events 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 STP Sprint Car 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 live results from the track.
Steve Kinser, Driver of the No. 11 TSR/Bad Boy Buggies/J.D. Byrider/Chevrolet Performance Maxim:
The Outlaws annual Eastern Swing begins with a race at Lincoln Speedway, a track where you dominated the competition early in your career. Can you use any of that previous winning experience to help you Wednesday?
“Well, I’m sure going to try. Unfortunately, the wins at Lincoln happened quite a few years ago. We had such a good run of success back in the 1980s. We would show up just about everywhere and have a great chance of winning. The sport has grown quite a bit since then and the competition has gotten incredibly tough, as well. Look at last year, when we raced Lincoln, I think hardly any Outlaw drivers were in the top-10. The group of guys who race at Williams Grove and Lincoln every week are as tough as they come, and it’s hard for us to just show up there once a year and dominate them like we used to. We could certainly use a good night to kick off a pretty busy run through Pennsylvania and New York. We’re still trying to get some consistency with the Bad Boy Buggies car.”
You dominated the World of Outlaws event last May at Williams Grove. After a long winless streak at the track, was there a particular point when you thought you were onto something?
“We actually started the weekend off good last May. We qualified fifth and, any time you can end up in the top-five at Williams Grove, you know you are close. In the feature, we were able to come from 11th to fifth, so we knew we had a good baseline to start the second night off with. We came out the following night and qualified fourth, started the feature third and led the final 22 laps. The car was really balanced. I could really move around. By the time we went out for the Morgan Cup race, the track was pretty much one lane around the bottom and, after getting a good start, we sort of just drove away. Those are the good nights and ones that you want to try and duplicate if you can. Hopefully, we can get off to the same start Friday night and end up where we did last May.”
Donny Schatz, Driver of the No. 15 TSR/STP/Armor All/Chevrolet Performance J&J:
The last couple of weeks, you have been steadily gaining on the competition. Do you feel like you are getting closer to where you hoped you would be at this point of the season?
“I feel like we are making progress, but I wouldn’t say we are where we want to be. We had a really consistent last 30 races to end the 2012 season, and our goal was to begin this season by performing at that level. We started in Florida and dominated the All-Star races at Ocala, but we haven’t really been able to regain that consistency. I felt like we were as good as we’ve been at Eldora Speedway a couple of weeks ago, and the STP guys did a really good job Saturday at Knoxville. We’re still trying to get better and, hopefully, we can continue racing up front these next five races. We’re looking to have consistent nights, from qualifying all the way through the feature races. ”
This week you return to Williams Grove Speedway the site of one of your biggest wins last year. How special will it be returning there knowing that you are the only driver to ever win five National Opens?
“There are so many good things about winning that race, but winning while we’re making a championship push probably stands out the most. It was a big momentum win for us. It was a really tough race and we fought as hard as we ever have for a victory that night. Any time you can eclipse a record of Steve Kinser, you know it’s quite a remarkable accomplishment. I’m pretty sure it still hasn’t completely sunk in, but it was great just getting back to victory lane at Williams Grove. It’s one of my favorite tracks and we hadn’t won there for two or three years, which was way too long as far as I’m concerned. That one is behind us, now, and once we hit the track for hot laps, it’s game on and the focus is being right back in contention from qualifying through the rest of the night.”
About Armored AutoGroup
Armored AutoGroup Inc., headquartered in Danbury, Conn., is primarily comprised of the Armor All®, STP® and Tuff Stuff® brands. The current Armor All product line of protectants, wipes, tire and wheel care products, glass cleaners, leather care products and car washes are designed to clean, shine and protect interior and exterior automobile surfaces. The STP product line of fuel and oil additives, functional fluids and automotive appearance products have a broad customer base ranging from professional racers to car enthusiasts and "Do-it-Yourselfers". Tuff Stuff cleaning products are formulated to tackle the toughest jobs.
Armored AutoGroup has a diversified geographic footprint with direct operations in the United States, Canada, Australia and the U.K. and distributor relationships in approximately 50 countries. For more information, please visit www.armorall.com and www.stp.com.
About Bad Boy Buggies
Bad Boy Buggies is a leader in off-road utility vehicles for hunting and outdoor lifestyles. Bad Boy Buggies pioneered the category of electrically powered 4x4 vehicles, ideal for hunting and outdoor recreation due to their silent, odorless operation and environmentally friendly, emissions-free drivetrains.
Today, the Bad Boy Buggies product line ranges from four-wheel-drive electric hunting machines such as the Recoil, a fully electric, 4WD vehicle with an innovative, highly efficient 72-volt AC electric drivetrain, to the Work Series of diesel and gas-powered utility vehicles, including the Bad Boy Buggies XD, a versatile 4WD, diesel-powered utility vehicle with a total capacity of 1,600 pounds. In 2010, the Bad Boy Buggies brand and product line were acquired by E-Z-GO, a business unit of Textron Inc.
For more information, please visit www.badboybuggies.com.
