STEVE KINSER & DONNY SCHATZ
INDIANAPOLIS (May 2, 2013) – There are only a couple of tracks on the 85-race World of Outlaws (WoO) STP Sprint Car Series schedule that can match the history of Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. The fabled high banks and intimidating concrete wall have challenged some of the best that have ever channeled their passion for victory behind the wheel of a racecar. An Eldora win ranks pretty high on high on any short-track driver’s list of accomplishments.
The track is celebrating 60 years of racing in 2013 and, this weekend, the WoO STP Sprint Car Series continues a 36-year tradition by staging the two-night Outlaw Thunder event on the half-mile, dirt oval. It will be the first of three stops this season at “The Big E” for Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz. Both drivers are already part of the illustrious list of Eldora winners, and each recognizes that adding another Eldora victory this weekend would help them overcome a bumpy start to the season.
The TSR tandem, which has combined to win 25 WoO STP Sprint Car Series championships, finds itself looking up in the standings entering a busy month of May. The Eldora doubleheader kicks off a dozen Outlaw races before the first of June, and the results will likely have a huge effect on the 2013 championship aspirations of both drivers. Through the first 17 races this season, Kinser and Schatz have each been victorious and earned numerous top-10 finishes, but it’s the number of results outside the top-10 that has them seeking a turnaround.
Kinser leads the Outlaws to Eldora this weekend with his 41 career WoO victories at the track. The 20-time WoO champion is looking for his second A-Feature triumph of 2013 behind the wheel of the TSR No. 11 Bad Boy Buggies/J.D. Byrider/Chevrolet Performance Maxim. “The King of the Outlaws” scored his 575th career WoO A-Feature triumph two weeks ago with a flag-to-flag victory at El Paso (Texas) Speedway. He earned his first career WoO A-Feature at Eldora back in May 1978 and his results since that win are unparalleled. The Bloomington, Ind., native has made 153 career WoO starts at Eldora, earning 102 top-fives and 128 top-10s. Kinser is seeking his first Eldora win since July 2010, when he won his seventh Kings Royal in thrilling fashion by executing a textbook Eldora slide job on the final lap. Last season, he finished inside the top-10 in all four WoO A-Features at the track, including a third-place finish last May.
Schatz, driver of the TSR No. 15 STP/Armor All/Chevrolet Performance J&J, has been one of the most consistent finishers at Eldora during the past seven seasons. Since 2006, the five-time and reigning WoO STP Sprint Car Series champion has 29 top-10 finishes in 32 starts. Twenty of those finishes have been top-fives, and he has won four times. The Fargo, N.D., racer is trying to end a 14-race winless streak at the track since winning his second Kings Royal title in July 2009. Last May, he finished second in the opener and raced from 24th to sixth the following night. Friday night, he’ll be making his 85th career WoO start at the facility.
The Outlaws are coming off consecutive weekends where weather played havoc on their schedule. Two weeks ago, the event at Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway had to be postponed. Last weekend, the Outlaws were forced to cancel a stop at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely, Mo., because of flooding. And last Friday night’s scheduled event at the Salina (Okla.) Highbanks was pushed back 24 hours because of persistent rain. The race was held Saturday, but extremely fast racing conditions made passing difficult. Kinser started eighth and finished sixth, while Schatz advanced from 15th to 12th in the 30-lap A-Feature.
Following the action in Salina, Daryn Pittman continues to lead the WoO championship standings. Schatz currently ranks fifth with 2,243 points – trailing Pittman by 179 points – and has two wins, five top-fives, and 11 top-10s to date. Kinser currently ranks ninth with 2,100 points. He has one win, one top-five and six top-10s this season and four of those top-10s have come in the last five races.
Friday and Saturday at the Eldora Speedway, the grandstands open at 2 p.m. EDT. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. More information and ticket details are available by contacting Eldora Speedway at www.EldoraSpeedway.com or by calling (937) 338-3815.
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:
You stated many times that Eldora Speedway has always been one of your favorite tracks. Why is that?
“It’s just a special place to me. I grew up only a few hours away (in Bloomington, Ind.) and, going to races with my dad, you would hear people talking about Eldora. I’ll always remember coming and seeing it for the first time. I knew that day I would give anything to some day get the chance to race there. (Former owner) Earl (Baltes) had a great vision for this place, and I’m so happy Tony (Stewart) has kept that vision going. I’m sure Eldora will be a great place to race for a long time. From there, I’d say it’s just been a place where we’ve had a lot of success, winning that first Outlaw race, the big races over the years, like the Kings Royal so many times. It’s a track where you can really push your car to the limit, get up on the wall and keep it as straight as you can. Most of the time, they’ll have the track where you can slide by guys for positions and that gives you a chance. It’s a fun place to race when you have your car working right. I’ve had a good car there quite a bit. That’s made it really special over the years.”
The month of May is stacked full of races. After getting off to a tough start, you and the Bad Boy Buggies team have been making progress. Can this month change the outcome of your season?
“Our goal is to be competitive and challenge for wins. We’ve been getting closer to where we want to be, but we’ve still got work to do. (Crew chief) Scott (Gerkin) and (crewman) Gary (DuBois) and all our guys at the shop have put the time in to figure out what we need to be doing to get there. Racing a lot should help. We’re going to a lot of places this month where we’ve been before, and that should be another thing that helps. Our focus right now is going to Eldora and giving ourselves a shot. If we can go and have a positive weekend, we’ll try to build on that next week. The other stuff right now isn’t anything we can worry about.”
Donny Schatz, Driver of the No. 15 TSR/STP/Armor All/Chevrolet Performance J&J:
Over the last seven seasons, you’ve been extremely consistent at Eldora. Is it a simple matter of experience that has been the difference?
“Experience definitely is part of it. When I was first racing with the Outlaws, I was like everybody else and thought you had go out and get right on the wall and just hang on. It took a few bumps and bruises for me to understand there are other ways to be successful there. It’s still important to get up on the wall, but having a car that lets you move around and run through middle, down low and on the cushion is a big part of it. I have matured and learned how to get around Eldora, but I’ve also had a strong team for the last seven years. We have a program that works well at a lot of tracks, and we just continue trying to make it better and better. We’ve had a lot of top-fives and some runs from the back into the top-10, but we haven’t gotten the wins the past couple of seasons. I’ll take the consistency, but a few wins would be nice. We’re going to try and see if we can get back to victory lane there some time this year.”
The schedule for the last month has been primarily single-night shows. Will racing consecutive nights at the same track give you an advantage this week?
“Everybody will have the same opportunity, but it probably just helps you with the small details. Dirt racing is different every day. No matter if you are at the same track or not. Ideally, you’d have some success the first night. Start the night with a good qualifying run and then make progress with the car the rest of the night. Get the car working the best for the feature. If all goes well, you can come back the next night and stay in the same general area with your car. Of course, track conditions will determine how close you stay with the set-ups and if you were able to get the car the best you could. It’s just a matter of communicating and sticking to what you know. Things should stay pretty similar this weekend. The weather looks good and the staff at Eldora does a great job with track prep. The other thing to keep in mind is that we’ve got a pretty big race at Eldora in July (the Kings Royal). This is our only weekend here until then, so we’re not only trying to win races this weekend, but we’re also trying to prepare for coming back here in July.”
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.
