By Bill Klingbeil
INDIANAPOLIS (May 8, 2013) – Sometimes the numbers don’t lie, and the facts are just too difficult to ignore. When the World of Outlaws (WoO) STP Sprint Car Series makes its debut at a new dirt track, the odds-on favorite to come out on top has to be Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Steve Kinser. And when the Outlaws are competing at historic Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway, it’s considered an upset when his TSR teammate Donny Schatz isn’t leading the way.
The Outlaws continue their 12-race month of the May with events at Elko (Minn.) Speedway Friday, the first-ever WoO program at the track, and Saturday in Knoxville, where 132 previous Outlaw A-Features have been contested. Kinser, driver of the TSR No. 11 Bad Boy Buggies/J.D. Byrider/Chevrolet Performance Maxim, has won more than 50 inaugural WoO races, including the series’ most recent first-time event April 16 at El Paso (Texas) Speedway. Schatz, pilot of the TSR No. 15 STP/Armor All/Chevrolet Performance J&J, earned early season WoO victories at Knoxville in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and has finished first or second in the sport’s biggest race, the Knoxville Nationals, 10 times in the last 11 years.
Friday’s program at Elko will be the Outlaws’ first on the 3/8-mile, high-banked oval. The paved track has been covered with dirt for a number of events this season and will be again this weekend. In three of his four seasons driving for TSR, Kinser has scored inaugural event wins. His first came in July 2010 at Autodrome Drummond in eastern Canada. In September 2011, he was victorious at Antioch (Calif.) Speedway. Three weeks ago, the 20-time WoO champion dominated the action at El Paso Speedway, leading all 30 laps of the main event. Kinser would also like to add another Minnesota triumph to his career WoO A-Feature win total of 575. He won his first race in “The Land of 10,000 Lakes” at North Star Speedway in Minneapolis back in June 1979 and his most recent victory in the state came at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley in September 2011.
The event in Elko won’t be the first time Schatz has competed on a dirt-covered paved surface. The five-time and reigning WoO STP Sprint Car Series champion won the Channellock Challenge at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway back in 2001, when the famed half-mile oval was covered with dirt. The Fargo, N.D., native is looking for a similar outcome a little closer to home this time, and he’s no stranger to winning in Minnesota. Four of his 126 career WoO A-Feature wins have come in Minnesota, including three consecutive stops at Princeton Speedway.
Saturday marks the first of two single-night programs at Knoxville for the Outlaws in 2013. Each will serve as an opportunity to prepare for the 53rd annual FVP Knoxville Nationals in August. Both Kinser, who will be making his 177th Outlaw start at the famed half-mile, dirt oval, and Schatz, who will be making his 75th WoO Knoxville start, have had incredible success on the Marion County Fairgrounds.
Schatz has 15 career wins at the track and enters Saturday with a two-race winning streak there. Last August, on his 35th birthday, he raced from 10th to first to win the SPEED SPORT Knoxville World Challenge and, the following night, led the final 36 laps to claim his sixth career Nationals A-Main crown. Since finishing second in the 2005 Knoxville Nationals A-Main, he has started 32 feature races at Knoxville. His stats from those races include: 12 wins, 26 top-five finishes and 29 top-10s.
Kinser, a 12-time Nationals winner, first turned laps at the Marion County Fairgrounds on Aug. 6, 1977, just four days before his TSR teammate Schatz was born. Kinser scored his first career triumph at the track during his qualifying night at the 1978 Nationals. It was in April 1980, when he won consecutive WoO events and, later that season, he captured his first Nationals championship. He’s won 52 times in WoO competition and ranks third all-time at the track with 58 total wins. In 1987, he won five times and, in 1992, he was a seven-time winner. Saturday, Kinser will be looking to end a Knoxville WoO winless streak that dates back to April 30, 2005.
The TSR teammates spent last weekend at the legendary Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, where both drivers earned KSE Hard Charger Awards. Schatz picked his up Friday night by racing from 24th to fourth in the 30-lap A-Feature and followed that performance with a third-place finish Saturday. Kinser passed 12 cars in Friday’s A-Feature and advanced eight positions in Saturday’s 30-lap race to earn his first KSE Hard Charger Award of the season.
Heading into this weekend’s action, Daryn Pittman leads the WoO championship standings. Schatz currently ranks third with 2,529 points –
trailing Pittman by 171 points – and has two wins, seven top-fives, and 13 top-10s to date. Kinser holds the ninth position with 2,358 points. He has one win, one top-five and seven top-10s this season, and five of those top-10s have come in the last seven races.
For Friday’s event at Elko Speedway, the pit gates will open at 2 p.m. CDT, with the grandstands opening at 4 p.m. Racing is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. For more details, contact SLS Promotions at (815) 344-2023, or visit www.slspromotions.com.
Saturday at Knoxville, the grandstands will open at 6 p.m. CDT. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m. For more details, contact Knoxville Raceway by calling (641) 842-5431, or visit www.knoxvilleraceway.com.
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 weekend begins with another first-time race. On more than 50 occasions, you have been the first Outlaw winner at a track. Is there a secret to being a track’s first winner?
“I don’t know if there are many secrets in this sport anymore. It probably has more to do with the fact I’ve raced in so many of the races that were first at track, the law of averages have just worked out in my favor. Honestly, I’ve had the chance to drive some really good cars throughout my career, and you have to show up – not only at a new track but everywhere we race – with a car capable of winning. These races are harder than ever to win and there probably was a time when it may have been a little easier. You have to be able to quickly look at a track – the shape, the dirt consistency, the banking – and come up with a plan. (Crew chief) Scott (Gerkin) and I will talk quite a bit during the night and try to keep up with the track. Experience does play a big part in it, as well, but anytime you go to a new place, everyone has to kind of learn on the fly. I always enjoy racing at new places. I’ve heard some good things about Elko and, hopefully, we’ll be able to get a handle of it pretty quickly and be there at the end.”
After racing at Eldora last weekend, and with Williams Grove Speedway on the schedule for next weekend, how important is it for you and your Bad Boy Buggies team to have a successful night at Knoxville Saturday?
“It’s really important. Our three biggest-paying races are at those tracks. We haven’t been very good at Knoxville the last couple of Nationals and we need to change that. Like Eldora, we only get a couple nights on the track and then we come back later in the summer when you have to be performing really well to give yourself a chance. We didn’t make the A-Main last year in the Nationals and that hadn’t happen since, really, early in my career. We’re looking forward to getting back to that and moving forward. Defining what would be successful might be difficult, as well. We got off to a slow start this season, but seem to have found some things here in the last few weeks that have made us a little more competitive. Our goal is to continue on the plane of improvement. Like all of our races, you have to make a good qualifying lap. You know they’ll have a good field of cars there, so you can’t miss that top-16 in qualifying if you want to have a chance at winning. If we can turn a good lap and get through our heat, that would be a good start.”
Donny Schatz, Driver of the No. 15 TSR/STP/Armor All/Chevrolet Performance J&J:
With Friday’s race at Elko being on a dirt surface that is temporary, do you see that making it more of a challenge than normal to figure out how the track will respond throughout the night?
“I always say dirt is dirt, but we also know that no two dirt tracks can be alike. There are so many variables, from the type of dirt used to what they put in the dirt to either keep the dust down or hold the moisture in. That’s not even taking into account the temperature or the wind. I had the privilege the last three years to work with my family at Red River Valley Speedway and I learned way more than I ever thought I would about dirt. My dad was like a mad scientist just trying to find ways to give the racers the best surface possible. We’ll just have to see how the track holds up. I know they’ve been working on it the past few weeks and, despite dealing with some crazy weather, everything seems to be ready. It’s going to be the same for all the teams. It’s just a matter of finding the fastest way around and paying attention as the night goes on.”
Saturday’s race at Knoxville is one of two races you will have at the track in advance of the Nationals later in August. How important is it for you and your STP team to gather as much information as possible?
“We’re certainly going to follow the same plan we have the past seven or eight years, where we look at this first trip to Knoxville as a test session. It seems like every year we have something new that we are trying to adapt to. We’re on new Hoosier tires this year, so it will be a chance to see how they compare to the Goodyears we ran there the past three years, as well as the Hoosiers we had before that. The biggest thing for our STP team is to keep fine-tuning. We’ve had a solid package with our J&J cars and the motors Ron Shaver has built. We know what to expect, for the most part, but we know the competition is as strong as ever. We’re going there to win the race and try to learn as much as we can to not only help us for the Nationals, but to help us the rest of the season. We’ve got some tough races coming up in Pennsylvania next week and we want to build on a couple of top-five finishes last weekend at Eldora.”
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 4×4 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.