From Tony Stewart Racing
Indianapolis, IN — (May 23, 2013) — With a schedule that includes races from February to November and at tracks in all corners of the United States, it seems only appropriate that the World of Outlaws (WoO) STP Sprint Car Series stars compete in both Charlotte and Indiana over Memorial Day Weekend. Two places where racing is king and fans flock to see the biggest stars in the sport showcase their talents.
Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Steve Kinser, who has won just about everything there is to win behind the wheel of a Sprint car, and Donny Schatz, the WoO STP Sprint Car Series reigning and five-time champion, along with the rest of the Outlaw series contingent will headline the action Friday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., and conclude the holiday weekend Monday by trading slide jobs at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway.
Schatz leads all Sprint car competitors with six career WoO wins at the state-of-the-art, 4/10-mile, semi-banked dirt oval on the outskirts of Charlotte. The driver of the TSR No. 15 STP/Armor All/Chevrolet Performance J&J enters the Circle K NOS Energy Outlaw Showdown with recent WoO wins at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway and Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa. Kinser, the 20-time WoO champion and all-time winngingest driver in WoO history with 575 career A-Feature wins, is looking to become the first WoO repeat winner at Lawrenceburg behind the wheel of TSR’s No. 11 Bad Boy Buggies/J.D. Byrider/Chevrolet Performance Maxim.
Friday will mark the seventh consecutive season the Outlaw event will be held in conjunction with the Speedway’s Coca-Cola 600 festivities. In each of those, Schatz has been a central figure. The Fargo, N.D., driver has won twice and finished on the podium five times. Schatz has qualified for 32 of the 33 WoO races staged at The Dirt Track, and built a streak of 17 consecutive top-eight finishes before not qualifying for the opening feature of last fall’s World Finals. Last May, he charged from ninth to finish second to Joey Saldana in the 30-lap A-Feature.
Kinser has earned consistent finishes in his 31 career starts at The Dirt Track. Both of his Charlotte wins have come in October, but he does have nine top-five finishes in May events at the track. Last May, he raced from sixth into the lead, but was only able to lead one lap because of a blown left-rear tire.
Following Friday’s event in Charlotte, the TSR teams will return to Indiana and prepare for the Outlaws’ second race of 2013 in the Hoosier state. Monday’s event will be the 10th appearance at Lawrenceburg for “The Greatest Show on Dirt.” In each of the first nine events, a different driver has come out victorious, beginning in 1979 when Kinser raced to victory in the Outlaws’ debut at Lawrenceburg. “The King of Outlaws” finished fourth last May at the southeastern Indiana dirt oval.
Schatz is part of the Lawrenceburg winner’s club, as well. The STP driver out-dueled Jason Meyers and Saldana for the win in May 2009. Last season, he qualified 19th and charged forward to finish 11th in the 35-lap A-Feature.
With 25 races completed in the 2013 WoO STP Sprint Car Series season, Schatz continues to rank third in the championship standings. He trails leader Daryn Pittman by 160 points, but is tied for second in both wins (four) and top-fives (12). Kinser ranks 10th with 3,076 points. He has one win, one top-five and seven top-10s this season.
Friday at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the pit gates will open at 1 p.m. EDT with the grandstands opening at 4:30 p.m. Racing is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. For more details, contact The Dirt Track at (800) 455-3267. The official Web site of Charlotte Motor Speedway is www.charlottemotorspeedway.com
Monday at Lawrenceburg, the pit gates will open at 3 p.m. EDT with the grandstands opening at 4 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. For more details and ticket information, contact Lawrenceburg Speedway at (812) 539-4700 or visit the track’s Web site at www.lawrenceburgspeedway.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:
Being an Indiana native and around racing for most of your life, Memorial Day weekend has to be a special one for you?
“The month of May was always important growing up in Indiana. It meant cars were hitting the track not only at Indianapolis, but at all of the dirt tracks around home, too. School was almost out and we knew we would be able to go racing with my dad more. Making the Indianapolis 500 was always a dream for me, and to be able to do that in 1997 was incredible. When I got on the road with the Outlaws, I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to make it happen because Memorial Day weekend was always filled with races somewhere. For the last 10 or so years, I have really enjoyed being able to race in Charlotte around the Coca-Cola 600. There’s definitely some electricity in the air for that race with everything that is going on that weekend. We’re fortunate to be able to come back and race close to home on Monday, too. It certainly makes for a really good weekend.”
The turning point of the season can seemingly come at any time. With the prestige of winning at Charlotte, could a victory Friday night in the Circle K NOS Energy Drink Outlaw Showdown have that kind of impact on your season?
“It’s no secret that we haven’t had the best of starts to the season. I was hoping our win at El Paso Speedway (April 16) would have been the race that turned things around, but that hasn’t been the case. With as tough as this series is, you have to become more consistent in order to get things turned around. I do know a win in Charlotte would be important for this Bad Boy Buggies team. It’s a really good track and to be able to come out on top there is quite an accomplishment. That’s our goal as we head down there. Like the old saying goes, it starts with one. One good lap in qualifying. One good heat race. One good dash, and one good feature. The turning point is out there. We just need to find it.”
Donny Schatz, Driver of the No. 15 TSR/STP/Armor All/Chevrolet Performance J&J:
The STP team has seemed to hit its stride during a busy month of May. How important is it to continue at this pace?
“We’ve gotten a little better, but we still aren’t where we need to be. Winning at Knoxville two weeks ago was important. And last week, winning at Williams Grove Speedway with a last-corner pass really gave both me and my crew a lot of confidence in our program. Winning races and putting ourselves in position to win is our goal every night. These STP guys have been through just about everything imaginable. We still have some races to win before the end of May, but we need to maintain this consistency and possibly improve as the season goes on.”
The next opportunity to win comes Friday at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It’s a track where you’ve been very strong in the past, similar to Knoxville and Williams Grove, where you’ve won in the last two weeks. Can the recent wins at Knoxville and Williams Grove lead to success Friday?
“Our consistency is what will give us a chance. We have been able to qualify better the last six races and that’s helped. Knowing how to win at particular tracks is something that I think has helped us in May, as well. Even though we didn’t win either race at Eldora, I really feel like that was the best I’ve felt there in a long time. I know we could have had our car a little better at Knoxville, yet we were still able to win. That tells me our program is heading in the right direction. I’ve always enjoyed racing in Charlotte. Unfortunately, I still kind of have a bad taste in my mouth from the World Finals last fall. We were doing some testing and weren’t able to race for wins like we have there so many other times. Without a doubt, we want to get win number seven there Friday, and I’m really pumped up about our chances to get it.”