Dirt Racing
Schatz Seals the Deal
KNOXVILLE, IA (August 13, 2022): Donny Schatz captured his eleventh win in the Knoxville Nationals. He is second only to his former teammate, Steve Kinser, who has twelve. It was Schatz’ first win since 2017, and, importantly, it was his first triumph in the Nationals since losing his father, Danny, to cancer earlier in the 2022 season. The milestone win was also his first major victory since embarking upon the development of the Ford Sprint Car motor. All of these emotions came crashing down on him in victory lane.
Choking back some tears, Schatz dedicated the win to his father and he added that he drew some inspiration from him during the race. “I didn’t drive like I should have at the beginning. I was working the tires, and I could hear him say ‘settle down’ and it worked.”
Schatz explained that he has a new perspective on things since losing his father and experiencing some other personal issues. “Perspective of it is to enjoy every day as if it is the last. You just don’t know. We are all fierce competitors and we get caught up in that and sometimes nothing else matters.” He has realized that he is no different than anybody else. “We all lose family members, we are going to lose people close to us. It has opened my eyes to enjoy the moment. . . . Enjoy it for what it si today becasue you never know when or if it is the last time you are going to get that opportunity. I am very lucky and blessed and get to do what I love to do. Probably enjoying it as much now as I ever have.”
Schatz acknowledged that the team has gone through changes as well, acknowledging that it may have been caused by communications issues on his part.
Schatz admitted that the team made some major changes to the Ford powerplant before the race. “We were decent both nights (for the Capitani Classic and on his qualifying night), but we took a big swing with it and tried something new with the motor tonight. I didn’t know if we were gonna get there after I fell back as far as I did. I just couldn’t control the wheel spin.”
Schatz credited his crew for making the proper changes during the break. “Scuba (Steve Swenson) could read me like a book, and knew when I didn’t say anything that he should throw 911 at it.” He continued, “the guys did an incredible job. It was do or die on the bottom. The car kept getting better and better there at the end.”
Schatz also paid respect to a former competitor, Danny Lasoski, who taught him how to navigate the bottom of the track at Knoxville.
Austin McCarl became only the second Iowa driver in Knoxville history to sit on the pole for this race. The first was his father, Terry, who did not make the 2022 edition. Next to McCarl was Tyler Courtney. Row two paired a couple of former winners, Schatz and David Gravel. The third row belonged to Carson Macedo and his former car owner, Kyle Larson. There was a Pennsylvania feel to row four, which consisted of Brent Marks and Dan Pittman, in the Heffner 27H. Row five belonged to Brad Sweet and J.J. Hickle. Jacob Allen and Parker Price-Miller started from row six. Justin Sanders and Buddy Kofoid were in row seven. Tasker Phillips and Aaron Reutzel departed from row eight. Then came the B Main cars of Logan Schuchart and Giovanni Scelzi, and Justin Peck and James McFadden. The final two rows wer ethe graduates from Hard Knox, Rico Abreu and Kerry Madesn, and Sheldon Haudenschild and Brian Brown.
The opening lap was somewhat chaotic. Hickle got over Pittman’s wheel and tumbled high into the air in turn one. Price-Miller was caught up in the wreck as well. Price-Miller exited the car under his own power, but collapsed to the track. Medical teams responded and he was transported to the local hospital. Hickle required no assistance.
McCarl surged into the lead on the opening lap over Courtney, Schatz, Gravel, Larson, and Macedo. However, Courntey assumed control on lap two. Schatz lost a couple of positions in the early going. He eventually slipped back to seventh while Courtney set a blistering pace.
On lap twelve, Larson sustained the first flat right rear of the event. A similar fate would befall others later in the event. Larson pitted for new rubber. While he was able to come back through the field, he was no longer a threat to win the event.
Courtney resumed the lead, with McCarl, Gravel, Macedo, Sweet, Schatz, Marks, Allen, Kofoid, Pittman, and Schuchart in tow. This green flag interlude was cut short when Scelzi crashed in between turns three and four before the field completed a lap.
As the field was coming around to complete the next official lap, Gravel slid by McCarl in turn four to take over second. Schatz moved past Sweet for fifth.
Sanders brought his car to a halt on the front stretch just a few laps later.
On the ensuing restart, Marks moved into the top five, but he was still a ways behind Courtney, Gravel, and McCarl. By lap twenty, Marks was up to third, but McCarl battled back for the position as the race neared the halfway mark.
After lap twenty-five was completed, race control called for the intermission. At that time. Courtney led Gravel, McCarl, Marks, Macedo, Schatz, Schuchart, Allen, Kofoid, and Sweet. Pittman was holding down eleventh, followed by Peck, Larson, Haudenschild, and McFadden. Reutzel, Abreu, Madsen, Phillips, and brown were the balance of the lead lap cars.
At the close of lap twenty-six, Gravel slid above the cushion, but he powered out of the fluff without losing a position. He came back again on lap twenty-seven to pass Courtney for the lead. Meanwhile, Marks got shuffled back out of the top five.
Now it was Gravel’s turn to stretch his legs. He led Courtney, McCarl, Schatz, Macedo, Schuchart, Allen, Marks and Kofoid. Larson was lurking in eleventh, followed by Pittman, and Peck. While Larson did not slow his pace, his car was starting to show some smoke on corner entry.
Schatz moved ahead of McCarl within a few laps. After losing the position, McCarl got a flat right rear. Just two laps later, McFadden brought his mount to a stop on the back stretch.
The final stoppage occurred two laps later when Macedo had a flat right rear as well. That moved Schuchart into fourth behind Gravel, Schatz, and Courtney. Marks was back to fifth, followed by Allen, Larsen, Sweet, Kofoid, and Haudenschild.
When racing resumed, with eleven to go, Allen moved by Marks and he briefly challenged Schuchart for fourth.
However, the strongest car in the stretch run belonged to Schatz. While Gravel rode the rim, Schatz whittled away at his lead by taking the shortest way around the track. Schatz continued to reel in Gravel and was within striking distance when the starter showed the field the five lap signal.
On lap fourty-six, Schatz made his move. He powered into turn three on the bottom and slid up into the middle of the track with the lead.
As Schatz began to pull away from Gravel, Schuchart took over third with two laps remaining, While he closed in on Gravel, there was not enough time for Schuchart to make a bid for second.
At the checkers, it was Schatz over Gravel, Schuchart, Courtney, and Allen. Larson was sixth, followed by Marks, Haudenschild, Sweet, and Pittman.
Gravel was disappointed with his second place finish. “We had a great car,” he said. “When you are leading with four to go, you expect to win.” But Gravel took personal responsibility for the outcome. “I was a little aggressive too early. . . . I was good on top and I didn’t want to chance it. The last couple of laps, the tires were spinning down the front stretch. I heard Donny going into three and I figured he was coming. In hindsight, I should have tried running low in one and two, but when you are leading and feeling pretty good, you don’t want to change it up. Maybe I should have gone down to search around. I’m not afraid to do it, but I didn’t tonight.”
Schuchart, who capped off a terrific week with a third, remarked “how can’t you be thrilled at what this team accomplished this week? Not just me, butthe 1a, too. I’m very proud of every person at Shark Racing, and it starts with what my grandfather started. We’re just a family-owned team competing for wins on the biggest stage in the world.” Schuchart explained that they made a few, small changes during the halftime break, such as a shock adjustment and removing some stagger. “I knew I could do something with the wing.” Plus, he was concerned about over correcting.
SELINSGROVE, PA (April 21, 2024): Austin Bishop dominated the second half of the 410 Sprint Car feature at the Selinsgrove Speedway to score his first victory of the 2024 season. It was the first win for his car owner, Charlie Sorokach, since 2012.
Bishop had to overcome a malfunctioning top wing to garner the victory. He explained that the wing was sliding back on its own and he was having trouble keeping the car straight entering the turns. He was able to fiddle with the controls during a caution period on lap eleven and he got the wing to hold in a preferred position for the remainder of the race. It made a drastic improvement in the performance of the machine.
T.J. Stutts and Bishop brought the field to the green flag. Freddie Rahmer, Jr. and Davey Franek were lined up behind them. Cameron Smith and Devon Borden made up row three. Callum Williamson and Justin Whittal were in the fourth row. Mike Walters, II, and Blane Heimbach were in the fifth row. The sixth consisted of Mike Thompson and Lucas Wolfe.
A handful of racers were unable to make the call, including Danny Dietrich who lost a motor while leading his heat race.
Stutts roared into the lead on the opening lap, with Bishop, Franek, Borden, Smith, and Rahmer following closely. While Stutts and Bishop set the pace, Borden was making progress early. He was third by lap five and second by lap seven. He was gaining on Stutts when the first caution was displayed, on lap eight, for Walters. Who came to a halt in turn one.
When the race resumed, Borden was pressing Stutts for the lead. Indeed, coming off turn two on lap ten, Borden pulled up next to Stutts, but he could not complete the pass. It may not have mattered, for on the next trip around the fast half mile, Borden coasted to a stop with an apparent engine failure. It was the second of the night for him, as he also lost an engine in qualifications.
It was during this interlude that Bishop made his critical adjustment to the top wing.
Whatever Bishop did to the car was just what the doctor ordered. On the restart, he was hounding Stutts. On lap fourteen, he moved to the outside coming off turn two. He blew by Stutts midway down the backstretch. Bishop dropped to the inside entering turn three to prevent Stutts from attempting a slider to regain the lead, but the precautionary maneuver was not necessary, and Bishop had several car lengths on his adversary.
Bishop had the superior car for the last ten laps of the race. He was able to build a lead of slightly more than four seconds.
Stutts remained in second, with Whittal closing in on him in the final laps. Franek and Rahmer completed the top five. Williamson logged his first top ten since taking over the controls of John Trone’s famed 39. Heimbach, Cameron Smith, Mark Smith, and Wolfe were the balance of the top ten. Thompson was the last car running at the finish.
Heat wins belonged to Borden, Rahmer, and Franek. There was no B Main. Two cars broke the single lap track record in qualifications. Stutts claimed the top honors with a lap of 15.428 seconds. Also breaking the old mark, which belonged to Anthony Macri, was Cameron Smith. His time was 15.509 seconds.
The Limited Late Models and Roadrunners provided support. Their heat races were completed, but the features were postponed to next Saturday due to a broken water main. Scoring heat wins for the Limited Lates were Trent Brenneman and Devin Hart. Scott Dunham, Jr. and Mike Goodwin prevailed in the Roadrunners. The next 410 Sprint Car show on the docket at Selinsgrove Speedway will be the Ray Tilley Classic on May 12. Super Late Models and Roadrunners will also be on the card that evening.
IMPERIAL, PA (April 20, 2024) Aliquippa’s Tim Shaffer started on the pole position and survived several caution flags and restarts to win the Herb Scott Memorial Saturday night at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway (PPMS).
“Boy I earned that one huh,” said Shaffer following the race. “These wins just keep getting better and better. Herb Scott won a lot of features and I have a long way to go to catch him, but my career went on the road and it became hard to win races. It’s kind of back home racing now for me and it’s a lot of fun.”
Brock Pinkerous and Dave Hess Jr. staged an epic battle over the last several laps with Pinkerous scoring an emotional runner-up finish.
“Congrats to Tim on the win,” said Pinkerous, who hails from Ellenville, NY. “He’s really good at this track. Him and Dave are legends around this area. It’s really cool to battle with them; they raced me clean and I raced them clean. Even though we didn’t win tonight, this is for my uncle tonight who passed away about a month ago. I hope he’s watching over us tonight, and I really love you uncle Chris.”
“We were really good on those restarts,” said Hess, the 39-year-old Waterford, Pa. driver. “A little tweak to the car and maybe a gear change and we could have had something for the leaders. Once those two (Shaffer and Pinkerous) got rolling, they were a little better than I was.”
Kyle Lukon finished fifth and Logan Roberson rounded out the Top 5.
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 45-Tim Shaffer[1]; 2. 555-Brock Pinkerous[4]; 3. 44-Dave Hess Jr[21]; 4. 184-Kyle Lukon[5]; 5. 17R-Logan Roberson[19]; 6. 10S-Joe Martin[16]; 7. 36-Cody Dawson[7]; 8. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling[10]; 9. 42-Daryl Charlier[6]; 10. 184C-Justin Chance[13]; 11. 21J-Jim Rasey[24]; 12. 184P-Cole Petrelle[20]; 13. 77-Tom Klein[23]; 14. 57-Charlie Sandercock[11]; 15. 36B-Colby Beighey[15]; 16. 18-Mike Wonderling[25]; 17. 29-Ryan Hare[17]; 18. 60H-Brian Huchko[22]; 19. 9R-Mike Reft[14]; 20. 25-Zachary Kane[9]; 21. 72B-Kassidy Kamicker[18]; 22. 75-Jared Miley[3]; 23. 60-Brandon Burgoon[2]; 24. 14AJ-AJ Miller[8]; 25. 14G-Jake Gunn[12]
ABBOTTSTOWN, PA (April 20, 2024): Anthony Macri made a triumphant return to the Keystone State. After spending a few weeks racing in the Midwest, Macri came back for some top-paying races in his own backyard. Weather claimed the first night of racing, at Williams Grove Speedway, but Macri made up for it by earning $20,000 in the 20th Annual Weldon Sterner Memorial at the Lincoln Speedway. It was his second victory of the season in the Pigeon Hills.
Macri, who was dominant running up near the wall in turns three and four, said “I think running out on the road made me more comfortable running up there, and running at that pace.” He did admit, though, that he did back off a bit in the late stages of the race in order to conserve his tires because this was the longest race he has run this season and he was not sure how the tires would hold up. “I was worried about tire wear. I had to run a good pace to make sure the tires would last.”
The luck of the draw put Macri on the pole for this forty lapper. Next to him was Aussie Ryan Newton. Billy Dietrich and Freddie Rahmer, Jr. were in the second row. Danny Dietrich was scheduled to start fifth, but a magneto problem forced him to pit just as the A Main was about to push off. The car could not be repaired in time to allow him to tag the tail of the field. So, Lucas Wolfe slid over to fifth and Troy Wagaman, Jr. became his dance partner. Cameron Smith and Kody Hartlaub were in row four. Behind them were Kyle Moody and Chad Trout, whose car was carrying the Sterner Cement wing to commemorate the event. Kyle Reinhart and Matt Campbell were in the sixth row.
Macri led Newton and Rahmer Jr. in the opening laps. Wagaman, Wolfe, Billy Dietrich, Moody, Smith, Campbell, and Hartlaub were next in line. A caution on lap three for Cory Haas bunched things up again, but the running order remained unchanged after the green lights came on again.
The first significant move occurred on lap twelve, when Rahmer Jr. worked the inside line to take over second. As Rahmer began his pursuit of Macri, Newton was busy keeping Wagaman and Wolfe at bay.
After a caution on lap sixteen for debris, Wagaman moved ahead of Newton, who struggled to stay ahead of Wolfe. In the second half of the race, Wolfe got stronger. He moved ahead of both Newton and Wagaman.
Macri continued out front, of course. Rahmer Jr. still held second, but Wolfe was closing in on him. Wagaman, Newton, and Campbell were battling for positions in the top five.
The final caution was displayed with seven laps remaining. Macri got away cleanly, and Wolfe resumed his attack on Rahmer Jr. As they contested the second spot, Macri began to pull away.
At the checkers, it was Macri ahead of Rahmer Jr. by over 2.4 seconds. Wolfe was a close third, followed by Wagaman and Newton. Billy Dietrich rallied in the closing laps to take sixth. Campbell, Devon Borden, Rinehart, and Brandon Rahmer completed the top ten.
Heat winners were Wolfe, Billy Dietrich, Macri, and Smith. Tyler Ross won the B Main. The evening’s fastest qualifier was Rahmer Jr., with a time of 13.768 seconds. He earned a $300 bonus for that accomplishment. Danny Dietrich received the hard luck award, worth $100. T.J. Stutts was the hard charger at plus eight. He, too, received $100 extra.
Ayden Hare will forever remember his sixteenth birthday, as he celebrated the occasion in victory lane after just his fourth 358 Sprint Car race. The teen drove a flawless race, leading wire to wire. “I am at a loss for words, I am so happy,” he said.
Scott Fisher had the pole, with Hare to his right. Behind them were Doug Hammaker and Frankie Herr. Row three consisted of Adam Carberry and Preston Lattomus. Jayden Wolf and Ashley Cappetta were in the fourth row. The fifth belonged to Mike Bittinger and Tyler Ulrich. Dylan Norris and Cody Fletcher claimed row six.
Hare won the race to turn one and he claimed the middle groove as his own. Fisher and Herr were side by side fighting for second, with Hammaker lurking in fourth. Carberry, Lattomus, Wolf, Bittinger, Cappetta, and Norris strung out behind the leaders.
Hare began to pull away from Fisher and Herr as they continued their struggle for second place.
A red flag on lap eleven for Wolf’s flip between turns three and four brought Hare back to the rest of the racers, but the teen had no trouble building his advantage up again in the final nine laps.
Hare, Fisher, Herr, Hammaker, and Carberry were the top five finishers. Bittinger, Cappetta, Norris, Lattomus, and Logan Rumsey were sixth through tenth. Wolf received the hard luck award and Jude Siegel was the hard charger, at plus seven. They each received $250.
Next week, Lincoln Speedway will present another 410 and 358 Sprint car doubleheader. The same two divisions will return on May 4. The World of Outlaws will be in for the Gettysburg Clash on May 8. There will be no racing on May 11, but the speedway will host the Hot Rod Annual for the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing.
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