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Hoosier Hospitality: Schatz
Wins at Lawrenceburg to Pick up First Career Win in Indiana Lawrenceburg,
IN - Donny Schatz competed in the state of Indiana for the first time back in 1997 during his rookie season with the World
of Outlaws. In nearly 40 career starts in the Hoosier State leading into Saturday night's finale at Lawrenceburg Speedway,
the three-time and defending series champion had finished second or third six times in the state, but was still looking for
that elusive first victory. He changed that all on Saturday night as he battled Jason Meyers and Joey Saldana to pick up the
win at the pristine high-banked 3/8-mile located in Southeastern Indiana.  It was Schatz's seventh win of the 2009 campaign and
the 95th of his World of Outlaws career as he looks to become just the fifth driver in the 30-plus year history of the series
to win 100 A-Feature events. He pocketed $10,000 on Saturday night for his Tony Stewart Racing team, which is based in Indiana,
which is also the home state of his car owner. For Schatz, it was his first win of the year on a track other than a half-mile. “What a night,” said Schatz. “These guys, Ricky
(Warner), Shane (Bowers) and Eric (Prutzman) do an awesome job with this race car. A guy gets down and out once in a while
and we don't want to stay there long. I can't thank those guys enough. We have struggled on shorts tracks and we came here
this weekend and felt awesome last night. We didn't get to show it last night and tonight we did.” The 35-lap contest began with Jason Meyers who started on the pole leading the field into
turns one and two, with Joey Saldana taking second from Schatz on the opening circuit. Meyers pulled away early in the race
in open track. The leaders were in lapped traffic by just the sixth go-around giving Saldana a chance to close in on Meyers.
Saldana tried the extreme high side of the track and nearly got into the wall a couple of times, allowing Schatz to close
in on him and Meyers.
Saldana used
the low line on the 16th lap in an attempt to work his way past Meyers, though he could not quite make the pass. The next
lap he again looked low in turns one and two. A couple of laps later, he slid under Meyers in turn two in heavy traffic, and
both drivers washed up the track, allowing Schatz to get under Saldana and slip into second. Schatz then got around Meyers
in turns three and four to take the lead on the very same lap, going from third to first a matter of half a track. “When the race started, I didn't want to be the guy out
front leading,” he noted. “I didn't know where to go. I'm glad that Jason (Meyers) got the start there. Joey (Saldana)
and him got to racing and we just had to wait for lapped traffic. My car was good the longer the race went and we had to move
around and go where they were not. My car was sticking in places it should have been and it's awesome for me to drive.” Schatz
quickly began to pull away once he took the lead, as he worked to clear some of the lapped cars with Saldana running second.
As Schatz lengthened his lead, Meyers closed back in on Saldana. That battled ended on the 30th lap as Saldana came to a stop
on the back straightaway with a broken U-Joint which ended his night. Schatz used a strong restart to pull away from Meyers who running second. The second and final
caution of the night flew just one lap later. Again on the restart, Schatz quickly pulled away for the final five circuits
and won by nearly three seconds in the Armor All J&J.
“Your tires cool down on
those yellows and lose some air because the bleeders do their job and probably work too good,” explained the winner
of the two late restarts. “I was a little nervous that maybe the tires had gone down too far and I was going to get
too loose. I was loose those last five or six laps. I just had to pretend I was a pinball in the pinball machine and roll
around the cushion and keep the pedal to the metal and get it done.” Meyers led the first 18 laps of the race and wound up second in the GLR Investments KPC, after holding off a late
charge from Danny Lasoski. For Meyers, it was his eighth Top-Five finish of the season. “Obviously we are disappointed,” stated Meyers. “We don't come out here
to run second, but Donny (Schatz) did a great job. I had a little trouble getting through lapped traffic. I made some wrong
decisions with a lapped car and just got beat.”
Meyers had a couple of opportunities
to challenge Schatz in the late going on restarts, but was not able to get a run on the leader. After a solid weekend at Lawrenceburg
helped the California native move into the third spot in points as he chases his first career World of Outlaws title. “I hoped that I would, but Donny got out in clean air,”
he said when asked if he had anything for Schatz on the late restarts. “With the wing package that we have, clean air
makes these cars go a lot faster. Being in second is not a good thing on a restart. We had a good race car, just not good
enough.”
Danny Lasoski finished third in
the Casey's General Stores JEI to pick up his 11th Top-Five finish of the season. He got around Lucas Wolfe on the opening
lap and then did all he could to track down Schatz who at the time was running third. “We had a pretty good car,” said the 2001 World of Outlaws champion. “We
started fifth and got to third and were making some good progress. I can't thank Lonnie Parsons enough for this opportunity.
It's a great honor to drive this car. We keep getting better each week.” Steve Kinser recovered to finish fourth in the Quaker
State Maxim, after falling back to 12th on the third lap after getting crossed up in turn four. Jason Sides was fifth in the
Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim, with Lucas Wolfe sixth in the Allebach Racing Maxim. Jac Haudenschild was seventh in the
Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim, with three-time series champion Sammy Swindell eighth in the Tom Rolfe Trucking Maxim. Terry
McCarl was ninth aboard the Big Game Treestands Maxim, with Craig Dollansky rounding out the Top-10 in the DirecTV Maxim.
SCR
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2006 StockCar Review.