Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Donny Schatz continued his record-setting season Saturday by leading all 25 laps of the World of Outlaws (WoO) STP Sprint Car Series A-Feature at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park in Elbridge, N.Y. The five-time and reigning series champion took the lead at the drop of the green flag and raced away to capture his 22nd A-Feature triumph of the season aboard the TSR No. 15 STP/Armor All/Chevrolet Performance J&J.
“It was a good night,” Schatz said following his 146th career WoO A-Feature victory. “I qualified decently and had a good heat race. We were really good in the dash and built on it for the feature. The STP guys (Rick Warner, Steve Swenson, Jim Oare and Eric Prutzman) did a really good job all night long. They kept finding ways to make this car better and more fun for me to drive.”
Schatz qualified fifth in the field of 27 entries and raced his way into the dash by driving from fourth into second on the opening lap of heat two. The dash inversion was six and put Schatz on the outside of the front row for the six-lap race. The Fargo, N.D., racer beat Paul McMahan to the first corner and stormed away to earn his 10th pole position of the season. The start of the A-Feature was reminiscent of the dash as Schatz raced away from McMahan and built a sizeable advantage. Lapped traffic late in the race was the only thing that slowed Schatz down, but he was able to maneuver through the backmarkers en route to his third career victory at the 5/8-mile dirt oval.
“The car was a rocket right from the start,” Schatz said. “I tried to play lapped traffic smart and get around them as quickly as I could without jeopardizing anything. I never heard anyone close to me and figured we were in pretty good shape. We came here with the goal of winning the race and we accomplished that.”
The victory kept Schatz’s chances alive for the 2013 WoO STP Sprint Car Series championship. Schatz trails leader Daryn Pittman by 52 points with two races remaining.
The TSR teams will conclude the 2013 WoO season in just over three weeks with the World Finals at The Dirt Track @ Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. The World Finals open with a qualifying-night program Thursday, Nov. 7. Two complete shows follow Friday and Saturday. Schatz was the 2008 finale winner and also swept the two-night program in 2011.