Donny Schatz Chases Fourth Straight Castrol Raceway Win in Oil City Cup
EDMONTON, Alberta— August 26, 2015 — Only two drivers have ever swept both nights of the Oil City Cup for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton. One is Joey Saldana, who accomplished the feat in 2009. The other — six-time and defending series champion Donny Schatz, who won both ends of the two-night event last year. The pair of wins capped off an undefeated 2014 for the veteran driver in Canada, as he went five-for-five in terms of wins “North of the Border.”
Schatz returns to Castrol Raceway on Friday, August 27 and Saturday, August 28, looking extend his win streak at the track to four. He also is looking for his third straight win overall, after sweeping last weekend’s pair of events in his home state of North Dakota.
“Racing in Canada is always a lot of fun,” said Schatz. “We’ve always had great races when we’ve come go up there and always enjoyed it. We had a great weekend last year in Edmonton and all of Canada as well for that matter. We’ve only raced once in Canada so far this year, due to Mother Nature, and we finished second, so we certainly want to better that by one position.”
Schatz has competed in all 16 previous races at Castrol Raceway for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series (one of just two drivers to lay a stake to that claim) and has finished in the top-10 in each and every one. He has 13 top-five finishes at the track, of which four are wins, which make him the winningest driver with the series at Castrol Raceway. Schatz’s win in the finale of the 2013 Oil City Cup was a hard-fought victory, as he was forced to race a backup car, after a hard crash during hot laps. He was victorious for the first time at Castrol Raceway in 2007.
Heading into the Oil City Cup this weekend, Schatz has won 25 A-Feature events with the World of Outlaws, which puts him just one victory behind the career-high 26 he captured last year. Schatz recently won the Knoxville Nationals, the biggest event in sprint car racing, for the ninth time in the last 10 years. With his two wins last weekend, Schatz has 197 career A-Feature wins with the World of Outlaws. Only two drivers in the 38-year history of the series have surpassed the 200-win mark — 20-time series champion Steve Kinser and three-time series titlist Sammy Swindell.
“This whole race team does a phenomenal job,” Schatz said of his Tony Stewart Racing team. “I’m the lucky guy that gets to drive it and the crew deserves more credit than anyone for the year we’ve been having. We are always trying to get better and right now, we’re kind of in a learning spot right now trying some different things. Some nights it’s better, some nights it’s not. We shoot for wins every night and that is why we do this.”
At one point in June of this year, Schatz had a five-race winning streak. He also had a stretch in which he finished first or second in 19 straight full point paying events. Schatz leads the series in wins, top-five finishes, top-10 finishes and laps led and holds a commanding lead of 400-plus points over Shane Stewart as he chases his seventh World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series title.
Tickets for the Ninth Annual Oil City Cup at Castrol Raceway can be purchased online at http://castrolraceway.tix.com or by calling the track at 780-468-FAST (3278)
Twitter: @SLS_Promotions
Facebook: SLS Promotions LLC
