INDIANAPOLIS (June 26, 2014) – With a grueling schedule of 92 nights of racing, the stars of the World of Outlaws (WoO) Sprint Car Series tour rarely get time to catch their breath. That’s been a way of life Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz. The more they are at the track, the better. This weekend the series will max out their time with three races in three nights at tracks in Iowa and Wisconsin.
Schatz will lead the Outlaws into battle as they hit the dirt at 34 Raceway (Burlington, Iowa) Friday, Beaver Dam (Wis.) Speedway Saturday and Cedar Lake Speedway (Somerset, Wis.) Sunday. The five-time WoO STP Sprint Car Series champion and driver of the TSR No. 15 STP/Armor All/Crimsafe J&J currently holds the top position in the championship standings and is coming off his sixth victory of the season last Friday night at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D.
Kinser is continuing his final season chasing his 21st WoO title, a season being recognized as the World of Outlaws “Salute to the King Tour.” The driver of the TSR No. 11 Bad Boy Buggies/J.D. Byrider/Chevrolet Performance Maxim is coming off an eighth-place finish Saturday at I-94 Speedway in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.
The three races conclude the month of June which has already seen the Outlaws compete in six different states and begins a stretch of eight consecutive weeks with three or more races each week.
Both drivers are still seeking their first victory at 34 Raceway. The 3/8-mile, dirt oval has hosted the “The Greatest Show on Dirt” three times in the past. Kinser finished a close second in the Outlaws’ debut at the track back in 2008 before finishing 11th in 2009 and ninth last season. Records indicate he has won WoO A-Features at 142 different tracks during his illustrious career. He’d certainly like to make 34 number 143 on the list by scoring his 578th career A-Feature win Friday. Second is also the best finish for Schatz in Burlington. He finished sixth in 2008 and fourth last season, but his night in 2009 was his best at the track. After qualifying 11th, he raced from seventh into the lead in the 35-lap A-Feature. After leading 20 laps, Schatz lost the top spot on restart to Joey Saldana and wasn’t able to retake the top spot.
Finishing first in Wisconsin has been a more frequent result for the TSR tandem. Kinser won the Outlaws debut at Cedar Lake back in 1983 and has won a total five WoO main events at the 3/8-mile, dirt oval. He is also a two-time winner at Beaver Dam, with his most recent win at the 1/3-mile, high-banked dirt oval coming in August 2008. Last season, Kinser finished 10th at Beaver Dam and raced from 14th to third at Cedar Lake. Schatz has one victory at Beaver Dam and that came in July 2002. He scored consecutive wins at Cedar Lake winning in both 2008 and 2009. In 2013, he raced from 13th to fourth at Beaver Dam before a roller coaster of a night at Cedar Lake, which included him racing from fifth and nearly taking the lead to being collected in a crash with three lapped cars and then getting his car upside down later in the race. He would finish 18th.
The three races will mark nights 40, 41 and 42 of the 2014 WoO campaign. Consistency has allowed Schatz to remain on top of the standings. His six wins, a series-high 25 top-fives and 34 top-10s has helped him build a 27-point lead over Daryn Pittman. Kinser has one victory on the season and ranks eighth overall.
For Friday’s event at 34 Raceway, the pit gates will open at 2 p.m. CDT with the grandstands opening at 4 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. For more details, visit www.34raceway.com.
For Saturday’s Jim Boyd Memorial at Beaver Dam Raceway, the pit gates will open at 2 p.m. CDT with the grandstands opening at 4 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. For more details, call Beaver Dam Raceway at (920) 887-1600, or visit www.wismotorsports.net.
Sunday at Cedar Lake Speedway, the pit gates will open at 2 p.m. CDT with the grandstands opening at 4 p.m. Racing is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. For more details and ticket information, call the track at (866) 425-7386, or visit www.cedarlakespeedway.com.
Race fans unable to attend this weekend’s races 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 updated results from each night of racing, as well as a chat room to interact with other race fans.
Steve Kinser, Driver of the No. 11 TSR/Bad Boy Buggies/J.D. Byrider/Chevrolet Performance Maxim:
With the calendar almost to July, it means the season is nearly halfway over. What have been some of the biggest surprises you’ve experienced during this final year on tour?
“Honestly, we were hoping to be racing quite a bit better than we have been the past couple of months. As a competitor you just want to go out there and feel like you can get up there and mix it up for the wins. We have had some bad luck leading heat races and crashes to start some races, but that’s all part of it I guess. The best part about the season so far has been how the great the fans have been. I really wasn’t sure I wanted to come back out and run another full season, but I’m sure glad Dana and Tony talked me into it. I’ve had so many fans come up to me and just tell me some great stories. And a lot of them haven’t even been Steve Kinser fans. It’s been quite humbling and certainly something that I’ll never forget.”
Speaking of racing, this weekend’s venues have been good to you in the past. Do you feel like previous results could help you and the Bad Boy Buggies team have the kind of success you’d like?
“As a racer, you always look forward to the next race. We’ve only been to Burlington a few times and I do remember that first time having a pretty good night. I think we had a shot at the win, but the track was so fast passing for the lead just wasn’t possible. And then both the tracks up in Wisconsin have always been pretty racy. Beaver Dam is a fun place to race and I’ve had some great nights at Cedar Lake. I’d like to to be able go out put some good runs together for (crew chief) Scott (Gerkin), (car chief) Gary (DuBois) and (crewman) Mark (Angerett). We’ve all been working hard trying to get out of this stretch we’re in. We had a little better run last Saturday in Minnesota and maybe we can build on that this week.”
Donny Schatz, Driver of the No. 15 TSR/STP/Armor All/Crimsafe J&J:
This weekend starts a pretty busy stretch of racing for you. Do you put goals out there for the next few weeks or is the plan just to continue winning races and keep getting better?
“We’ve been working on consistency lately. Our qualifying program has gotten better and we just have to keep our racing program at a high level. Winning is what we come out to do and we’ve gotten one in June so far and that’s not quite where we want to be. Last year was pretty stellar when you look at us winning 23 races. We have to get the speed picked up if we want to match that total. The big picture is always to have enough wins to challenge for a championship and be at our best during the biggest races. We’re gaining on it. We’ve had some really good runs lately and the guys all got to go home this week and recharge their batteries a little bit.”
Does anything standout about 34 Raceway, Beaver Dam or Cedar Lake that gives you some added confidence?
“We don’t usually have a whole lot of races in Iowa other than Knoxville, so we are looking forward to getting to Burlington. We’re still trying to get a win there and I know it feels like forever since we won at Beaver Dam. And Cedar Lake, we felt like we had a shot at winning last year and had a freak incident on a red flag. The good news is that each of those tracks have provided some good racing and as a driver that’s all you can ask for. It’s fun to go out and put on an exciting show and have the fans tell you they had a great time. To me, that’s what it’s all about.”
About Armored AutoGroup
Armored AutoGroup Inc., headquartered in Danbury, Conn., is primarily comprised of the Armor All®, STP® and Tuff Stuff® brands. The current Armor All product line of protectants, wipes, tire and wheel care products, glass cleaners, leather care products and car washes are designed to clean, shine and protect interior and exterior automobile surfaces. The STP product line of fuel and oil additives, functional fluids and automotive appearance products have a broad customer base ranging from professional racers to car enthusiasts and “Do-it-Yourselfers”. Tuff Stuff cleaning products are formulated to tackle the toughest jobs.
Armored AutoGroup has a diversified geographic footprint with direct operations in the United States, Canada, Australia and the U.K. and distributor relationships in approximately 50 countries. For more information, please visit www.armorall.com and www.stp.com.
About Bad Boy Buggies
Bad Boy Buggies is a leader in off-road utility vehicles for hunting and outdoor lifestyles. Bad Boy Buggies pioneered the category of electrically powered 4×4 vehicles, ideal for hunting and outdoor recreation due to their silent, odorless operation and environmentally friendly, emissions-free drivetrains.
Today, the Bad Boy Buggies product line ranges from four-wheel-drive electric hunting machines such as the Recoil, a fully electric, 4WD vehicle with an innovative, highly efficient 72-volt AC electric drivetrain, to the Work Series of diesel and gas-powered utility vehicles, including the Bad Boy Buggies XD, a versatile 4WD, diesel-powered utility vehicle with a total capacity of 1,600 pounds. In 2010, the Bad Boy Buggies brand and product line were acquired by E-Z-GO, a business unit of Textron Inc.
For more information, please visit www.badboybuggies.com.
