“I think the deal with Dick Meyers came about because of us buying those shocks,” Schultz explained. “We won a lot of races that year (2008) and were a lot faster. People started to take notice. It helped Dick sell a lot of shocks.
“He was in between (sprint car) drivers at the time. Unfortunately, we didn‘t win any races together. But I was fast qualifier at Auto City, Toledo and Anderson, I set world records at Anderson at the time. We just had crappy luck.
“My time with Dick ended because I was committed to Dave and Lori May at the time with the super deal. We had a healthy schedule at that time. Between MSA and ISMA we probably had 20 to 22 shows. I think Dick was wanting to get back to running the sprint car full time. He and Brian Gerster ended up getting hooked up and he ended up taking over the ride permanently.”
After several wins and a lone championship, Schultz‘s time with the Mays ended in 2017.
“I was getting burned out. Dave and Lori‘s shop was an hour away. I had been driving for them for 12 years, driving up and down the highway. The supermodified car count was declining,” Schultz said. “Dave and Lori, I think, were looking at getting out of the car owner business and looking to run the series more so. I called Dave one day and told him, ‘I think I‘m gonna run my sprint car this weekend. If I‘m not having fun and enjoy what I‘m doing, it‘s not fair to you for me to come and race your car. It‘s not fair to you to have me run the car. You‘ll be better off to put somebody else in it.‘
“At first it wasn‘t really good. But Dave, Lori and I have talked a few times since. Every time I see them at the race track, they‘re very cordial and friendly. We probably get along as good as we once did before.”
Schultz was back in the sprint car business.
“We put the sprint car back together and me and John Reiser got teamed up to do a two-car team,” Schultz said. “He‘s got a shop five minutes from my work where I work as a fabricator at Greber Racing Components in Elyria and 15 minutes from home. So when you‘re doing stuff and it‘s right in your own back yard basically, it puts the fun back into things.”
Schultz began running with the Must See Racing Sprint Series in 2018. MSR victories were hard to come by. Some of the best winged pavement sprit car drivers compete with MSR and Schultz had his work cut out for him.
Never one to back down from a challenge, Schultz claimed his first MSR victory at Michigan‘s Berlin Raceway on Aug. 18, 2018.
That was the first step to winning the MSR title in 2022 when Schultz may have enjoyed his finest season with the series despite not winning a feature.
“Last year after my original car got destroyed, Jon Henes was gracious enough to let us use his Dynamite chassis,” Schultz said. “We put it together and got it ready for the second race last year. We won at the Indianapolis Speedrome with it. I think getting into that Dynamite car got me back to where I felt like I was able to race again instead of making laps. Then we got a Hurricane chassis and got it together at the end of the year last year. We ran strong to end last year. Then we came out of the box strong this year. We set a track record at South Boston. It just carried over from there.”
Schultz‘s championship was anything but easy. In fact, it came down to the final race at Jennerstown (Pa.) Speedway on Aug. 27. Two weeks earlier, Schultz crashed with Little 500 winner Tyler Roahrig during the Bob Frey Classic at Lorain Raceway Park and did serious damage to his car.
“I was pretty dejected after the Lorain wreck. You‘re in tight points battle and somebody comes in who‘s not running for points, they‘re just filling in for somebody. Somebody of their caliber racer makes just a huge mistake and it ends up taking us out,” Schultz said. “I was going by him on the bottom as he was spinning. I was down as low as I could get and I was on the throttle trying to get by him.
“He started spinning and it was like he either never lifted or didn‘t hit the brakes and came right down into the side of me. When you see the shock and spring laying in the infield, you know you‘re done for the night.”
Schultz had to decide what was next.
“It did frame damage and tore up a lot of stuff. At that point I was just trying to mentally get over what had happened,”he noted. “I hate to say I race for points, but if your first or second in points, you‘d be lying if you said you weren‘t worried about them. I ultimately decided to go because I‘m a racer. I‘m gonna be pissed off for a couple days. I‘m gonna put me head down, get things fixed and put the car back together.”