Schuchart likes where they are headed. “Ron Helmick is my car chief,” Logan says. “He has been with me since the end of 2018. Ben Witman is the tire guy and he also drives the truck, which has taken a big load off of my grandfather. Tyler Garber is Jacob‘s car chief and team leader, and Brendan Collum is his tire guy.”
The other big item that has boosted the team was the acquisition of Drydene sponsorship. In fact, at this point, the entire operation has the spit polish that one expects to find in a leading World of Outlaws team. The transformation is stark enough to lead Schuchart to say with a laugh, “You can‘t call us scruffy anymore.”
If there were any doubts about what was possible, the 2019 season put them to bed. Schuchart finished in the fifth position in the final standings and, as important, he posted eight wins. With runner-up finishes at both the Knoxville Nationals and the Kings Royal to his credit, it is also clear he is prepared to be a prime time player.
Because he is looking farther down the road, Bobby has given the two drivers the ownership of their team, but believes in pooling resources so everyone pulls in the same direction. “I have taught them from day one to be able to run this show without me,” he says, “so they won‘t ever be out of a ride. I‘m just trying to teach them so they can get better and race forever. I have tried to tell them how to do it, and how to cut corners. I have always been good at running race cars, and I have done it my whole life because I run this as a business.”
As for Logan Schuchart and Bobby Allen, winning a championship for Shark Racing is now within reach. As the World of Outlaws calendar reached August, Allen felt that his grandson was “in contention to run second to fourth, and is a dark horse to win the points.”
It‘s where he expected Logan to be. “Every year I can tell you how he has progressed,” Allen says. “Three or four years ago I was big on explaining to him how you pass cars. Then he started doing that better and better. Now he is doing a better job of moving around the race track. You have to be willing to go high, low, and in the middle.” In his mind, Logan‘s mid-July victory at the Terre Haute Action Track was an indication that he is absorbing the latest lesson.
While the arrow is pointing north, winning a championship is still a tall hurdle. Schuchart acknowledges that to accomplish this lofty goal he has to be on his game every night and, most of all, eliminate silly mistakes. “The World of Outlaw races are ran heads up and, for me, that is the way it should be. You earn your spot. If you‘re fast, you start up front. There are times where we have qualified well but not ran as well as we should have in the heat race. So, you lose those spots and then you are starting 10th or 12th, so maybe you get back to sixth at the finish. But that‘s the difference between winning or finishing sixth-to-10th. It‘s all about eliminating mistakes.”
Eliminating mistakes also means knowing when to accept your fate on a given night, and not throwing a quality finish away in a desperate attempt to win. Throttling back is a hard thing to do for a competitive person, but if your eyes are on the big prize it is often what the situation dictates.
Given where he found himself in the season standings coming down the stretch, he has no choice but to look at the points. “I would be lying if I said we weren‘t looking at it that way,” he admits. “We want to win every race we can, but I can‘t make rookie mistakes. Like Beaver Dam, where I had a chance to win the race and I pushed it a little too hard and ended up having a DNF. That‘s stuff you can‘t do if you are going to have a championship run, and we are at the level now where we feel we can run with those guys. Those are mistakes I can‘t make. Sometimes you have to run second or third instead of pushing it too far. The goal is to win races, but to get a top five, or a podium, still helps you win a championship.”
On this point Logan and his grandfather are in perfect accord. “I was upset with him when he crashed when he was running second,” Bobby admitted. “What (Donny) Schatz has had for years is the same crew, same motor builders, and he drives very, very well. He‘s not a driver who crowds you. Schatz races hard, races clean, and he doesn‘t crash. He wins championships because of consistency. If you are going to win championships you can‘t be out there crashing.
“Logan told me he was going for the win and I said I understood that. I also told him I never cared about championships, because for me it was about winning and making money. But I was doing my own deal. Now we have sponsors, and sponsors want championships. So, I reminded him he has to watch himself. I told him, ‘You have to run hard, but you have to run smart like Schatz does.‘”
Whatever disappointments have come along the way, the prevailing feeling is one of elation. The puzzles are getting completed and the entire group is climbing up the ladder. By taking charge of his own team, Schuchart is laying the groundwork for his future. He makes decisions on setups and has reached that point where he can even trust his own instincts. Sure, he has a notebook, but sometimes he feels it is best to put the notebook away and just pay attention to what is unfolding in front of him.
While he is always on the go, he can still take a moment or two to reflect on the remarkable journey he has been a part of. “We are very proud of what we built,” he says. “And I admire what Jason Johnson did with his team, and I can see myself doing the same thing he did and like my grandfather has done. I want to run my own team.”
While it is fun to ponder the future, there are many rewards just sitting there waiting to be claimed. He knows how and why this all happened to him. “It was my grandfather‘s dream and vision since the beginning of this deal to get this team to this level and to have both Jacob and me competing for wins. To compete with the best of the best has been a journey and an adventure these last few years on the Outlaw tour.