CONCORD, N.C. — Ten-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car champion Donny Schatz is ready to make a run at an 11th title next season.
It will mark Schatz’s 29th consecutive season with The Greatest Show on Dirt and 18th since joining forces with Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing in 2008. Next year will also be the 25th season of sprint car racing for Tony Stewart’s team since he unleashed TSR in 2001.
Schatz has already assembled a résumé that puts him among sprint car racing’s greats. His 10 World of Outlaws titles headline the accomplishments. He’s won the Knoxville Nationals 11 times, claimed six Kings Royal crowns, and topped the National Open on a record six occasions. Schatz’s 316 series victories rank behind only Steve Kinser’s 690 and Sammy Swindell’s 394.
But Schatz’s isn’t thinking about what he’s already done. He’s focused on what’s next. The next win. The next championship. Schatz wants his 11th, and he wants to give “Smoke” his 10th as an owner. It’s not only what he wants. It’s what he expects.
“That would be awesome,” Schatz said of potentially earning another championship. “To get him (Stewart) a 10th one is what our goal is. Honestly, that’s what our expectations are. That’s what our partners expect from us. That’s what my team expects from me. That’s what I expect from them. That’s what makes this all tick, but this sport doesn’t get any easier. It gets tougher. There’s a lot of great guys out there. There’s a lot of guys that have worked hard to get where they’re at. That’s why they call it racing. That’s why we love it. It’s never-ending challenges, never-ending competition.”
Schatz is fresh off a third-place finish in the standings aboard the No. 15, his 17th time finishing inside the top three with the country’s best sprint car drivers. The hunger is as strong as ever. He knows he’s got plenty left in the tank. There’s nobody Tony Stewart would rather have in the car as his team celebrates a quarter century of competition.
“It’s awesome,” Stewart said of another year with Schatz behind the wheel. “He’s the perfect guy. It’s not always a perfect day with him because he demands perfection. He wants it a certain way, but when you can give him what he wants, the stats and the record books show he gets the job done when you get it right for him. We have the same passion and drive and desire to win races and championships. I can remember even being at Knoxville in victory lane and standing on the stage with him, and I’m happy and smiling and high fiving the guys, and he’s (Schatz) mad. And I’m like, ‘You realize the won the race, right?’ And he’s mad because there’s something we could’ve done better still. That’s what I love about him. He just knows what he’s looking for.”