Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Nice win by Shatz in Fargo..Hometown boy does well..Sure had the Ford hooked up tonight especially in the @1-2 corner..Good win..Even the pool tables were good and quick..

He seems to be back. Would have won Knoxville if not for Larson and seems to be peaking late in the race like the old days. Should be an interesting last part of the season. 

I've been thinking all summer that maybe he should give up on the "Ford". I don't think he's lost anything as a driver

I'm sure he has a feel for his local track...

We'll see....

BUT CONGRATULATIONS!.... I find myself rooting for Donnie more often now

When no one was going to take over RRVS the Shatz clan took over and made it the size it is now..Later after successful the fairboard didn't re lease the track back to Schatz and there are some bad feelings there..Fairboard screwed Schatz and his family..glad he won last night and hope Danny was there to see it..I'am sure he was..

Donny hasn't lost a thing. It's been sad watching his talent go to waste the past couple years. Hopefully they finally have the engine program in sync with the rest of the package. It does seem like they're getting close. He still has lots of wins left and another championship or 3. 

I think Tony takes good care of Donny S..  You drive the car the owner hands you, you do not ask for an engine make change.  I expect Donny to win more.  Remember Donny at Knoxville just 1 week ago.  I think he won about $82,000 on Sat, alone.  I do not think the Ford engine let him down.

Would've won Knoxville if it was 51 laps. He was better than Larson at the end. 

He was clearly the best car on the bottom.   I was curious why Larson moved to the bottom since he had such a big lead running the top.   Maybe the top was going away?    Definetly a great showing for Donny at Knoxville.  

He could see the rubber on the bottom and knew he'd be a sitting duck on top in a couple of laps. While Schatz was faster than Larson at the end, I'm not sure there was anywhere on the track that would have allowed him to pass Larson. I think Larson knew that and just rode it out at the end.

love those rubber down race tracks!

I wonder how much Larson had left in the tank?  I suspect he was holding back a little bit to make sure he didn't make any mistakes in the last few laps.  Maybe not and his tires were gone and he was holding on.  We'll never know.  Schatz definitely had a good car at the end and he was better than all but one car.

Larson said in the post race interview that he knew it looked like he was struggling, and that was by design.  he said he wanted to stay on the rubber, but far enough back of the lapped car to keep the air on the front spoiler.  was that a bunch of bs, who knows, but, thats what he said.  if needed, i think he had ALOT left

as far as schatz in fargo... the man was in a differnt leauge on saturday.   he went thru 1-2 so fast, he was putting about 5-6 lenghts on second everyh lap.  best ive seen that car work up north in awhile.  cuddos to the staff at the RRVS...it was a fast racey surface the whole night.  fun to watch

Tricky Ricky was with the crew at Huset's.

If Donnie's main concern was $$, he could sell insurance.

He's a sprint car driver & I'm sure he wants to WIN

My money says Schatz wont be back in the 15 next year.  Bet hes running anything but that Ford.

Schatz will be back in the 15 (it's his number) but I'm guessing it'll be at a different place

Wow. I thought I was the only one thinking that Donny might get the hell out of dodge. It really wouldn't surprise me. He's as fierce of a competitor as there ever was in the sport. Everything he does, he does it trying to be great. The dude eats, sleeps and shits excellence. He's still got it. There's no question about it and he could win many more races and some more championships but at this point, it doesn't look likely to happen in his current situation. He had a hell of a run with TSR but I wouldn't be surprised if he goes a different direction. He's said before that he knows there's a lot of times that they show up at certain tracks and he knows there's zero chance for them to win. That isn't something that Donny Schatz will ever accept. He stuck around for longer than many people would have trying to figure the Ford experiment out but at this point if I were him, I'd be looking at the fact that I'm in my 40's and I have more years behind me than in front and if I want to finish my career the way a legend deserves to, I'm at least exploring other options. If he goes to another team or starts his own deal, it could take a bit to get it going full tilt so he may lose another year or so just getting the kinks ironed out and/or getting comfortable in new surroundings. At any rate, there's no debate that Donny is far better than his team is these days.

I think you could make the case Schatz is looking for something else, but the question would be what? Would he start his own team again? Who are the car owners who could support that type of operation? Would he bring sponsors?

Also, teams that split up the following year and became a lame duck usually start to suck after Knoxville.Even if they struggle up to and including Knoxville, they really start running poorly after the funding starts to dry up etc.. Schatz is peaking, and just got a new motor he really likes. Doesn't look like a lame duck operation yet. 

Will be interesting. 

If I had to guess, he will go to an already established team but be an added car. Base everything out of his shop in Fargo and be right back to where he was in years past without even a little hiccup

Kyle Larson Racing. Now that larson is back on his feet I think he starts his team up again and hires Schatz to drive.