Contact: World Racing Group Tony Veneziano, World of Outlaws PR Director 704-467-7803 * [email protected]

Strong Start for Schatz: Wins World of Outlaws Season Opener

Barberville, FL- February 6, 2009-Donny Schatz picked up exactly where he left off last season on Friday night and that was in Victory Lane in the season opening 38th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series.

The three-time and defending World of Outlaws champion tracked down Jason Sides in heavy lapped traffic on the 11th lap and led the remainder of the 30-lap contest that went nonstop to earn the $10,000 top prize, which was the 89th A-Feature win of his World of Outlaws career. It was the third win in the last four days of the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH for Schatz, who now has seven wins in his career at the half-mile.

"This is where we want to be," said Schatz. "We wanted to get the first one under our belts and keep at it. We have this thing rolling very well and the guys are communicating very well. We are all doing what we are supposed to do and having fun."

Schatz began the night by turning the fastest lap in time trials and went on to win the Crane Cams Dash to start on the pole in the A-Feature aboard the Armor All J&J. He led the field into turn one, with Sides using a slidejob in turns three and four to take the early lead. He set a blistering pace over the first five laps before entering lapped traffic, which allowed Schatz to close the gap, as his car came to life.

Schatz was right on Sides on the ninth lap sliding to the lead in turns one and two, with Sides battling right back, retaking the lead in turns three and four to be officially scored the leader at the line. The pair battled for the next couple of laps in traffic, with Schatz making the pass for the lead and ultimately the win on the 11th circuit.

"I used my tire pretty hard and had to be cool with it," Schatz explained. "The worst place to be is leading a race until you know what you want. That's kind of the way it went. Jason (Sides) was kind of better than me at the beginning and I had to wait for my car to come to me a little bit. Once that car came to me it was really good. We're learning from every little thing we do right now and that's the most important thing."

Sides wound up second in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim to earn his second podium finish of the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH. Dating back to the end of last season, Sides has finished sixth or better in seven of his last eight starts in a sprint car. The 2003 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year, charged by Greg Hodnett on the final lap to earn the runner-up finish.

"It was great to start the year off with a good run," said Sides. "Hopefully we can keep it going tomorrow night. To be able to run with those guys is a pleasure for us. You can run with Donny (Schatz) and Greg Hodnett and know they won't crash you. It gives our team some good hope for the rest of the year."

Greg Hodnett battled Sides for a number of laps in the middle of the race taking the second spot on the 12th lap and setting his sights on Schatz. He wound up third in the Macri Concrete JEI, after finishing seventh on Thursday night in the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH. He began the night by winning the second heat race.

"We had a good middle stage of the race," said Hodnett, the 1993 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year. "In traffic at the end, we just didn't make it happen and got passed back. For a while we caught up to Donny (Schatz) and just followed him around. He was a little maneuverability wise. My hat is off to my crew, they did a great job. We'll just keep plugging away and hopefully get better yet."

Kraig Kinser wound up fourth in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim, with three-time World of Outlaws champion Sammy Swindell rounding out the Top-Five in the Tom Rolfe Trucking Maxim.

Steve Kinser was sixth in the Quaker State Maxim, with Cody Darrah in seventh aboard the J&K Salvage Maxim, with Jason Meyers in eighth in the GLR Investments KPC, Jac Haudenschild ninth in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim and Terry McCarl 10th in the Big Game Treestands Maxim.

38th ANNUAL ALLTEL DIRTCAR NATIONALS BY UNOH NIGHT ONE NOTES

* FAST QUALIFIER: Donny Schatz paced the 40 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the semi-banked half-mile oval at 13.125 seconds at 137.143 mph. For his qualifying effort, Schatz earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Cody Darrah (4), Terry McCarl (3), Steve Kinser (2), and Jac Haudenschild (1).

* QUALIFYING WINNERS: Kraig Kinser, Greg Hodnett, Sammy Swindell and Bronson Maeschen won heat races...Donny Schatz won the Crane Cams Dash....Cody Darrah won the B-Main. * FEATURE WINNERS: There has been one World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature event held in 2009. The winner was Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park).

* HALF-MILE WINNERS: Volusia Speedway Park is a semi-banked half-mile oval. The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series has raced once this season on a track that size. The winner was Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park).

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; 38th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH; Volusia Speedway Park; Barberville, FL; February 6, 2009

Qualifying

1) 15-Donny Schatz 13.125

2) 89-Cody Darrah 13.126

3) 24-Terry McCarl 13.189

4) 11-Steve Kinser 13.232

5) R19-Jac Haudenschild 13.246

6) 25-Daryn Pittman 13.255

7) 1-Stevie Smith 13.266

8) 14-Jason Meyers 13.267

9) 20-Kraig Kinser 13.291

10) 19-Craig Dollansky 13.328

11) 7S-Jason Sides 13.347

12) 6-Danny Lasoski 13.385

13) 55-Chad Layton 13.393

14) 22H-Greg Hodnett 13.394

15) 10-Sammy Swindell 13.395

16) 96-Bronson Maeschen 13.404

17) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson 13.416

18) 30C-Lance Dewease 13.416

19) 39-Doug Esh 13.430

20) 3C-Cale Conley 13.441

21) 9-Joey Saldana 13.474

22) 83JR-Tim Kaeding 13.476

23) 55M-Kerry Madsen 13.482

24) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 13.492

25) 1X-Randy Hannagan 13.497

26) 7M-Mark Smith 13.498

27) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 13.511

28) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 13.516

29) 11E-Mike Erdley 13.581

30) 9X-Gary Wright 13.589

31) 4-Danny Smith 13.595

32) 8K-Chad Kemenah 13.602

33) O-Glenn Styres 13.655

34) 93-Bob Schaeffer 13.678

35) 51-Fred Rahmer 13.720

36) 13-Jesse Hockett 13.754

37) 89G-David Gravel 13.767

38) 4B-Tom Busch 13.773

39) 22TI-Brian Ellenberger 13.787

40) 17-Pat Cannon 13.985

Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 20-Kraig Kinser

2) R19-Jac Haudenschild

3) 15-Donny Schatz

4) 9-Joey Saldana

5) 55-Chad Layton

6) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson

7) 11E-Mike Erdley

8) 1X-Randy Hannagan

9) O-Glenn Styres

10) 89G-David Gravel

Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 22H-Greg Hodnett

2) 25-Daryn Pittman

3) 83JR-Tim Kaeding

4) 7M-Mark Smith

5) 30C-Lance Dewease

6) 4B-Tom Busch

7) 19-Craig Dollansky

8) 93-Bob Schaeffer

9) 89-Cody Darrah

Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 10-Sammy Swindell

2) 7S-Jason Sides

3) 1-Stevie Smith

4) 24-Terry McCarl

5) 55M-Kerry Madsen

6) 39-Doug Esh

7) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.

8) 22TI-Brian Ellenberger

9) 4-Danny Smith

Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 96-Bronson Maeschen

2) 14-Jason Meyers

3) 11-Steve Kinser

4) 6-Danny Lasoski

5) 8K-Chad Kemenah

6) 5W-Lucas Wolfe

7) 3C-Cale Conley

8) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.

9) 13-Jesse Hockett

10) 17-Pat Cannon

Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)

1) 15-Donny Schatz

2) 7S-Jason Sides

3) 20-Kraig Kinser

4) 22H-Greg Hodnett

5) R19-Jac Haudenschild

6) 10-Sammy Swindell

7) 14-Jason Meyers

8) 25-Daryn Pittman

9) 24-Terry McCarl

10) 96-Bronson Maeschen

B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 89-Cody Darrah

2) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson

3) 19-Craig Dollansky

4) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.

5) 39-Doug Esh [$200]

6) 3C-Cale Conley [$180]

7) 1X-Randy Hannagan [$175]

8) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. [$160]

9) 5W-Lucas Wolfe [$150]

10) 11E-Mike Erdley [$150]

11) 22TI-Brian Ellenberger [$150]

12) 4B-Tom Busch [$150]

13) 89G-David Gravel [$150]

14) O-Glenn Styres [$150]

15) 17-Pat Cannon [$150]

16) 93-Bob Schaeffer [$150]

17) 4-Danny Smith [$150]

18) 13-Jesse Hockett [$150]

19) 9X-Gary Wright [$150]

20) 51-Fred Rahmer [$150]

A-main (30 laps) - Starting Position [#]

1) 15-Donny Schatz[1] [$10,000]

2) 7S-Jason Sides[2] [$5,500]

3) 22H-Greg Hodnett[4] [$3,200]

4) 20-Kraig Kinser[3] [$2,800]

5) 10-Sammy Swindell[6] [$2,500]

6) 11-Steve Kinser[12] [$2,300]

7) 89-Cody Darrah[11] [$2,200]

8) 14-Jason Meyers[7] [$2,100]

9) R19-Jac Haudenschild[5] [$2,050]

10) 24-Terry McCarl[9] [$2,000]

11) 25-Daryn Pittman[8] [$1,500]

12) 55M-Kerry Madsen[21] [$1,200]

13) 9-Joey Saldana[19] [$1,100]

14) 19-Craig Dollansky[14] [$1,050]

15) 1-Stevie Smith[13] [$1,000]

16) 96-Bronson Maeschen[10] [$900]

17) 8K-Chad Kemenah[24] [$800]

18) 55-Chad Layton[16] [$800]

19) 6-Danny Lasoski[15] [$800]

20) 7M-Mark Smith[23] [$800]

21) 83JR-Tim Kaeding[20] [$800]

22) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[22] [$800]

23) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.[25] [$0]

24) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson[17] [$800]

25) 30C-Lance Dewease[18] [$800]

Note: Tony Bruce Jr. used a World of Outlaws Provisional to start the A-Feature.

Lap Leaders: Jason Sides 1-10, Donny Schatz 11-30

Penske Power Position Award: Greg Hodnett

SuperClean Start of the Night Award: Jason Sides

KSE Hard Charger Award: Kerry Madsen