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

and TSR split?  Anyone confirm that?

Yes.  World of Outlaws posted it just a few minutes ago.  We heard rumors all week at the Nats, but you kind of take those with a grain of salt.  I'm not surprised though.  

Just saw it on Flo when I went to check on what time All-Stars were on tonight. WOW!

You knew something was up when they changed their engine program..Tony contract was up with Ford but there was more to it as we found out..Sad for Donny but maybe his time has come..He can now concentrate on the family business..

Schatz's time is likely up as a WoO championship driver, but give him a car he's comfortable in on any given night and he's still capable of winning races. We've written off Steve, Sammy, Lasoski, Lance, Stevie Smith etc... and all have proven the doubters wrong. Perhaps not at the ultimate championship level, but all won a bunch of big races after they were considered over the hill. 

Didn't he say the same thing about Lasoski?

They are putting Kerry the Madman Madsen in the 15 for the remainder of the season. Never had that on my Bingo card.... 

The older I get the faster I was.
All of my hard lessons have been learned at the speed of 
pain...

In the press release, Tony did not refer to Donny as his friend. Telling. 

Within hearing distance of Tri City Speedway

Makes you wonder if it was a friendly mutual parting or not so friendly..

Seems to me that Donnie was fed up with the lack of improvement with the team  and probably did not see an urgenancy on behalf of TSR and the team to make the changes necessary for him to run up front and be competative. I doubt Tony fired him, but rather did not have rhe time, energy or inclingnation to make the changes to satisfy Donnie to make the team comperative. Thus Donnie probably felt he had better things to do. I'm pretty sure he has not forgotten how to drive a sprint car, but the differences in the the top teams is so minutute that you have to be on your game each night.

i would not be surprised to see him run his own team at some point this year, in an attempt to win a few races and prove nay-sayers wrong before riding off in the sunset to run his family business. I personally wish him the best and hope he finds satisfaction in whatever he chooses to do. 

Wait until Tony sees the repair bill for the car between now and the end of the year.  No one drives a sprint car more calculated than Donny, not in this era.  His care of the car is 2nd to none!!  While Kerry may win a race or two, I feel he puts the car he drives in much more jeopardy.  Just my opinion.

This seems a bit misleading. He didn't use friend specifically, but Stewart did say this: "“We’ve had a driver/team owner relationship that has gone beyond that partnership, he’s become part of my extended family through the years, and I have the utmost respect for him and what his career represents – a generational driving talent."

Donny probably got fed up with with having a mediocre set up on a top tier car on a nightly basis over a very extended period of time. Lot of people say Age!!! I think it initially had to do with being forced to go to Ford power and just not having the crew that he needs after Warner left. I know he's back in a Chevrolet now so maybe leaning more towards the Crew. Sad to see him & TSR split. Makes you wonder if this is where Donny calls it quits as a driver. I heard his nieces are racing at Knoxville in 2 weeks (maybe a rumor) but maybe he wants to slow it down and help them out.

Never was a big Shatz fan until the last 3-4 years. Still not a die-hard fan but now I root for him, so yea, it sucks to see this.

I'm not shocked.  Tony had him driving the 14 car for part of a season just a few years back.  

 Yeah Madsen drove for the TSR team in 2021, winning six times in 37 starts. I still never saw this coming as far as Kerry being in the 15 though, I did however think that Donny would leave TSR at the end of the Season.

I would not be suprised to see him in Guy Forebrooks car next season running select races...  

The older I get the faster I was.
All of my hard lessons have been learned at the speed of 
pain...

SprintCarUnlimited has two really good pieces that gives interviews with both Schatz and Stewart. From my interpretation, it just seems it boils down to frustration - Schatz really doesn't seem to be a fan of Todd Denvich and it seems that Stewart wasn't willing to make that change. 

I get the feeling that maybe a change could be better for both teams - Madsen is a very capable shoe if he can shake some of the bad luck he's had running the 55. I don't think we'll see Schatz bounce back to the dominance he's seen in the prime of his career but I personally hope he can get back to being a podium/top five threat on most nights and grab a few more wins. I know he shook Forbrook's car down at Knoxville earlier this year but I don't know what a potential landing spot for him looks like. Maybe dialing back and running a selected schedule would be best for him - we'll see. 

I am not shocked at the announcement but rather the timing of it. I would have thought that if this ever happened, it would be made ahead of time letting everyone know they would be done at the end of the season giving each other time to figure out their next move. 

With the Madsen move for the rest of the season, I have a feeling at the end of the year the TSR sprint car program gets folded out and Tony's involvment in sprint car racing will be only Eldora speedway. Seems he has lost a little interest in this part of the world which is fine, I get it, its flushing money down the toilet. He has other interests now which is fine.

Schatz wise......who knows. I think he has earned the right to do whatever he likes and take whatever offers are given to him. I think the days of him winning 25 outlaw races and have a 200+ point lead are over. I can however see him possibly either running his own car or another good car and winning a number of races wherever he would like. Not having the stress of the road, the night in night out stress to be in a points battle. We have seen older drivers have some stellar seasons running whereever they would like to run or places they have had success in the past. 

Hoping he finds a car the North Dakota races. I've been debating with myself about attending.

Not surprised after that lack luster nationals they had. That car was slow all week and didn't seem to improve much.