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

I guess I took it that way, or I should say I thought Stewart was trying to make it sound mutual.  I however didn't believe it since nothing was said from Schatz for a few days.  He didn't say he was retiring, he didn't say he had a ride lined up, he said nothing, which I took as this being something he was surprised with.  That's just how I took it.  However I never heard Stewart's comments on the podcast, if that's true (and I'm not doubting you), I take back everything I said.  Schatz doesn't seem like the most personable guy but in all the years I've never heard him say anything real controversial or negative about someone else, so I was kind of surprised with what he said in his announcement, not necessarily just what he said but his tone kind of told me he wasn't happy about the split.  But it surprised me because he's never said much.

I guess when I said Stewart was front and center when they were successful, I was referring to NASCAR and every time they won he was right there.  Until they weren't running good, nobody had seen him in months.  I guess I always saw him at Knoxvile when they won but maybe that was the only time he was there?  Then at Eldora they'd make a big deal about how he'd be riding around on a tractor prepping the track.  Maybe he is a hands off owner (and probably is) but if that's the case he needs to hire the right people.  And if those people aren't getting along he needs to step in at that point.  If Ricky Warner truly left because Schatz wanted him to, he should have had a conversation with them so they both understood what they were giving up.  I would also consider Rick Hendrick a "hands off" owner, he's usually at the track but I don't think he's probably in the engine room saying "You guys need to try this cam, it'll fix all of our problems."  But he puts the right people together.  Honestly Tony Stewart the owner reminds me a lot of Jerry Jones.  He's got all the answers, he has nothing but good things to say about the people he works with when they're there but if they're not successful and they leave, it's never his fault (I also know that Tony Stewart has had a lot more success than Jerry Jones recently but it's important to remember that for many years there was only one or two teams and sometimes none that had a good chance at beating Schatz, where the Cowboys are going against 31 other teams). 

Like I said I don't know what happened.  Stewart could be absolutely right and Schatz forgot how to drive a sprint car and how to run a successful orgainzation over night.  But I don't believe it either.

I agree with your assessment. I also have never really seen Schatz be a controversial person nor a person who really gives details of what happens behind the scenes of the team or shop. Everything has usually been general statements in the past and at the time of the announcement I anticipated he would probably do the same. But when he came out after Tony's interview saying "I haven't spoke to Tony in Months." "Tony gets his information 2nd hand from other people." "We had an agreement till the end of the year and this leaves me no time to get anything together." All of that I took as Donny's response to the things we have been saying about Tony like hey dude, you were quick to celebrate and brag when we were winning but now that we aren't now all of a sudden you have been silent? And when all the success was happening it was WE now that things have been struggling it is now ME? Especially the comment when Tony said "Donny hasn't been happy for awhile," and the "I honestly should have made this move sooner." 

I would say your analogy to Jerry Jones or a leadership type like him is pretty spot on. There is nothing wrong with being a hands off owner, plenty of people are in racing and in business. They do invest in people to make sure they have the best and develop and motivate others. The difference in a person like Tony versus a Rick Hendrick are people like Hendrick are able to stay informed, get involved when they have to, and keep their people happy and create a good culture for the most part. Tony on the other hand with all that has come out in the past few years sounds like not the best motivator and is great when things are going well but, when they are not he has no answers other than to deflect blame. 

They say Donny ran the show but I doubt it was his decision to use a Ford. I'll just stop there.

One of the best  but the 2nd best driver is a stretch!! As far as getting run over by the bus I agree 100%!

Schatz has earned far more respect that what he was given. I would love to see Donny come back and feed them Crow!

Lets not make this a soap opera

I heard a story and it was from Rick Hendrick (not personally it was on TV) saying that after 2004 or 2005 that Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus wanted to split up because they didn't get along.  Rick Hendrick told them something along the lines of, if they wanted to split up he would be happy to make the change but he's been around racing long enough and thinks it would be a shame because even though they hadn't won anything significant he believed they were on the verge of doing something special and to keep in mind that right now they're 90% there (whatever that means) and if they were to start over with other people they'd be a 0% with that new person.

That's a great response and probably why Hendrick Motorsports is where it's at and not where Stewart Haas Racing is or Tony Stewart Racing is or whatever else Tony Stewart wants to call his racing teams.  Rick Hendrick didn't tell them to fix it, he didn't try to fix mediate their argument, he didn't threaten either one of them with anything.  He just pointed out that he thought the relationship between the two of them could be special and made them fix their issues on their own.  They decided to try again and after that, we all know what came and might have been a contributing factor to ruining NASCAR.  In any case he got as involved as he had to, I wasn't in the room but if the story is true he didn't make one of them out to be the scapegoat he just made them apreciate each other.  That's what a "hands off" owner really needs to do.  

Having not been part of any private discussions i cant throw full shade to any side but what i'd like to point out.

The comparative story to Hendrick is not apples to apples.

Hendrick equation was three parts: Rick, Chad, and Jimmy and TSR: was only two parts Tony and Donnie.  Tony is the owner Donnie the driver no crew chief in this equation.....

Now you want to draw a comparison between the two; where if you were on Tony's side you could twist an apples to Apples knife..... whereas, when TSR was: Tony, Ricky, and Donnie.....now Tony is soley in Ricks position and unfortunately by all accounts Tony's handsoff approach opened the door to Donnie no longer wanting Ricky.....

so by your reasoning the person who made the first wrong choice MAY indeed be Donnie.

Tony once again by all unsubstantiated accounts allowed Donnie to remove Ricky 6 years ago or so....6 years later Tony decides to go in a different direction than the one Donnie decided on 6 years ago and brings Ricky back and by reading the tea leaves Tony still wanting to be hands off wanted Ricky back who seemed to manage the team prior.

i can only go by what i hear/see myself which obviously isn't much.  tony has a tendency to throw in little passive aggressive comments which he did on the dale jr. download.  the one i remember was about the toxic environment around the team for a while.  of course there was also the comment about letting schatz run the team and that was a mistake.

if you have something to say about schatz...just come out and say it.  tell us the whole story.  it comes off as this usual childish "i know more than you" attitude.  there are professional ways to tell the whole story without random comments about things being toxic. 

he could also completely take the high road and say nothing.  my guess is rick hendrick would handle it that way.  

tony is definitely a complex guy.  on one hand he comes off as very friendly/accessible to fans.  he's the first driver i ever remember signing autographs at his souvenir trailer when he was a rookie in nascar.  you hear all the time about how much people like him in the business.  on the other...i was nervous he was going to yell at me for getting 2 photos signed at reading even though they said beforehand it was 2 things per person.  i've seen him get pretty nasty about having fans line up to meet him at sprint car races. 

i get where he's coming from because fans get obnoxious and entitled...but sometimes the way he comes across isn't the best.  just needs to tone it down a bit and maybe that's the biggest underlying problem especially when things don't go the best.  his frustrations with nascar are probably shared by most of us and he might just not have the best ways to express it.  we all struggle with that.  

i give him the benefit of the doubt because i don't think anybody has done more for motorsports in my lifetime than tony stewart.  he was a star in nascar when stars were needed after earnhardt died.  he gets a lot of credit for sprint car racings popularity whether it's owning the all star series or taking over eldora.  now he's all in on drag racing and won a regular season top fuel championship.  i wouldn't be going out of my way to watch the nhra countdown without him in the mix.

hiroshimacarp: there is so much in your post that makes 100% logical sense and by casual observations most probably could make the similar assumptive observations.....the one sentence i want to point too however is this one:

"he could also completely take the high road and say nothing.  my guess is rick hendrick would handle it that way. "

i think Tony did for 5 years and change but eventually performance worsened.....Rick handled that way in the scenario presented because Chad and Jimmy worked it out....whereas, Donnie and Ricky did not.

not related to your post - and after posting and rereading a lot of great observations taken from many clips over the years....I can assume Tony doing his NHRA thing, married now and a new father his observation of Ricky and Rico working so akin with one another is much like Rick hendrick got with Chad and Jimmy and that is what he wants....hands off....again argue the hands off on either side but he is the owner.

i have enjoyed Tony's style and have admired his 14 AJ Foyt mentality.

In my opinion Tony Stewart sure has done a lot of talking whereas Donny has kept quiet professional and just kept digging. TS came off like a jealous schoolgirl who wanted to make sure everyone knew SHE broke up with him.  All the respect in the world for Donny, but lets be honest who expected anything less than class from Donny Schatz!