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

Let's hear some early 2016 points predictions. I know the easy bet is to say Schatz will run away with the WOO points. Can he be dethroned this year? Pittman was the last to do it. He had injuries last year, could he come back this year and challenge? Can Stewart take the next step? Does Saldana challenge for the championship in the Roth ride? 

So lets hear it...if not Schatz then who ya got? 

Also, any predictions on a dark horse finishing top 3 in the points?

Stewart might. He/they were very good for a first year team. But I'm not ready to bet against the 15

Anything can happen but it's tough to match the consistency of the 15 team, Stewart definitely had some success, but I'm with Motörhead, not ready to bet against Schatz.

  one thing is a fact. Schatz is very very good right now. and I do not believe he is using traction control,  did kinser have traction control when he was winning all the time? schatz is just that good right now. so don't bet against him. right now! jmo 

The parallel between Schatz of today and Kinser of yesterday, is the enduring team that each have/had behind them. Schatz has the best team and owner behind him, and Kinser had Karl the owner and mechanic behind him. Schatz has another distinct advantage today. The drivers today bounce around too much. Two or three years with a ride is not enough time to gel to the level of a Schatz or Kinser. Today's car owners need to understand that, but they are too impatient. Kinser did have two fellows in his day who could bounce around and still beat him convincingly at times.....Wolfgang and Swindell. There are no Wolfgangs or Swindells around today to beat Schatz on a more than an occasional basis. Schatz loses the Championship only if he has a sub-par season is my bet. The year Pittman won the title, Schatz got off to a terrible start to the season. The first half of that year is what cost him that title. I see Shane Stewart running second and Pittman third for the year. The rest will be tripping over each other, I'm afraid.

You're exactly right. Longevity is such and important and an all too often ignored component of long term sustained success. So many owners and even some drivers want success to be instant and when it isn't, they're way too quick to pull the trigger on someone whether it be the driver, crew chief, chassis, engine etc. Right now, there aren't nearly as many teams out there running J&J chassis as there was 10 years ago yet Schatz has stuck with them and he's dominating. If they hit a slump, you don't see them throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. They just continue to work on the stuff that has got them where they are and try to make it better. I can't believe how many car owners, crew chiefs and drivers have yet to figure this out. Regardless, I think Schatz is without question the best driver in sprint car racing today just based on raw talent. The fact that he's been in such a stable situation for so long just adds fuel to his already raging bonfire. 

Schatz in the TSR house car is most likely win next years WoO championship. If anyone can beat him it would be Shane in the LMR house car. Wouldn't be awesome if Joey Saldana and the Roth 83 team could win it all? What if Jason Meyers never retired to rase his family? 

BTW

The question everyone will be asking in a few months is...Where will Tony Stewart race in a sprint car after next years' Winston Cup season, WoO or All Stars?

Northern California Sprintcars

I agree 100% with what has been said here by all . I will add my  thoughts, one Ricky Warner is one factor other teams don't own or possess and he I believe is the difference maker here . Yes ,  Donny Schatz is a very good driver but there are others as good but his team just stands out right now to make him even better. Of course my critics will disagree with this as well  but you are entitled to .

I'd love to see Joey win that elusive first WoO title. Talk about a guy who paid his dues. Of you remember correctly, a few years ago he had a huge lead in the standings but got knocked out of contention due to being injured at Eldora. As far as Tony goes, one can only speculate but if I had to bet, I'd say he'll just bounce around like he did before. Hopefully he'll make plenty of stops in Pa like he used to. I always enjoyed the fact  that when he decided to race, he tried not to create any fanfare when he decided to randomly show up. That was good for him and the fans because he didn't have a bunch of star struck morons hounding him for pictures and autographs all night and us fans didn't have to put up with a bunch of NASCAR inbreds trying to stand up during the entire damn feature.

Wrong,there isn't anyone out there as good as Schatz.His driving style isn't flashy,but he's smooth and consistant,Just like Steve was in his day.He cant win them all,but he's gonna win more than anyone else out there.

Your right he probably will  win most of them, but  more because of Ricky Warner , the years they been together , as they gel better then anyone right now . By the way remember years Ricky Warner was with Tyler Walker , he did it with him as well , just  imagine if they had stayed together , but then Tyler was a different kind of driver then Donny as he took more chances . Do you think Donny would be as good without him ? yes ,good but not this good .

Unless Jason Meyers decides to run full time i do not see it happening and even then it may take a couple of years. He seemed to be the only one that could consistently keep the pressure on Schatz throughout the entire year. Seemed like it always came down to the final weekend with those two for a number of years.

Right now Shane Stewart seems to be the closest to Schatz and you see how far they are off. In order to beat him you have to finish not only in the top 5 but the top 3 most nights the past 2 1/2years. I think Stewart had 9 wins which is a pretty solid season most years but he was no where close to Schatz.

The Kahne cars seem like they have lost speed the past couple of years. Pittman won the title in 13 but the last quarter of that year it seemed like they fell off and are not where they were at the start of 13. Same with Sweet.

I really like Joey but sadly I think he will probably be out of the Roth car before July with the expectations with that ride. If he doesnt have 5wins and in the top2 in points then he will probably be fired

Gravel is good and up and coming but still needs experience still

Paul doesnt have the equipment in his new ride

I see another year of Schatz winning 20+

So when did Tyler Walker ever dominate like Schatz? I don't believe he ever did. Quit being a dick and giving Ricky Warner all the credit. Is Ricky Warner the one in the car managing his tires while everyone else is throwing sliders across the slick on lap 8 and burning their shit up? No. Is Ricky Warner the one being patient and timing the lapped cars just perfectly while the other guys run up on them too quickky going into the corner effectively killing their momentum while the 15 car glides right by smooth as silk? No. Is Ricky Warner the one behind the wheel with the almost super human ability to put a sprint car in places where few will even dare and even fewer make it out of the other side without a tow truck? NO! Donny Schatz is absolutely the best driver there is today and no one else is even close right now. I'm not even a Donny Schatz fan but I get sick and damn tired of people like you who are always so quick to explain it away whether it be saying he has more money than anyone else (He was kicking the KKR cars asses up and down the road before Tony was paying the bills), or he's cheating or there's no competition right now (due to the rules its tougher to win now than it ever was, especially for someone like Donny who isn't a great qualifier. Who else is winning like him even on a local level? NO ONE), or saying Ricky Warner gives him some kind of magic bullet that turns him from a scrub into a world beater. Is Ricky Warner a great crew chief? Hell yes. Probably the best there is right now. No doubt, he makes Donny better mostly due to the chemistry that they've built up over a long period of time. But don't think for one second that Donny doesn't make Ricky look better either. You can be the best crew chief there is but if you're driver can't give you accurate feedback about what the car is doing, it isn't going to do any good. Likewise, if he couldn't drive a sharp stick up a donkey's ass, the best feedback and the fastest car in the world isn't going to do jack shit. Give credit where its due and stop with the excuses. 

That car is so perfectly set up that most drivers could drive it  and be successful in it , not making excuses , I give him credit but not the entire credit for the success that car has . Another case in point is Brad Sweet , he has Lee wrenching for him and he could have a big year as well if they are together this year . If a good team stays  together as said by others it will be successful . You always want facts these are the facts , I don't sell Donny Schatz short but it is fact that most drivers in these winged sprint cars don't have a good setup or a good crew chief they don't win , as you know .

Donny was already the man to beat before Stewart and Warner were involved.No doubt Warner has helped,but Donny has gotten even better as a driver as the seasons have clicked by.

I know very little about the inner workings of a 410 race team but I believe Robert is trying to say that the crew chief is more important than the driver when it comes to winning races with a 410. 

Especially when the crew chief is from PA but the driver, car owner, and team are from elsewhere. 

Do yourself a favor and go watch all the World of Outlaws highlight videos on YouTube. If you have eyes and a brain, you'll see where Schatz time and again, out drives his competition straight up. If you knew anything, you'd know that despite all the things that have changed over the years, one thing remains the same. The driver is still the most important part of the equation. Granted, a great driver needs certain things (good crew, equipment he's comfortable with and decent funding) to be great but the fact is, when the green flag waves, its all up to the guy behind the wheel. Go talk to any driver and he'll tell you, there's no such thing as a perfectly handling sprint car. They're an absolute bitch to drive and it takes a driver to make even the best car go to the front. 

I know what he was trying to say and he's wrong. Don't get me wrong success like Schatz has had takes the total package as does any winning team. No one can do it on their own. That said, when I watch Schatz whether in person or on video, I see him do things time and again on the track that single handedly win the race for him or at very least, are the difference between finishing 3rd and 5th. It's his decision making for the most part. His physical ability to handle a car alone is better than anyone out there right but the biggest difference I see between himself and all the others is his decision making. It's almost as if he's got some psychic ability that helps him know what the guy in front of him is going to do before that particular guy even knows what he's gonna do. He seems to always know what's coming a lap before it happens. It's truly a thing of beauty. Again, I don't want to take any credit away from Ricky Warner or anyone else on that team because they're a well oiled machine and even one weak link could turn those 30 win seasons into 15 win seasons but judging simply by what I see on the track, the biggest reason that Donny Schatz is the dominator if his era, IS Donny Schatz & maybe I'm wrong but I think anyone who has been around racing for more than a year or 2 should be able to see that when they watch him drive.

I agree with you Mr. Fixxxer. If Altman is right about Warner being the #1 key to Schatz's success, theN all the others that he are her for would have comparable success. How many variables does a head wrench have in setting up a car, compared to the guy out there behind the wheel of the sprinter? Pretty much is common sense to me.