Schatz Carries STIDA Winged 410 Power Rankings Lead into Vegas
The Wheatley Chronicles – Volume VI, No. 1
Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla. (February 28, 2018) – With the annual season-opening Sprint Car playground of Florida in the rearview mirror, North Dakota’s Donny Schatz carries the STIDA Winged 410 Sprint Car Power Rankings lead into this week’s World of Outlaws double at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas.
Vying for a sixth consecutive STIDA Winged 410 Power Ranking top spot since its inception in 2013, Schatz got out of the Sunshine State with a 15-point edge over Chad Kemenah with Sheldon Haudenschild, Kerry Madsen and Brad Sweet also among the top five.
Schatz proved nearly unstoppable in his North American season-opening events at Volusia Speedway Park’s DIRTcar Winter Nationals, topping four of five features to outdo his three-of-five win rate in 2017 and captured his first Big Gator in the process.
Reigning All Star Circuit of Champions champ Kemenah only keeps the race for the top position close on the strength of running the three All Star cards at Bubba Raceway Park in addition to all five rounds of DIRTcar Nationals action. Kemenah picked off a win at Bubba World and has finished among the top ten in seven of eight starts to stay within 15 points of Schatz.
The younger Haudenschild debuted with the new Stenhouse Jr./Marshall Racing team with a win at Ocala and then his first WoO score at Volusia to deny Schatz a sweep of all five events. “The Madman”, Kerry Madsen, was among the top ten in six of eight Florida tilts with Brad Sweet opening with four top-fives in five nights of DIRTcar Nationals action.
Tim Shaffer, Paul McMahan, Jason Johnson, David Gravel and Greg Hodnett fill out the early top ten after Florida’s action.
Along with this week’s World of Outlaws pair of events at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas on Wednesday and Thursday and then Perris Auto Speedway on Saturday, central Pennsylvania will give it another go with Lincoln Speedway’s Icebreaker scheduled for Saturday.
The Winged 410 Sprint Car Power Rankings are brought you to by STIDA. Formed in 1998, STIDA (Short Track Independent Drivers and Associates) is an international company serving the safety and insurance needs of drivers competing in any country. Get covered now by calling 1-800-378-4608 or get more information by checking online at www.stida.com.
The STIDA Winged 410 Sprint Car Power Rankings are a part of the Open Wheel Power Rankings that also includes Momentum Racing Suspensions Non-Wing 410s, Rod End Supply Winged 360s, Beaver Stripes Non-Wing 360s and www.midgetmadness.com Midgets.
The current top 25 in this year’s STIDA Winged 410 Power Rankings is as follows
| Rank | Name | Hometown | Wins | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Donny Schatz | Fargo, ND | 4 | 129 |
| 2 | Chad Kemenah | Elida, OH | 1 | 114 |
| 3 | Sheldon Haudenschild | Wooster, OH | 2 | 95 |
| 4 | Kerry Madsen | Sydney, NSW | 0 | 88 |
| 5 | Brad Sweet | Grass Valley, CA | 0 | 87 |
| 6 | Tim Shaffer | Aliquippa, PA | 1 | 77 |
| 7 | Paul McMahan | Elk Grove, CA | 0 | 75 |
| 8 | Jason Johnson | Eunice, LA | 0 | 71 |
| 9 | David Gravel | Watertown, CT | 0 | 58 |
| 10 | Greg Hodnett | Thomasville, PA | 0 | 46 |
| 11 | Shane Stewart | Bixby, OK | 0 | 44 |
| 12 | Parker Price-Miller | Kokomo, IN | 0 | 41 |
| 13 | Tony Stewart | Columbus, IN | 0 | 31 |
| 14 | Mark Smith | Sunbury, PA | 0 | 28 |
| 15 | Brian Brown | Grain Valley, MO | 0 | 25 |
| 16 | Rico Abreu | St. Helena, CA | 0 | 24 |
| 17 | Dave Blaney | Cortland, OH | 0 | 23 |
| 18 | Danny Dietrich | Gettysburg, PA | 0 | 21 |
| 19 | Kyle Larson | Elk Grove, CA | 0 | 19 |
| 20 | Brent Marks | Myerstown, PA | 0 | 19 |
| 21 | Joey Saldana | Brownsburg, IN | 0 | 19 |
| 22 | Cory Eliason | Santa Cruz, CA | 0 | 16 |
| 23 | Coleman Gulick | Binghamton, NY | 0 | 15 |
| 24 | Daryn Pittman | Owasso, OK | 0 | 14 |
| 25 | Carson Short | Marion, IL | 0 | 13 |
Features Completed: 8
Number of Different Winners: 4
Number of Drivers to Earn Points: 34
Past Top Tens in STIDA Winged 410 Sprint Car Power Rankings:
2017 – 1. Donny Schatz (23) 1,631, 2. Brad Sweet (5) 1,324, 3. David Gravel (20) 1,225, 4. Shane Stewart (8) 909, 5. Daryn Pittman (3) 892, 6. Kerry Madsen (8) 874, 7. Danny Dietrich (13) 842, 8. Tim Shaffer (9) 811, 9. Jason Johnson (5) 747, 10. Ian Madsen (7) 739.
2016 – 1. Donny Schatz (26) 1,516, 2. Daryn Pittman (9) 1,292, 3. Greg Hodnett (19) 1,283, 4. Shane Stewart (12) 1,172, 5. David Gravel (9) 1,172, 6. Brad Sweet (8) 1,114, 7. Joey Saldana (5) 966, 8. Dale Blaney (8) 877, 9. Danny Dietrich (9) 816, 10. Chad Kemenah (2) 784.
2015 – 1. Donny Schatz (31) 1,480, 2. Greg Hodnett (17) 1,089, 3. Shane Stewart (11) 1,033, 4. Danny Dietrich (16) 961, 5. Dale Blaney (16) 931, 6. Joey Saldana (3) 923, 7. Kerry Madsen (4) 920, 8. Danny Lasoski (14) 903, 9. Daryn Pittman (6) 876, 10. Brad Sweet (6) 874.
2014 – 1. Donny Schatz (26) 1,476, 2. Daryn Pittman (14) 1,219, 3. Kerry Madsen (7) 1,083, 4. Paul McMahan (5) 1,040, 5. Dale Blaney (21) 975, 6. Joey Saldana (8) 895, 7. Greg Hodnett (11) 871, 8. Brad Sweet (5) 783, 9. David Gravel (5) 715, 10. Danny Dietrich (10) 624.
2013 – 1. Donny Schatz (26) 1,089, 2. Daryn Pittman (8) 925, 3. Fred Rahmer (7) 764, 4. Paul McMahan (4) 728, 5. Lance Dewease (3) 673, 6. Greg Hodnett (8) 668, 7. Tim Kaeding (12) 624, 8. Dale Blaney (7) 591, 9. Tim Shaffer (3) 549, 10. Brian Montieth (9) 545.
A part of the recurring “The Wheatley Chronicles” series of articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, the Open Wheel Power Rankings are determined by cumulative points based on a sliding scale dependent upon car count at Sprint Car and Midget events across all sanctions and non-sanctions throughout North America.
The Wheatley Chronicles brings insight and highlights from all variety of racing series throughout the nation in 2018 and beyond along with the Open Wheel Power Rankings. Please send any comments, questions or advertising inquiries regarding The Wheatley Chronicles at www.sprintcarmania.com to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
