Donny Schatz
Donny Schatz has won 26 races and claimed his sixth career World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series title this season. He sat down with PennLive and talked about his season, what motivates him, drug testing and more. (Jeremy Elliott | jelliott@pennlive.com)
CONCORD, N.C: Donny Schatz is currently the best Sprint Car driver in the world. The numbers don't lie.
We all know about the 26 wins this year. Schatz earned his sixth World of Outlaws Championship and an eighth Knoxville Nationals title.
But Schatz is so much more. He knows and appreciates the history of Sprint Car racing and has strong opinions concerning the direction and issues surrounding the sport.
During this year's World Finals in Charlotte, Schatz sat down with PennLive and talked about his motivation, drug testing and how he is viewed by fans.
PL: You focus on winning races so much and don't seem to worry about championships. Do those race victories mean more to you than winning the World of Outlaws title? Is the championship just a bonus for you?
DS: You can look at the past two seasons, and it's a perfect example. I think what we did last year was a lot better than this year, and we didn't win a championship. This year, we won a championship by a couple miles. We didn't qualify well last year and missed out on points that the No. 9 car capitalized on. This year, we qualified well all the time. We had a few more wins, but we were just as consistent last year. Our job and our expectation is to win every night. In the back of your mind, you have to think about that championship. There are nights you know you are not going to win, you are a top five or top-10 car, but you don't want to let that sink in. You get upset about that. Personally, if you aren't upset about it, to me, you aren't passionate enough about it. That is how this team operates, and these guys know what when I get upset, it's time to push the buttons and they do a great job.
PL: How much did not winning the championship last year fuel or motivate you coming into this season?
DS: I don't know if it was motivation coming into this year as much as what was said and things that happened. You listen to 'you got your butt kicked, you got your butt handed to you,' and that was far from what really happened. At the end of the day, the war was won and we did our best job to win that war. You have those sort of things, and that is more motivation when you hear the critics. But we are motivated by just being here.
PL: You see other guys have a good season here and there and then fall off. How do you continuously back up these great seasons and surpass what you accomplished in the past?
DS: It's what fuels you. There are people that their first goal is to win a race, they win a race and feel like they've done what they wanted to do and it's what's next. What's next for us is the next day. You don't want to kid yourself. Just because you win one of these races, it doesn't mean you were the best car there or that you were the fastest car. Sometimes it's starting position and track position. We don't ever count ourselves out, even when we don't make the dash. We've had some great races this year where we came from outside the top 10 and win. It's just the mindset this team takes and the mindset I go through — you forget about the day. We had a lot of wins that we had to set aside and come back tomorrow and do the same thing. You keep challenging yourself. It doesn't matter about the money you win, the trophies you win, just because you do it one, two or eight times, you want to continue to do it. Being there and not being able to do it, there is nothing worse than that. There is no worse feeling in the world for me than knowing I could go in there and win, and I didn't. I don't want to find out what that is like.
PL: You've had your run-ins with your teammate Steve Kinser, but you have a genuine respect for him. How hard is it for you to see him struggle as much as he has this year?
DS: It's very hard to watch, but it happens in all sports. Believe me, Steve is still capable of doing it, and he is still the guy that made all of these dirt tracks, all these people and this event, possible. He paved the way for all of this...what we race for money wise, the prestige, everything. It's not an easy thing and what will be more difficult is not seeing him around the racetrack. To me, it's going to be a big void. But some of that is because I know what it was like when Dave Blaney, Mark Kinser went away. I felt that void, and you want to make sure that you put on a show that those guys used to do. You have to find a way to replace them and fill what they brought to the fans, the promoters and the racetrack in a level of excitement. We try, but there are a lot of days when you can't match what those guys did.
PL: The more I watch Sprint Car racing, the more these cars become stock. Are there too many rules in Sprint Car racing?
DS: You know, you have to have rules. We see so many guys down the pit area that try to bend or break them and complain about them. The funny thing, I couldn't even tell you what is in the rulebook. The [crew] probably knows, but it isn't like we sit down and say, 'gosh, I wonder how we can find a way around that.' We know that torsion bars, shocks and tires are so important and that if you get it right, you don't have to focus on the things that don't amount to a hill of beans. But they are getting to the point, we hear rumblings about a standard chassis for all cars in a couple years and to me, that is just silly. Maxim and J&J have been around, and you have new companies come around like Triple XXX, GF1, I mean, you aren't going to get everyone to get a cookie-cutter machine. To me, that is commercialization that someone wants to get a cut of it. You got to have a little bit of difference. We don't have that in the tire world anymore, and everybody complains about the racing not being good. Maybe we need to open it up to other companies, things they did in the past. I believe you need some rules or it gets out of control, but we have great marketing partners and an owner that lets us do what we need to do. But people think we do what we do because we spend more than everyone else, but I guarantee you we are the most controlled spending team on the road. This is run like a business, and these guys get told 'no,' and sometimes they do it anyway and get their hand slapped. It's a slippery slope as to what is going to happen down the road, but I hope it doesn't get too stock.
PL: When a team dominates, a sanctioning group or track wants to take away an advantage that a team has earned through hard work. Do you feel like that guy now?
DS: We have been that a little bit with certain things. This whole sport, whether you are in a Sprint Car or a Late Model, it is monkey see, monkey do. If you come out with a certain shock, everyone thinks they got to have them. That's just part of the game. We've won on three or four different shock manufacturers this year. There is one part on the car we haven't been loyal to, and that is the shocks. There are days when we can't get what we want on this one, and we have to use a different one. If they are gunning for you, it's fun to be in that position. That is a statement in itself, and we work hard for that and we will work harder to stay on the right side of that curve.
PL: Where do you fall on drug testing? Is it something that is needed in Sprint Car racing?
DS: I don't think there is any question with the advancements we have seen, that it is needed. The problem you have is that the series is so scared right now not having competitors. Now they are afraid they have to tell people they can't race. They are not looking for reasons to keep people away. It's something I feel is necessary. In fact, it's ironic that there was an article around the Nationals in which Pittman, Lasoski and myself were told that we didn't know what we were talking about by the leader of the series because there is a policy in place. I don't know of one. For a guy's well being and for our safety, there needs to be one. Drugs hinder you and affect you. We've seen recently the crazy things good and bad of what they do to you, so I'm all for it. How do we go about it, I don't know? It's grass roots racing, and I think they want to leave it open. It would take a Knoxville, Eldora or insurance regulation to mandate something for it to catch on. I know I go to Australia, and it's mandated by the government. I have been tested right after the driver's meeting. They have a control council for all forms of racing, and they want to randomly test you, drug and alcohol. If there needs to be a governing body to control things in our sport in this country, so be it.
PL: You are the top guy in Sprint Car racing for a day. What change would you make to the sport if you had that power?
DS: I can't sit here and tell you that there is a lot that needs to change but as a kid, I didn't come to these races to see a car flip, to watch one fight or have a car catch on fire. The things that people look into now and think are great, they want to make it like the WWE. I came here because you could see icons like Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell and Doug Wolfgang. You could see the fire, the emotion and heart they put into it, and that is what brought me here. It just seems like that has changed. People don't look at that fire, emotion and how hard you work at this. They want to see the entertainment side. The emotion side and people that pay to get in, that is part of the entertainment but I don't want to see this go down the road where it is WoO/WWE. In my eyes, this is how the World of Outlaws got here, Steve, Sammy, Doug and the competition. It wasn't the fact that you went to a Sprint Car race and saw someone flip or see someone do something crazy or fight. It was racing rivals, good hard racing. That is something that has been lost a little bit, and I would like to see it get back to that. When it gets to the point where it's not racing and it's like 24 trophies and split it up between everybody, I'm done and I will go down the road. The racing is still by far the most entertaining part of this, and the rivalries are part of that, just so it isn't phony, concocted or like a movie script. This is every man for himself and when you work hard, you are rewarded. If you don't work hard, you better start or you aren't going to win.
PL: People boo you, and there are those out there that maybe don't like you because of the way you are at the track. But this is your office, where you make a living. How do you feel about how you are perceived by fans?
DS: There have been times when I haven't been the most fan-friendly person at the track, but you realize your mistakes, try and work hard at it and correct it. I've done everything I wanted to do in this sport and worked hard to be more social and outgoing, doing more things for the fans. But I still have that focus that I'm 110 percent here to get that car on the front straightaway winning a race. You can't lose focus with that, or I wouldn't have gotten here. I wouldn't be here if I would have done it any other way. You can criticize me if you like, it isn't going to bother me one bit. I enjoy the boos, I like the cheers, it is what it is. As for being the villain, wherever you end up, you end up. You can't really change it, you can't control it. It's motivating to hear that. Are we the bad guy, no. We work hard and have put ourselves in some great positions. We enjoy it, and we are going to ride it as long as we can and see if we can't stay on top of the hill.
PL: You still get a smile when talking about Sprint Car racing. Are you still that little kid with the passion to get where you are at?
DS: I think there are days you don't realize it is there because you have tunnel vision on what you are doing. You work so hard, and your mind is so into things. At the end of the day, in two weeks, I'm probably going to be sitting at home, reliving the things we did this year and enjoying them. While you are in race mode, just because you are at home in the family business, you don't hit the switch and it's off now. Your mind is racing 24-7, 365 but if I wasn't enjoying this, I wouldn't be here. What would make it better is not having to deal with the political side of the sport, but that is something that comes with the game. We deal with it the best we can and that is the only thing that takes away from that enjoyment.