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Eldora
Speedway...
Feed the
Children Prelude to the Dream
World of Outlaws Spring Car Champs are latest additions
Kinser, Schatz To Carry Short-Track Banner in June 6 All-Star Dirt Late
Model Race at Eldora Speedway
ROSSBURG, Ohio (April 21) – The concrete wall ringing the dirt around
the topside of Tony Stewart’s historic Eldora Speedway has intimidated
just about every driver who has ever turned laps at the nationally
acclaimed half-mile clay oval.
Two drivers who have plenty of respect for those walls are World of
Outlaws Sprint Car Series champions Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz, and
they are the two most recent additions to the driver lineup for the
June 6 Prelude to the Dream.
Twenty-time Outlaws champion Steve Kinser and his Tony Stewart Racing
(TSR) teammate, four-time Outlaws champion Donny Schatz, are each
well-versed in the fast way around Eldora. Both will trade their Sprint
cars for dirt Late Models as they make their first-ever dirt Late Model
start in the all-star race featuring more than 25 world-renowned
drivers from all walks of motorsports.
“Eldora was one of the first high-banked tracks I ever raced on, and
I’d guess you’d say it made a pretty good impression on me,” Kinser
said. “It’s such a special place to me, and I’m honored to have been
asked to be part of this event. I’ve never raced a Late Model anywhere,
so I guess if there was any place where I’d want to do it, it’d be at
Eldora.”
Kinser has won a staggering 570 World of Outlaws A-Feature races during
his illustrious career with 35 coming at Eldora. The Bloomington, Ind.,
native also has an International Race of Champions victory at Talladega
(Ala.) Superspeedway in 1994 on his resume, as well as starts in the
1995 Daytona 500 and 1997 Indianapolis 500.
“I have no idea what to expect,” Kinser said. “Do I drive the car like
a non-winged car or a winged car? I’ll have to talk with Tony (Stewart)
about it. He’ll be a great asset to me because he’s been in so many
different kinds of cars. I’m pretty sure his feedback will be a good
starting point.”
Kinser, known in Sprint car racing circles as “The King of the
Outlaws,” began racing after a successful high school wrestling career
that included an Indiana state championship during his senior year at
Bloomington High School in 1976. He followed his father Bob into racing
and, once he hooked up with his cousin Karl Kinser in 1978, he began
building his legendary status in short-track racing. Kinser won his
first-ever World of Outlaws feature at Eldora in May 1978 and picked up
his first Outlaws crown later that season at Eldora.
Kinser has won more than 60 races at the facility, including victories
in USAC Sprint Cars, USAC Silver Crown, All-Star Circuit of Champions
and several unsanctioned Sprint car events, including the 1984, 1988
and 1991 Kings Royal, and 1997 and 2000 $100,000-to-win Historical Big
Ones.
The conclusion of the 2010 Kings Royal – Kinser’s most recent Eldora
victory – was vintage Kinser. He scraped the wall several times as he
desperately tried to take the lead in the 40-lap contest and
appropriately used a late-race restart that provided him one last
opportunity to execute a perfect slide job to claim his seventh Kings
Royal win.
Kinser hasn’t always come out on top when he’s battled at Eldora. He’s
had his fair share of accidents trying to squeeze as much speed as
possible out of the track.
Schatz, his TSR teammate, also has had his share of unscheduled
meetings with Eldora’s unforgiving wall, but after a few hard knocks
and plenty of laps, the Fargo, N.D., native has become one of the best
at circling the high-banked track.
“I think the laps both Steve and I have made at Eldora may help us a
little bit, but neither one of us has ever raced a dirt Late Model,”
Schatz said. “I had the chance to make a few laps one time when Tony
was practicing for a race in Fargo. There were some similarities, but
not many. Maybe knowing the dynamics of dirt-track racing a little
better than those guys will help even the playing field. I think with a
Late Model we might be able to run even closer to the wall. You can get
away with leaning on it a bit whereas, in a Sprint car, it just wants
to pull you into it. The extra sheet metal will be nice.”
Schatz first came to Eldora in the spring of 1996 as a 17-year-old
ready to learn from the best. He pitted next to Kinser but, before the
cars could hit the track, a North Dakota-like snowstorm hit the western
Ohio facility and postponed his debut. He returned a few months later
for the Kings Royal and splashed onto the scene by finishing eighth in
the nationally televised event.
It was six seasons later when Schatz finally earned his first victory
at Eldora. The win came in dominating fashion as he rode the high line
to a $100,000 victory in the 2002 Historical Big One. As his career
progressed, he became known for winning the highest-paying races and,
in 2007, Schatz earned his first World of Outlaws A-Feature triumph by
scoring the $50,000-to-win Kings Royal, winning by nearly nine seconds.
His most recent victory at the track came in July 2009 when he scored
his second Kings Royal triumph.
“I was pretty overwhelmed when I was invited to be part of the
Prelude,” Schatz said. “You could say it’s like a dream-come-true to be
able to represent the Sprint car guys and go out and try to stake our
claim at Eldora. It’s going to be quite an honor to be one of the two
guys representing the grassroots racers and have the chance to compete
with the elite drivers in motorsports.”
Kinser and Schatz will be the third and fourth World of Outlaws
champions to compete in the event, joining Dave Blaney and Danny
Lasoski, who won the 2001 Outlaws title and finished third in the
inaugural Prelude in 2005. Blaney, the 1995 Outlaws champion, will be
making his sixth Prelude start this year. His best finish came in 2006
when he raced to a second-place finish. The 2006 event was also the
year TSR teammates Levi Jones and Josh Wise took part.
Race fans can catch all the behind-the-scenes preparation for the
Prelude by following the track, event, charity, drivers and officials
on Twitter: @EldoraSpeedway, @PreludetoDream, @FeedTheChildren,
@TonyStewart_rcg, @KyleBusch, @KenSchrader, @RickyCarmichael,
@AustinDillon3, @JasonLeffler, @JJYeley1, @DanicaPatrick,
@RyanNewman39, @Bobby_Labonte, @Kenny_Wallace, @tydillon,
@aric_almirola, @JimmieJohnson, @J_Allgaier, @skiprec, @DavidGilliland,
@ClintBowyer, @KaseyKahne, @KurtBusch, @TonyKanaan, @NAPARonCapps,
@BuckeyeBullet10 and @RogerSlack.
Kinser and Schatz join the previously announced Feed The Children
Prelude to the Dream drivers Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Kenny Schrader,
Ricky Carmichael, Austin Dillon, Jason Leffler, J.J. Yeley, Danica
Patrick, Ryan Newman, Bobby Labonte, Kenny Wallace, Ty Dillon, Aric
Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Dave Blaney, Tony
Kanaan, Ron Capps, Jimmie Johnson, Justin Allgaier, Bill Elliott, Ray
Evernham, David Gilliland and Cruz Pedregon.
Tickets and campsites for the Feed The Children Prelude to the Dream
and all other 2012 Eldora Speedway major events, including the
$100,000-to-win Dirt Late Model Dream presented by Ferris Commercial
Mowers, the $50,000-to-win World of Outlaws Kings Royal and the 42nd
annual World 100, are available through the speedway box office by
calling (937) 338-3815 or online 24 hours a day at
www.EldoraSpeedway.com. The track’s Facebook page is at
www.Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway.
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