Outlaws Midwest Swing Continues for Arctic Cat/Ford Performance Team - Speedway Digest

The calendar officially says it’s summer now, but for the drivers chasing the World of Outlaws (WoO) Craftsman Sprint Car Series championship the heat has been on for quite some time. Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) driver Donny Schatz continues to carry the torch for the traveling Sprint car stars as they trek their way through the Midwest with stops this weekend in Iowa and Wisconsin.

After winning his 11th WoO A-Feature of the 2017 season Tuesday night at Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, Schatz leads the Outlaws back into action Friday behind the wheel of the TSR No. 15 Arctic Cat/Ford Performance J&J when the series makes their debut at West Liberty Raceway, a half-mile, dirt oval in eastern Iowa and Saturday night, it’s back to central Wisconsin for the eighth annual Jim “JB” Boyd Memorial at Beaver Dam Raceway.

The eight-time and reigning WoO champion has experienced a great deal of success in the state of Iowa during his 21-year WoO career. He is the most recent winner in the state with his victory at the famed Knoxville Raceway on June 10. The flag-to-flag victory was the 25th of his career at the track and 15th career WoO A-Feature win at the track. Schatz has scored 21 of his 240 career WoO A-Feature wins in the state of Iowa. In addition to adding to that win total, the Fargo, North Dakota native will also be looking to make West Liberty Raceway the 82nd different track where he’s raced to a WoO A-Feature triumph. Last season, Schatz was victorious in a pair of WoO debuts, scoring wins at Rockford Speedway and Angel Park Speedway.

Schatz has two career Beaver Dam WoO wins, and Saturday night, he’ll be looking to join Joey Saldana as a two-time winner of the “JB”. The event is being managed by SLS Promotions, which includes Scott Boyd, who is the son of the late Jim Boyd. In the 2010, the family began staging the race in honor of their father at the 1/3-mile, semi-banked, dirt oval. Saldana won the first two races, but a new driver has claimed the 40-lap A-Feature each year since. Schatz, who has finished inside the top-10 in all seven previous events, surged from 10th to win the race in 2015 and last year charged from 14th to finish third.

Tuesday’s victory for Schatz extended his lead in the WoO championship standings to 84 points over Brad Sweet through 37 of the 92 scheduled races in 2017. He is the only driver with double digit wins and his 29 top-five finishes also is most by any driver.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.