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Wednesday, November 21, 2007 7:30:51 PM
CUP: Johnson Not Outlaw Enough to Earn Top Speed Honor
Written by: Jim Chiappelli
Charlotte, N.C. – 11/19/2007
Schatz Wins World of Outlaws Title for Second Consecutive Season
Jimmie Johnson is worthy of any honor that comes his way after capping off a sensational season in which he snared a second straight NASCAR Nextel Cup championship.
The numbers reveal the domination: 10 wins and 20 top-five finishes in 36 races in America’s most popular series. Conventional wisdom indicates he is a shoo-in for a slew of post-season awards.
One of the privileges of being News Director at SPEED is that I get to vote for SPEED Performer of the Year. I represent one voice on an opinionated panel when I say Johnson is not quite worthy to claim a second straight Mario Andretti trophy.
Neither is Bourdais, Franchitti, Hamilton, Stoner nor Stewart.
The driver at the top of my ballot also captured his second straight series championship, won 25% of his races and finished in the top ten an incredible 95% of the time in 2007. Moreover, he competed in more events this year than those put on in Formula 1, the IndyCar Series, Champ Car, the American Le Mans Series and Rolex Sports Car Series combined.
My guy is an Outlaw named Donny Schatz. What is even more remarkable is that the 30-year old World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series driver from Fargo, North Dakota rose to the occasion when the big money was on the line. The Knoxville Nationals in Iowa, the Kings Royal at Eldora, the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup at Lernerville and the Williams Grove Summer Nationals in Pennsylvania were among his 19 victories in 75 feature races this year.
That’s like winning the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, the night race at Bristol and Darlington 500 in the same season.
“I really look forward to getting in the car every night,” says Schatz. “The bigger the race, the more money, the more fun I have.”
Toss in 53 top-fives and 71 top-tens and it is easy to see why he had a ball in 2007, capped off with a check for $200,000 for taking the series title driving for his family-owned team.
Schatz should be downright giddy in 2008 as he moves to Tony Stewart Racing’s two-car effort as a teammate to Kraig Kinser. The back-to-back champion says Stewart has a lot of pride in his racing operation and shares a passion for winning, even if it means being aggressive on the track, which is something a driver-owner might not always be if it means tearing-up equipment.
“Tony’s motto is ‘ask for forgiveness, don’t ask for permission,’ and I’m not going to ask permission to win another championship,” added Schatz.
However, when it comes to being nominated for SPEED Performer of the Year, Schatz has detractors who claim he competes in a low-level feeder series.
That is nonsense. He is at the pinnacle of dirt-track racing and appears content to represent the current generation of sprint car standouts as the sport faces the eventual retirement of stars such as Kraig’s dad, Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell, who are still winning in their 50’s and have made successful careers by slinging clay for decades.
Johnson, as the 2006 SPEED Performer of the Year, gets to join the voting panel. But even he would be hard-pressed to deny Donny Schatz of this prestigious honor.
If it is any consolation, Johnson might be able to take home the hardware in another category of the SPEED Performance Awards, which will be decided by race fans in online voting underway at SPEEDtv.com.
Written by: Jim Chiappelli
Charlotte, N.C. – 11/19/2007
Schatz Wins World of Outlaws Title for Second Consecutive Season
Jimmie Johnson is worthy of any honor that comes his way after capping off a sensational season in which he snared a second straight NASCAR Nextel Cup championship.
The numbers reveal the domination: 10 wins and 20 top-five finishes in 36 races in America’s most popular series. Conventional wisdom indicates he is a shoo-in for a slew of post-season awards.
One of the privileges of being News Director at SPEED is that I get to vote for SPEED Performer of the Year. I represent one voice on an opinionated panel when I say Johnson is not quite worthy to claim a second straight Mario Andretti trophy.
Neither is Bourdais, Franchitti, Hamilton, Stoner nor Stewart.
The driver at the top of my ballot also captured his second straight series championship, won 25% of his races and finished in the top ten an incredible 95% of the time in 2007. Moreover, he competed in more events this year than those put on in Formula 1, the IndyCar Series, Champ Car, the American Le Mans Series and Rolex Sports Car Series combined.
My guy is an Outlaw named Donny Schatz. What is even more remarkable is that the 30-year old World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series driver from Fargo, North Dakota rose to the occasion when the big money was on the line. The Knoxville Nationals in Iowa, the Kings Royal at Eldora, the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup at Lernerville and the Williams Grove Summer Nationals in Pennsylvania were among his 19 victories in 75 feature races this year.
That’s like winning the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, the night race at Bristol and Darlington 500 in the same season.
“I really look forward to getting in the car every night,” says Schatz. “The bigger the race, the more money, the more fun I have.”
Toss in 53 top-fives and 71 top-tens and it is easy to see why he had a ball in 2007, capped off with a check for $200,000 for taking the series title driving for his family-owned team.
Schatz should be downright giddy in 2008 as he moves to Tony Stewart Racing’s two-car effort as a teammate to Kraig Kinser. The back-to-back champion says Stewart has a lot of pride in his racing operation and shares a passion for winning, even if it means being aggressive on the track, which is something a driver-owner might not always be if it means tearing-up equipment.
“Tony’s motto is ‘ask for forgiveness, don’t ask for permission,’ and I’m not going to ask permission to win another championship,” added Schatz.
However, when it comes to being nominated for SPEED Performer of the Year, Schatz has detractors who claim he competes in a low-level feeder series.
That is nonsense. He is at the pinnacle of dirt-track racing and appears content to represent the current generation of sprint car standouts as the sport faces the eventual retirement of stars such as Kraig’s dad, Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell, who are still winning in their 50’s and have made successful careers by slinging clay for decades.
Johnson, as the 2006 SPEED Performer of the Year, gets to join the voting panel. But even he would be hard-pressed to deny Donny Schatz of this prestigious honor.
If it is any consolation, Johnson might be able to take home the hardware in another category of the SPEED Performance Awards, which will be decided by race fans in online voting underway at SPEEDtv.com.
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