BAYTOWN, TX - It was two years ago when Donny Schatz conquered his fellow Pennzoil World of Outlaws competitors in the Houston area. His victory at Battleground Speedway on March 21, 1999, established Schatz as more than just a young hot shot in sprint car racing's premiere series. Two years later, Schatz is still trying to establish himself as a threat to win every night, and in this weekend's Texas Shootout, he'll try to win another feature in the Houston area, this time at the new Houston Raceway Park.

"Battleground and Houston Raceway Park don't have much in common other than being close to Houston," said Schatz. "I wish HRP was more like Battleground. I struggled there for a long time and then one night I started eighth and won the feature.

"Sometimes it just takes one night like that at a place to get it figured out. We weren't very good at HRP last year, but I'm confident we'll be better this year. We didn't have a top ten finish in four races last year at Ft. Worth, and we finished eighth and tenth there last weekend. Hopefully, we'll start with a good combination on the car and hopefully, that'll lead us into a chance at getting that first victory."

Schatz began the 2001 WoO campaign with championship aspirations. After three top tens finishes in the first three races, the team struggled through a stretch of five races with only one top ten, a sixth at Oklahoma City on March 17th. Recently, "the Minot Missile" has gotten back to consistently finishing in the top ten with three consecutive runs inside the top ten.

"I think our motors are running better," said Schatz, who qualified seventh and sixth at TMS last weekend. "We found some things in the ignition that seemed to help out quite a bit. We're actually qualifying a little bit too good lately. It's putting us in the second row of the heat race and we haven't been able to win any heats from there. Maybe we'll get back to where we're starting on the front row of the heats. If we start there, I'm pretty confident we'll be able to win a heat race and start up front in the Dash. Obviously, you need to start up front most nights to have a chance to win."

Friday's opener will be airing live on TNN: The National Network and Schatz is hoping to shine again with the national spotlight on his ParkerStores #15 J&J. Last week, he finished 10th, and in early March he finished second on TNN at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after leading 28 of the 30-lap race. Schatz is optimistic that he'll be able to be a lot more competitive this weekend at Houston Raceway Park.

"The track is a lot more racy," said Schatz, who finished 15th, 11th, 22nd and 19th in four races at the 3/8-mile oval last year. "The only way to make a pass at TMS around the top was if someone made a mistake. Houston usually has two grooves both a top side and a bottom and it seems like they have a nice track to race on in the past. In both of the TV races so far, passing has been somewhat difficult. At Las Vegas, that was to our advantage, but last weekend it went against us. I think this weekend the track conditions will provide a great race. Hopefully, we're the ones to beat.".

Friday's program will air live on TNN: The National Network beginning at 9:00 PM (ET). You can also catch both shows on the internet at www.sprintcarnet.com

(Article by Bill Klingbeil)