PARKERSTORES DRIVER
BACK IN WoO ACTION

Justin, TX, March 29, 2003 ~ ParkerStores driver Donny Schatz was back behind the wheel of his familiar #15 sprint car in World of Outlaws action this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway dirt track. Schatz is now dividing his time between the USAC Silver Crown series and WoO, competing last week in USAC at Phoenix International Raceway.

As is always the case at TSM, finding the delicate combination of horsepower and tire adhesion is either a very very finely turned art form or complete luck with a little magic thrown in for good measure. Then the whole process is complicated by the tight groove of the challenging track.

On Friday night, Schatz drew a high number putting him very late in the 40 car qualifying order. His two lap effort put the team 22nd in the order which put him on the pole of his heat race. His third place finish missed the dash and relegated him to starting 21st in the 30 lap preliminary feature.
Schatz got his rhythm and found the fast groove around the bottom. He moved from the inside of the 11th row to 12th at the checkered flag, passing more cars than any other driver in the field.

"This is a tough track to get the combination right," said Schatz. "Our car was good. The J & J chassis handled perfectly, the Shaver engine had plenty of power. It is just hard to get to the front through so much traffic in just 30 laps."

Saturday night was a much the same story for the native of Minot, North Dakota. Qualifying 25th put him near the back of the starting order of the heat race. Finishing sixth in the heat race left Schatz in the unfortunate place of having to qualify for the 40 lap A feature through the B main. He came up one spot short of getting his qualifying spot for the A main and was forced to use a provisional starting position to start 25th in the order.

Schatz again put his elbows up, got his rhythm and moved through the field to finish 16th. "Not the best night we have ever had, that's for sure," said Schatz. "Everything was working great but we just seemed to struggle getting the combination right this weekend. Tires play a big role here at Texas. Some tracks just seem to favor one tire over another. But that is part of having the total package is the ability to get a good finish when you don't have everything perfectly in your favor and get the wins when you are perfect. We didn't quite get that right this time."

The next stop on the WoO tour is April 4 at East Alabama Motor Speedway, Phenix City, AL followed by Saturday, April 5th at Talladega Short Track, across the highway from the historic Talladega Super Speedway.