World of Outlaws 2012 Review

Looking back at the 2012 World of Outlaws season I have some thoughts.

Donny Schatz is good….really good. I never thought we would see another Steve Kinser in sprint car racing, but Schatz is becoming the next closest thing to the King, maybe a Duke? At age 35 he still has a lot of time to catch and surpass the King’s records. He may never get to 20 championships or 600 career wins, but as far as the rest of the records I think he can break a lot of them. Schatz, the 1997 WoO rookie of the year didn’t win his first championship until 2006. That had to be nine LONG years of getting beat. He now has five World of Outlaws championships and 124 career WoO wins which is fourth all-time in the WoO.

Me being a statistician geek, I went and looked back at Schatz’ WoO season win totals, 1997-0, 1998-1, 1999-0, 2000-1, 2001-6, 2002-2, 2003-7, 2004-8, 2005-8, 2006-17, 2007-19, 2008-18, 2009-12, 2010-5, 2011-8, 2012-11. Yeah, the “Duke” won 17 races in 2006 during the NST split, but then he backed it up with 19 and 18 wins the following two seasons. I think he would have beaten the King and Lasoski in 2006 anyway if those guys were in the same series.

Of the five crown jewel or major events in winged sprint car racing (Knoxville, Kings Royal, Williams Grove National Open, Chico Gold Cup, and the Historical Big One) Schatz has accumulated 14 victories. That includes six Knoxville Nationals, two at the Kings Royal, one at the Gold Cup and HBO, and four at the Grove. 14 ranks Schatz second to the King with 37 wins by that measuring stick. 37 is a tall order to catch I think. The rest of that list is completed with Doug Wolfgang at 11 victories, followed by Sammy Swindell, Mark Kinser, Jac Haudenschild, and Kenny Weld who all have 7 victories. I think it’s safe to say Schatz is the second best sprint car driver of the WoO era.

The season started with the shocking announcement that two time defending champion Jason Meyers was not going to race full time and go on a 14 race farewell/tribute tour. I’m still not sold that Jason Meyers wanted to quit racing with the way the teams’ ownership structure fell apart, and there was talk of adding a second team, and then all of a sudden it was over? Maybe being closer to home and family was the reasoning, and I respect that. Making sure you are a better father and husband than a race car driver is certainly more important in my eyes. But my gut tells me he won’t stay out of racing forever. He is only 33 years old, at the peak of his career, and he still has a lot to accomplish. Meyers has won the Gold Cup and Williams Grove National Open but there are two big gaping holes on that resume that he hasn’t won yet, the Knoxville Nationals and the Kings Royal.

Sammy Swindell looked like the guy to beat at the beginning of the season, but after about halfway he seemed to lose his mojo. There is one trait over Sammy’s career that continues to haunt him to this day, his strive for perfection. Sammy is usually the fastest car, shown by setting quick time more than anyone this season with 14, which is five more than anyone else. He won 13 races which is also tops in the series for this season. But Sammy can’t consistently finish races because he is pushing the envelope for perfection which ends up costing him the title with 48 top ten finishes compared to Schatz with 60, Dollansky with 51, and Joey Saldana with 52. I love the all-out approach Sammy has. When he is on, he dominates and no one can touch him. But maybe if he didn’t always push the envelope to have the maximum output and maybe dialed it back a tick, he could get more top ten finishes and win another championship.

Craig Dollansky came up 114 points short of winning the championship. I’m sure it was disappointing for his team to a degree with having the point lead late into the season until Schatz made his late season charge after winning the Nationals. But I think Dollanksy is close to pulling it off within the next few years. His team has been building up to this and we will see if he has anything for Schatz in 2013.

Joey Saldana had a disappointing season with five wins and fourth in the standings. Joey is a good driver but the KKR combination wasn’t working anymore and it was time for a change. I hope the rebirth of the 71M Motter team is a better match for him. But I have a feeling Daryn Pittman won’t do much better in the KKR 9 machine.

Steve Kinser didn’t set quick time once all season, finished fifth in the standings with four wins, yet his son Kraig set quick time seven times with the same engine package and he also won four features. I honestly feel that the King just needs to add resources at the engine shop, or subcontract out the engines, because you can’t have your traveling crew chief pulling double duty as the engine builder as well, not when Scott Gerkin is on the road. There is just no way to pull that off today with teams having the resources they do. To me it’s amazing that Gerkin has been able to pull this off as long as he has so successfully, but the landscape has changed and they need to change to survive. The King is 58 so soak in every lap you can of him while you can, because he is the best there ever was, and ever will be. But Sammy is 57 and is as good as he ever was. I think the King has a few good years left in him.

Cody Darrah is steadily improving, but I think his back against the wall and he needs a breakout season in 2013.

Kerry Madsen had a good season with five wins and was the biggest surprise of the season to most people by showing he can win at the highest level. Hope his team has something build on next year.

Good to see Lucas Wolfe get his first win, had one quick time on the season. He seemed to show some improvement running up front more frequently at the end of the season.

Chad Kemenah won two races and is still trying to hang with the best. Give the guy credit he is out there on the road and is dedicated.

I think you could argue that Tim Kaeding might be the most talented shoe who isn’t on the full time WoO tour, and he is probably one of the top ten (or five) in the country over all. Four WoO wins, 17 top ten finishes, and he ran a limited schedule.

Sounds like Jason Sides will be back full time in 2013 with the legal issues put away.

Good to see guys like Brian Brown and David Gravel race with the Outlaws more frequently this past year.

Bottom line…. Schatz is good. But I would have loved to see the Schatz/Meyers rivalry continue.