“I’m not doing anything different than I was before,” he shared. “I probably have some things off of my mind and also some things that I never had on my mind before. I don’t approach the races any different. I don’t have my expectations set any higher or any lower. Really it’s no different. I am still driving the (No.) 15. I’m just lucky to have people like Armor All, Chevrolet and Tony Stewart involved.”
Schatz has many of the same elements that he had last season when he won 19 A-Feature events and his second consecutive title, which has helped ease the transition to joining Tony Stewart Racing. He again has Ricky Warner turning the wrenches as crew chief, along with driving a J&J Chassis with Shaver power under the hood.
“As we go, we find things that are a little different over here,” he explained. “It’s a work in progress. Anytime you have a work in progress, you try to get better in the whole process. You are always finding things that make you better and you are always finding things that make you worse. We’re just excited to be part of it and hope to get ourselves back in super form like we have been in the past.”
While the competition on the track has been fierce this season, Schatz and his fellow drivers have also had to battle the weather more this season than they ever have in the past. In his 11-plus years on the road with the World of Outlaws, Schatz has never seen a spring quite like this one, with the number of events that have been postponed due to rain.
“Mother Nature has definitely won a lot of races,” Schatz stated. “You look back at the history of the series and a lot of the places that we try to run in February have rained out for the last 10 years. If the schedule would have been pushed back a month, we probably would have been fine. That’s the way it goes and what’s done is done.”
As the first East Coast swing of the season wraps up tonight at Rolling Wheels, the World of Outlaws schedule begins to pick up steam. The event today at Rolling Wheels will be the third race in four nights for the best sprint car drivers in the world. A return to the Midwest awaits Schatz and his fellow drivers this coming weekend, followed by a busy month of June, which will see them compete 11 times over a three week period.
“There is no doubt that once we get racing every day, we’ll see the teams that are strong versus the teams that are struggling,” he said. “There will be some separation at that point. We’re just working through everything we can so we make sure that we are in a good position when we start racing every day. I am definitely looking forward to getting back on the race track more than one day a week.”
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