DONNY DOMINATION: Masterclass in Traffic Leads Schatz to Second Badger 40 Victory

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WILMOT, WI (July 13, 2024) - The time of year is near when Donny Schatz begins to heat up. And he stoked the flames in a big way on Saturday night at Wilmot Raceway.

Sprint Car Racing’s crown jewels are where the Fargo, ND legend has always excelled. The Kings Royal and NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals are both less than a month away, and Schatz appears to be getting warmed up at the right time.

The 10-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car champion delivered an absolute masterclass at Wilmot. Schatz lost the lead on the opening lap after starting on the pole, grabbed it back on Lap 10, and set sail through traffic on his way to a Federated Auto Parts Larry Hillerud Memorial Badger 40 victory.

After Friday’s opener didn’t go Schatz’s way when he started 14th and had to salvage a sixth place run, rolling into Victory Lane on Saturday felt even sweeter.

“Last night was really trying, but that’s what makes nights like this so much more important,” Schatz said. “The guys spent a lot of time today digging and changing things. It was a whole different race car tonight. Hats off to them – Scuba (Steve Swenson), Todd (Devnich), and Dauson (Heitritter). There’s a lot of communication there, and that’s what it takes to be in this situation.

“We won the Larry Hillerud Memorial, so that’s pretty damn cool. Larry was a North Dakota boy with tons of passion for this sport. I’m sure he’s up there arguing with my dad about something. I’m pretty honored to win this tonight.”

The triumph marked Schatz’s second Badger 40 triumph to go along with the one he topped in 2019. Schatz joins David Gravel (four) and Carson Macedo (three) as the only drivers with multiple World of Outlaws wins at Wilmot. His third win of the season snaps a 20-race winless drought dating back to I-55 in mid-April. Schatz’s career win total with The Greatest Show on Dirt grew to 314.

Schatz led the field to green for the 40-lap finale with Michael “Buddy” Kofoid alongside. The outside lane proved to be the place to be for the start as Kofoid jumped out ahead to lead the opening lap in the Roth Motorsports No. 83. 

The opening laps belonged to Kofoid as he maintained a small advantage over Schatz. But when traffic came into play, the gap began to fade. 

Schatz closed in on the top spot aboard the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing No. 15 as Kofoid struggled to work through slower cars. And on Lap 10 the door opened.

Kofoid drifted up the track in Turns 1 and 2 as he started down heavy traffic and Schatz pounced. He stuck the lowline perfectly in the No. 15 and powered ahead of Kofoid as the two raced down the back straightaway. 

Schatz had no plans of letting Kofoid return the favor. Right away he began to masterfully carve his way through traffic. He went anywhere required to clear a lapper. Schatz could even float right through the middle of the turns to complete a pass. It didn’t matter where he went. Schatz would not be slowed.

Behind Schatz the battle for second heated up between Kofoid and Carson Macedo, who was in search of his fourth Wilmot triumph in a row. Macedo blasted around Kofoid on the high line on Lap 14 to secure the spot.

But even with a new runner-up, the distance between first and second expanded. Schatz pushed the margin over six seconds by Lap 21.

A caution with 18 laps to go gave the rest of the field a chance. It lined Macedo, winner of the past three at Wilmot, alongside Schatz. But it simply did not matter who was placed in his proximity. Schatz only had plans to drive away from them. 

And that’s exactly what he did when the green flag brought the racing back to life. Schatz drove away from Macedo and went back to work navigating traffic when he reached the tail of the field. On multiple occasions he even split cars running side by side to clear both of them. When the checkered flag waved Schatz crossed the finish line nearly seven seconds ahead.

“That was a hell of a lot of fun,” Schatz said. “Traffic was actually pretty awesome for me there. There were a couple times we would get two or three-wide and split guys. That car was really good no matter where we went.”

Macedo’s pursuit of four in a row at Wilmot fell one spot shy as he brought the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41 home in the runner-up spot. After putting on a dominating performance of his own on Friday, Macedo had a front row seat to watch Schatz do the same a night later.

“I think Donny tonight was a little bit like I was last night,” Macedo explained. “I feel like he could just maneuver and really go anywhere on the racetrack. I felt like I was decent in (Turns) 3 and 4 moving around a little bit. But I had to stay pretty committed other than that, especially in (Turns) 1 and 2. That allowed him to get through lapped traffic a little bit easier and better. But overall this is a great effort for this JJR team.”

Sheldon Haudenschild moved by Kofoid in the closing laps to claim the final spot on the podium. It was a productive 40 laps for the Wooster, OH native as his NOS Energy Drink No. 17 got better and better throughout the Feature.

“I worked on him (Kofoid) the whole race,” Haudenschild said. “Him and the 41 (Macedo) had a good battle, and I was just kind of sitting back there watching and was able to move around a little bit. I wasn’t sure what happened after that restart. I think Buddy’s car might’ve went away a little bit, and I think we got better and also kind of ran the 41 down there at the end, too.”

Buddy Kofoid and David Gravel completed the top five.

Logan Schuchart picked up the KSE Racing Hard Charger with a run from 17th to eighth.

Buddy Kofoid claimed his third Simpson Quick Time of 2024 and the eighth of his career in Sea Foam Qualifying.

NOS Energy Drink Heats One, Three, and Four belonged to Buddy Kofoid (24th Heat Race win of career), David Gravel (261st of career), and Giovanni Scelzi (50th of career). Milton Hershey School Heat Two went to Donny Schatz (527th of career).

Donny Schatz topped the Toyota Racing Dash.

Creed Kemenah won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Scotty Thiel.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars head to Ohio for a huge trio of races. First up is the $15,000-to-win Ohio Logistics Brad Doty Classic presented by dac® Pet Products at Attica Raceway Park on Tuesday, July 16. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

Then it’s off to the iconic Eldora Speedway for the Knight Before ($25,000-to-win) on Friday, July 19 and the 41st Kings Royal on Saturday, July 20 offering up $175,000 in riches to the victor. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[3]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[4]; 4. 83-Michael Kofoid[2]; 5. 2-David Gravel[7]; 6. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[13]; 7. 17B-Bill Balog[10]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart[17]; 9. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[6]; 10. 21H-Brady Bacon[5]; 11. 70-Kraig Kinser[8]; 12. 29-Logan McCandless[9]; 13. W20-Greg Wilson[19]; 14. 45-Landon Brooks[23]; 15. 15K-Creed Kemenah[21]; 16. 7S-Landon Crawley[14]; 17. 24D-Danny Sams III[12]; 18. 79-Blake Nimee[16]; 19. 3N-Jake Neuman[20]; 20. 6-Kelby Watt[11]; 21. 96-Jake Blackhurst[18]; 22. 49J-Josh Schneiderman[22]; 23. 16-Anthony Knierim[24]; 24. 73-Scotty Thiel[15]

BADGER BEATDOWN: Carson Macedo Engineers Flawless Drive to Third Consecutive Wilmot Victory

The Californian laps up to ninth on his way to victory in the Federated Auto Parts Larry Hillerud Memorial Badger 40 opener 

WILMOT, WI (July 12, 2024) - Carson Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing have Wilmot Raceway figured out right now.

They entered Federated Auto Parts Larry Hillerud Memorial Badger 40 weekend as winners of the two most recent World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car races at the Wisconsin facility. And on Friday night the pairing delivered their strongest statement yet at the 1/3 mile.

Macedo started second for the 40-lap Feature and put on a masterclass. After surviving one early challenge from Michael “Buddy” Kofoid, he simply drove away. The Lemoore, CA native wheeled the Albaugh No. 41 wherever he wanted. He worked through traffic on the top. He worked through traffic on the bottom.

When the checkered flag waved to punctuate the beatdown, Macedo had lapped up to the ninth place finisher and crossed the line nearly six seconds ahead of Kofoid in the runner-up spot. From the moment the green flag dropped, Macedo knew he was steering a special setup on Friday night.

“That was ridiculous. My car was unbelievable there, especially when we got into traffic,” Macedo said. “I knew we were going to be in really good shape when we got to traffic just because I could pretty much run wherever I wanted as long as I had clean air on my wings. It would go pretty much everywhere. I could split cars. And you know when you’re good like that it’s going to be tough to get by you. Tonight was one of those nights. It was definitely a Philip Dietz race car, just incredible from start to finish.”

The third consecutive Wilmot victory matches David Gravel’s run of three straight in 2014, 2016, and 2017 for the longest streak at the track. Wilmot is also now tied with Tri-State Speedway, Eldora Speedway, and Jackson Motorplex as the track where Macedo has won most often with The Greatest Show on Dirt. He’s up to 38 career World of Outlaws triumphs. He also cut the gap between himself and Donny Schatz for second in the standings down to just two points.

Kofoid and Macedo led the field to green for the night’s 40-lap conclusion. It took no time for Macedo to flex his muscle as he powered ahead of Kofoid on the outside and led the first lap. 

A flurry of early cautions forced Macedo to withstand multiple restarts. Kofoid kept him honest as Brady Bacon, Sheldon Haudenschild, David Gravel, and Giovanni Scelzi all jockeyed for spots within the top five behind them.

A golden opportunity for Kofoid to challenge for the win arose on a restart with 30 laps remaining. Kofoid kept the Roth Motorsports No. 83 close to Macedo as the green brought the field back to life. Exiting Turn 4 on the next lap he got a strong run on the bottom and looked under Macedo in Turns 1 and 2. Right when it looked like he may slide him for the lead, the yellow lights flashed once again for a slowing car on the other end of the racetrack.

On the ensuing restart Macedo made sure Kofoid had no chance at slipping by. He powered ahead when the green flag flew and began to build what eventually became an enormous advantage.

Kofoid managed to stay within striking distance in clean air, but instead of traffic helping him erase the gap, it played to Macedo’s advantage. One the lead duo caught the tail of the field, Macedo went to work slicing his way through as Kofoid struggled to maintain pace. The margin grew over a second on Lap 22. Two laps later it was over two seconds. By Lap 30 he had pushed the lead to more than four seconds, and the next circuit it ballooned to more than five seconds.

Traffic stood no chance of slowing his march toward the checkered flag. The gap reached its peak on Lap 38 when Macedo crossed the line 6.785 seconds ahead. He sealed the deal with just under a six-second margin between himself and the runner-up.

After losing out on multiple wins this year late in races, Macedo and the JJR crew have prioritized maintaining speed through the duration of Features. And that’s exactly what they did at Wilmot.

“I think that we’ve been trying to work on that for the last few races,” Macedo said. “And I feel like we definitely hit it tonight. It seemed like as the race went on I kept getting my wing back and just kept getting better. I looked up at one point and was like, ‘Man, I’m all the way back.’ And I felt like I could maybe even grab a little more wing, but then at times I would get tight as well. Just hats off to this JJR team.”

Kofoid brought the Roth Motorsports machine home second to earn back-to-back runner-up finishes after claiming second on Wednesday at Beaver Dam. He knew Macedo had an incredibly fast machine but couldn’t help wonder what could’ve been if the early ill-timed yellow hadn’t occurred. 

“The 41 guys were just really good, and Carson did a really good job,” Kofoid said. “Who knows if the green stayed and the yellow didn’t come out. There was still a whole race left, and they were extremely good, but it would’ve been nice to see how it played out at least.”

After slipping back to sixth early in the race, David Gravel clawed his way back to third to round out the podium. That marked his 18th World of Outlaws podium of the season in the Big Game Motorsports machine as the No. 2 really came alive late for yet another strong run.

“Man, we just weren’t really good around the bottom of (Turns) 1 and 2,” Gravel said. “I thought, if your car was operating good, that would’ve been the place to be. But we had to slide across, keep our wing speed up, hit that grip, and get down the backstretch really, really fast. Once I did that, I was able to gain on Sheldon and get past Brady. We closed on Buddy, but just like all positioning, if he got held up by a lapped car I caught him, and when I got caught up he pulled away.”

Sheldon Haudenschild and Brady Bacon completed the top five. 

A 14th to sixth run earned Donny Schatz his Series-leading sixth KSE Racing Hard Charger of 2024.

Brock Zearfoss claimed his frist Simpson Quick Time of 2024 and the second of his career in Sea Foam Qualifying.

NOS Energy Drink Heats One, Three, and Four belonged to Brock Zearfoss (21st Heat Race win of career), Brady Bacon (fifth of career), and Carson Macedo (128th of career). Milton Hershey School Heat Two went to Sheldon Haudenschild (114th of career).

Buddy Kofoid topped the Toyota Racing Dash.

Landon Crawley won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Bill Balog.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars complete the Federated Auto Parts Larry Hillerud Memorial Badger 40 at Wilmot Raceway on Saturday, July 13. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[2]; 2. 83-Michael Kofoid[1]; 3. 2-David Gravel[4]; 4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[6]; 5. 21H-Brady Bacon[3]; 6. 15-Donny Schatz[14]; 7. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[5]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart[7]; 9. W20-Greg Wilson[11]; 10. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[8]; 11. 73-Scotty Thiel[16]; 12. 23-Garet Williamson[15]; 13. 70-Kraig Kinser[10]; 14. 45-Landon Brooks[22]; 15. 6-Kelby Watt[18]; 16. 15K-Creed Kemenah[20]; 17. 24D-Danny Sams III[17]; 18. 17B-Bill Balog[12]; 19. 7S-Landon Crawley[21]; 20. 3N-Jake Neuman[23]; 21. 10V-Matt VanderVere[24]; 22. 96-Jake Blackhurst[19]; 23. 29-Logan McCandless[9]; 24. 10W-Mike Reinke[13]