Schatz Lands Second Sides Entry For Balance Of WoO Slate

Donny Schatz will join Sides Motorsports to wrap up the World of Outlaws sprint car season.

TULARE, Calif. – Ten-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion Donny Schatz has found his home to conclude the season after weeks of ride-hopping.

Following Saturday night’s conclusion to the Outlaws’ West Coast Swing at Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway, Schatz will take the reins of a second entry for Sides Motorsports for the balance of the year with The Greatest Show on Dirt.

The car, carrying Schatz’s familiar No. 15, will run as a teammate to Chris Windom’s No. 7s that has run full-time this season as the primary entry for longtime car owner Jason Sides.

JVI Group will serve as the sponsor for Schatz’s tenure with the Sides organization.

“Jason and Sam [Elicker, JVI owner] put all this together. I was unsure at first, but I’m shocked by it, and I’m really heartfelt by what they’re doing,” said Schatz in a social media video posted Friday evening. “The friendships made there have obviously put us in this position today, so I’m very grateful for that.

“First and foremost, I said through all these things the last half of the season that I didn’t want to put anyone out, and that hasn’t changed. I haven’t wavered on that. I don’t want this to affect Chris Windom in any way because I have the utmost respect for Chris and what that team is doing,” Schatz continued. “They’ve been running phenomenally well, and they’re racing for a rookie of the year title with the Outlaws, and that’s something that to this day is still one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

“It’s my most coveted trophy, personally, so I wish them the best, and hopefully in some way, shape, or form, I can help them accomplish that and this doesn’t affect them [negatively]. They’ve put a lot of work into this, and they’re going to run a whole separate truck and trailer and team and all the things for us, even as the race season is actually winding down.”

Since parting ways with Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing in August after nearly two decades with that team, Schatz has driven for Big Game Motorsports, Lunstra Motorsports, and most recently Works Limited under team owner Kevin Kozlowski in partnership with Paul Silva.

Schatz will wrap up his association with Kozlowski in the ‘W’ sprinter during Saturday night’s $83,000-to-win Dennis Roth Classic at Thunderbowl.

He’ll then begin the downhill road to the World of Outlaws World Finals with Sides Motorsports on Sept. 26-27 at two Ohio dirt tracks – Millstream Speedway and Sharon Speedway, respectively.

The 48-year-old from Fargo, N.D., ranks sixth in the Outlaws’ point standings, 130 ahead of Bill Balog in seventh amid his 29th straight season on tour. He’s earned 29 top 10s in 56 feature starts this year.

“There’s 14 some races left, and I’m guessing Mother Nature is probably going to be victorious a few times, so we’re going to do our best to try to finish this out as strong as we can,” Schatz noted. “We’ll race together as long as we can here, and get to the end and make the best of it.”