Schatz beats off the rain, delays and fog at Knoxville
Schatz wins Knoxville in the fog
The Outlaw show at Knoxville for the Mediacom Shootout will be a stand out for Schatz and one that race fans officials will not forget quickly.
42 team teams started the night under the most beautiful Knoxville sunset and the qualifying, heat races and the dash were completed before Mother Nature sent down the challenge to the race track as the heavens opened over this world famous and special Sprintcar venue.
Fans under the weather at Knoxville
The program was under rain delay for well over three hours before track staff and the push car brigade were able to work on the famed track. Not only the track needed attention but the infield soaked up everything the committed track staff could throw at the task.
The Australian contingent was strong, headed by Kerry Madsen who started the night in blazing fashion by grabbing the quick time for the 5th this season.
The early racing was tough and with the new race format in place due to the number of team qualifying getting into the A main was tough , Shane Stewart,Daryn Pittman ,Joey Saldana and Tim Kaeding all had to run from the last chance Showdowns to make the A. Jamie veal and Glen Saville also found themselves in the LCS . Veal, Stewart, Pittman, Saldana and Kaeding all made the A Main
With the A Main field set it was time to try and get racing under way , beat the coming weather and get the Mediacom Shootout complete. The field in order faced the green.
Its 2AM and green is unfolded asking the 26 racers go race! Almost immediately the fog started to roll in and enclose parts of the race track.
Amazingly many race fans ignored the rubbish weather although one might question the wisdom of letting the race go, particularly as the conditions for the fog to thicken were almost perfect.
Fans under the weather at Knoxville
In his normal manner Donny Schatz raced away from fellow front row partner Justin Henderson and quickly caught the tail of them field. In some parts of the track visibility was almost nil.
Exciting but uncomfortable night for fans ,but scary for the drivers .With 15 laps in the books and the condition getting worse every minute the race officials put out the yellow and the race declared the following lap .Schatz was declared the race winner . This was the defending WoO Champs 12th win for the season. Justin Henderson was second followed by Kerry Madsen .If the Knoxville race night was not tough enough the Outlaws now need to regroup and overnight to Huset’s Speedway, Brandon to close out their three-in-a-row swing
The last time fog postponed a Knoxville race was way back in 1980. 
Driver quotes:
Donny Schatz: “I don’t know what happened there with the fog,” said Schatz. “It wasn’t bad until you got to turn three when you rolled down into the turn… that’s a tough call.”
Justin Henderson: “I’m proud of this team,” Henderson said. “Donny did a good job keeping his momentum up there. I should have move up when I got by him but I lost that race and he did a really good job of taking it like a champ would.”
Kerry Madsen: What do you do?” Madsen said of the weather. “Thanks to everyone that put in a bloody sterling effort to get the track in; the fans for sticking around… I really wanted to go on the last ten laps, but I couldn’t even see the cone on the restart.”
Kerry Madsen
A-Main – (15 Laps-shortened due to fog) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [1] [$10,000]; 2. 1-Justin Henderson [2] [$5,500]; 3. 29-Kerry Madsen [4] [$3,200]; 4. 21-Brian Brown [5] [$2,800]; 5. 18-Ian Madsen [3] [$2,500]; 6. 71M-Joey Saldana [10] [$2,300]; 7. 41-Sammy Swindell [7][$2,200]; 8. 12-Lynton Jeffrey [6] [$2,100]; 9. 9-Daryn Pittman [12] [$2,050]; 10. 49-Brad Sweet [14] [$2,000]; 11. 24-Terry McCarl [8] [$1,500]; 12. 51-Paul McMahan [16] [$1,200]; 13. 2L-Danny Lasoski [9] [$1,100]; 14. 19M-Brent Marks [13] [$1,050]; 15. 35AU-Jamie Veal [17] [$1,000]; 16. 82-Dusty Zomer [18] [$900]; 17. 3-Tim Kaeding [26] [$]; 18. 1S-Logan Schuchart [11] [$800]; 19. 7S-Jason Sides [22] [$800]; 20. 2-Shane Stewart [25] [$]; 21. 7-David Gravel [21] [$800]; 22. 11-Steve Kinser [19] [$800]; 23. 96-Bronson Maeschen [20] [$800]; 24. 56-David Heskin [24] [$800]; 25. 55-Brooke Tatnell [15] [$800]; 26. 49J-Josh Schneiderman [23] [$800]. Lap Leaders: Donny Schatz 1-15. KSE Hard Charger Award: 3-Tim Kaeding [+9]
Donny Schatz heads the points heading into Huset’s from Shane Stewart by 177 and Kerry Madsen third 226 points adrift of Schatz.
