This week there has been a great deal of attention placed on the grueling 600-mile event the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will embark upon Sunday evening. Yet, the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series race held at the Dirt Track at Lowe’s Friday night is just a part of one of the most demanding and grueling schedules in all of racing.

The World of Outlaws Sprint Cars Series starts its season in February with a three-day event at the Volusia Speedway Park in Florida and ends in November back in Charlotte. The season runs the same length as the NASCAR schedule; however the demand on the teams is unlike anything in NASCAR.

Racing in twenty-three different states, as well as in Canada, the WoO Sprint Cars often run night after night, sometimes states apart. The wear and tear this puts not only on the equipment, but the drivers, the crew and their family members is something everyone in the sport is forced to adapt to in order to survive.

For three-time defending series champion Donny Schatz, adjusting to the grueling demands of the schedule was no simple task.

“It’s not something you can come out here and do it your first year or your second year,” Schatz told HardcoreRaceFans.com Thursday in Charlotte. “I spent the better part of 10 to 12 years out here trying to race with the World of Outlaws and didn’t really mature and understand how to race at that level and at that pace until the last three or four years. Once you figure it out you kind of sit back and go why didn’t I figure that out before but its something you have to learn on your own. You’re right it’s not easy but its part of the deal. It’s a great thing to be a part of and just glad we were able to figure it out and have all the people stand behind us like they have.”

Teammate Kraig Kinser got a taste of the demands placed on WoO drivers at a young age. The son of Sprint Car legend Steve Kinser, Kraig grew up around the sport and understood what it took – or so he thought.

“For me being around my dad and I traveled when I was really young all the time so it really wasn’t that big of an adjustment the scheduling and traveling for me because it was what I lived when I was younger and growing up,” Kinser explained. “Probably my biggest part was when I did start a family and got married and had a son. That really was an eye opener. How my mom and dad did it as long as they did. Me traveling and my wife at home here in Mooresville. We’re out for a long time and actually right now is going to be our busy season. You just got to put that away and go race every weekend.”

Go racing is exactly what the drivers and teams in the Sprint Car Series will do Friday night at the Dirt Track at Lowe’s. Once the checkered flag falls on the race in Charlotte, the teams will be busy packing up the equipment and hit the road headed to the Virginia Motor Speedway in Jamaica, Virginia. By the time the green flag waves for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series next week in Dover, the WoO Sprint Car Series will have completed five races in five different states – now that is demanding.

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