HANOVER, PA (Feb. 1, 2022) - The annual trek criss crossing the United States racing Sprint cars is about to begin for Shark Racing. Drivers Jacob Allen and Logan Schuchart are anxious to get back into their offices behind the wheel in some of the most incredible machines in motorsports.
The off-season seems to get shorter and shorter, but we race so that’s just fine with us. Enough time to get organized, refreshed and now it’s time to get back at it.
OUR DRIVERS
Jacob Allen returns to the World of Outlaws looking to run consistently and put himself in position to regularly challenge for top-fives and secure more wins. He’ll be starting the season running the 1990 throwback design honoring his dad’s Knoxville Nationals triumph. Jacob raced the car both at the 2021 Knoxville Nationals and National Open at Williams Grove Speedway.
He will once again have Tyler Garber as car chief along with crewman Jack Eckerd preparing his No. 1a Triple X machine. Allen started the 2021 WoO season by leading the opening laps of the first main event of the season last February at Volusia. He put on a show on March 20 at Cotton Bowl Speedway taking the lead from Brad Sweet before getting upside down after contact with the turn one wall. He finished fourth at Port Royal in the Keith Kauffman Classic at Port Royal Speedway before another top-five at Eldora in the finale of the #LetsRaceTwo event. Another top-10 in the Kings Royal and back-to-back top-10s during Ironman weekend at Pevely pushed him through the summer before he scored a third-place finish at Huset’s Speedway in late August. Strong runs in Pennsylvania (7th at Lernerville and 5th at Port Royal and 8th at BAPS Motor Speedway) concluded his season.
For Logan Schuchart, the goal is to start 2022 just as fast as he did 2021. The 29-year-old finished first, second, second and first in the four DIRTcar Nationals races and left with his first Big Gator. The season was a roller coaster with many ups and downs, but Schuchart along with Ron Helmick (car chief) and Ben Witman (crewman) just kept plugging away.
He scored his second WoO win of the season at Bridgeport in the middle of May and flexed his muscle again at the Jackson Nationals, this time dominating the finale and pocketing $50,000 for the win. His fourth win came on Labor Day weekend in Washington at Grays Harbor Raceway and the following weekend he became the first Pennsylvania driver to win the historic Gold Cup of Champions race at Sliver Dollar Speedway since Stevie Smith won it in 1993. Two weeks later, he was again victorious at Eldora Speedway during the Four-Crown weekend and he closed October at Devil’s Bowl Speedway with his historic 30th career WoO triumph and third consecutive Ted Johnson Memorial victory.
A fifth place finish in the standings wasn’t the result the team was looking for, but Schuchart admitted that despite the end result his team continues to improve. They are one year removed from a championship battle that went down to the last weekend in 2020 and fresh off an up and down 2021, this team is aiming for consistency, wins and a shot at the title. Schuchart will pilot an All-American looking Drydene/DuraMAX/C&D Rigging Shark Racing No. 1s starting next week.
OUR SPONSORS
RELADYNE - DRYDENE - DURAMAX
Earlier today, RelaDyne, one of the nation’s leading providers of lubricants, fuel, diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), and industrial reliability services, announced a marketing partnership with Logan and the Shark Racing team for the 2022 season. The Cincinnati, Ohio based company has all of your oil needs covered. DuraMAX continues to revolutionize the Automotive Aftermarket industry for personal vehicles while Drydene, which was acquired by RelaDyne in September 2021, offers a complete line of commercial and industrial lubricants, including engine oils, diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), transmission fluids, grease, hydraulic and gear oils, and metalworking fluids.
We are excited to continue carrying the Drydene brand for the fifth season and expand our family. Dave Klinger, Al Johnson and Gene Nace, all key ingredients from Drydene that helped grow Shark Racing, will continue to do so for RelaDyne and will be joined by RelaDyne president Larry Stoddard, Executive VP Dan Oehler and Bob Johnson, Business Development Manager - Automotive.
C&D RIGGING
This season marks year three with C&D Rigging as a major associate partner to Shark Racing. The company is a renowned millwrighting company offering custom millwriting and mechanical erection of machinery and heavy equipment with over 150 years of collective experience. They serve a variety of industrial manufacturers such as food processing, steel fabrication, quarries, electrical generation and manufacturing.
Doug Hetrick, Kevin Sassaman and their families have become family to the team. Their business is going strong and keeps them both extremely busy, but they both are huge racing fans and will be at the track as much as possible in 2022.
NGK SPARK PLUGS
For the fourth consecutive season, NGK Spark Plugs is partnering with Shark Racing. The teams utilize their spark plugs in every race. This season the partnership will also serve as an opportunity for NGK team members and shop technicians to experience what the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is all about at several events. Jackie Donahue and Brian Lesiewicz have been great to work with and really appreciate their support of Shark Racing.
PELL’S TIRE SERVICE
It just wouldn’t be Shark Racing without Mark Pell and his Michigan tire company as part of the group. Mark met Bobby back in the 1980s at Eldora and has been a loyal supporter since. He’s been here for every step of the Outlaw journey for Jacob and Logan. Mark comes to most of the races in the Michigan, Indiana and Ohio area and was with us last year in Volusia. Visit his tire store for great service in the Michigan and northern Indiana and Ohio areas.
WILLIAMS GRADING
For the second consecutive season, Williams Grading is part of the Shark Racing family. Hector is out at a number of races throughout the season and one of the friendliest people at the track. It gives us great pride to support his company all across the United States.
L&M TIRE AND WHEEL
Jake Miller and his family have been in the tire and wheel business for many years in Abbottstown and last fall, they jumped on board. The Shark Racing family members have been L&M customers for a long time and with this relationship we are hoping L&M sees a lot of Shark Racing supporters and other race fans in their shop doing business. L&M Tire and Wheel also does customer wheel orders all over the United States and globe. Jump on their website (www.lmtire-wheel.com) and see what a new set of wheels and tires look like on your vehicle and then get them ordered. We’re looking forward to having Jake and his staff join us at the races near home this season.
BIRCHMONT TRANSPORT AND BRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY
We have built a relationship with Brad Reinert from Birchmont Transportation and Doug Rose at Bridgeport Speedway. We are working with both parties to build marketing partnerships with both. We are excited to get them involved with Shark Racing.
OUR PRODUCT SPONSORS
Since its inception, Shark Racing has been the vision of Sprint car legend Bobby Allen. He has been an innovator in the sport dating back to the late 1960s and early 1970s when he ventured to central Pennsylvania. In the fall of 2013 when he announced he was taking his boys on the road with the Outlaws, he knew everything had to align. He had relationships and built more through the first eight years and the teams are fortunate to work with some of the best people in the business.
Both cars will be powered by motors built by Michael Newman at Newman’s Racing Engines. Components from All-Pro Cylinder Heads, Race Tec pistons, System 1, Carrillo Rods, NGK Spark Plugs, Barnes Oil Pumps, Bam Lifters, Total Seal Rings, SCE Gaskets. Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Engler Machine & Tool, Walker Performance Filtration are all major assets to our program. Dean Bowman keeps the blocks ready whenever they are ready for rebuilds.
Dave Ely with DMI, Stevie and Nikki Smith from Smith TI, Willie Kahne from Factory Kahne, and Jeff Rine from Wing Dynamics work with us closely to keep our cars performing at optimum levels.
OUR CREW
People are our most important asset. Led by Bobby Allen and his drivers Jacob Allen and Logan Schuchart, these guys have established Shark Racing as one of the top Sprint car teams in the world. The crew includes Tyler Garber, car chief on the 1a since 2018, Ron Helmick, car chief on the 1s since 2019, Ben Witman, crewman on the 1s since 2019 and Jack Eckerd, who worked for Bobby back when he won the Knoxville Nationals. WE COULD NOT DO THIS WITHOUT THESE GUYS. Working on a World of Outlaws team is one of the toughest jobs on the planet and we appreciate everything they do for us.
OUR SEASON
The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series has laid out another great schedule for us this season. We kick it off with the 51st annual DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park starting Thursday, February 10. We’ll start the week racing with the All-Star as we look to once again bring home the Big Gator. From there, we’ll be off and running all across the country until November where it all concludes at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
