Hunter Schuerenberg Going Exclusively To Winged Sprints In 2018
Hunter Schuerenberg Going Exclusively To Winged Sprints In 2018
Hunter Schuerenberg will race only winged sprint car events this season after splitting time between winged and traditional sprints in the past.
By Tony Veneziano
Hunter Schuerenberg has been tossing around the idea of running only a winged sprint car for the last few years, but the timing was never quite right.
But, this season? Everything just sort of fell into place.
The 28-year-old is taking the plunge and only racing winged sprint car events, after splitting his time the last few years between winged and traditional (non-wing) sprint cars.
In his career, Schuerenberg has driven just about every type of short-track open-wheel car in existence. The majority of his starts have come in non-wing competition, racking up nine USAC National Sprint Car Series wins along the way, with the most recent coming in February 2017.
Schuerenberg has also won with the Midwest Sprint Car Series (MSCS) and in weekly competition at just about every track in the state of Indiana. He also has raced a midget and Silver Crown car under the USAC banner. On the winged sprint car side, Schuerenberg was victorious with the Midwest Open Wheel Association (MOWA) at Tri-City Speedway in Illinois in 2015.
Loaded and ready to hit the road for some @WorldofOutlaws racing @LVMotorSpeedway and @perrisautospdwy in the AME electric @psourcefloors number 19! @jocelynreinbold @eddiegilstrap pic.twitter.com/tie7vELHBT
— Hunter Schuerenberg (@HunterPercent) February 24, 2018
“This year is going to be the first year that I am fully committed to winged racing,” Schuerenberg said. “I've pretty much turned down any of the non-wing offers that I had for this year. I want to make a 100 percent go of the winged stuff. The last three or four years have been tough for me, because I was splitting the winged stuff and non-wing stuff.
“At times, it’s almost aggravating because you get running the winged car pretty good for two months and then you have to take a week off for Sprint Week and other big events. Then, it takes two or three nights to re-acclimate yourself when you get back in the winged car. I just finally decided I’m not going to do that. I’ve always wondered if we are decent for 30 races a year, how much better could I be as a driver and a mechanic and as a team in general if we could do this all year long.”
Schuerenberg recently kicked off his all-winged sprint car campaign with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he was fastest in Flight B of time trials in the finale of the two-night event on March 1.
Among the group of 21 other drivers whom he qualified against were a pair of past series champions, a multi-time Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions title winner, and 14 total drivers who have combined to win over 200 races with the Outlaws in their respective careers.
“I’ve learned that when you race with the Outlaws, even when you feel like you have a good lap, everyone is going to have a good lap, with how many good cars there are,” Schuerenberg said. “I knew after hot laps the first night that the motors we had for this season were quite a bit better than the year before. I was more optimistic in our qualifying efforts. Obviously setting fast time was a bonus. If anything, it’s a confidence builder to set fast time with them.”
Schuerenberg was scheduled to race with the World of Outlaws at Perris Auto Speedway in Southern California on March 3, and when that event fell to rain, he made the trek south to compete with the ASCS Southwest Region at Canyon Speedway Park in Arizona. After winning a heat race, Schuerenberg started seventh in the 25-lap main event and worked his way forward to finish second.
“We weren’t even expecting to race there,” Schuerenberg noted. “We had no plans of going until early that morning. For me, that was the first time I had driven a 360-sprint car in 12 or 13 years. It was different and, obviously, it has less horsepower so you can’t bury that thing on the cushion like you can with a 410-sprint car).
"We got ourselves a little bit behind on gear because we weren’t quite sure where we needed to be. Going and getting laps is what we wanted to do. We ran halfway decent and had a good time. I got to hang out with my friend in Arizona, who I don’t get to see very often.”
Making the transition from a split schedule of wing and non-wing competition to solely a winged schedule, is a big undertaking for Schuerenberg. The native of Sikeston, Missouri, who now calls the Indianapolis area home, points out three areas that are keys to being successful in this new endeavor.
Being very hand-on, Schuerenberg does a majority of the work on his program himself, including rebuilding engines in the off-season.
“Not only do you have to teach yourself to drive as good as the guys you are competing against, but I’ve had to learn how to wrench the car and do the motors,” he explained. “I’ve kind of been learning three things in one. When you race for a living, the non-wing stuff has been my bread and butter for the last 10 or 11 years and how I put food on the table.
"It’s tough to step away from what you are good at and know that at some of these races you are going to get pummeled, especially on the half-miles. The half-miles with the wing is even tougher. I think it’s the only way we are going to get to that level is to break the non-wing stuff off the schedule completely and commit ourselves to the winged car.”
That “level,” which Schuerenberg ultimately is working to get to is to one day compete full-time with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series. Early in his career, he took the non-wing route, because that was the road that oftentimes paved the way to moving south to stock car country, which at the time was the route he thought he should attempt to take.
“Winged sprint car racing has always been my passion since I was a tiny guy, 5 or 6 years old,” Schuerenberg shared. “My heroes were Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell. I really want to be successful at the winged racing, especially with the Outlaws. It would be really cool to put on your bucket list that you’ve won with USAC races, the All Stars race, and the Outlaws.
“To be able to win in everything would be pretty cool. I know it will take time. I’m not going to shortchange the guys that do it all the time. The Outlaws deal is very tough. The guys who are there have paid their dues for a really long time to get there. I’m not going to rush it, but at the same time I’m a competitor, so even though I am fairly new to it, I want to run well now.”
The plan for Schuerenberg is to run a “True Outlaw” schedule this season, within about a five-hour radius of Indianapolis. After racing with the Outlaws four times in April at four bullrings, he will make his first start of the year with the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions at Wayne County Speedway in Ohio on April 21.
“I’m just looking forward to finally having a spring, summer, and fall where I am committed to the winged stuff to see what I have,” Schuerenberg said. “I left Vegas pretty optimistic. It’s taken me until now to get the motors to where I think they should be. I feel like we finally have a decent balance on the car that I am comfortable with that is pretty good.
“Now that we have the motor running good and the car is good, I know it’s not those two things that are the issue to run good. Now, I can say, ‘What did I do wrong as a driver?’ If we get all three of those things lined up, there is no reason we shouldn’t be competitive just like we were with USAC. Halfway through this year, my goal would be to be competitive against whoever we unload against.”
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