Donnie Schatz Wins Knoxville Nationals

The 54th running of the Knoxville Nationals, the granddaddy of all sprint car events, ran Saturday night. It is held at the legendary Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa.

It's the half mile track located on the grounds of The National Sprint Car Hall Of Fame. All a part of the Marion County Fairgrounds.

The Nationals each year in August attract thousands of fans from around the world. All coming for the four day showdown that will ultimately crown one driver as the best in the world.

Donnie Schatz of North Dakota was the one to put on that crown on Saturday night at the conclusion of the championship main event.

This marks the eighth time that he has won the world's biggest sprint car race. His paycheck was $150,000 for the victory.

Schatz began his racing career in his teens back in the mid 90's racing at Huset's Speedway outside of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Some familiar names from Huset's came across the finish line right behind Schatz.

Craig Dollansky was fourth, Justin Henderson was fifth, Terry McCarl was seventh and Mark Dobmeier came in eighth.

Brian Brown finished in second for the third consecutive year and Kerry Madsen was third.

Here's a video that was done recently on Donnie Schatz: