by Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher
Logan Schuchart and Shark Racing, for lack of better terms, got their collective butts kicked when they joined the Outlaw tour years ago. They had a chance at making all the years of hard work and hard lessons learned worth it in a huge way Thursday night at The Eldora Million.
Schuchart won his heat race, which automatically transferred him to the feature event, paying $1,002,023 to win, and also guaranteed him a top six starting spot in the 50 lap race. As luck would have it, Schuchart drew the pole position in the redraw. The stars were aligning. The stars still had 50 laps and a break at lap 20 to get through, though, as well as 23 other drivers who were just as hungry for the million dollar payday.
After the pyrotechnics died down and the four-wide salute was over, the field lined up side-by-side as the green flag flew, and the crowd went wild. The electricity was dimmed though as the red flag came out for Cole Duncan who helicoptered in turn one. Reset, deep breath, let’s do it again. Schuchart got the jump on the restart and gapped Brad Sweet and Carson Macedo by .432 seconds as Kyle Larson was all over Brian Brown for sixth. Schuchart continued to build his lead and carried a 1.154 second lead into lapped traffic.
While Schuchart was scooting away, Sweet and Macedo were battling hard for second. Sweet was able to hold on to the second spot momentarily, but he and Sweet were slowly chipping away at Schuchart’s lead. On lap 14, Macedo made his move on Sweet for second as they worked through traffic. Second and third were still slowly reeling in the leader on laps 16 and 17. On lap 19, right before the break, Schuchart extended his lead back up to 1.168 seconds and was gapping Macedo and Sweet slowly but surely.
Lap 20 came and so did the five-minute break. Schuchart led over Macedo, Sweet, Aaron Reutzel, Kyle Larson, David Gravel, Brian Brown, Spencer Bayston, Rico Abreu and Justin Peck as your top ten. Teams had five minutes to make whatever changes they wanted to on the car. There was drama for Schuchart, as his car fell off the jack while refueling. On a night where a team needed to be near perfect, slipping off the jack was not going to help.
The cars and drivers got lined back up as the green flag was about to fly again. Which teams made the million dollar change? There was only one way to find out.
The green flag flew once again, and much like the original start, the red flag immediately came out. Aaron Reutzel spun in turn one, leaving Kyle Larson nowhere to go. Larson was then collected by Gio Scelzi, Spencer Bayston, and was then clipped late by Lachlan McHugh. Another Open Red while the Eldora safety crew cleared the scene.
Thirty laps to decide who would be this episode’s winner of ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ Schuchart once again got a good jump, as Sweet and Macedo resumed their battle for second. Sweet dove under Macedo in turns one and two on lap 21 and reclaimed the second spot. This allowed Schuchart to gap these two by .719 seconds as Macedo started to fight back. Schuchart’s lead grew to 1.048 seconds on lap 23 as Macedo laid claim to the second spot again. Schuchart just kept putting more and more time between himself and Macedo as the laps clicked away. Schuchart took a 1.978 second lead on lap 30 into lapped traffic, but it didn’t slow the Shark Racing 1S Machine down one bit, thought. On lap 34, Schuchart enjoyed his biggest lead of the night, 2.108 seconds over Macedo as Rico Abreu and Brian Brown battled for the fifth spot.
The laps kept ticking away and Macedo and Sweet kept watching Schuchart get smaller in the distance. Schuchart was still in traffic with ten circuits remaining, but still had a 2.225 second lead. With only five laps remaining, that lead grew to 3.568 seconds, and reality started to set in for the massive crowd, the Shark Team, and Logan Schuchart. The 1S was about to visit victory lane in the biggest Sprint Car race in the sport’s history.
From the very humble beginnings of Shark Racing, pulling two cars with one trailer on the Outlaw tour, to now being forever known as the winners of the biggest race in Sprint Car History. It was the storybook ending for Logan Schuchart as he crossed under the checkered flag. Forever immortalized, and now a millionaire. Fulfilling the vision his grandfather, Bobby Allen, a Sprint Car legend in his own right, had when he threw Logan and Jacob Allen on the World of Outlaws tour. The gamble paid off in the biggest way possible.
Logan Schuchart: Your Eldora Million Winner.