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Schendel won the NASCAR Touring Series Elite Division, Midwest Series, championship in 2006. Unfortunately, NASCAR pulled the plug on its touring series and Schendel was left without a racing home.
His team, which includes his father and team owner, Ron Schendel, decided to give the Busch East (formerly Busch North) Series a try. After four of 13 races, it’s been an eye-opener.
“It’s a humbling sport. Last year I left on the top. I couldn’t do a lot wrong,” Schendel said. “I was on top of the mountain. Coming into this year in a new series, I’m on the bottom and have to crawl back to the top.”
For a driver who is used to winning — or at the very least, top-five finishes — having finishes of 17th, 12th, 22nd and ninth is not what he expected. Or, what he will stand for.
The biggest thing, Schendel said, is not so much the talent level of the drivers, but the quality of the race teams and the money they have to spend.
“I think the talent from the drivers, there may be more of it on the (NASCAR) touring series. I’m not knocking Joey (Logano) or anybody, but when you are in a Joe Gibbs Busch East car, you’re going to be fast,” Schendel said of the current points leader. “I think the guys who are in Cup-backed teams or a Busch-backed teams have an advantage. They certainly do with technology.”
So as Schendel prepares for tonight’s Connecticut Classic 150 at Stafford Springs, Conn., his Iron Eagle Racing Team doesn’t plan on any major changes. The biggest thing, Schendel says, is somehow staying out of wrecks.
“I have been running as high as fifth in some of the races. If we could have had the finishes where we were running (before accidents), they would have all been in the top 10,” Schendel said. “All in all, we’re just running into a lot of bad luck. And when you’re trying to get the car back together for the next race, you can’t find any speed doing that.”
Schendel, who has been working out of Johnny Sauter’s former Busch car shop in Mooresville, N.C., can take some solace in the fact that he is in 15th place in the season points despite having been involved in some sort of crash in all four races.
“It is really competitive right now with all the Cup and Busch teams that are fielding cars. We feel pretty good that we have made all of the events,” Schendel said. “Rusty Wallace’s car has not even made two of the events.”
Jeff Brown can be reached at (608) 791-8403, or at jbrown@lacrossetribune.com
