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Tennessee Chassis Manufacturer Wins Prestigious Kings Royal, World of Outlaws, ASCS National Series Titles

J&J Auto Racing’s Booming 2018 Season Continues

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McKENZIE — The 2018 racing season for McKenzie sprint car chassis manufacturer J&J Auto Racing has been a benchmark within the industry as the teams finding race victories, major event wins and championships under the brand’s banner continue to climb. Owned by local residents Jack and Bonnie Elam, J&J Auto Racing fabricates and supplies sprint car frames and other components to racing teams in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Heading into the final few weeks of the 2018 season, J&J Auto Racing is on-pace to round out the season with over 10 championships to its credit, as well as more than 260 race wins worldwide to-date. This year started off with a bang for J&J Auto Racing as Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing (TSR) driver and 10-Time World of Outlaws (WoO) Sprint Car Series champion, Donny Schatz, went four-for-five in the DIRTcar Nationals event at Volusia Speedway Park in Barbersville, Fla., posting wins on February 7, 8, 10 and 11 to open the season.
Schatz and the No. 15 TSR team continued on a tear early in the season, picking up wins in Las Vegas and on the West Coast to break out to an early and decisive lead in the championship standings. The North Dakota native has been exclusive to J&J Auto Racing since 2001 and has compiled impressive stats over the past two decades for the brand. Following the completion of the 2018 regular season, Schatz has earned a series-high 22 victories, 52 top-five finishes and 66 top-10 finishes in just 71 starts. He won the WoO Championship by a margin of 278 points over the second-place finisher. For the sixth straight season, Schatz has won over 20 WoO feature events, a stat unmatched in recent history. The No. 15 team’s current win total sits at 26 on the season and Schatz will also compete in Australia in December and early January.
On November 4, the Elam’s and J&J Auto Racing were honored as the 2018 Chassis Builder of the Year during the WoO Series banquet at the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, NC. The accolade was the 12th time that J&J Auto Racing has been awarded top honors by the series for it’s manufacturing innovation and safety by the sport’s top sprint car sanctioning body.
“Being honored by the leading sprint car organization as chassis builder of the year means so much to us,” said Jack Elam, president and founder of J&J Auto Racing.

“While Bonnie and I attend the races and the banquets, this is a true testament to the strength of the team that we have in our shop here in McKenzie. The group of fabricators, welders and builders are among the best in the business and we’re proud to call them part of our family. Our accolades and achievements are built on the backs of our staff.”
The early sector of the 2018 racing season saw J&J Auto Racing teams climb to the top of the win charts early, as notable drivers such as Sheldon Haudenschild, Sam Hafertepe, Jr. and Hayden Campbell posted early victories. Haudenschild’s first campaign in a J&J Auto Racing entry netted him five WoO victories and a seventh-place finish in the series standings. Hafertepe, Jr. has picked up 13 victories with J&J Auto Racing to-date, including high profile wins at Eldora Speedway on April 21 and a preliminary night win in the Short Track Nationals on Oct. 5. The native Texan also earned his third career American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) National division championship under the J&J Auto Racing banner this season.
J&J Auto Racing teams once again set a blistering pace one the season got fully underway in the spring and summer months as drivers and teams earned feature event wins in 305ci, 360ci and 410ci sprint car divisions across the east coast, upper Midwest, south central regions as well as in Australia and New Zealand. In the 305ci division, Iowa’s Tyler Drueke wrapped up the season with nine wins to his credit. Iowan Mike Houseman, Jr. also posted nine victories during the year.
On July 14, Schatz and the No. 15 TSR team made history by capturing their third consecutive and fifth career Kings Royal title at the historic Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. The win secured the team’s place in history and as a benchmark for the event as no driver or team has ever won three consecutive feature events or more than two overall titles. The second largest sprint car race in the country is held annually at the legendary ½-mile nestled in the Ohio countryside and pays $50,000 to the winner.
North Dakota’s Wade Nygaard continued his winning ways as he picked up eight 410ci division wins with J&J Auto Racing this season. In Florida’s 360ci scene, Hayden Campbell scored an impressive eight wins as well. Numerous other J&J Auto Racing teams left their mark on racing divisions in 2018, a full list of winners to-date can be found at http://jandjautoracing.com/About/?Page=Winners.
Overall, J&J Auto Racing teams earned wins in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in 2018.

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