By: Chris Meyers

The following column is dedicated to a supermodified pilot from the Buckeye State. In 2005, “Chargin” Charlie Schultz was trying to make his first ISMA event which just happened to be the Friday night of Hy-Miler weekend. Charlie wasn’t able to transfer out of the heat races therefore putting him in the consi. I was sitting in the pit grandstands watching the race. Schultz worked his way into a transfer position in the consi. He wasn’t being pressured that much but he didn’t know that. The transfer spot wasn’t enough for Schultz and he wanted more. Misfortune struck for Schultz and he was a little aggressive and ended up getting collected with another car battling for a position. I was sitting up in the grandstands and a few drivers started laughing and asked one another “Who the hell does that guy think he is?” That was the jist of the conversation and it’s something that I’ll never forget as long as I live. I may not remember all the drivers up there who were laughing but two of them stood out to me. Schultz wasn’t able to make the show from the consi race. Charlie and I have been pretty close friends for about 5 to 6 years now, maybe longer. It doesn’t take a genius to see that in the past three years, the Lorain, Ohio native has matured into one of the elite supermodified drivers in the country.

Before taking over the Lori and David May owned ride, Charlie was driving the George Shullick owned #61 supermodified. Schultz pulled off wins in MSA competition and found himself in a point’s race up until the very last event of the 2005 season. Schultz had piloted the famous showcar chassis to three wins that season.

Up until three years or so ago, the average supermodified fan and driver might not know who Charlie Schultz was. He was referred to as just another local driver but over the last few years, Schultz has shown and proven in rather convincing fashion that he is one of the top ten supermodified pilots in the country. When many people didn’t recognized the large amount of untapped talent and potential that Schultz had, David and Lori May did. When a seat opened in one of their rides, they asked Charlie to drive for them full-time. It wasn’t an easy decision as people thought it would be. Schultz deliberated between the Shullick ride and the May Motorsports ride. After a few weeks of deciding, Charlie decided to move on to bigger and better things. The chance to run with ISMA and have a proven championship car underneath his belt was too much to pass up.

The 2006 season wasn’t a bad start for the new duo as Schultz picked up two MSA wins in his first season with May Motorsports. The 2007 season was a roller coaster year for the team going winless in MSA competition. They finished the season up strong with a top three run at Concord in the East- West shootout. During the offseason, many changes were made to the racecar. It was from this point forward that everything started coming together for Schultz and the May team. It wasn’t easy at first for an owner and his new driver to communicate with what changes and what kind of setup needs to be put with the car. That all changed for the better. In 2008, Schultz and the entire May Motorsports team rebounded in a huge way. Charlie won three MSA features at Lorain County Speedway and two more at Sandusky Speedway. To top things off, Charlie notched his first ever ISMA win on Friday night’s “Fast 40” Hy-Miler weekend at Sandusky Speedway. He followed that performance up with a second place run in the Hy-Miler Supernationals 100 the next night. Even with five MSA feature wins, an incident at Angola, and a motor issue at Sandusky hurt Schultz’s chances for the title.

Charlie is at the shop a few times each week even during the off-season working on the racecar with the crew members in search for his first MSA driver’s championship. After rebuilding the racecar and getting the car to where he and car owner David May liked it to be, Charlie knows the Bodnar chassis inside and out. Charlie talks about the progress the team has made over the last three years. “I think a lot of it is the maturity of the driver. The cars have gotten better over the last three years with the work we’ve done with them, changes that we’ve made, updates, and trying to keep and get current on a lot of setups. Basically, I’ve had a good core group of guys that have helped me out, especially these last few years. They are in the shop week in and week out.”

After two bad finishes to the start of this season, Schultz’s chances of an MSA title looked bleak. With Timmy Jedrzejek’s misfortunes this past weekend and Schultz’s huge win, all of a sudden the MSA drivers point’s title is now back on Schultz’s radar. “Chargin” Charlie has a big decision to make in the next few weeks. Does he give up his quest for the point’s race for a chance to win the $10,000 Mr. Supermodified race plus the $20,000 bonus at the Oswego Speedway August 1st? There will be no speculating about that any longer as Schultz states,” I think August 1st, I’m going to be in New York. We’re currently trying to put together a deal with a car owner and a driver to run a pretty competitive car up there.”

You can rest assure that supermodified car owners at Oswego Speedway will continue to call Schultz’s cell phone over the next few weeks in hopes of getting a chance at the big money. Schultz doesn’t have a whole lot of non wing supermodified experience and it’s going to make it that much tougher for him to win. However, if there’s one driver that can adapt to many different style racecars, it’s Charlie. Charlie has run many types of different race cars including the Auto Value Super Sprints, late models, modifieds, and can-am midgets. Schultz picked up his first AVSS in just his fourth race with the series. Schultz is the only supermodified driver in the MSA to win a feature in a sprintcar. When he’s not racing the supermodified, Schultz is racing with teammate Tim Ice in the Main Event Racing Series Late Model division.

Charlie knows he beat some stiff competition this past Saturday night earning a big team payday with teammate Tim Ice finishing second. Charlie stated, “We beat some tough teams but it was a lot of hard work. It was a total team effort. As far as the ten thousand dollars, it’s pretty good money, but we’re going to put it back in the racecars and go on.”
For the fans wondering why Charlie might not hop in one of the Matczak cars that the May team has at their disposal for the Mr. Supermodified race, Charlie had a perfectly good reason for that. Charlie explains, “For a race like the Mr. Supermodified race being a short race, those cars aren’t really suited for that. Just like I was talking about with the technology and being up todate with things here and there. The cars have gotten drastically different over the years. To take a car that normally has a wing and take it off to be competitive without the wing versus a car that you normally run without a wing and put the wing on it, it just doesn’t work as good as having a purpose built car. For a race like the Classic, that’s more of an endurance race. You have to be there at the end. Even in the past three or four years, I’ve gone up there, there’s only been ten to twelve cars that have finished. It’s not so much about having a fast car for the classic; it’s about having a longevity car. I think with the Mr. Supermodified race, it’d be more beneficial to have a current car to get into.”

Before Mr. Supermodified, the 32nd Hy-Miler ISMA Supernationals will be coming at Sandusky Speedway. Charlie had a great car for the event last year. He’s looking forward to bettering his Saturday night finish and repeating his Friday night performance. Charlie mentioned that and reflected on last year’s 100 lapper as well. “Hopefully we’ll be able to repeat on Friday night and get one spot better on Saturday. I don’t think we were too far off on Saturday night last year. We had the refuel-red flag around lap fifty and it went green the rest of the way. I think I was bargaining that there was going to be another caution and I didn’t run the car as hard as Chris was after the restart. I was pacing myself and unfortunately another caution never came out. I could never get back to Chris; he had a pretty good lead at that point in time. Time wise and handling wise, I don’t think we were too far off. It’s just going to be a matter of tuning the setups in a little bit more.”
After Saturday night’s “King of the Wings” event, Schultz is the one whose gotten the last laugh winning the $10,000 paycheck and further proven to the supermodified community that when he’s behind the wheel of the May Motorsports ride, he’s going to be tough to beat. All of a sudden, Schultz isn’t just a no-name local guy anymore.

As I wrap up another column, I want to take this time out and congratulate Mark Sammut and the entire team on a well-deserved win at Cayuga Speedway. It was Mark’s first ISMA win and it’s definitely not going to be the last. It was a longtime coming for Mark but no one in the supermodified division deserves it more than him. The next race up on the supermodified agenda is the MSA race at Auto City Speedway in Clio, Michigan on Saturday July 18, 2009. The non-wing stars and cars will be racing at Oswego Speedway on this night as well. Here’s hoping for a great and safe night of racing at both tracks. Get out to your local speedplant and support the supermodifieds and the local short track as well. Next week, I will be previewing the ten drivers that I believe have enough to win the 32nd Annual ISMA Hy-Miler Supernationals. Until next time, drive fast, turn left, and if you make that drastic right turn, you’re going to be “Crashin with Crazy Chris”!

The writer encourages feedback and opinions to be email to him directly at meyers2305@hotmail.com

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