“A wave of emotions when it happened.”: Eisenschenk twins reach feature during debut weekend

NIECES TO DONNY SCHATZ, LAELA AND AMELIA EISENSCHENK, REACHED SATURDAY'S FEATURE AT RED RIVER VALLEY SPEEDWAY DURING DEBUT WEEKEND RACES.

WEST FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) –History was made this past weekend in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. West Fargo based driver Donny Schatz made his return to North Dakota, but he was not the only one in his family on the tracks. He was joined by his nieces, Laela and Amelia Eisenschenk.

The day before their debut race at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, the twins were asked: What would characterize a successful weekend for you?

Laela replied: “I definitely would say a successful weekend would be to make the feature and both cars roll into the trailer every night, no damage.”

A lofty goal in their first ever weekend with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, but one that they accomplished.

Laela and Amelia are used to sharing the racetrack together, but this weekend they shared the track with their Uncle: 10-time series champion Donny Schatz. While the competition was there on the track, Schatz was giving his nieces pointers whenever he could.

“He told us just to keep our heads clear,” said Amelia. “Make some good laps and kind of just stay in your lane own lane.”

The Twin sisters used that advice to reach “The Show” Saturday night at Red River Valley Speedway.

From racing Go-Karts as kids to racing with the best of the best on dirt, Schatz has seen it all transpire.

“It’s hard to put into words really,” said Schatz after Saturday’s races. “We’ve all worked endlessly for me to get [Laela and Amelia] cars to be able to do this. They’re studying things and watching and going to races. To do it right here at home is pretty cool. There’s a lot of emotion there. They got a lot to learn, but yet pretty proud of what they did tonight.”

The Eisenschenk’s qualified for the Feature by placing 4th and 5th in the “Last Chance Showdown”. The moment they realized they made it…a feeling unmatched.

“It was just a wave of emotions when it happened,” said Laela. “This crowd tonight was insane and to be able to do it in front of all the people, the hometown crowd…it was absolutely insane hearing them cheer and it was just a blessing.”

Amelia added, “When they threw that checkered flag it was pretty cool to know that you’re in your first World of Outlaws “Show”, but you had to move on to the next thing because we were up a couple minutes later.”

Already professionals with that mindset.

As the girls prepare for the rest of the racing season and their career’s in racing, Uncle Donny shared his best piece of advice for them.

“You know, I wanted them to understand that this is the most elite level of racing that there is on dirt,” said Schatz. “So, you know, I had to have a little chat with him before the Feature. I said okay you think that the hard parts over? It’s not. It’s just getting started. The thing of it is there’s so much information to take in in a short amount of time with this. I just don’t want to get too far ahead of what’s going on because it’s something you got to enjoy along the process, but you got to learn from every mistake made. I think that’s what’s most important is every mistake that’s made has to be learned from.”

The girls say they have a few more races, but no plans to be with the Outlaws the rest of this season. In Saturday’s race at Red River Valley Speedway, Donny took 7th and the girls 22nd/23rd.