In 2001, Schuchart secured Rookie of the Year honors at Hunterstown Speedway and would win a championship at the same track the following year. From that point on he enjoyed great success in karts and, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, was victorious in a major meet at Daytona.
When 2008 came along, Schuchart took his first laps in a 358 sprint car, and a year later put together a full schedule marked by a win at Trail-Way Speedway.
Demonstrating his ability to adapt quickly, in 2010 he was the 358 champion at Lincoln Speedway, and also began competing at Williams Grove Speedway.
After a strong 2011 season that found him in victory lane in some of the most famous race tracks in his home state, Bobby Allen felt his young charge was ready to give 410 sprints a try. Schuchart didn‘t disappoint.
In April, he beat the All Star Circuit of Champions at the Grove for his first 410 victory, and was able to score again at the fast half-mile in June. Venturing from home, Schuchart raced with the All Stars and World of Outlaws and made his first trip to the Knoxville Nationals.
By the time winter winds howled, Schuchart was named the Rookie of the Year at Williams Grove, throughout Central Pennsylvania, and was also proclaimed the National Rookie of the Year by the annual poll conducted by the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum.
After another year of seasoning, while it may have seemed hasty or downright foolish to some, Bobby Allen felt it was time to concentrate on the World of Outlaws.
There wasn‘t a single component of his program that would not be tested. Through the dog days that were to come, it became clear that the prevailing strength of this team was the bond between the key participants.
Boiling down the basics for success, few things really matter more. In an interview conducted before the start of the 2017 season, it was clear that the road had not worn him down. In fact, Allen was willing to discuss his plan to develop his squad into a true contender.
To some it seemed like a fantasy. However, Jacob Allen and Schuchart were all in, and their reverence for the team patriarch was, and remains, unshakable.
Developing two-year plans and articulating the importance of vision is the stock and trade of board room banter in the business world. These concepts aren‘t generally found in conversations in the infield of a dirt track.
Then again, Bobby Allen is not your average team principal.
When Allen speaks about his dream, he is suddenly transformed into the type of motivational speaker one can find at a $1,000-a-plate dinner. However, where smoke and mirrors may be the main currency of the master salesman, what Allen preaches is the gospel of hard work and a shared commitment to team goals.
Now, in 2020, all of the sweat and preparation is starting to bear fruit.
Regardless of where he stands now, it isn‘t very hard for Schuchart to remember his early days on the World of Outlaws tour. Those times were humbling and, like others who have endured similar growing pains, few yearn for a return to life on the struggle bus.
“There have been trying times when you get your butt beat,” Schuchart admitted, “and you think maybe you don‘t belong. In the early days of my racing career we had a lot of success. When you are used to winning at every level and you start racing against competition like the Outlaws and you get beat every night, that‘s pretty tough. That is why I am really proud of Jacob (Allen) for what he has accomplished and his overall attitude.
“He hasn‘t been able to win a race yet, but he is knocking on the door. I know everyone tells him that, but his attitude right now is very good. I know what it is like to race with the Outlaws and not get a win. I was pretty beat down when I went through it. It was especially hard when we first started and we didn‘t have any crew members. That was tough. It was just my grandfather, Jacob, and I. What takes us one day of work now used to take us three.
“When you work three or four days in a row on the car and then don‘t make the show, that‘s really hard. But that also helps you build character and get to this point. That‘s what makes winners winners. That‘s what made us what we are now.”
As he digs deeper into his memory bank, an anecdote or two underscores just how much life has improved for Logan and, by extension, Shark Racing as a whole.
“I think it was around 2014 or 2015, and it was just the three of us. I made the dash and I was starting fifth in the feature, so I was running pretty well,” Schuchart recalled. “Jake and I were running around; he missed the show, and I‘m trying to mount a tire quickly because we only had a couple of wheels. The Outlaws are blowing the horn to get in the car and it is a hundred degrees.
“I‘m sweating trying to get the car ready, put fuel in it, jump in, and then go out and run 30 or 40 laps and try to win the race. I remember sitting there on the frontstretch, strapping my belts on and getting them tight. I‘m huffing and puffing and Jake said, ‘Look at these guys. They‘re just sitting there, they‘re focused, and ready to get going, and we are sitting here huffing and puffing and sweating our butts off trying to get our car on the track.‘ Your head just can‘t be in the right place when it is like that all the time.
“Now I can sit back, go look at the race track while my guys are getting the car ready changing the shocks, or gears, or whatever we need. I can think about what we need to get ready and what it is we need to do. I couldn‘t see us being at the level we are at now and doing everything ourselves like we used to. It just wears you out. Luckily, when we were doing it that way, we were 21 and 22 years old.
“I don‘t feel any older now, but I don‘t think I could go back to that,” Schuchart noted.
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