The Minot Missile was soaring last Saturday.

Donny Schatz reached the top of the sprint car world again that night, winning the prestigious Knoxville Nationals in Knoxville, Iowa.

It was the third straight win at Knoxville for Schatz, who earned $150,000 for capturing sprint cars' biggest race.

"Knoxville is the big one. … It's what the whole year is about," said Schatz, who joined legend Steve Kinser as the only drivers to three-peat at Knoxville. "It's what the Daytona 500 is to NASCAR. You could be having a rough year, but winning that race makes it a good year. Winning it once was exciting enough. To win it three times in a row? I can't begin to describe how I feel about that."

Schatz, who resides in Fargo, headlines a sterling lineup tonight when the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series invades Dacotah Speedway for the first time in the history of the Mandan track. It'll be Schatz's first visit to the speedway in more than a decade.

"I was there 12, 13 years ago for a special show. … I was driving in the WISSOTA series back then," Schatz said. "I remember it being a nice place to race. I'm looking forward to going back there. I understand the people of Mandan and Bismarck put a lot of work into getting everything ready. We'll do our best to put on a great show for everyone."

Many will come to see Schatz, who is the World of Outlaws' brightest star. He's won the last two series championships and is on course for a third straight crown. Going into Thursday's show at Gillette, Wyo., Schatz was at the top of the points standings with 5,761 tallies - 118 more than second-place Jason Meyer of Clovis, Calif. He had 12 feature wins, which is five more than the next driver on the list, Craig Dollansky of Elk River, Minn. He's on pace to eclipse his feature win totals of 2006 (17) and 2007 (19).

"It's been a great year," Schatz said. "We started out a little bit slow and part of that was working with a new team. But then we started getting things in order, and we got on a roll. Now we're hoping to finish it off strong and bring home another title."

Consistency is key in any sport, and Schatz has been the Mr. Consistent of sprint cars. He's the only driver to finish in the top 10 of all of the shows he's appeared in (40). Of those, he's placed in the top five 31 times.

Last year, he had 71 top-10 finishes in 75 shows.

"It's been a combination of things …. including a little luck," Schatz said. "Most of the credit goes to my crew. They do a great job getting the car ready to go. You want to stay away from the DNFs (did not finish) and the breakdowns. … Those sorts of things will happen when you're doing 75 to 100 shows a year. But my crew works hard week in and week out to make sure everything's running right. I think the record speaks for itself."

Schatz no longer races in the familiar yellow No. 15 car. During the offseason he decided to leave his family-owned team and join Tony Stewart Racing.

"We were family-owned from day one and I liked it that way. … But when the opportunity to go with Tony presented itself I couldn't pass it up," Schatz said. "It was a no-brainer. I thought it would be a lot of fun to drive for someone like him. He's a big name in auto racing, and he's all about winning races.

"It's been great so far," he continued. "One of the best things about it is I no longer have to be as involved in the day-to-day operations. Now, other people take care of that and I can concentrate more on my racing."

Schatz's passion for racing comes from his father Danny, who raced sprint cars for seven years. The younger Schatz started out racing go-karts, and jumped into sprint cars when he was 16 years old. He earned WISSOTA sprint car rookie of the year honors in 1993, and three years later, was the national champion.

He joined the World of Outlaws in 1997 and was named rookie of the year. After dropping from seventh place in 1999 to 11th in 2000, Schatz has placed in the top seven every year since. He was third in 2004 and fourth in 2005 before winning his first title in 2006.

Schatz got in the record book in 2006 as the first driver in sprint car racing history to win the Knoxville Nationals, Kings Royal, Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup, Williams Grove National Open, and Williams Grove Summer Nationals in the same season.

Schatz said he's overwhelmed by the success he's had.

"When you start out racing, you do it for fun, but after you've been at it for awhile you begin to have aspirations of doing this for a living," he said. "I decided a long time ago that I wanted to do this for a living and I've been real fortunate. It's been unbelievable. It's taken a lot of hard work. It's a 10-month grind, starting in February and ending in November. But every year it's been worth it."

Schatz followed up the Knoxville win with a 10th place finish at the Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo on Tuesday. It was his worst finish of the season and he hopes to put it to rest with strong showings at Gillette, at Mandan tonight and at Minot's Nodak Speedway on Sunday.

"We had a tough night at West Fargo. … The engine didn't work the way we had hoped and the track wasn't in the best condition after being soaked the night before by three inches of rain," Schatz said. "But I don't want to make any excuses. Those things happen. You have to put them behind you and move on to the next race."

Gates at Dacotah Speedway will open at 4 this afternoon. Hot laps will begin at 6 p.m., followed by timed trials and racing.