Sharpie 500 - Ken Schrader Notes

Ken Schrader Notes, Quotes: Sharpie 500

Racing’s most unique paint colors debut at Bristol

With a highly unique paint job and a car that might even outglow the lights of the speedway itself, Ken Schrader and the #49 SEM Products/Color Horizons Dodge team head to the high-banked .533-mile Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway this week for Saturday night’s Sharpie 500.

Schrader has been outstanding in the short track races this season. He qualified third in the first race at Bristol this season, but a cut tire sent him into the wall and cost him a probable top-10 finish. At Martinsville, Va., he qualified fourth and finished 10th.

The race will also debut one of the most unique paint schemes in NASCAR Winston Cup history. Sponsor SEM Products Inc. is introducing its Color Horizons line of custom finishes on the #49 SEM/Color Horizons Dodge at Bristol. The car showcases SEM/Color Horizons’ intense colors and the unique designs as applied by artist Ron Fleenor, a nationally-known custom designer from Knoxville, Tenn.

The car itself will sport a design and coloring unlike anything seen before in major league stock car racing. It is a translucent mandarin candy which goes from light to dark from the top to the bottom of the car, all on top of a silver base. The colors were developed by SEM Products Inc. in their Color Horizons line, and are available through automotive paint suppliers.

Beth Ann Morgenthau, who owns BAM Racing with her husband Tony, is the only female owner in motorsports who is not involved because of previous family ties. The successful Coral Gables, Fla., investors, who have fully funded the team for the complete 2003 season run, have built the BAM (Beth Ann Morgenthau’s initials) team from the ground up.

Forty-eight-year-old Schrader, a native of Fenton, Mo., is driver of the #49 SEM/Color Horizons Dodge, and is one of the top veterans in stock car racing today. The busiest driver in major league motorsports, Schrader is looking for a “100-night” season this year, and will continue a winning Winston Cup career that has seen him win over $20 million.

General manager Eddie Jones is a veteran of the NASCAR Winston Cup wars, enjoying a championship career as a crew chief, mechanic and team leader. Crew chief Scott Eggleston is one of the few active crew chiefs in the business to have won a Daytona 500.

The thoughts of SEM/Color Horizons Dodge driver Ken Schrader heading into Bristol:

“We think we’re going to have a pretty good weekend at Bristol but, no matter what, everybody is going to remember we were there. This SEM/Color Horizons car is hot. It looks great. That mandarin candy on top of that silver base really makes it jump out.

“Everybody tries to come up with trick paint schemes for these night races but, let me tell you, this is one everybody is going to notice. It looks great but it is pretty bright. I bet if we turned the lights off about 9 o’clock Saturday night, you would still be able to see it really well on the race track. It’s impressive.

“Bristol is a good spectacle for NASCAR fans. It’s as close as we’ll race one another outside of a restrictor plate race all year. Bristol is that way, obviously, because it’s a high banked, one groove race track. The thing is, just one preferred line through the corners really backs up traffic.

“Some people have asked is there is anyway to change Bristol in order to add another racing groove. I believe they could grind the track at Bristol much like they did at Dover. It seemed to help Dover and it should help Bristol. But, I don’t know if they ever will or not. They’re still going pack the stands and that’s what makes Bristol exciting.

“Bristol can bring out the best and, definitely, the worst in drivers. It’s hot, you’re running 500 laps nose to tail with 42 other drivers, there’s little room to pass, and you’re just down right frustrated. Then suddenly you get dumped in the wall. That’ll get you yelling at somebody.

“It’s different at Bristol. It’s a slow track and you can dump someone without hurting them - not like at other tracks where there is room to pass and if you get into someone, it’s dismissed as ‘one of those racing deals’. At Bristol, if someone dumps you it was most likely to gain position. However, you can gather it up and get to him, then dump him back. You have to leave your emotions at the gate on the way in, and pick them back up on the way out.

“We had a great car there in the spring. I could really get through the corners fast and pick up the throttle early. We were running in the top 10 for most of the race until we had a tire go down. That was bad because we were going to have a great finish.

“We’re looking forward to getting back to Bristol. We’ve had some tough times of late but we’ll have confidence when we get back there. We ran well there in the spring and there is no reason we shouldn’t be good this weekend. Our short track program has really come along nicely and we’re looking for good things out of this SEM/Color Horizons Dodge.”

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