MBNA Armed Forces Family 400 - Ken Schrader Notes

Ken Schrader Notes, Quotes: Dover 400

‘Start of the ‘heat’ races in Winston Cup’

Coming off a strong run this past weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Ken Schrader and the #49 BAM Racing Dodge team head to the tough one-mile Dover (Del.) International Speedway this week for Sunday’s 400-mile race.

The 47-year-old Schrader, a native of Fenton, Mo., is one of just a few active Winston Cup drivers to have won races at Dover. 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.

BAM Racing is owned by Beth Ann and Tony Morgenthau of Coral Gables, Fla. The successful 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. Ms. Morgenthau is the only female in major league motorsports to start a team without becoming involved because of family connections.

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 #49 BAM Racing Dodge driver Ken Schrader heading into Dover:

“The temperatures have been kind of cool the past few weeks and we really haven’t had to worry much about heat. Even Charlotte, where it can get pretty hot during the day, was relatively cool.

“We’re starting to get into that string of races where heat can be a major factor, though. There aren’t any guarantees it will be brutally hot the next few weeks but you can figure at least one, if not several, of the races over June, July and August are going to be pretty brutal in the heat department.

“Heat is kind of a funny thing in one of these Winston Cup cars. If you are handling really well or if you are handling really badly, then you have trouble getting air into the car. It’s the cars that are in-between that are usually the ones who have the best chance of getting some air to the driver. Everybody has their cars set up now so there are scoops and holes and all sorts of things to do everything to get a little bit of air to the driver. But if you have the car just absolutely perfect, especially on a track where aerodynamics are so vital like a Talladega, you will probably have trouble getting that air there. Aero isn’t quite as crucial at Dover as it is at Talladega, but it’s still awfully important. And that can affect that air to the driver.

“When the Dover races were 500 miles, it was pretty physical - but it might be even more physical for the drivers at 400 miles than it was before at 500. At 500 miles, you would run hard for 100 miles, kind of ride and wait to see what happened for the next 300 miles and, if you were still around, run really hard the last 100 miles. Now you don’t have that luxury of the 300 miles in the middle. There was a lot of hard running but now it’s 400 straight laps of really hard running. You don’t let up. You can’t let up. The guy leading the race is going to do everything he can to lap you, whether you are the 43rd place car or the second place car. So you had better run about as hard as you can go all day long, or your day isn’t going to mean a whole lot.

“Some people (drivers) look at it from a ‘let’s just run it, do our best and move on down the road’ standpoint. I’m more of a ‘Hey, this is where we are running this week so let’s do everything we can to win the thing.’ Plus, I like Dover. I like racing there.

“The fact I do like running at Dover might be the reason I do okay there a lot of times. It’s easy to get into a rhythm because the track is symmetrical and you can use that to your advantage, especially if you have a pretty good setup. Usually, everybody racing around you is in something of the same rhythm, so that can be helpful too. It’s when you are having to come out of that rhythm to pass somebody or to get around some slower cars that you have to work hard to get back into what was working for you to begin with.

“I’m ready to get going there with this BAM Racing Dodge.”

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