Subway 400 - Ken Schrader Notes

Ken Schrader Notes, Quotes: Subway 400
Big plans and a growing race team

Ken Schrader

After turning heads during Speed Weeks in Daytona Beach, Fla., Ken Schrader and the #49 BAM Racing Dodge team plan on continuing to build on that momentum. The next stop is the 1.017-mile North Carolina Speedway near Rockingham, and Sunday’s Subway 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race.

1 800 CALLATT, primary sponsor on the car throughout Speed Weeks and for at least another five races this season, will be an associate for the team in all other NASCAR Winston Cup events. Though working with additional sponsorship opportunities, the BAM Racing team is fully funded with a $12 million budget for racing operations.

Schrader, 47, joined forces with BAM Racing for this season. The Fenton, Mo., native is one of the most experienced winning drivers in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, and is one of the few to have shown skills at winning on restrictor plate tracks and unrestricted tracks. One of the busiest drivers in motorsports, he is looking at what he calls a “100-night season” in 2003, running at dirt and short tracks across the country.

BAM Racing is based in North Carolina but is owned by Beth Ann and Tony Morgenthau of Coral Gables, Fla. Beth Ann Morgenthau (her initials make up the name BAM) is the first woman in major league stock car racing to take the helm of a team without coming in through a family connection. Running the team as a motorsports business, Morgenthau relies on the leadership of General Manager Eddie Jones, a long-time NASCAR veteran who has served as a winning crew chief, and crew chief Scott Eggleston, who has a Daytona 500 victory to his credit.

The thoughts of BAM Racing Dodge driver Ken Schrader heading into Rockingham:

“We have some big plans with this race team. People can say what they want and think what they want, but we have some pretty big plans. We can do a lot here, and we’re going to do everything we can to get that going.

“Beth Ann and Tony have put a good program together. They have brought in some great people - Eddie Jones, Scott Eggleston, (engine builder) Joey Arrington, and a lot of other people. They have accomplished a lot. From where they were last year at this time to where they are now, there’s no comparison. It’s hardly the same team.

“We are fully funded for this season, and we’re running a full schedule. That’s not to say we wouldn’t add sponsorship because we are actively pursuing that. 1 800 CALLATT has come on board for seven races, but there is room for more so, hey, give us a call!

“We’re going places here. I really believe that. We had tested well at Daytona, and we raced pretty well there last week. But the test at Vegas was probably more encouraging than the test at Daytona for this part of the season. We tested really well there. Keep in mind there are four (restrictor) plate races a year. And there is a ton put into Daytona by everybody, and there should be. It’s our Super Bowl. But when Tony Stewart was picking up his check for the championship in December, it didn’t matter then that he had finished last a Daytona 10 months before that.

“There are 36 races, and they all pay the same number of points. The Daytona 500 was the biggest race going this past Sunday. Starting this week, the most important race is Rockingham. You have to look at it that way.

“This team can run well and can be competitive. If it wasn’t that way, I wouldn’t be here. I’m not here, and I’m not going to be anywhere, just to ride around. This is was too much work to just ride around. Our goal coming into this season was to win 36 races and sit on 36 poles. Now that might be a little out of reach but that was our starting point. We have adjusted that goal this week. Now it’s winning 35 races and 35 poles. It’s hard to set goals any other way. I don’t want to say if we finish in the top 20 that would be fantastic - because it wouldn’t be fantastic. If you finish 20th, well, you could have finished 15th. And if you finish 15th, well, you could have finished 10th. And on down the line.

“This is a growing program and a growing race team, but they have done verything they said they were going to do. And their plans are to continue moving forward. They ran a couple of races in 2001, and ran a limited schedule in 2002. This year, it’s a full schedule and a chance to move this race team even further ahead. There are a lot of good things ahead for this crowd.

“And it all starts this week at Rockingham”

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