MBNA 400: A Salute to Heroes - Ken Schrader Notes

Ken Schrader Notes, Quotes: MBNA America 400
‘Glad to get going and going hard’

Ken Schrader and the #49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge head to the one-mile Dover (Del.) International Speedway this week for Sunday’s MBNA America 400.

Driver of the #49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge, Schrader is a native of Fenton, Mo., and the busiest driver in major league motorsports, Schrader has raced on virtually every type of speedway in virtually every type of race car, and continues a winning career with BAM Racing, which fields the Schwan’s Home Service team.

The team is owned by Beth Ann and Tony Morgenthau, investors from Coral Gables, Fla. Ms. Morgenthau, whose initials make up the name of the team – BAM Racing – is the only female car owner in motorsports to become involved without prior family connections. General manager Eddie Jones is a veteran of the NASCAR Nextel 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. Business manager Gus Larkin is a successful veteran motorsports marketer, and leads the corporate sponsorship activities.

The Schwan Food Company is a privately held manufacturer and marketer of fine frozen foods through its nationwide Schwan’s Home Service home-delivery service, its Schwan’s Consumer Brands North America retail grocery business, and its Schwan’s Food Service Group foodservice unit. Headquartered in Marshall, Minn., Schwan’s production and distribution activities in the United States and Europe employ 24,000 people. Among its well-known brands are Schwan’s®, Tony’s®, Red Baron®, Freschetta®, Pagoda®, Mrs. Smith’s®, and Edwards®.

The thoughts of Schwan’s Home Service Dodge driver Ken Schrader heading into Dover:

“It’s hard for some folks to believe, but May really is a sluggish month for Nextel Cup racing. Yeah, Memorial Day weekend is exciting with the 600 in Charlotte and the 500 in Indy, but there are two weekends in May where the Cup series isn’t points racing. That can make it hard for some guys to really get into the swing of things.

“That’s not the case for the next several months - we’ll be points racing week-in and week-out. We’re glad to get going. Most of these guys are ready to get in the routine of traveling and racing each weekend, because this is who we are…racers. We chose to do this, and this is what we enjoy doing, going from track to track racing every weekend.

“Dover’s a neat race track because it provides a couple of unique challenges. First off it’s an extremely fast race track with a concrete surface. You don’t get that sensation as much until your car bobbles or slips, then you have a new understanding for how fast you’re traveling around the ‘Monster Mile.’ That track can get real narrow in a hurry. But, unlike the only other concrete track on the Cup circuit (Bristol), Dover provides a little more room to race. It’s not one groove and that means you’ll see more passing.

“The second big challenge is the uphill climb out of the turns. It’s one of the blindest turns the series has. You’re really coming up out of a hole and if someone gets sideways in front of you then you have very little time to react. That means you better have a good spotter who is on his toes... maybe we’ll get an additional spotter in those newly-installed turn three seats over the racetrack. Now those folks will definitely have the best seats in the house.

“It’s always nice coming back to a track where you’ve won. Your confidence in yourself and your ability to drive a car never changes, but having won at a place before gives you a sort of confidence that only winning can. We had good cars here both races last season. In the Spring we were running in the top 20 all day, making progress when we were involved in someone else’s mess. Then in the Fall we were taken out on the second lap and just salvaged what we could.

“We know we can run well at Dover and that gives the entire Schwan’s Home Service Dodge team a little extra confidence. We’ll be looking forward to this weekend for that reason, but we have to admit, we kind of look forward to the flyover at Dover as well. With the Air Force base right next door to Dover Downs they really go ‘above and beyond the call’ with the pre-race ceremonies. All three major NASCAR series will be at Dover this weekend, so it really promises to be an exciting one.”