UAW-GM Quality 500 - Ken Schrader Notes

Ken Schrader Notes, Quotes: UAW-GM Quality 500
Attack of the ‘mile-and-a-half tracks’

Ken Schrader and the #49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge team head to the 1.5-mile Lowe’s Motor Speedway, located in Concord, N.C., for Saturday night’s UAW-GM Quality 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race.

Driver of the #49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge, Schrader is a native of Fenton, Mo. 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 David Hyder has over 20 years of racing experience both driving and as a chief mechanic. 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 Charlotte:

“This is the first time we’ll be running a points race at Charlotte completely at night. Will that have an effect on who will win? Not likely. The teams who run up front at Charlotte and these similar mile-and-a-half tracks aren’t going to suddenly not know how to race under the lights for 500 miles at Charlotte.

“Racing entirely under the lights will make it a little easier for crew chiefs. The nightmare with the 600 is that it starts in the daylight and finishes at night. Charlotte has always been one of the most weather sensitive tracks on the circuit, so it can be a real handful trying to stay ahead of the track’s changing conditions during the 600. That’s why this year in the 600, we had almost the entire field a lap down because one team hit the right setup and most everyone else was chasing the track. So, this weekend with the entire race at night, it should take a little bit of the guesswork out of the equation.

“The end of the year is a good stretch for teams to try and improve there mile and a half programs. Everyone has their short-track program, and their restrictor-plate program, and everything in between. But, now a quarter of Cup races on the schedule are run on mile-and-a-half, high banked ovals. When you start to break it down, we run Charlotte twice (three counting the All-Star race), Atlanta twice, as of next year Texas twice, and then Kansas, Chicago, Homestead all once; here’s nine points races run on tracks that are somewhat similar.

“Now here at the end of the season, four of the last seven races are run on these mile-and-a-half ovals. I’m sure the people in the Chase for the Championship have figured that out and have tested at these tracks over the course of the season. If not, I’m sure by season’s end, they will wish they had.”

“It’s an extremely important time of the year for all of the teams. There’s the handful of teams racing for the championship, and there’s everybody else who is making a push to finish strong. Each position in the standings pays more than next, so there’s always that, but most teams are making the changes now in preparation for 2005.

“Our short-track program here at BAM Racing has been pretty good this year, our plate-program has been pretty good too. We’re really looking forward to these last several races in order to continue to improve our performance on these mile-and-a-half tracks. When you consider that you’re going to be running a quarter of the races in the Cup season on these similar mile-and-a-half, high banked ovals, it’s pretty important to get these tracks figured out as quickly as possible. That’s what we’ll be doing this weekend and in the weekends to come. We’ll be looking to make those gains on our mile-and-a-half program, so that in 2005 we’ll be more competitive on these tracks and get this Schwan’s Home Service Dodge towards the front.”