Aaron’s 499 - Ken Schrader Notes

Ken Schrader Notes, Quotes: Aaron’s 499
“Where eight-tenths behind the leader isn’t good enough”

Ken Schrader and the #49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge head to the 2.66-mile Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway this week for Sunday’s Aaron’s 499.

Driver of the #49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge, the 48-year-old 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 Talladega:

“Back to the restrictor plates this weekend. Another place where it’s a great ‘show’ but doesn’t necessarily include great racing because I’m not sure just how much racing goes on there anymore. There’s a whole lot of picking a line of cars or a drafting partner and hoping that the line you’re in is moving faster than the other two lines… but not much racing.

“Talladega can be down right frustrating… especially at the end of the race. You can typically be about five cars behind the leader and running somewhere around 20th. So on Monday when someone asks you how you did, you don’t tell them ‘We finished 20th’, what you tell them is ‘We were eight-tenths of a second behind the leader.’ Hard to believe that ‘eight-tenths’ behind the leader isn’t good enough, but it isn’t at Talladega. Unfortunately that’s what restrictor plate racing has become; get in a line and hope it’s moving forward.

“But, for the fans, I’m sure it’s quite a show, and Talladega has some great fans. Anytime you have 43 cars running around 190 mph in a pack, three or four wide, separated by the blink of an eye… yeah, that’s something to see. Many drivers, including myself, just wish we could come up with a way to make it easier to pass without running all over one another. The reduced fuel cell helps break up the pack for about 10 laps. That’s about how long it takes for everyone to cycle through their stops then get back in line and close back up. Barring a disaster on pit road you shouldn’t have a problem getting back in the pack.

“As a team we’re just looking to keep the momentum going. We’ve had some promising runs in the past few events and we’ve run well at Talladega in the past. Our restrictor plate program continues to improve and, hopefully we’ll be able to get a good qualifying run and start towards the front. Normally that will be enough to keep you out of trouble, but not necessarily at Talladega… trouble can find you anywhere on the track.

“It will be the same story as always at these ‘plate’ races. Don’t lose the draft, take care of the nose on your car, avoid trouble, and be in a position to make a move towards the end of the race. You just hope everyone on the track is using their head and understands that there has to be some give and take out there or else there’ll be a whole lot of torn up racecars. But, of course, as the race goes on there’s a lot more taking than giving.

“This Schwan’s Home Service Dodge team is starting to gain a lot of confidence and it’s showing on the track. We’ve done some good things as a team over the past month, but we aren’t satisfied by any means. Last year we ran well at Talladega and had one of those finishes where you tell everyone, ‘We finished eight-tenths behind the leader.’ We know we’re capable of having a good run at Talladega this weekend… but so do about 30 other teams. That’s what makes Cup racing so great.”