Sirius at the Glen - Ken Schrader Notes

Ken Schrader Notes, Quotes: Sirius at the Glen
Seeing road course improvement in 2004

Ken Schrader and the #49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge team head to the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International road course for Sunday’s 220-mile, Sirius at the Glen, the second and final road course race of the season.

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 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 Watkins Glen:

“This may be the most enthusiastic this team has been heading into a road course weekend. We have reason to be. This organization has spent some serious time and resources improving our road course program. Klaus (Graf) tested at VIR earlier in the year and we were set to test at Watkins Glen until we got rained out a few weeks ago. We were a lot better at Sonoma in June than we were last year, and were looking good for placing both cars within the top 20, maybe even the top 15, but we had to check up for a spin in front of us that cost us several positions late in the race.

“But, just going out to Sonoma and running well, with both cars, gives everybody a good feeling and we’ll be looking to not only duplicate that success but build on it at Watkins Glen this weekend. My philosophy on for the Schwan’s Home Service Dodge this weekend is simple; get a good lap qualifying, stay on the course, and don’t tear the transmission up… then with a little bit of pit strategy we can come out with a pretty good day.

“Racing is racing; the same things that make you fast on ovals make you fast on road courses. On an oval it’s all about how fast you can get through the turns, and it’s the same on a road course. Except on a road course you have to get through 10 or 11 distinct turns instead of two very similar ones. Shifting becomes a challenge on road courses because you’re doing it a lot more times per lap than on an oval. With a lot more shifting and 10 or 11 turns, there’s just a lot more opportunities to tear something up than on an oval; plus there’s always the possibility of going off the track in each turn. But, the challenge can be fun, especially if you’re running well, not so much if you’re not running well.

“A lot of people have wondered with the new realignment in NASCAR and the way things are going, just how long the two road courses will stay on the schedule. It’ll be interesting to see what happens. I don’t think that NASCAR thinks that they have to have a couple road courses in order to be a complete series. I think that they have a couple markets that they like going to and the only facilities that are there right now are road courses. If there was a suitable oval, if it was an either/or, I think NASCAR would go to the oval.

“We’re looking for good things all around at Watkins Glen this weekend. Every one at BAM Racing has put forth a great effort getting these cars better for road course racing and we began to see the improvement at Sonoma. It’s always nice to have a teammate like we’ll have this weekend with Klaus, because as they learn, we learn, and the same the other way around. Hopefully next week this time, we’ll all be feeling good about our road course performances in 2004.”