Dodge Charger 500 - Ken Schrader Notes

Ken Schrader Notes, Quotes: Dodge Charger 500
‘OK if right rear quarter panel reads Sc w n s’

Ken Schrader and the #49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge team head to the 1.366-mile Darlington (S.C.) Raceway this week for Saturday night’s Dodge Charger 500; the 10th race of the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup 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 and continues to race on virtually every type of speedway in virtually every type of race car. Schrader 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.

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 Darlington:

“You know, there’s sort of a strange feeling about Darlington this weekend. For such an old track there sure are a lot of ‘firsts’ this weekend; first time in long time we’re racing on Mother’s Day weekend; not on Mother’s Day, but still, Mother’s Day weekend. Now, the fact it’s in Darlington, South Carolina, will still give the crew guys a chance to have Sunday off at home, and I guess since we’re racing on Saturday, that’ll still give fans a chance to have Sunday off as well.

“It’s the first time all of the races this weekend will take place at night, and it’s the first time this will be the Cup Series’ only stop at Darlington. For some, I’m sure they couldn’t be happier. Darlington’s a tough track to figure out. There aren’t many tracks on the circuit where you see cars slapping the wall by themselves on a regular basis. It’s a frustrating track if you’re one of those guys who can’t seem to keep from tagging the wall. For those drivers, their probably just trying to get through this weekend in one piece and say good riddance to Darlington until next year.

“For others, including myself, who really enjoy racing at Darlington – well, it feels a little different when you step back and realize, this is the only time we’ll race there this year. To me, Darlington is a neat race track. People throw around the term ‘cookie-cutter race track’ a lot these days with all the new one-and-a-half milers. But, I don’t think you could make another Darlington if you tried. Where else do we go where the high groove is the preferred line? Then each end of the speedway is different from the other, and the track surface is absolutely brutal on tires. Plus, you have that wall that seems to be two feet too close coming off the turns. It’d be pretty tough to duplicate Darlington, even if someone wanted to.

“Darlington is the prime example of ‘racing the race track.’ If you don’t, you are most likely going to be going backwards – either sliding that way at 100 miles per hour or being dragged by a tow truck that way at 30 miles per hour. Heck, qualifying there is a pretty exciting deal. As dull as qualifying can be at Talladega, it’s just as exciting at Darlington.

“Things close up real quickly at Darlington. You’re already running the high groove, and if someone gets sideways, everything washes up the racetrack. So, it’s pretty important to qualify well so you can start in front of as much trouble as possible.

“You’ll see several cars hit the wall in qualifying, and everybody else look like they wanted to hit the wall. We’ve sat on the pole there several times, and had some pretty good qualifying runs there in the past couple years. Just about every time we’ve qualified well at Darlington, we’ve come close to tagging the wall every time. If you’re going to be fast, that’s where you have to be. At day’s end, it’ll be OK if the right rear quarter panel reads ‘Sc w n s’, as long as you can read Schwan’s everywhere else; you’ll know we had a pretty good day.”