Samsung/Radio Shack 500 - Ken Schrader Notes

Ken Schrader Notes, Quotes: Samsung RadioShack 500
“Finally… some elbow room!”

Ken Schrader and the #49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge team head to the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway, located in Fort Worth, for Sunday’s Samsung RadioShack 500; the seventh 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 Texas:

“Finally… some elbow room! Believe me, I love short-track racing as much as the next guy, but after 1,000 laps of beating and banging on one another, it’ll be nice to have a little breathing room at Texas. At least we’ll have about a mile more of race track this week than we have the past two.

“Undoubtedly someone will ask the question about ‘payback,’ and the only thing I can say is, if someone’s looking to pay back someone else, Texas is surely not the place. Texas has quickly become one of, if not the, fastest tracks on the circuit. With the speeds getting up over 200 mph it’s no place to return a favor to someone who may have gotten into you over the past two weeks.

“Not only is Texas fast, but you know its fast. At some of the bigger tracks where we carry a lot of speed, most of the time the track is so wide or the turns are so gradual where you don’t get that speed sensation like you do at Texas - that is, unless you get sideways, then you figure it out pretty quickly. With Texas, you can really feel yourself ‘stick’ when you go through the turns.

“The Texas race has become one of the more anticipated stops on the NASCAR circuit. We enjoy the Dallas/Fort Worth area and Mr. (Bruton) Smith’s bunch has built a facility that is second to none. We ran the dirt car down there about a month ago at the Texas Motor Speedway dirt track, and look forward to coming back every chance we get. This year we’ll even get an extra stop on the Cup series, so that should be pretty neat.

“Qualifying has suddenly become much more important for a lot of teams. Beginning last weekend, this year’s points standings began counting for qualifying and last year’s no longer do. There are a lot of good teams back around that cutoff (35th and above are locked in) and the ones on the outside looking in are going to start feeling that pressure. While qualifying is important everywhere we go, starting position at Texas isn’t near as important as the past two weeks. Both at Bristol and Martinsville you needed to start up close to the front for two reasons: first, it’s extremely hard to pass, and second, the track is so short, if you didn’t qualify well it won’t be long until the leader is knocking on your door… especially if there’s an early caution.

“This Schwan’s team is going to Texas looking to change its luck a little bit. We’ve had a good car at both Bristol and Martinsville, but some things have happen that we just didn’t have much control over. We had tire issues at Martinsville, and ‘other car’ issues at Bristol. But, that’s part of the game. Theses guys have really worked hard all year to get these cars where they need to be, and we’re making gains. Anybody that’s watched us run can tell that. Now, we just need some finishes that prove that.”