Dover Advance
KEN SCHRADER: “You don’t want to hear a lot of adjectives.
You just want to hear ‘clear’.”
Ken Schrader, driver of the #21 Little Debbie Ford Fusion answers his fans questions about spotters, differences in cars between races at the same track and the future this week.
You were very complimentary to your spotter after a recent race. What makes someone a good spotter for you? At what kind of tracks are you most dependent on a spotter, and how do your spotters work at road courses? “Daytona, Talladega – most dependent. You need to know when you are clear and when you are not. The spotter can just help you so much. At road courses you are less dependent than at some places because they aren’t coming at you from both sides. So you need a spotter less there, but you usually have two because one can’t see the whole course. Chip is kind of like a cheerleader too. He’ll just keep you pumped up and tell you what the other guys are doing. He doesn’t talk all the time. He’s just good. I don’t need someone who talks all the time or tells me how to drive it. You don’t want to hear a lot of adjectives. You just want to hear ‘clear’. No almost clear, almost clear. I just want to hear clear.”
In 2005 in the spring Dover race you were flying through the pack when you ran into another spinning car. Yet the fall race was a big struggle. What was the difference? Was it just that the spring car was real good and you couldn't bring it back? “I don’t really know. There are a lot of variables from race to race even at the same track – the weather, tire compounds, car. Sometimes the tire compounds change, but even with the same tire, set-ups and weather make a ton of difference. It is like here (Charlotte) – the weather is so much different than it was when we tested here that it changes everything.”
Do you or other drivers ever record races and review them afterwards with your team or on your own? Or do you just say - well that race is done, on to the next? “We (I) don’t review them.”
Have you and Jeff Gordon talked since Darlington. What, if anything, did he say to you after the race? I hope he was more polite than he sounded on his post-race interviews. “I have not talked to Jeff yet, but I’ve talked to several members of his crew and Vickers rode home with him from Darlington, and they all said he was just mad at that moment.”
How are things looking for next year? Wood Bros and Schrader fans would love to see you and Jon on the track together next year. “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
Ken Schrader Career |
Starts
680
|
Poles
23 |
Wins
4 |
Top 5's
64 |
Top 10's
183 |
Wood Brothers Career |
Starts
1247 |
Poles
119 |
Wins
97 |
Top 5's
336 |
Top 10's
515 |
Schrader
at Dover
|
Starts
42
|
Poles
0 |
Wins
1 |
Top 5's
8 |
Top 10's
16 |
Wood Brothers at Dover
|
Starts
67 |
Poles
4 |
Wins
7 |
Top 5's
17 |
Top 10's
29 |
