KEN SCHRADER:  “They are all easy to drive. 

It’s just hard to go fast, and the faster you go the harder it is.”

 

Ken Schrader, driver of the #21 Motorcraft Genuine Parts Ford Fusion, talks about racing at Michigan International Speedway, and answers fan questions concerning racing injuries.

 

MIS has always been considered as a good track for rookies to start their Cup career – Why?  “I would have to say because it is wide and real multi-grooved so you can stay out of the way.  It’s not like Darlington where you’ve got the one line you are following around.  I wasn’t really aware of that, but it would make sense because it is so wide that it is easier to stay out of trouble.”

 

Is it the easiest track on the schedule?  “They are all easy to drive.  It’s just hard to go fast, and the faster you go the harder it is.”

 

How has racing at MIS changed over the years, and why?  “The way racing has changed at MIS is the same way it has changed every place.  It has just become so much more competitive.  The difference between the fastest car and the slowest car is now maybe five mile an hour instead of maybe 22 mile an hour like it might have been.  The last starter at Michigan used to qualify maybe 15 mile an hour slower.  Now they qualify maybe five mile an hour slower.  It’s a ton closer than it was.  So it used to be if you qualified in the middle, six/seven mile an hour slower than the pole, but six/seven mile an hour faster than the slower guys you could pass all kinds of people.  They told me the first time I went to Dover I was going to hate it, but I would up loving it because the slower cars were so much slower than me that I got to pass a lot of guys that day, and it was cool.  It may be perceived that there is less passing, but the racing is a whole lot better.  What makes racing good?  Is it just being competitive or is it the competition?  The competition is a ton, ton better.  But, what gets perceived – I don’t even want to hear about it.  At Daytona people say the restrictor plate racing isn’t any good any more.  It isn’t like it was in 1980 when there were only five cars on the lead lap and they were all in a pile.  The racing now is just a lot better.  It is just perceived as not being as good because there is not as much passing.”

 

 

In watching INC last week and your discussion regarding racing injuries, it made me wonder what is the worst racing injury you have suffered?  And, in what type of car? How long did it take you before you were able to get back in a race car?  “I’ve been very fortunate – shoulder blades, collar bones and a sternum.  And, the worst one was probably in ’82 at Manzanita in Phoenix.  It wasn’t bad, but it was a shoulder blade on one side and a collar bone on the other so it hit both arms, and we missed three weeks.  Then we ran and won the Silver Crown Championship, and I ran in Pennsylvania three weeks later.  I broke my sternum on Thursday at Daytona and ran the 500, but I didn’t feel real good.”

I consider myself a fairly long term fan - 15 years or so, but the major injuries I remember were Cup races: Daytona in the 25 car (and ended up with a great finish in the 500 still), and the Talladega roll.  “The Talladega I didn’t get hurt.  I was just sore.  We ran third or fourth that Wednesday night at Granite City.”

 

Have you ever had a sponsor that has asked you to limit your racing?  “I’ve been pretty fortunate there.  Most of them have been pretty understanding.  There was only one of them that wasn’t understanding and that’s when I got upside down at Talladega and we worked it out.  Most of the times I’ve been hurt – these Cup cars hit harder than anything else, so I think the biggest chance of getting hurt is in them.”

Have you ever turned a sponsor away because they asked you to steer clear of your extracurricular racing?  “No.  I’ve never had one that put that ultimatum down.”

 

 

Ken Schrader Career

Starts 682

Poles 23

Wins 4

Top 5's 64

Top 10's 183

 

Wood Brothers Career

Starts 1249

Poles 119

Wins 97

Top 5's 336

Top 10's 515

 

Schrader  at Michigan

Starts 43

Poles 2

Wins 0

Top 5's 0

Top 10's 6

 

Wood Brothers at Michigan

Starts 72

Poles 9

Wins 11

Top 5's 26

Top 10's 37

 

 

 

SCHRADER FINISHES 42ND AT MIS AFTER ACCIDENT;

DROPS ONLY ONE SPOT IN THE POINTS

An accident on lap 30 put an early end to Ken Schrader’s race at Michigan International Speedway in the 3M 400 Sunday afternoon.  When J.J. Yeley got loose and turned around Schrader kept his car straight hoping when the smoke cleared he would come out the other side with his Motorcraft Fusion unscathed.  It didn’t happen.  The number 21 ended up 42nd.

 

“All I saw was smoke and I had a strong suspicion that I wasn’t gonna make it through.  We came up on that group and I guess J.J. got loose and he turned around.  When I came out of the smoke there he was.  You don’t turn left or right because you don’t know where to go anyway.  We got in the back during the pit stop, but we had a good car.  We came out of the turn and everybody checked up a little bit.  We caught that group fast and J.J. got loose.  All I saw was smoke and I said, ‘I’ll just hold this deal straight, but there’s a pretty good chance you won’t make it through,’ and, sure enough, when the smoke cleared there was J.J.”

 

Following an hour’s delayed start for rain, Ken and the team chose not to come into the pits when the race was slowed on lap 10 for a brief shower.  He moved up to 13th.  Although Carl Edwards went around him on the first circuit when the race was restarted on lap 17, Schrader said later that he was starting to pull away from the rest of the field and catching back up to Carl.  Then Tony Stewart hit the wall bringing out the yellow again five laps later. 

 

Schrader came down pit road along with the rest of the leaders.  A dropped lug net put him back on the track 32nd.  He quickly moved up to 28th before Yeley’s problem occurred.

 

The #21 sustained enough damage it had to be brought into the garage on a wrecker.  And Ken made the mandatory trip to the infield care center where he was checked out and released.    

 

Although the team immediately went to work on the car, it became apparent they could not complete the extensive repairs in time to gain any positions before the end of the race.

 

Rain ended the event after only 129 of the scheduled 200 laps were completed.  Kasey Kahne was in the lead, and proceeded to a make-shift victory lane in the garage area.

Carl Edwards ended up second followed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

 

Jimmie Johnson still leads the point standings, and even with Ken’s 42nd place finish he dropped only one spot in the standings to 31st.

 

NASCAR travels across the United States to wine country for the first of two road course events on the 2006 schedule.  The Dodge/Save Mart 350 will be run at Infineon Raceway near Sonoma, California this coming Sunday, June 25.  Television coverage on FOX is slated to begin at 3:00 p. m. EDT.  The Performance Racing Network (PRN) will carry the broadcast live over its network of radio affiliates.

 

Michigan Top-10

1. Kasey Kahne
2. Carl Edwards
3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
4. Greg Biffle
5. Reed Sorenson
6. Jimmie Johnson
7. Casey Mears
8. Jeff Gordon
9. Kurt Busch
10. Kevin Harvick

    42. Ken Schrader

 

Points after Michigan

1. Jimmie Johnson                       2295
2. Matt Kenseth                         2221
3. Kasey Kahne                         2051
4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.    2020
5. Mark Martin                           1989
6. Tony Stewart                          1928
7. Jeff Burton                  1888
8. Kevin Harvick                        1849
9. Denny Hamlin                         1809
10. Greg Biffle                  1807

    31. Ken Schrader                       1241