SCHRADER ON DARLINGTON:

“ … on any given lap, it can be the winner.”

 

Ken Schrader, driver of the #21 U.S. Air Force Fusion, answers fan questions on Darlington Raceway.

 

Do you think Darlington still intimidates the newcomers?  Did it intimidate you?  “Anybody with any common sense at all – it’s not that it intimidates you, but you have to have a lot of respect for it because on any given lap, it can be the winner.”

 

Do you have a favorite Darlington racing moment?  “In 1987 when we got the pole for Mr. (Junie) Donlavey.  That was his only pole.”

 

Kenny, have you ever gotten the chance to chat with David Pearson about racing strategies for Darlington?   “I haven’t really talked to David about strategies.  When I talk to David Pearson we don’t talk about racing.”

 

With Darlington being so unique, how do you decide what car to take there?  Is it the same car as Dover? Charlotte? Is there any other track that really helps with your Darlington set up?  “Basically, you use an intermediate track car.  It used to be like Dover, Rockingham, Darlington – you used the same type of car, but now we use an intermediate track car to base the set-up off of.”

 

Kenny, how do you feel about historical tracks like Darlington being pushed aside for the newer cookie cutters? I know the facilities are better with the new tracks but don't you miss the on track excitement that tracks such as Darlington and Rockingham bring?  “It’s just not a matter of that.  It is a matter of the people that own the companies that own the tracks that feel we are much better off being some place else.  I would much rather go to Kansas City and Chicago than go to Darlington and Rockingham twice because we need to go to the larger market.  If we could go one time a year to the biggest cities in the country, it would be awesome.  But, we don’t have tracks at all of them.  If we went to all the places we used to go twice, the sport would be the same size it used to be.  With the growth there is no way around what we are doing now – good or bad, whether you like it or not it needed to happen.”