While BAM pursues sponsor, Schrader stays calm

HAMPTON, Ga. -- While several drivers in the Winston Cup Series are stressing about whether or not their teams will have money to run next year, Ken Schrader isn't worried about it at all.

	Ken Schrader

"The phone doesn't ring a lot when you're 48, but we've got our (Schrader Racing) truck team, and that's always an option," he said.

To say it's been a difficult year for the BAM Racing team would be an understatement.

The team has just two top-10 finishes in 28 Winston Cup starts this season -- Schrader finished 10th at Martinsville in the spring and eighth at Chicagoland in July. He was also involved in a fiery crash at Pocono in June.

Schrader has averaged a 28th-place finish this season and will start 43rd in Sunday's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Still, he says there's cause for optimism.

"We've had some decent runs," Schrader said. "We see some light at the end of the tunnel. I didn't really realize some of the advantages that the multi-car teams had, but we're starting to catch up."

	Schrader was involved in this fiery crash at Pocono in June.

As with many of the smaller teams in NASCAR, money is at the forefront of a lot of the conversations team owners Tony and Beth Ann Morgenthau are having these days.

Beth Ann told the media Saturday that she will not fund the team's $9 million budget for a second season next year, but husband Tony was quick to say that the team is in negotiations with several sponsors to acquire funds for next season.

"This is a building process," he said, "and Ken has been instrumental in building this team. The first half of the season, we were just trying to find our way, but we've proved that we're here."

In fact, Tony said the market is strong for teams looking for sponsors for next season.

"Ever since the Nextel deal, a lot of companies are wondering why they aren't involved in NASCAR and are looking for ways to get in," he said. "We have a lot of people that we're talking to."

Whether that sponsorship somes through or not, Schrader, who never has a shortage of racing committments says he'll still be behind the wheel somewhere.

"I'm going to leave this place kicking and screaming and crying," he said. "I see myself someday with my trailer and running about 120 dirt races a year.

"I don't need to drive the car. It's what I love to do."