Ken Schrader: Dodge/Save Mart 350 preview

Ken Schrader's thoughts leading into Infineon Raceway, the first road course of the season:

"Well, we definitely struggled out there last year and we're going out with a new car and that has been tested. Klaus has been to VIR a couple times and Sonoma for two days. We went out for one day and shook the new car down. We ran substantially better than we did last year, but we had to. With the new pavement and stuff, we think it was a real good thing that we went out and tested. We're definitely going out to Sonoma with more enthusiasm than we have in the past."

Do you consider yourself a pretty good road course racer?

"We used to get around them pretty good, and then the last couple years we've had a sorts of problems. I don't really think I've forgot how to turn right but we've just really struggled the last couple of years. Kind of felt real good after testing out at Sonoma for a day. I don't know if I consider myself a 'good' road racer, but if you can go out there and get a good lap qualifying, stay on the course, and not tear your transmission up... with a little bit of pit strategy you can come out of there with a pretty good day."

What does a race this close to a major market such as San Francisco mean to a sponsor like Schwan's Home Service?

"Well it's a big market for all of the sponsors. It's real easy to get a lot of these company executives to go to Sonoma because it's just absolutely beautiful country. The first year we went out there I was just amazed. You know, we leave San Francisco, drove across that bridge, drive a little further out of town, and said 'Wow, all of sudden I'm in the country', but I was just right on the outskirts of San Francisco. When you're actually at the track you'd never believe you're that close to that big of a city. It's a huge market compared to some of the other ones we go to, and as much as I would probably prefer the oval tracks, I always look forward to going out to that facility."

Explain the difference in road-course racing and oval racing.

"Well, it's just a totally different mentality than we're used to. We're always used to two turns that are basically the same at the majority of our tracks. Here at Sonoma you've got eleven turns that are totally different from one another; up-hill, down-hill, left-hand turn, right-hand turn. The skills that make someone a good road course racer are really the same that make them a good oval racer. You need to carry your speed through the center and off the turn. You have to be able to accelerate off the turn. You lose a lot of time by seeing how hard you can drive into a turn, then potentially in the middle of the turn lose some speed while you're trying to get yourself gathered back up. It's just a matter of being smooth and not tearing up your stuff. You'll have many more opportunities on a road course to tear stuff up because you have eleven turns instead of two, plus all the shifting that we normally don't have to do.

Having raced at Infineon since the beginning you've seen all the changes and improvements. I would imagine now the course is easier to drive than it used to be and a lot easier to pass than it was in the past.

"No. The track has done such a good job with some of the changes they have made. Especially the facilities and stands are now much better than when we first raced there. But, they've made it worse for the racing I believe. At the end of the drag strip we used to have the carousel then you would come up to the end of the drag strip and you had a good braking zone there and then another good braking zone before you came down the back side. We had three good passing zones then, and now they've kind of limited it to one good passing zone. It's a better racetrack but I think they've hurt it in regards to passing capabilities."

Well, is it easier to drive than the old road course?

"Well, you still have the same amount of turns. It might be a little easier because we no longer have the carousel. I wouldn't say it was easier just maybe different."

Sounds like you prefer the old course?

"I think that if I was sitting in the grandstands or trying to get people to come out and watch my race that I was having at my tracks, I'd prefer the new course. If I was trying to pass somebody, I'd prefer the old course."

Your thoughts on Infineon's repaved track and will it benefit bolder drivers?

"What will happen is, since the track has a tremendous amount more grip, guys that are going really fast and know what they're doing; when they do have a problem, it's going to be a bigger problem, because you had more grip until you lost all grip so, that just means you go off the track faster. It's going to be the same for the guys that are struggling somewhat. Yes, it will probably help the bottom half of the field a little more as far as making it a little bit easier to stay on track. The track did a fantastic job of paving, but when you go off you're going to have a bigger problem than you did in the past."

Are there more tensions around the NASCAR garage between drivers this season or is this just a normal season?

"I think it's a normal year, but we just see more and more of this in the sport every year. When the sponsors, and we're fortunate to have a new one in Schwan's Home Service this year, when they come in and spend more and more money, and the team owners are paying the crews more money, everyone wants better results. It's just become that much more competitive and intense every year, that the on-track and off-track run-ins seem to grow more frequent every year."

There's a difference in aggressive and stupid driving. Is there more stupid driving going on out there this year?

"In a word... yes. It's not that someone is going out and driving stupid all the time, but it's like football, you see a lot of these hail-mary passes that don't work... and we end up with a lot of bent cars instead."

Do the safety improvements in these cars lend drivers to think they're invincible and therefore drive even more aggressive?

"Oh I guarantee it. Right now, when you sit in that car and know that between the new safety devices that are out, the advances that have been made, and the rules NASCAR has put in place; there's no comparison to five or six years ago. So, yeah it does give you a good sense of security."

Will you be participating in the Southwest Tour race this weekend?

"We're bringing a car out for the Southwest Series race. We've brought one out the last couple of years. Last year Boris Said drove it and ran second in the race for us. We're very fortunate that Federated Auto Parts sponsors most of the stuff at my shop. Boris has been associated with Federated for years, so Boris always run the Southwest Tour car for us there. We've won that race in the past, but Schrader Racing is definitely bringing a car out, but Boris will be driving it."

With realignment in NASCAR and more tracks wanting dates than are available, do you see where eventually there will be no road course races in NASCAR and should they always keep a road course race on the circuit?

"I don't think that NASCAR thinks that they have to have a couple road courses in order to be a complete series. I think that they have a couple markets that they like going to and the only facilities that are there right now are road courses. If there was a suitable oval, if it was an either/or, I think NASCAR would go to the oval. But, I don't see Sonoma coming off the schedule because someone would have to build a state-of-the-art right around there. NASCAR would convince them not to build around there, because we already have a nice facility in Infineon, around that market that we run at."

The first time you ran on a road course, what was that like for you?

"It was Riverside California in 1985 and I didn't have a clue what to expect. I told Mr. Donleavy, 'I tell you what... I'll try not to miss any shifts and stay on the black stuff all day.' We wound up 10th. It was obviously a big change, but definitely something that I enjoyed. It was just a lot of fun. It can be aggravating too, just like any track can be if you're struggling there. I'm not dead set against road course; they're a fun place to go to."

Coming from a road course background, has Klaus Graf been able to help you in any way with your road course racing?

"Most definitely. That's one of the reason's I'm a little more excited about going to Sonoma this week. We're taking the other car and Klaus and the testing that Klaus has done already with BAM Racing. Even when we took Klaus to an oval race at Nashville and we spent the previous day testing at Kentucky, he adapted real quick. You know, racing's racing, and I think he'll be able to help me go around the road course, and he's helped make our cars better too."

When is it safe or "right" to have a checkered finish and when is it not?

"For sure when the outcome of the race is not going to be changed by the yellow, then I can't see where it makes any difference. The outcome of the race at Michigan this past weekend would not have been changed. Now, if it would have been two more laps... maybe. But, they were coming to the checkered flag.

"I'm from 'old-school' and I think they screwed up at Richmond ever how many years ago when they threw the red-flag for the first time. Because, people weren't complaining about it until they threw it the first time, then everyone figured out it was an option. I'm sure they're going to something about it now. We're going to have a race sometime this year, after they do something like adding laps or something, where the guy in seventh is going to end up winning the thing because they added four laps and everyone else is going to run out of fuel. We've already been in situations like that this year where if they had added laps it would have affected the outcome of the race. You buy a ticket to go see a 500-mile race and I can't see why we have to make it a 510-mile race and maybe potentially change the whole outcome of the race because you didn't get to see the last five miles under green."

Would it have been dangerous this past weekend to try and finish under green and what would be the solution if they go to some sort of green flag finish, do you think people would just be running out of gas if that happens?

"Well, we've had a lot of races where you just barely make it to the end on fuel. Now, if we're going to ride around for three more laps then race two or three more laps, you are going to run out of gas. I'm not sure but would you want to be sitting in the middle of the interstate with guys running by you at 190 mph?

So, do you think it's a problem created by the media?

"Well, I'm just saying that maybe if it didn't get talked about so much then it wouldn't be as big of a problem. I never remember a time when it wasn't brought up by the media. Everything, every issue, no matter what, gains momentum when it's talked about."