Ken Schrader

Racing career

Beginnings

Schrader was born in Fenton, Missouri. In 1971, he was the sportsmens champ at Lake Hill Speedway in Valley Park. That same year, he moved up to sprint cars, racing in various locations across the Midwest. In 1980, he started racing in USAC's Stock Car Division and was the series' rookie of the year. He returned to USAC's Stock Car Division one year later, finishing third in points. Early in the decade, he moved to the USAC series, competing in its various sprint car competitions. Schrader attempted to qualify for the 1983 Indianapolis 500, but wrecked his car during practice. In the USAC series, he won four USAC sprint car races, six Silver Crown races, 21 in USAC midgets, and 24 midget races in other divisions.

Schrader made his NASCAR debut in 1984 in the Winston Cup Series, leasing out the No. 64 Ford normally owned and driven by Elmo Langley. He ran his first race at Nashville, qualifying 27th and finishing nineteenth in a thirty-car field. He ran four more races out of the 64 that season, his best finish seventeenth at North Wilkesboro Speedway. In 1985, he signed to drive the No. 90 Ultra Seal-sponsored Ford for Junie Donlavey full-time. He had three tenth place finishes and finished sixteenth in points, winning rookie of the year honors. In 1986, Red Baron Frozen Pizza became the team's new primary sponsor, and Schrader had four top-tens, including a best finish of seventh twice, and finished 16th in the standings in points for the second consecutive season. In 1987, Schrader won his first career pole, at the TranSouth 500, where he led nineteen laps and finished fifth, notching his first top-five. He had nine other top-tens and finished tenth in the final standings. He also made his Busch Series debut, at North Carolina Speedway, finishing fifth in his own No. 45 Red Baron-sponsored Ford.

1988–1996: Hendrick Motorsports

In 1988, Schrader moved over to the No. 25 Folgers sponsored Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. In his first race, he won the pole for the Daytona 500, beginning a three-year streak in which he won the pole for that race. After initially failing to qualify in the No. 25 for the following race, Schrader purchased a racecar from Buddy Arrington to drive in the No. 67 Ford, this time successfully qualifying. Schrader won his first career race, at the Talladega DieHard 500, and finished fifth in the final standings. He won his second career Winston Cup Series race the following season at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and finished fifth in the standings again. He also earned his first career Busch Series win at the Ames/Peak 200.

Kodiak became Schrader's sponsor in 1990. Although he failed to win, he collected three poles, and seven top fives, dropping to tenth in points. In 1991, he got his third win, at the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500, and his final Winston Cup Series win, at Dover International Speedway. He had nine total top-five finishes and finished ninth in the final points standings. In 1992, he dropped to seventeenth in the standings after posting eleven top-tens. The following season, Schrader returned to ninth in the points and won a career-high six poles. He had his career-best points finish in 1994 when he finished fourth. He also won his most recent Busch race at Talladega.

In 1995, Budweiser became Schrader's primary sponsor. Schrader lost the top end of his left thumb in a mishap at Evergreen Speedway in a NASCAR Supertrucks practice session on May 13. He won his final pole with Hendrick, at Pocono Raceway and dropped back to seventeenth in points. He survived a horrific crash in the DieHard 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. After he improved only to twelfth in the standings in 1996, Schrader left Hendrick Motorsports after a nine-year association with the team.

1997–2005

In 1997, Schrader was hired to drive the No. 33 Skoal Bandit Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Andy Petree Racing. He had eight top-tens and won two poles, finishing tenth in the standings, his most recent top-ten points finish. The following season, he posted three fourth-place finishes and won two poles over the last five races of the season. He won his final Winston Cup Series pole, at Talladega, in 1999, but despite a fifteenth place points run, Schrader failed to finish in the top-five all year and departed Petree.

He signed to drive the No. 36 M&M's Pontiac Grand Prix for MB2 Motorsports. In his first year of competition, Schrader had two top-tens and finished eighteenth in the standings. He posted five top-tens in 2001, but dropped to nineteenth in the standings. While competing in the Daytona 500, he was involved in a final-lap crash where Dale Earnhardt crashed into the wall and died. The image of Schrader peering into Earnhardt's car, only to jump back and frantically signal for assistance, is etched into the minds of many racing fans; his interview with Jeanne Zelasko during Fox Sports' post-race show was the first sign to many that something was wrong with the seven-time Winston Cup champion, as he appeared visibly shaken and upon being asked if Earnhardt was okay, he said "I don't really know. I'm not a doctor. I got the heck out of the way as soon as they got there." Schrader later stated in a 2011 interview that he knew Earnhardt was dead, but didn't want to be the one to announce it. In 2002, Schrader did not finish in the top-ten in a single race, the first time since 1984. Following that season, he departed MB2.

Despite an original lack of sponsorship, Schrader was announced as the driver of the No. 49 BAM Racing Dodge Intrepid for 2003. Soon, 1-800-Call-ATT became the team's primary sponsor. At the Brickyard 400, Schrader's qualifying time was too slow (and the team was out of provisionals) to make the field, the first time since 1984 that Schrader had missed a Winston Cup Series race. He DNQ'd three more times that season and fell to 36th in points. In 2004, Schrader's previous sponsor, Schwan Food Company, became BAM's new sponsor, while Schrader had a sixth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway. He had three more top-tens the following season and matched his previous year's run of 31st in points.

2006–2007

In 2006, Schrader drove the No. 21 Little Debbie/Motorcraft/United States Air Force Ford for Wood Brothers Racing, earning his final two career top-tens that season. In 2007, he ran a part-time schedule with the Wood Brothers, sharing the ride with rookie Jon Wood. After the team fell out of the top-35 in owner's points, Bill Elliott became their new driver until the team returned to the top-35. Schrader returned to BAM Racing at Indianapolis, and later regained his spot with the Wood Brothers beginning at Loudon, before being replaced again by Elliott late in the year. Schrader also drove seventeen races in the Craftsman Truck Series for Bobby Hamilton Racing in the No. 18 Fastenal Dodge Ram, earning two top-five finishes.

2008–2013

Schrader returned to BAM Racing in 2008. However, after making only two of the first five races, BAM Racing switched to Toyota. After the sixth race of the season, at Martinsville, Virginia, where Schrader qualified the new Microsoft Toyota in seventh place and finished 37th, BAM Racing decided they needed to sit the next two races out to complete a fleet of the new Toyota cars. After two weeks, it was announced that a primary sponsor had backed out of its deal, leaving BAM Racing and Schrader with no other option but to temporarily suspend operations. NASCAR.com reported on April 15, 2008, that the team would enter a hiatus, and not return to racing until the fall. Schrader ran the race in a one-off at Talladega on April 27, 2008, in the No. 70 Haas/CNC Chevrolet, sponsored by Hunt Brothers Pizza, qualifying third, but finishing 42nd due to motor problems.

Schrader qualified a fourth Richard Childress Racing entry into the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25. He qualified the No. 33 Camping World Chevy in the 33rd position and finished 33rd. Schrader signed a multi-race deal in August that allowed him to share a seat with Joey Logano for Jeff Moorad (Hall of Fame Racing) in the No. 96 DLP HDTV Toyota in various races through the end of the year. It was later announced that he would split the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule in Phoenix Racing's No. 09 car alongside Brad Keselowski, Sterling Marlin, and Mike Bliss, but never made a race attempt. He made two starts in the truck series for himself, and seven starts in the ARCA series with six Top 10s in 2009.

Schrader started fourteenth and finished fourteenth in the Bud Shootout at Daytona International Speedway on February 6, 2010, driving the No. 82 Team Red Bull Toyota. That same year, he qualified for Martinsville marking his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points race since the November 2008 event at Phoenix International Raceway. Schrader finished eighteenth after starting 38th and leading seven laps for Latitude 43 Motorsports.

In 2011, Schrader ran a part-time Sprint Cup Series schedule for FAS Lane Racing. With seven starts, Schrader posted a season best finish of 21st at Martinsville during the fall race. He ran thirteen races for the team in the Sprint Cup Series in 2012. Schrader also inked a deal to run at least nine races in 2013 for FAS Lane Racing with Federated Auto Parts as the sponsor. Schrader ran in the truck series at the inaugural Mudsummer Classic at Eldora Speedway. In qualifying at Eldora, Schrader had a lap speed of 91.329 mph, a track record, and clinched the pole, becoming the oldest pole winner in any NASCAR series at age 58. He eventually finished fourteenth.

On May 21, 2013, he became the oldest ARCA race winner.

On October 27, 2013, Schrader announced that he would retire from NASCAR after the 2013 season; he described it as "not retirement", but that there were "just no plans to come back"; he planned to continue competing in ARCA and dirt modified events.

Despite his retirement, Schrader drove an entry in the 2014 Camping World Truck Series Mudsummer Classic at Eldora. While he was originally entered in Haas Racing Development's No. 00 truck, he instead drove his own No. 52 Federated Auto Parts truck. Schrader finished fourth; his best NASCAR finish in several years. In the 2015 running of the event, Schrader finished 11th after starting 3rd. In the 2016 race, now known as the Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby, he drove the No. 71 Chevrolet to twelfth place finish.

On May 27, 2017, Schrader entered into the Little 500 sprint car race held at Anderson Speedway in Anderson, Indiana, where he finished tenth. In July, he returned to the Eldora Truck race, driving the No. 66 Silverado for Bolen Motorsports.

SRX

On May 4, 2022, Schrader was announced as a driver in the Superstar Racing Experience at the track he owned at the time, I-55 Speedway. Schrader won the first heat race of the night and finished ninth in heat 2. At the end of the main event, Schrader finished on the podium in third.

Pinty's Series

On August 14, 2023, Schrader won the Freshstone Dirt Classic at Ohsweken Speedway in the NASCAR Pinty's Series, becoming the first non-Canadian driver to win in the series and the oldest driver to win a NASCAR sanctioned event at the age of 68.

Personal life

Schrader currently resides in Dittmer, MO a small town about 45 minutes from downtown St. Louis, where he runs his race team, Schrader Racing. He is married to his wife, Ann, with whom he has two children.

Schrader was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame in 2024.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series