Ken Schrader: Four Decades of Racing from Hendrick Motorsports to Dirt Tracks

Ken Schrader is an American racing driver from Missouri who has competed across stock cars, sprint cars, midgets and dirt tracks for more than four decades. He drove for Hendrick Motorsports and in the Winston Cup, won three races at that level and set records for age in NASCAR and ARCA competition.

Who is Ken Schrader?

Kenneth William Schrader was born on 29 May 1955 in Fenton, Missouri. He is an American professional racing driver who still competes on local dirt and asphalt tracks. He last raced part-time in the ARCA Menards Series for Fast Track Racing, driving the No. 11 Ford.

Over the years he has also raced in the Cup, Xfinity and Truck series, and he has run the Superstar Racing Experience. Carl Edwards, the NASCAR driver, is a first cousin once removed of his.

He moves easily between disciplines and has found success in every one he tried. He owns a dirt late model and a dirt open-wheel modified, and his Truck and ARCA cars carry Federated Auto Parts branding.

Three Winston Cup wins, a Daytona 500 pole streak and a dirt-track win in Canada at 68, from a career that refused to slow down.

How did Schrader start racing?

In 1971 Schrader took the sportsman championship at Lake Hill Speedway in Valley Park, Missouri. It was the start of a career that would cover sprint cars, midgets, stock cars and dirt tracks. He moved up to sprint cars the same season and raced around the Midwest.

In 1980 he began racing in USAC's Stock Car Division and won its rookie of the year award. He returned the following year and finished third in the division's points. Early in the decade he moved into USAC's sprint car competition, and he later raced midgets and Silver Crown cars as well.

In 1983 he tried for a place in the Indianapolis 500 field and wrecked his car in practice. His USAC record over those years includes four sprint car wins, six Silver Crown wins, 21 midget wins and 24 wins in other midget divisions.

How did Schrader's Winston Cup career begin?

Schrader made his Winston Cup debut in 1984, leasing the No. 64 Ford that Elmo Langley usually owned and drove. He qualified 27th at Nashville and came home nineteenth of thirty. He ran four more races in that car, with a best finish of seventeenth at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Junie Donlavey gave him a full-time ride in the No. 90 Ultra Seal Ford for 1985. He collected three tenth-place finishes, and he ended the season sixteenth in points, which brought rookie of the year honours. The following season Red Baron Frozen Pizza became the team's main sponsor, and he collected four top-tens with a best finish of seventh twice.

In 1987 he took his first pole position at the TranSouth 500, led nineteen laps and finished fifth. That season also brought nine other top-tens and a tenth-place finish in the final standings. His first Busch start was at North Carolina Speedway that year, where he took fifth in a Red Baron-backed Ford that he entered himself.

What did the Hendrick Motorsports years bring?

In 1988 Schrader moved to the No. 25 Folgers Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, a team whose listed owner was Rick Hendrick's father, Papa Joe Hendrick. In his first race for the team he took the Daytona 500 pole, the start of a three-year run of Daytona 500 poles.

The first campaign also produced his first Winston Cup victory, at Talladega's DieHard 500, and a fifth-place points finish. He also took his first Busch Series race at the Ames/Peak 200. The following season brought a second Winston Cup win at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and he finished fifth in points again.

Kodiak came on board in 1990, and that year brought three poles and seven top-fives, though no wins and a tenth-place points finish. In 1991 he took a Motorcraft event, and his last Cup victory came at Dover International Speedway. He finished ninth in points that year with nine top-fives.

The middle of the decade was less kind. He dropped to seventeenth in 1992 after eleven top-tens. The next season he was back to ninth in the standings and took six poles, a career high, and in 1994 he posted his career-best points finish, fourth. He also took his last Busch Series win at Talladega that year.

How did the Hendrick years end?

In 1995 Budweiser became his primary sponsor, but the year began with injury. On 13 May a mishap during a Supertrucks practice at Evergreen Speedway cost him the top of his left thumb. The Pocono pole was his last with the team, and he slid to seventeenth in points.

He came through a frightening crash at the DieHard 500 at Talladega that year. In 1996 he managed twelfth in the standings, and after a nine-year stint he left Hendrick Motorsports.

His time at Hendrick is the core of his Cup reputation. Across those years he combined a Daytona 500 pole streak with a steady run of top-ten finishes.

What were his later Cup years like?

In 1997 Andy Petree Racing hired him for the No. 33, a Skoal-backed Monte Carlo. The moves that followed took him through several teams, each with its own sponsorship challenges. The 1997 season gave him eight top-tens, two poles and a tenth-place points finish, the last time he placed that high in the standings.

The following season brought three fourth-place finishes and two poles over the final five races. He won his last Winston Cup pole at Talladega in 1999. Despite a fifteenth-place points run that year, he did not finish in the top five all season and left Petree.

He then drove for MB2 Motorsports in the No. 36 M&M's Pontiac. The 2001 Daytona 500 is the race most fans remember from that period. In a final-lap crash Dale Earnhardt died, and Schrader was among the drivers in the wreck. Afterwards his interview with Jeanne Zelasko on Fox showed how shaken he was, and he said later that he had known Earnhardt was dead but did not want to be the one to say so.

How did the BAM Racing years go?

Schrader signed for BAM Racing for 2003, and 1-800-Call-ATT took over as the team's main backer. At Indianapolis his qualifying lap was not quick enough, and BAM had no provisionals left, so he missed the field for the first time since 1984. He failed to qualify three more times that season and finished 36th in points.

Schwan Food Company took over as BAM's sponsor in 2004, and Schrader finished sixth at Bristol. The next season brought three more top-tens and a 31st-place points finish, the same as the year before.

In 2006 he drove the No. 21 Little Debbie, Motorcraft and U.S. Air Force Ford for Wood Brothers Racing, collecting the final two top-ten finishes of his career. In 2007 he ran part-time for the Wood Brothers, while also racing seventeen Truck Series events for Bobby Hamilton Racing.

Career highlights by season

Why did Schrader retire from NASCAR in 2013?

In 2008 BAM Racing switched to Toyota, then sat out races to complete its fleet and eventually suspended operations. Schrader ran a one-off at Talladega that spring, qualifying third but finishing 42nd with motor trouble, and he also started the 2008 Coca-Cola 600 for Richard Childress Racing.

In 2011 he drove part-time for FAS Lane Racing and scored a season-best 21st at Martinsville in the fall. He ran thirteen Cup races for the team in 2012, and he also secured a deal with Federated Auto Parts as his sponsor for 2013.

On 27 October 2013 he announced his retirement from NASCAR after that season. He called it not retirement, with no plans to return, and he intended to keep racing in ARCA and dirt modified events.

Did Schrader keep racing after 2013?

Yes, and some of his best results came afterwards. At the 2013 Eldora Mudsummer Classic he set a Truck Series track-record qualifying speed and won the pole, making him the oldest pole winner in NASCAR history at 58. He finished fourteenth in that race.

On 21 May 2013 he had also become the oldest ARCA race winner. In 2014 he raced at Eldora in a truck he entered himself, numbered 52 and backed by Federated Auto Parts, and placed fourth, his best NASCAR result in years. In 2015 he finished eleventh after starting third, and in 2016 the No. 71 Chevrolet carried him to twelfth in the renamed Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby.

He entered the Little 500 sprint car race at Anderson Speedway in May 2017 and finished tenth. In July that year he returned to the Eldora Truck race in the No. 66 Silverado for Bolen Motorsports.

Has Schrader raced outside the United States?

Yes. He joined the Superstar Racing Experience in 2022 at I-55 Speedway, the track he owned at the time, and finished third on the podium. In Canada he competed in the NASCAR Pinty's Series, and on 14 August 2023 he claimed the Freshstone Dirt Classic at Ohsweken Speedway.

The victory was a first for a non-Canadian in that series, and at 68 it made him the oldest winner of a NASCAR-sanctioned race. The St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame recognised him in 2024.