In the Pits- KSR

The need for speed

Ken Schrader’s need for speed apparently knows no bounds. Everyone knows Schrader will race anything with four tires and a steering wheel. Earlier this year he signed up to drive a bobsled for charity. More recently, he pulled 9 Gs in an Air Force jet. What’s next, taking the space shuttle out for a quick trip?

While in Las Vegas for a recent NASCAR Nextel Cup race, Schrader, driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Fusion, flew with the United States Air Force Thunder-birds out of Nellis Air Force Base, just north of town.

“I didn’t know what to think going in, and I was plenty nervous about it, but it was unbelievable, an unbelievable ride,” Schrader said. “When we took off, it was 5.3 Gs. I felt good there. So then the pilot (Capt. Tad “T.C.” Clark) asked what about pulling 9 Gs, and I said, ‘We’re fine, let’s do it.’ Then T.C. let me fly it some, and that was awesome.”

Isn’t pulling 9 Gs a lot, even for a thrill-seeker like Schrader?

“The problem being, when I was doing it, I wasn’t flying the plane,” Schrader said. “I was just sitting there. And that was good because when we hit 9 Gs, I couldn’t see. I’m pretty sure the pilot needed to keep seeing. But, wow, that was neat.”

So how does flying an Air Force jet compare to driving a racecar?

“Well, it’s just different,” Schrader said. “We’ve got some acceleration, but nothing like that, and we don’t pull any kind of G-force like that. When the Thunderbirds are flying in formation, they are running about as close as we’re racing. They don’t have to deal with a wall, but we don’t have to deal with the ground. When we get up in the air, we only get 30 feet up and then fall back down. It’s different, but man was it exciting.”

Asked if his perception of the Air Force has changed after flying with the Thunderbirds, Schrader said, “I don’t know if it changed because I was always high, high on the Air Force, anyway, but I just can’t imagine any kind of air-to-air combat. Wow.”

Down on Earth, Schrader, a 21-year veteran of NASCAR’s top series, has started more than 670 Cup races in his career, while recording four victories, 64 top-five finishes and 183 top-10 finishes. Schrader also drives for his own team, Ken Schrader Racing, in the Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR West Series, ARCA and Southwest Tour Series, and he plans to enter more than 100 races this year alone.

If all of that wasn’t enough, Schrader, who turns 51 on May 29, has been working with an author on a biography to be published later this year. The title: “Gotta Race.”