Most racing fans are familiar with the name of Ken Schrader from his years in NASCAR’s top division, where he has raced more than 730 times. More fervent fans also know that Schrader has raced, and continues to race, virtually anything on wheels. At age 59, he shows no signs of slowing down, having already competed in more than 50 races in 2014 as of this writing – not counting another 12 that were cancelled due to weather. 
In late July Schrader was in the midst of a string of seven races in eight days, in dirt-track Modfieds, the USAC Silver Crown series, the ARCA stock car series, and the NASCAR Truck series, the latter being the Truck series’ unique event at the Eldora Speedway in Ohio.
Keeping track of where Schrader is racing is a challenge for any fan. The races cited above take place in Colorado, Kansas, Indiana, Ohio and who knows where else.
Schrader’s biography is titled “Gotta Race” and that accurately describes the affable native of Missouri who now has an apparently seldom-lived-in home in Charlotte. From childhood Schrader has been obsessed with racing and over the course of a driving career that now extends more than 40 years he has raced upwards of 100 events a year, every year.
We first met Schrader years ago at the Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut, where he was racing in a mid-week program prior to competing in the NASCAR Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. When the described his schedule for that summer, our only reaction was, “Have you considered professional help?”
Racing, of course, is more than an obsession for Schrader. It is the means by which he earns his living, which makes racing frequently as important to him as working overtime might be to the rest of us. It also makes winning important, and Schrader continues to win.
