“Started out on my tires, ended up on my roof”: Ken Schrader recalls hilarious flip story from his NASCAR days

What NASCAR fans remember about the 1999 Save Mart/Kragen 350 at Sears Point Raceway (now Sonoma Raceway) is not Jeff Gordon’s victory but two nerve-chilling crashes. The first victim of those crashes was former race car driver Ken Schrader, who recalled the incident during a recent virtual interview with Kenny Wallace.

Luckily, Schrader wasn’t gravely injured but was still carried off to the infield care center. There, he met with a doctor, who happened to ask several questions as a part of the standard protocol for post-race medical examinations. There was something so funny about that encounter that made Wallace lose it.

“We flip over and we land upside down in a little ditch thing,” recalled Ken Schrader. “So I'm in the infield care center and the doctor asked you all these questions...you know what number car you were driving? You know your home phone number?”

“He said, 'Do you know how many times you turned over?' I said, 'I don't know.' He looked at me and said, 'One and three-quarters.' I said 'I started out on my tires, ended up on my roof. What the hell is your phone number?' He let me go,” Schrader added as Wallace laughed out loud.

As per reports, two crashes occurred that day. The first one took place when Steve Park hit the guardrail and flipped into Turn 1, during lap 26.

About 70 laps later, Schrader got loose and hit the same spot where Park had hit early on. The only difference between the two crashes was that Park’s Chevy landed on its tires, but Schrader’s No. 33 machine did not.

“I’m not apologizing for it”- Ken Schrader comes clean about NASCAR career

Ken Schrader’s career in the NASCAR Cup Series spanned 29 years. He could only win four races during that time besides bagging 23 poles, 65 top-five, and 184-top 10 finishes. He also ran a few Xfinity and Truck Series races, recording two victories at the Xfinity, and one at the Truck level.

On that note, Schrader said in a recent interview (quoted by Deb Williams, Autoweek) that he would like to have a better career in NASCAR. However, he did not regret anything he had done throughout his career.

"Obviously, I would like to have had a lot better NASCAR career, but I’m not apologizing for it,” Schrader said. “We were able to stay there for 29 years. Made a lot of good friends, drove some good cars, had a lot of fun but, obviously, those opportunities dried up. I was down there until I was 58 still running a limited schedule.”

Remarkably, the 69-year-old racer spent “more than 100 days in a race car in 2024”, as suggested by Autoweek. Furthermore, he won 14 dirt races at 10 different tracks this year alone. Retirement is perhaps a foreign concept for Schrader.

“I just wanted to go run my dirt car more,” Ken Schrader explained. “As you get older and the rides aren’t quite the caliber you once had, it’s not near as much fun. I knew we could take a dirt car and still go contend for wins.”

“I’m having as much fun as I’ve ever had. So, I just don’t see any reason to quit,” he added.

Notably, he has never raced in Rhode Island and Hawaii. Does that mean they’re on his bucket list? When asked about it, Ken Schrader said he would rather run races where he didn’t have to travel as much. But one thing is certain for now; Schrader will not race till the first week of January 2025.