NASCAR Standout Kenny Schrader Will Battle World of Outlaws Late Model Series Stars In Blockbuster Missouri 50 Event Tuesday Night (July 25) At Lebanon I-44 Speedway

LEBANON, MO (July 24, 2006) – How will NASCAR Nextel Cup Series veteran Kenny Schrader begin a rare off-week for the stock car circuit?

By jumping into one of his dirt Late Models to battle some of the biggest World of Outlaws Late Model Series stars, of course.

Schrader will return to his local short-track racing roots Tuesday night (July 25), entering the blockbuster World of Outlaws Late Model Series ‘Missouri 50’ at Lebanon I-44 Speedway.

Vacationing in the middle of a racing season isn’t an option for Schrader, who hits the short tracks whenever he has an opening on his busy schedule.

“I’d probably be better off if I didn’t,” Schrader joked when asked why he spends his free time doing more racing. “But why do some of these guys play golf when they have time off? For us, driving the race car is what we do to enjoy ourselves.”

The native of Fenton, Mo., who now drives the famed Wood Brothers stock car on the NASCAR circuit, will make his first career start at the three-eighths-mile dirt oval. He has run pavement events at the track, which had its surface covered with clay four years ago, but he shoots down any notion that those appearances will help him on Tuesday.

“It’s a new track now that it’s dirt,” Schrader said of Lebanon I-44. “I can’t really know what to expect just because I ran it when it was paved.”

Schrader, 51, is no stranger to the national touring stars of DIRT MotorSports’ World of Outlaws Late Model Series. While he competes only rarely with the series, he’s had some success on it. In fact, during the WoO LMS’s inaugural 2004 season, Schrader ran three of the first four feature events at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.; he set fast time and won a heat race one night and compiled finishes of 12th, 15th and 18th.

Schrader has also raced against – and has developed friendly relationships with – many of the traveling WoO LMS drivers over the years.

“(Rick) Eckert, (Steve) Francis, (Billy) Moyer, Clint Smith – I know quite a few of them,” Schrader said of the tour’s regulars. “They’re all really good racers.”

The WoO LMS standouts also know Schrader will provide some top-notch competition. After all, he’s not jumping into someone else’s car to make a rare dirt-track appearance on Tuesday; he’s driving a C.J. Rayburn-built dirt Late Model out of his Ken Schrader Racing shop.

Ken Schrader Racing, which is headquartered in Concord, N.C., but maintains a secondary shop in Dittmer, Mo., features a complete dirt Late Model program. Schrader, whose three No. 99 Late Models carry sponsorship from such companies as Red Baron Pizza and Petroff Towing, enters dozens of dirt-track events each season amidst his busy NASCAR Nextel Cup schedule. His nephew, Joey Walsh, serves as the chief mechanic on the dirt Late Models.



Schrader has already won three dirt Late Model features this season – on April 15 at his own I-55 Speedway in Pevely, Mo. (which hosts the WoO LMS on Sept. 16), on June 13 at Quincy (Ill.) Raceway, and on June 16 at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich.

“He’s fast in the Late Model,” Lebanon I-44 Speedway owner/promoter Randy Mooneyham said of Schrader, “but he’ll have to run hard to compete with the World of Outlaws guys at their own game.”

Schrader is dropping in to race with the Outlaws as the nation’s premier dirt Late Model tour is wrapped up in a thrilling battle for the points championship. A group of seven drivers is separated by a scant margin in the points standings – defending champion Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., Rick Eckert of York, Pa., who is challenging the tour’s single-season win record, Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., and Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa.

Mooneyham can’t wait for Tuesday’s $10,000-to-win Missouri 50, which will also feature a strong contingent of local drivers, including Terry Phillips, Brad Looney and Justin Wells.

“I think a lot of people are excited to see (Schrader) race at Lebanon,” said Mooneyham. “He’s so popular in our area, and it’s going to be fun to see him race on the dirt.”

Mooneyham is confident that Schrader’s addition to the field will help Lebanon I-44 play host to a memorable WoO LMS show for the second straight season.

“Last year for our World of Outlaws Late Model show we had the biggest crowd we ever had since we put dirt on the track,” said Mooneyham, fondly recalling the July 26, 2005, WoO LMS event at Lebanon I-44 Speedway that was won by Steve Francis. “We’re hoping we do just as good on Tuesday night.”

On Tues., July 25, the racetrack’s pit and spectator gates will open at 4:30 p.m. CDT. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. CDT, with time trials for the WoO Late Models at 7:25 p.m. CDT and racing at 8 p.m. CDT.

An autograph session with Schrader is also planned prior to the start of the night’s racing.

General admission is $30 for adults and $10 for juniors (ages 13-15). Children 12 and under will be admitted free, and pit admission is $35.

For more information visit www.lebanonI44.com or call the speedway at 417-532-2060.