Team Vaden Sweeps Magnolia Motor Speedway Modified Sportsman Show

CARTERSVILLE, GA – Mike Vaughn Racing Team Vaden drivers Ken Schrader of Fenton, MO and Shay Knight of Columbus, MS swept the Modified Sportsman weekend program on November 11 and 12 at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, MS. Knight picked up the win on Friday night in his #1 Vaden Chevrolet Special with Schrader taking second.

The teammates swapped spots on Saturday night with Schrader in the #9 Federated Auto Parts/Vaden Chevrolet Special beating Knight for the first time in four races at “The Mag” with Knight coming home second at his home track. The victory for the former NASCAR star brought about one of Schrader’s famous one liners.

“I can start to think about retirement now that I have finally beaten Shay Knight at Magnolia Motor Speedway,” the 67-year-old veteran driver quipped in Victory Lane. “I love coming the Magnolia Motor Speedway. It’s a great facility and Johnny Stokes always gives us a great surface to race on. It was perfect tonight.”

Team Vaden’s trip to Columbus, MS was a last minute effort that really showed the team’s talent. Schrader called team owner Mike Vaughn Friday afternoon after he arrived at the track asking where was the #1 car?

“I didn’t even know Schrader was going to run at the Mag last weekend, so we were kind of caught flat footed,” Vaughn said. “Team Manager Don Jenkins was at our Cartersville, GA office, so I said let’s go racing and I sent him to our Kingston, GA shop to load up the #1 car at 2 p.m. He met our crew member Wesley Brown at the shop. They grooved up a set of tires, loaded up and left for Mississippi at 3:45 p.m. and arrived at the track just in time to unload and hot lap.”

As Jenkins and Brown headed west to race, Vaughn got on the phone and asked Knight to wheel the Vaden Chevrolet for the weekend. Knight had outrun Schrader, who was driving the Team Vaden car in two previous races at Magnolia Motor Speedway. Knight had since sold his Modified Sportsman car, so the 39-year-old driver jumped at the chance to drive for Team Vaden.

“In just an hour’s time, we put together what I thought was a Super Team for the weekend,” Vaughn said. “We had our lead driver Ken Schrader already on the ground in the #9 Federated Auto Parts/Vaden Chevrolet Special with his longtime crew chief Joey Walsh, and the #1 Vaden Chevrolet Special on the way with Team Manager Don Jenkins and crew member Wesley Brown with Shay Knight waiting to drive it.”

Vaughn said even if Knight wasn’t available, Jenkins was more than capable of wheeling the #1 car, as he had driven the car to several victories over the last two years. Vaughn also said the weekend probably wouldn’t have come together with it weren’t for the efforts and dedication of Brown, who went above and beyond what was needed to make it happen.

Schrader and Walsh had put together a new hot rod in their Missouri shop for the weekend. They converted a four-link car to a three-link car had installed a 12-year-old Chevrolet Performance 602 Circle Track Engine with the original factory sealing bolts he had sitting in the corner of his shop, almost forgotten.

The car was fast right out of the box. Schrader started fourth in the main event, and Knight started right behind him on the sixth starting spot. The Team Vaden drivers quickly worked their way to the front and Schrader led most of the race with Knight in second. As Schrader came off the fourth turn for the white flag, he was one lap away from finally beating Knight at The Mag.

Knight, however, had another ending to this part of the story in mind. Rolling down the front straightaway to begin the last lap, Knight stepped to the outside and rode the cushion on the top shelf of Magnolia Motor Speedway and he sailed the #1 car around the outside of Schrader to take the lead and the win by a car-length.

Schrader started the Saturday night Modified Sportsman Feature Race from the third starting spot, with Knight starting alongside on the outside of the second row. Schrader took the lead early in the race, but by the time Knight worked his way up to second, Schrader was long gone and took the win with a 2.155 second margin of victory over Knight,

“I’ve always enjoyed racing with Ken Schrader because he’s a real pro and he races you clean,” Knight said. “This weekend was an honor for me to be his teammate. Ken Schrader has raced just about every kind of race car there is, and you can learn a lot from a guy like that not only on the track, but also by paying attention to what he says off the track. I hope we get to do this again.”

The next event for the Mike Vaughn Racing Team Vaden Modified Sportsman cars will be right back at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, MS for the Annual Possum Town Grand Prix on November 24, 25, and 26.

Vaughn said Schrader is very familiar with the Modified Sportsman race car because he took a vision Vaughn had in 2016 when he owned Crate Racin’ USA to put an affordable Open-Wheel Modified highlighting the 350 horsepower all steel Chevrolet Performance 602 Circle Track Engine on the track for weekly racers and wrote the rulebook for it.

“When I wanted to come up with a Modified Division for Crate Racin’ USA, Schrader was the go to guy for that project,” Vaughn said. “He got together with Joe Campbell, they did some research and came up with 30-year-old technology to write the rulebook. We launched the Division in 2017 and the Modified Sportsman Division is one of the most popular Divisions for what Schrader calls “The Average Joe.”

The Chevrolet Performance 602 engine in the Mike Vaughn Racing Modified Sportsman race car came right out of the crate from Vaden Chevrolet in Savannah, GA, sealed at the factory to prevent any expensive modifications and ready for competition. For more information or to place an order with free next day delivery anywhere in the Southeast, call Rick Freeman at Vaden Chevrolet at 833-823-3678.

The Vaden Chevrolet Open-Wheel Modifieds are also sponsored by Chevrolet Performance, Hoosier Racing Tires, KRC Power Steering, David Smith Carburetors, Lightning Chassis, Federated Auto Parts, Gresham Race Parts, Schoenfeld Headers, Bert Transmissions, and Mike Vaughn’s Auto Exchange.

Mike Vaughn’s Auto Exchange offers wide variety of quality pre-owned vehicles at affordable prices with easy payment plans. Mike Vaughn’s Auto Exchange is located at 749 Burnt Hickory Road in Cartersville, GA. For more information call 770-382-0515, or visit their web site at www.mikesautoexchange.com, or Like their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/MikeVaughnsAutoExchange/.