Post by dj11 on Jul 4, 2005 15:27:56 GMT -5
One of the NASCAR’s most underrated drivers is the pilot of the number 21 Ford, Ricky Rudd. This edition of “Three Wide Racing,” will cover NASCAR legend, Ricky Rudd’s career, and what’s in store for the years to come.
Ricky Rudd’s rookie season was in 1977. Rudd spent that year driving for his father. He finished 17th in points, but managed to grab the rookie of the year award. One of the most amazing things about Rudd, was that his first career Cup start was at North Carolina Speedway and he made the race and also finished in 11th place. Rudd started his racing career in go-karts at age nine. In 1983, after 160 long races, Rudd finally took his first win at Riverside Raceway. Rudd became use to winning; Rudd won at least one Cup Series race for each of his next 16 seasons, a Cup Series record Rudd shares with Rusty Wallace. In 2003, Ricky Rudd reached a milestone many drivers will never be able to reach. Ricky Rudd made his 700th consecutive Cup start at Pocono Raceway. But Rudd was no done with making milestones yet. He made his 800th career start at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Ricky Rudd’s best finish this season was 2nd place at Kansas Speedway. Most of Rudd’s season was full of ups and downs. Since Ricky's crew cheif, Michael "Fatback" McSwain was hired, the team has been working on preparation for the 2005 season - pretty much treating each event as a test and a learning opportunity. Rudd said, “I think with the resources that we have to tap into; you have to have the right leadership and with Fatback I think he can provide that leadership to turn this into a top caliber, a championship caliber team. Every year now, for five or six years his teams have finished in the top ten in points. When we working together at Yates, we challenged for the championship. We were second in points in 2001 up until September. We had some parts failures that knocked us out. And the following year we were in contention up to the halfway point. So he knows how to prepare cars for a championship run.” Rudd has failed to win a race this season, but he did well in his qualifying attempts. He qualified in the top two for both races at Talladega Superspeedway this season.
It’s no surprise that Ricky Rudd’s season has not gone well. So why does Ricky stay around with Wood Brothers Racing? Ricky Rudd commented, “To me, right now, racing is fun. I’ve got a great group of guys that I enjoy being around. There’s no pressure. Eddie Wood, Len Wood, these guys are just everyday guys. Fatback McSwain and Hoyt Overbagh, those guys, I enjoy being with this team. I don’t feel like there’s an immediate timeline when I can still run good now. We’ve run bad for a year and a half and, believe me, it weighs heavily on your mind. All of a sudden you start thinking, ‘Is it me?’ All of a sudden you hop in a good race car that goes around the corner and you get those questions sort of re-answered and it sort of rejuvenates you a little bit and makes you want to hang around a little longer.” Despite Ricky Rudd’s disappointing season, he did manage to pull off two top 10’s and one top 5. “I don’t know of any race car driver that enjoys running 25th every week or 35th. I didn’t go racing early in my career to be back in the pack, but I will say this, after being back there for about a year and a half, there are some darn good race car drivers that drive the wheels off their cars back there, but they just haven’t gotten the right opportunities yet or it’s not clicking for them. All of that being said, I don’t enjoy riding around just to be out there to start another race. I’ve always enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. OK, we didn’t win it today, but we were in the hunt. It could have turned out different. We could have won it, but we were right there in contention and those are the days and that’s why I drive race cars for a living. I live for those days. Granted, they have been few and far between in the last year and a half - not since the Yates days - but, hopefully, we’ll have that back on a more regular basis,” Ricky Rudd stated. For the past few seasons, Rudd’s team has missed a few key things to make a championship race team. They made those changes this year. Rudd said, “We got two key guys - the one everyone knows about is Fatback McSwain, but we’ve got the engineer that’s been with him. Hoyt Overbagh, from Richmond, Virginia, he worked with me when I had my own team and we shut it down. We moved Fatback and Hoyt and six or seven other guys over to the 28 Yates team. That right there is sort of the nucleus. Hoyt and Fatback just work good together and you’ve got to have that pairing. It’s all about personalities and blending and making one not feel like their toes are being stepped on by the other guy. They have a good role there. They work things good. Hoyt doesn’t care about being the front guy. He’s a low-profile guy, but he’s smart as heck. He’s part of our success today, along with Fatback and all the rest of the guys, but those were sort of the ingredients that we were missing. Hoyt’s just a savvy guy. He’s probably the oldest engineer in the garage area. I don’t know if it’s the combination - I work good with older guys. Bob Reilly was the last old engineer that worked with and he was a pretty crafty guy and it’s sort of the same way with Hoyt. I don’t care if it’s young or old, he’s just a low-profile guy that contributes to the puzzle of making these cars handle, but he doesn’t care about the limelight. I think it’s just a unique combination with him paired with Fatback that works. I don’t want to over-analyze it or under-analyze it, but it works.”
In 1991, Ricky Rudd finished 2nd in the NASCAR Winston Cup points; his career best finish in the point standings. In 1998, Rudd was named one of NASCAR’s “50 All Time Greatest Drivers.” Rudd put the #28 Texaco/Havoline Ford back into victory Lane, twice after the team had experienced a four-year winless streak in 2001.
An interesting fact about Ricky Rudd is that he left Hendrick Motorsports in 1994 to have his own team. In 1997, Rudd won the Brickyard 400 as an owner/driver. After 6 years of owning his own team, Ricky Rudd decided to join Robert Yates Racing. He finished 5th in the NASCAR Cup series points and grabbed 12 top five finishes. Rudd has and inmpressve 23 career wins, 28 poles, 191 top fives and 361 top tens. Ricky Rudd drove for many big named race teams, such as: Richard Childress, Bill Champion, Kenny Bernstein and legendary NASCAR Cup team owner, Junie Donlavey. Rudd now drives for Wood Brothers Racing. Wood Brothers Racing is a family owned race team. Bothers Glen and Leonard Wood are the founders of Wood Brothers Racing. Glen’s children are now co-owning and managing the race team.
Ricky Rudd has not issued any kind of comments/statements on retirement. Essentially, he says he feels he is still competitive and having fun. He will be back with Wood Brothers Racing in 2005, along with Michael McSwain and engineer Hoyt Overbagh. We will definitely see Ricky Rudd be more competitive next season. If you have any comments or questions, e-mail me at dj.gater@frontiernet.net
Ricky Rudd’s rookie season was in 1977. Rudd spent that year driving for his father. He finished 17th in points, but managed to grab the rookie of the year award. One of the most amazing things about Rudd, was that his first career Cup start was at North Carolina Speedway and he made the race and also finished in 11th place. Rudd started his racing career in go-karts at age nine. In 1983, after 160 long races, Rudd finally took his first win at Riverside Raceway. Rudd became use to winning; Rudd won at least one Cup Series race for each of his next 16 seasons, a Cup Series record Rudd shares with Rusty Wallace. In 2003, Ricky Rudd reached a milestone many drivers will never be able to reach. Ricky Rudd made his 700th consecutive Cup start at Pocono Raceway. But Rudd was no done with making milestones yet. He made his 800th career start at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Ricky Rudd’s best finish this season was 2nd place at Kansas Speedway. Most of Rudd’s season was full of ups and downs. Since Ricky's crew cheif, Michael "Fatback" McSwain was hired, the team has been working on preparation for the 2005 season - pretty much treating each event as a test and a learning opportunity. Rudd said, “I think with the resources that we have to tap into; you have to have the right leadership and with Fatback I think he can provide that leadership to turn this into a top caliber, a championship caliber team. Every year now, for five or six years his teams have finished in the top ten in points. When we working together at Yates, we challenged for the championship. We were second in points in 2001 up until September. We had some parts failures that knocked us out. And the following year we were in contention up to the halfway point. So he knows how to prepare cars for a championship run.” Rudd has failed to win a race this season, but he did well in his qualifying attempts. He qualified in the top two for both races at Talladega Superspeedway this season.
It’s no surprise that Ricky Rudd’s season has not gone well. So why does Ricky stay around with Wood Brothers Racing? Ricky Rudd commented, “To me, right now, racing is fun. I’ve got a great group of guys that I enjoy being around. There’s no pressure. Eddie Wood, Len Wood, these guys are just everyday guys. Fatback McSwain and Hoyt Overbagh, those guys, I enjoy being with this team. I don’t feel like there’s an immediate timeline when I can still run good now. We’ve run bad for a year and a half and, believe me, it weighs heavily on your mind. All of a sudden you start thinking, ‘Is it me?’ All of a sudden you hop in a good race car that goes around the corner and you get those questions sort of re-answered and it sort of rejuvenates you a little bit and makes you want to hang around a little longer.” Despite Ricky Rudd’s disappointing season, he did manage to pull off two top 10’s and one top 5. “I don’t know of any race car driver that enjoys running 25th every week or 35th. I didn’t go racing early in my career to be back in the pack, but I will say this, after being back there for about a year and a half, there are some darn good race car drivers that drive the wheels off their cars back there, but they just haven’t gotten the right opportunities yet or it’s not clicking for them. All of that being said, I don’t enjoy riding around just to be out there to start another race. I’ve always enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. OK, we didn’t win it today, but we were in the hunt. It could have turned out different. We could have won it, but we were right there in contention and those are the days and that’s why I drive race cars for a living. I live for those days. Granted, they have been few and far between in the last year and a half - not since the Yates days - but, hopefully, we’ll have that back on a more regular basis,” Ricky Rudd stated. For the past few seasons, Rudd’s team has missed a few key things to make a championship race team. They made those changes this year. Rudd said, “We got two key guys - the one everyone knows about is Fatback McSwain, but we’ve got the engineer that’s been with him. Hoyt Overbagh, from Richmond, Virginia, he worked with me when I had my own team and we shut it down. We moved Fatback and Hoyt and six or seven other guys over to the 28 Yates team. That right there is sort of the nucleus. Hoyt and Fatback just work good together and you’ve got to have that pairing. It’s all about personalities and blending and making one not feel like their toes are being stepped on by the other guy. They have a good role there. They work things good. Hoyt doesn’t care about being the front guy. He’s a low-profile guy, but he’s smart as heck. He’s part of our success today, along with Fatback and all the rest of the guys, but those were sort of the ingredients that we were missing. Hoyt’s just a savvy guy. He’s probably the oldest engineer in the garage area. I don’t know if it’s the combination - I work good with older guys. Bob Reilly was the last old engineer that worked with and he was a pretty crafty guy and it’s sort of the same way with Hoyt. I don’t care if it’s young or old, he’s just a low-profile guy that contributes to the puzzle of making these cars handle, but he doesn’t care about the limelight. I think it’s just a unique combination with him paired with Fatback that works. I don’t want to over-analyze it or under-analyze it, but it works.”
In 1991, Ricky Rudd finished 2nd in the NASCAR Winston Cup points; his career best finish in the point standings. In 1998, Rudd was named one of NASCAR’s “50 All Time Greatest Drivers.” Rudd put the #28 Texaco/Havoline Ford back into victory Lane, twice after the team had experienced a four-year winless streak in 2001.
An interesting fact about Ricky Rudd is that he left Hendrick Motorsports in 1994 to have his own team. In 1997, Rudd won the Brickyard 400 as an owner/driver. After 6 years of owning his own team, Ricky Rudd decided to join Robert Yates Racing. He finished 5th in the NASCAR Cup series points and grabbed 12 top five finishes. Rudd has and inmpressve 23 career wins, 28 poles, 191 top fives and 361 top tens. Ricky Rudd drove for many big named race teams, such as: Richard Childress, Bill Champion, Kenny Bernstein and legendary NASCAR Cup team owner, Junie Donlavey. Rudd now drives for Wood Brothers Racing. Wood Brothers Racing is a family owned race team. Bothers Glen and Leonard Wood are the founders of Wood Brothers Racing. Glen’s children are now co-owning and managing the race team.
Ricky Rudd has not issued any kind of comments/statements on retirement. Essentially, he says he feels he is still competitive and having fun. He will be back with Wood Brothers Racing in 2005, along with Michael McSwain and engineer Hoyt Overbagh. We will definitely see Ricky Rudd be more competitive next season. If you have any comments or questions, e-mail me at dj.gater@frontiernet.net