December 8, 2007
By Allen Madding

Allen Madding

Ricky Rudd was born September 12, 1956 in Chesapeake VA. At age nine, he began racing go-karts and ran motocross throughout his teenage years. His career in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series began in 1975 with four starts for car owner Bill Champion driving the No. 10 Ford. His first start was in the Carolina 500 at Rockingham where he finished 11th. He then charted his first top-ten finish in the Southeastern 500 at Bristol.

From 1976-1978, Rudd drove the No. 22 Chevrolet for a team owned by his father, Al Rudd, Sr. In 1976, they made four starts and had one top-ten finish. In 1977, they entered 25 events and had one top-five and ten top-tens. That year, he finished 17th in points and won the NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year title.

In 1979, Rudd drove the No. 90 Truxmore Fords, Mercurys, and Chevrolet for Junie Donlavey. In 28 starts, he finished fifth at Pocono in the Coca Cola 500, third at Talladega in the Talladega, third at Richmond in the Capital City 400, and fifth at North Wilkesboro in the Holly Farms 400.

In 1980, Rudd drove the No. 40 Chevrolet for D.K. Ulrich, his father’s No. 22 Chevrolet, and then moved to Nelson Malloch's No. 7 Sanyo Oldsmobile and Chevrolet. At Daytona, he finished 13th in the Firecracker 400. His best finish was a tenth at Pocono in the Coca Cola 500.

In 1981, Bill Gardner hired Rudd to drive the No. 88 Gatorade car for DiGard Racing with crew chief Gary Nelson. Nelson was one of the most innovative crew chiefs at getting superior fuel mileage. In 1998, Nelson admitted how his cars could go so far on a tank of gas: Ricky Rudd's 1981 DiGard car had an extra tank hidden in the frame. "It was directly over the rear end housing in a double panel," Nelson said in a 1998 interview with NASCAR Winston Cup Scene's Steve Waid. "It was the full width of the frame. It was in a safer place than the legal 22-gallon tank and had its own separate (fuel pump) system. But I'm not saying who did all this. I was aware of it. I knew about it. Did I work on it? I wasn't exactly sitting back with my feet on the desk."

Rudd finished third in the Daytona 500, second in the Richmond 400 and in the Vallydale 500 at Bristol. He qualified on the pole for the Virginia 500 at Martinsville and finished third. He finished fourth in the Winston 500 at Talladega. He sat on the pole for the Melling Tool 420 at Nashville Fairgrounds and finished fifth. In the Mason-Dixon 500 at Dover, he finished 5th. Rudd showed his talent as a road course driver finishing fifth in the Warner W. Hodgdon 400 at Riverside. When the series returned to Nashville, he recorded a fourth place finish in the Busch Nashville 420. A third place finish came in the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan and a second in the Busch 500 at Bristol. He claimed his third pole of the year for the CRC Chemicals 500 at Dover and finished fifth. And he charted a third place finish in the National 500 at Charlotte. Rudd finished 1981 sixth place in the points standings earning three poles, 14 top-fives, and 17 top-tens and led 443 laps during the season.

Richard Childress hired Rudd to drive for him for the 1982 and 1983 seasons with Piedmont Airlines sponsorship. In 1982, the team was plagued with engine and transmission problems dropping from twelve events with mechanical failures. He claimed the pole for the CRC Chemicals 500 at Dover and for the Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville where he finished second. He recorded another second place finish in the season’s final event, the Winston Western 500 at Riverside. Rudd ended the season with two poles, six top-fives and 13 top-tens.

In 1983, Rudd had his first Winston Cup victory in the Budweiser 400 at Riverside with Childress. He added a second win in the Goody’s 500 at Martinsville. He grabbed the pole for the Daytona 500, the Richmond 400, the Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500 at Rockingham, and the Virginia National Bank 500 at Martinsville. He ended the season with four poles, two wins, seven top-fives, and 14 top-tens.

Rudd also competed in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series in 1983 driving Emanuel Zervakis’s No. 01 Oldsmobile and Pontiac, winning his first race, The Sportsman 200 at Dover and suffering engine failures in the other two events.

In 1984, Rudd joined the Bud Moore Engineering Winston Cup team. He was entered in the Busch Clash at Daytona as a result of the four poles he had in 1983. During the Busch Clash, he was involved in a horrendous crash flipping multiple times. His seat broke, his window net came lose and his arm was hanging outside the car as it flipped and rolled. From beating around in the car, he had torn cartilage in his rib cage. Rudd’s eyes were swollen shut and he looked doubtful for making the start in the Daytona 500. Worried about holding the driver’s job in his newly won ride, Rudd started the Daytona 500 with his eyes taped open with duct tape and soldiered on to finish seventh. A week after the Daytona 500, still hurting, Rudd won the Pontiac 400 at Richmond. He sat on the pole for four events in 1984, charted one win, seven top-fives, and 15 top-tens.

In 1985, he won at Winston Western 500 at Riverside, he had thirteen top fives, and nineteen top-ten finishes during the season, and finished sixth in the points standings. In 1986, he won the Sovran Bank 500 at Martinsville and the Delaware 500 at Dover while recording 11 top-fives and 17 top-tens.

In 1987, Rudd won the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 at Atlanta and the Delaware 500 at Dover on his way to claim ten top-fives and thirteen top-tens. At the end of the 1987 season, he announced that he was leaving the Bud Moore operation.

In 1988, Rudd signed on to drive with Kenny Berstein’s King Racing Quaker State sponsored Winston Cup Team. Rudd had wins with King Racing at Watkins Glen in 1988 and Sears Point in 1989.

In 1990, Rudd accepted an offer to drive the No. 5 Levi Garrett car for Hendrick Motorsports. Rudd scored a win that year at Watkins Glen. In 1991, Tide replaced Levi Garrett and Rudd won at Darlington. In 1992, he won at Dover and he won the 1992 International Race of Champions championship. In 1993, he won at Michigan and announced he would be parting ways with Hendrick Motorsports to launch his own team, taking the Tide sponsorship with him.

In 1994, Ricky ran his own operation, Rudd Performance Motorsports. He won at New Hampshire, charted six top-fives, 15 top-tens, a pole, and finished fifth in the points battle. In 1995, Rudd won at Phoenix, had ten top-fives, 16 top-tens, two poles, and finished ninth in the points. In 1996, Rudd won at Rockingham, had five top-fives and 16 top-tens. In 1997, he won at Indianapolis and Dover, had six top-fives and 11 top-tens, but finished a dismal 17th in the points. In 1998, Rudd won at Martinsville, had one top-five and five top-tens.

1999 was a painful year for Rudd. With no wins, one pole, three top-fives and five top-tens, Tide announced they would no longer be sponsoring the team, and Rudd could not secure a sponsor for the 2000 season. The remaining assets of RPM were sold at an auction conducted at the close of the 1999 season. On September 13, 1999, after months of speculation, Rudd signed a deal with Robert Yates to drive the No. 28 Texaco Havoline Ford, and Yates purchased the real estate assets of Rudd Performance Motorsports, to house the team.

Together with RYR in 2000, the team compiled 12 top-fives, 19 top-tens, and two poles, but no wins for the year. In 2001, Rudd and the No. 28 team won twice, sat on the pole once, had 14 top-fives and 22 top-tens. In 2002 the team won once, had one pole, eight top-fives and 12 top-tens. At the end of 2002, Rudd announced he was leaving RYR to drive the Wood Brothers No.21.

In 2003 with the Wood Brothers, Rudd logged four top-fives, five top-tens and finished a disappointing 23rd in the points championship. In 2004, Rudd recorded one pole, one top-five and three top-tens finishes.

In 2005, Rudd had two top-fives and nine top-tens. At the end of 2005, Rudd announced that he would not be returning to the Wood Brothers’ team for the 2006 season and quietly walked away from the sport in his own non-ceremonious way of retiring.

The retirement did not last long. Robert Yates convinced Rudd to return to Robert Yates Racing to drive the No. 88 Snickers Ford in the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. Rudd charted a seventh place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. He closed the year with one top-ten finish. Rudd announced that he was officially retiring at the end of the 2007 season at the age of 52.

In 32 years of competing in the NASCAR Winston Cup/Nextel Cup Series, Rudd recorded 906 starts, 23 wins, 29 poles, 194 top-fives, and 374 top-tens.

Career Accomplishments:

1992 International Race of Champions championship

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You can contact Allen Madding at .. Insider Racing News

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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