Ricky Rudd’s Victory Lap
NASCAR’s iron man Ricky Rudd returns this week for his last hurrah. The separated shoulder has healed enough for Ricky to give it a go at Charlotte. We’ll get to see ol’ 88 for the handful more races on the calender in 2007 before he hangs it for good- ending 30 years on NASCAR competition for the Virginia native.
I remember being 13 years old and catching my first NASCAR action in 1977. A few names stick with me: I remember seeing Buddy Baker on the track, along with Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, David Pearson and Darrell Waltrip. Then there was Ricky Rudd. In that day where Southern boys ruled the sport, Ricky Rudd seemed like a fitting monicker for a race car driver. I was thoroughly shocked to learn this year that he was still racing.
While 23 wins doesn’t rank you as one of the all-time greats, certainly longevity accounts for something. Rudd made over 900 starts, including this ridiculously long streak of consecutive starts. Rudd also went 16 years in a row where he won at least one race. You also have to appreciate how he’s avoided controversy- except the Kevin Harvick incident a few years back. Even then, it didn’t seem that Rudd did anything wrong- he seemed quite dumbfounded that Happy came after him. That aside- I’ve never really heard a negative word about the guy.
I’ll be be bummed to see him go. He is one of few remaining connections I have left to my origins with the sport. But that’s what you have to love about NASCAR- how many guys can still compete in their 50’s? All my favorite ballplayers from 1977 are long gone. In NASCAR, we still have 64 year old Morgan Shepherd competing- amazing!
Well- I wish him the best. He deserves a break, and I’m sure that he has plenty to catch up on after all these years of roaming the country racing cars. This sport’s history is too short to know whether or not anybody will remember him in 20 years…but they should. NASCAR has been good to Ricky Rudd, and he’s been good to it.
