This thread is for the discussion and articles about Robert Yates Racing.
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It’s a term everyone who works for a living understands and it’s a good way to describe how Robert Yates went from just a young man who liked to drive fast to one of the top owners in NASCAR racing.
This year RYR brings together the talents of veteran and former RYR driver Ricky Rudd to pair with rookie David Gilliland.
Like many Southern teenagers who grew up in the formative years of stock car racing, Yates loved the thrill of speeding up and down the highway. While growing up in the Charlotte, N.C.-area, he got a regular dose of that by racing his own dragster at Shuffletown Dragway in the late 1950s.
Racing remained in his blood and led to an interest in components generating the power that made the cars go fast. He began concentrating on building a career under the hood and it didn’t take long for his reputation to grow.
He made a name for himself as an engine builder shortly after joining the Ford-backed organization of Holman-Moody in ‘68. That marked his first full-time job in racing and coincided with David Pearson winning back-to-back NASCAR Winston Cup championships in ’68 and ’69.
As his reputation continued to grow, other car owners did their best to lure Yates to their side. Junior Johnson eventually succeeded in ‘71 and when DiGard Racing was formed five years later, Yates’ expertise was at its peak. From ‘76-‘86, his engines produced three straight championships for Cale Yarborough (‘76-‘78); back-to-back titles for Darrell Waltrip in ‘81-‘82; Bobby Allison’s only crown in ‘83; and Waltrip’s final championship in ‘85.
He left DiGard in ‘86 to work on developing synthetic fuels, but was quickly back in the racing game when he joined the Ranier/Lundy organization as team manager.
Yates made it to the final rung in ‘88 when he decided to purchase the team from Harry Ranier in ‘88, and since then has become one of the most successful car owners in the sport.
RYR has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments ever since Davey Allison got behind the wheel for the team’s first full season in ‘89. Allison gave Yates his first win as a car owner at Talladega and since then he has never looked back.
RYR has 57 wins in NASCAR’s elite division, including Dale Jarrett’s win at Talladega Superspeedway in the Ford 500 in 2005. That win continued RYR’s streak of winning at least one Cup race since its first season in 1989. Almost as impressive is the fact that Yates teams have finished in the top 10 nearly 50 percent of the time in more than 750 races.
During that time Yates has employed veteran drivers including Ernie Irvan, Rudd and Jarrett, but has also given opportunities to younger competitors including Allison, Irwin and Elliott Sadler.
And while he has had his share of ups-and-downs, Yates has always been committed to doing whatever it takes to remain competitive. That was never more evident than ‘96 when he decided to join the growing trend of multi-car operations by starting a second team. He tapped Jarrett, who had been filling in for an injured Irvan the previous year, to drive the new car and that decision paid off handsomely.
Jarrett and then-crew chief Todd Parrott did something that is still talked about today as they won the ’96 Daytona 500 in their very first race together. That was an omen of things to come as the team posted three straight top-three points finishes before winning the NASCAR Winston Cup championship in ‘99.
More recently, Yates has handed more responsibility to his son, Doug, who now oversees the engine department. However, the elder Yates remains an integral part of an organization that sports more than 150 employees.
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Last edited by mrsmopar12 : 02-12-2007 at 05:06 PM.
Robert Yates will hand over the reigns to Robert Yates Racing to his son Doug beginning with the 2008 season.
Yates, who will celebrate his 40th year in NASCAR this season, says it's time for the company to be passed down to his son.
"Hopefully, I can quit and get in the rocking chair and watch Doug do what he's going to do for the next 20 years," Yates said.
Yates's team got the season off to a strong start on Sunday when his duo of David Gilliland and Ricky Rudd swept the front row in qualifying for the Daytona 500.
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Last edited by mrsmopar12 : 02-12-2007 at 05:38 PM.
DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 M&M’s Ford Fusion (Finished 2nd) –
“It’s awesome. I’m really proud to bring the M&M’s Ford Fusion home to a second-place finish. We needed this. Like I said, it’s all about momentum and getting this thing started. I can’t thank Todd Parrott and all the guys enough. We had a real good race car at first and then I got into someone and knocked the right-front fender in and, boy, that changed everything. The boys came in and fixed it and after that last pit stop they said it was go time and we were able to go. Man, it’s a dream come true. My first race here at Daytona. It’s something I’ve dreamed of doing my whole life and to come out here and bring home a second-place finish for all the folks at M&M’s and Robert Yates Racing, this is just a tribute to all the hard work they did over the winter.”
CAN YOU PUT THIS INTO WORDS?
“No, it’s just a lot of excitement. I’m just very proud to bring home the M&M’s Ford Fusion with a great finish. The main thing is to try and get this thing started off with a little momentum and I really, really feel like we have a great chance coming in here. Todd Parrott and all the guys in the shop worked their tails off all winter. I think the two tests and coming out like this shows how very hard they’ve worked. Robert Yates Racing is back and I’m just proud to be a part of it.”
CAN YOU SUM THIS UP?
“I’ve always dreamed about racing here at Daytona and to be able to come and do it – my first race ever and bring home a second-place finish is a dream come true. Like I said, I’m just real proud of all the guys at the shop and real proud of myself to be able to bring home the M&M’s Ford Fusion to a good finish. I’m just proud to be part of this organization and Robert Yates Racing. When I came here in the middle of the year last year people were kind of doubting the team and I think everybody is gonna be surprised this year. I think everybody has worked really hard and with Mars stepping up with Snickers and sponsoring our team car, the teams are working closer than ever. I’m just really proud of all the guys and it’s a pleasure to be a part of it.”
WHAT CAN HELP YOU FOR NEXT WEEK?
“This was my first race here and I learned so much about where to be and where not to be and how hard to go at the beginning and what happens at the end of a run. That experience that I just got you can’t buy. I’m very, very thankful that we were able to get the pole at Talladega. Todd Parrott, this was all part of his plan. He’s a champion and I’m just proud to be a part of it.”
COULD YOU HAVE MADE ANY KIND OF MOVE ON TONY AT THE END?
“With me being a rookie, it’s kind of hard to get people to work with me. Throughout the night I tried different moves and kind of got left out to dry. Unless the opportunity came and it was just a perfect opportunity, I was gonna ride and bring home a good, solid finish.”
HOW DID IT FEEL?
“It felt really good. Our main deal going into tonight was just to get some experience and try to earn some respect running with these guys and just get it to where they’ll work with us more on next Sunday. I feel like we accomplished that. I feel like we worked with some people really well and made some friends out there. Bringing home a good finish wasn’t bad either and I’m real proud of all our guys and our M&M’s Ford Fusion. We unloaded yesterday and it was very good in practice and, like I said, I just couldn’t be more proud.”
DENNY HAMLIN USED A WIN LAST YEAR AS A SPRINGBOARD TO A GREAT SEASON. CAN YOU DO THE SAME?
“I’m hoping to. This sport is a lot about momentum. Hopefully we can come out of this whole week long journey down here and build some momentum and what no better way to start than to bring home a second-place finish tonight. That’s the biggest thing, just build some momentum. We had a great test at Vegas and we’re hoping to do it for sure.”
DO YOU FEEL YOU’VE EARNED SOME TRUST WITH THE OTHER DRIVERS?
“I’m earning it. Just like Kurt (Busch) said, it’s a process and it’s gonna take time. You just have to try and keep doing everything right and that’s what I’ve been trying to do. Early in the run we had a real strong car and a guy got loose and kind of got in my right-front fender a little bit and then I couldn’t run side-by-side with anybody. We had to go to the back and the guys fixed it during the pit stop. That very last pit stop, we were tight until that very last pit stop and Todd Parrott made some adjustments and that thing was a rocket ship. It was really good. I’m just very fortunate with Todd Parrott. He’s had a lot of success here and I’m just the lucky guy to get to drive it.”
DID YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAD A SHOT TO WIN?
“I don’t know. Like I said, I tried to go and make some moves early on and got hung out to dry and went straight to the back. The opportunity was gonna have to be pretty perfect for me to try and do something. Like Kurt said, he was coming up there and gave me a couple of good pushes, but nothing enough to really hang my neck out on the line. The right opportunity wasn’t there. I’m still learning about those opportunities and how to do that. I’m better than I was when I started the race, but I’m still learning.”
DID YOU THINK ABOUT DOING TO TONY WHAT TONY DID TO KYLE?
“I thought about it, but I could never get to his back bumper. I gave him a pretty good push when he got down there to Kyle’s bumper, but it’s tough. I’m still learning the aero tendencies of the cars. The car feels like it has a bubble on it. You’ll be able to get up to somebody and right when you think you’re gonna be able to bump-draft him, it really shoots him away, so I’m still learning that judgment and trying to learn that.”
DID RICKY RUDD HELP SPOTTING?
“Yeah, Ricky went up there. Ricky Rudd, man, I can’t say enough about him as a teammate. He’s really taken me under his arm. He’s helped me more in the last month than any other driver has in my whole career and I’m just very thankful to have him. But, yeah, he went up there. We’ve also got Earl (Barban), who spotted for Jimmie Johnson last year. As a rookie, all of those little pieces you can put into place to cut that learning curve down as fast as you can, I’m very lucky to have that. But, yeah, Ricky was up there. We had like 14 to go after the pit stop and he said, ‘Your car didn’t start getting tight until after about 15-16 laps, so just go for it.’ Having that sense of confidence in your ear from somebody like Ricky Rudd means a lot.”
IS THIS A SHOCK TO YOU WITH ALL THAT HAS HAPPENED THE LAST YEAR?
“Yeah, it is a big shock. Somebody asked me earlier where I was this time last year and I was in the shop. I didn’t even have a chance to watch the Daytona 500. We were working on our Busch cars and trying to build a team from nothing. To be here one year later is crazy. I keep saying it’s a dream come true and I hope I don’t wake up from it. So many things have happened so fast and I’m just trying to keep up, just trying to keep up with them all. I’ve got a great sponsor in M&M’s and Ford and Robert Yates. They took a big chance on me. All I did was win one Busch race and, really, had a golden opportunity here. They took a big chance on me and I’m just doing everything I can to make them proud and try to be in this series for a long time.”
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Robert Yates is apparently hoping to follow the lead of some other NASCAR team owners and add a business partner. Dodge's Ray Evernham is talking with Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillette, for what could be a deal also involving Petty Enterprises. And Jack Roush just completed a 50-50 merger with the parent company of the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Sports Group, which is run by John Henry.
Now Yates is reported to be looking at a possible deal with the NFL's New England Patriots, run by Robert Kraft. The Kraft family is considered one of the most powerful families in Boston, and Robert Kraft is listed by Forbes as worth $1.1 billion, putting him No. 698 in the world. (The NASCAR Frances, Bill Jr. and Jim, are each ranked no. 664, at $1.5 billion apiece; Bruton Smith, with $1.6 billion is ranked No. 618.)
A Yates' deal with such a powerful sports figure, after Henry's leap into this sport in February, would belie speculation that NASCAR racing has plateaued to stagnancy.(Journal Now)
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Talladega Is A Weekend For Celebraing For Ricky Rudd
Elevation Motorsports Group For Snickers Racing, Press Release
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (April 24, 2007) – The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend for the Aaron’s 499. This will also mark a weekend full of events commemorating the achievements of the #88 Snickers Ford driver Ricky Rudd. On Saturday, April 28th, Rudd will be inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame located in Portsmouth, VA. The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame was designed to pay tribute to anyone who has made a lasting contribution to the cause of sports in Virginia, the nation, and the world through outstanding achievement or service. This includes athletes, coaches, administrators, and other contributors to the game. Rudd will become the seventh member inducted from the NASCAR community and will join the ranks of Joe Weatherly, and brothers, Glenn and Leonard Wood. Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 will also mark another career milestone for Rudd. By starting Sunday’s race, Rudd will move himself to second on the all-time career starts list passing Dave Marcis’ previous record of 883, and giving Rudd his 884th start.
Quoting Snickers Driver, Ricky Rudd:
How does it feel to know that with this weekend you’re going to be second on the career all-time starts list?
“It’s a record that just kind of sneaks up on you. I started out as one of the youngest guys and now I’m one of the oldest guys out there still racing. It’s a real honor to be able to have this kind of longevity with a long and fruitful career. I’ve been so lucky to have remained healthy and competitive to have made it this far. It just is something that I really hadn’t kept track of, but it is a great honor to be joining the ranks as now the driver with the second record of career all-time starts.”
How much of an honor is it for you to be inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame?
“It’s a tremendous honor. I’ve always been proud to say that I’m from Chesapeake, Virginia. There are some great race car drivers that are a part of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, but it’s a very small representation of the motorsports industry which makes it even more of an honor to be inducted.”
How optimistic are you heading into Talladega this weekend and returning to a superspeedway?
“This is probably the most optimistic I’ve been heading into a weekend since Daytona. As far as performance goes, Daytona was our best performance of the year so far, so looking at that, I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to have similar results this weekend in Talladega. The Robert Yates Racing cars have proven they have the engine power to handle these superspeedways.”
NOTES OF INTEREST:
By starting Sunday’s Aaron’s 499, Rudd will have his 884th start and become second on the all-time list of career starts. Richard Petty is the leader on the all-time starts list with 1,184 starts and will now be followed by Rudd with 884, and then Dave Marcis with 883
Rudd will be inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 28th
Rudd has 58 starts at Talladega which is more than any other active driver
Rudd’s best start at Talladega was from the pole position in the spring of 2004
Rudd’s best finish at Talladega is third place which he has accomplished four times (1979, 1986, 1999, and 2002)
MASTERFOODS, USA
Masterfoods USA, the United States food, snack and petcare operations of Mars, Incorporated, is one of the world’s leading food manufacturers. With more than $5 billion in annual sales, the combined food, snack and petcare segments are a symbol of excellence for quality brands. Headquartered in Hackettstown, NJ, Masterfoods, USA employs more than 7,000 associates in the United States, with 15 manufacturing facilities nationwide. The company owns some of the world’s favorite brands, including M&M’S® Brand, Snickers® Brand, Uncle Ben’s® Brand, PEDIGREE® Brand Food for Dogs and WHISKAS® Brand Food for Cats.
CHASSIS #65
Chassis #65 is what the #88 team will be running this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. This is the same chassis the team used in 2006 at Talladega and was the back-up car for the 2007 Daytona 500 car.
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NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Teleconference With Ricky Rudd
PCGCampbell For Ford Racing, Press Release
Ricky Rudd, driver of the No. 88 Snickers Ford Fusion, was one of this week’s guests on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teleconference. A transcript of his portion follows:
RICKY RUDD – No. 88 Snickers Ford Fusion –
HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN YOUR SUCCESS ON ROAD COURSES THROUGH THE YEARS?
“I’m not really sure. I think it goes way back. When I was a kid, we used to race go-karts on tracks very similar to Infineon. We just never went to the west coast. We grew up on the east coast and we stayed on the east coast road courses like Road Atlanta, VIR – tracks like that – but seeing those tracks at a young age, I always like road racing, and then when I went to stock cars, at that time they only had maybe one or two races a year on the road courses, but, anyway, I think a lot of it had to do with as a kid growing up and having fun and liking to race on them. That was as much about it as anything as having an attitude about, ‘Hey, this is different than stock car racing, but let’s go ahead and have some fun.”
WHAT WAS THE CHEMISTRY LIKE WHEN YOU WON AT INFINEON WITH YATES AND NOW?
“It’s changed quite a bit. It’s a different team now than it was then. I guess Fatback McSwain was our crew chief back then and Raymond Fox, I guess he’s the car chief on the 38 team, but at that time he was with us. It mainly was a different group of people and the timing was a lot different. I was coming to the end of a three-year contract at that time and there was a lot of dissention within the team, so the victory – anytime you can win anywhere it has a way of fixing problems that are developing – and that day I would say it was a little unusual. I’d say that victory lane was sort of bittersweet because at that time everyone knew we were going in different directions. Even though we won the race, it was sort of a happy time and kind of a sad time all mixed into one.”
YOU SEEMED FRUSTRATED WITH THE DOVER RACE AND HOW THAT ENDED WITH DAVID. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT COMING BACK AND BEING A MENTOR TO HIM?
“As far as Dover, it was more the emotion of when we got wrecked – we were about 25 laps from the end of the race – and we just didn’t have a good day at Dover. We didn’t run well and that’s a track that I always like to go to and we’re always very competitive. David and I were about even cars that day and we were racing for position late in the race. If David was guilty of anything, he was trying too hard. He actually moved down on the race track to let me pass and when he moved down – because I was faster than him at the time – he moved down and at the same time he moved down, he picked the worst spot in the world to do it because when he moved down there’s a really slick spot coming off of turn four and when he turned down to let me go by, it broke his car loose and when he broke loose he overcorrected and came back and hit me and took me out of the race. It wasn’t any frustration with David it was just the day and having Dover always usually be a good race track for us and we struggled there that day. To get 25 laps from the end of the race and end up getting torn up because out car of tomorrow program has probably suffered the most at Yates Racing and we’re still working on it. Those cars take so long to build that we don’t have a whole fleet of them. We’re very short on car count for that, so it was a car we couldn’t afford to lose and I think we ended up destroying it.”
WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITES THIS WEEKEND?
“It would be hard. There are a lot of good guys out there with good equipment. The car of tomorrow is a new variable in the equation. You’ve got a fleet of ringers that they bring in – Boris Said and I’m assuming Ron Fellows will be out there and more guys who definitely know how to get it done on a road course. But as far as picking a favorite, I would just go back and look at the last couple of previous winners out there. I’d be a little apprehensive about making predictions based on that because of the car of tomorrow, which is a different driving race car than what we’re used to running out there. It’s really getting back to, you’ve got to look at the Hendrick camp. They’ve sort of dominated the car of tomorrow events, so you’d have to definitely put that group in a list of favorites.”
DO YOU FORESEE A WIDE OPEN RACE?
“Yeah, I think that’s the best way to word it. I would hate to go there and wager money on a favorite out there just because you’ve got too many variables. A lot of these guys that have been road racing and traditionally haven’t done very well, but yet they’ve run more road races than they have in a long time. I guess some of the guys went to Mexico City and then you’ve got guys that I’ve seen it happen before where guys aren’t particularly good on road courses and all of a sudden they show up four or five years later after running road courses and the next thing you know they’re battling for a win and they haven’t done that before. It’s really hard to pick a favorite. Fuel strategy and all kind of things play into mind there and it’s a tough race track. It’s a very physical race track, but I’d be scared to death to try to pick a favorite for you.”
CAN RYR GET CAUGHT UP WITH THESE COT CARS?
“I think the only way to get from behind that eight ball is to test, test, test and to come up with programs where you just don’t go out there to run laps. You come to the race track in a test mode and be prepared to make a lot of geometry changes to your chassis and be creative and be open-minded, but it means a lot of test time. I will say this, we’ve been to VIR – and a couple of weeks back we spent two days over there in that session and it went OK, but it didn’t go exactly like we needed it to and we went back another day, so we’ve got three days at VIR, which doesn’t guarantee you success at Infineon, but we ran well the last day we were there at VIR. The tracks are so much different, but we did exactly that. We went through a lot of built-in geometry changes and found some things that we liked, that we think will work for us at Infineon, but we really won’t know until we get to the race track and get on the track on Friday. As far as the test program at Yates, there’s no question about it, our car of tomorrow program has been behind quite a bit and we’ve been playing catch-up ever since. The only thing I can say is at VIR things went pretty well compared to the other cars that were testing – some good teams were there. The speeds looked good, but the big thing at Infineon is, ‘will the car stay good?’ And that’s been something we’ve been struggling with on those cars.”
AS FAR AS DAVID GILLILAND GOES, TONY STEWART SUGGESTED LAST WEEK AFTER THEIR PRACTICE INCIDENT THAT HE MIGHT NEED MORE TIME IN THE MINOR LEAGUES. DO YOU THINK DAVID BELONGS IN NEXTEL CUP?
“I think he definitely belongs and let me kind of clear up something here. Tony is Tony. What else can you say? You can’t question his driver ability. Everybody knows he’s one of the best if not the best out there, but he kind of has a habit of running his mouth at the wrong time. David got blamed for that wreck, but that wasn’t David’s fault. No one ever came around and asked anybody else what happened, but the videotaped clearly shows what happened and Tony screwed up. He just misjudged his distance and ran into the back of David. David doesn’t really have a presence out here. He can’t fight that battle, but I can tell you one thing, that was not David Gilliland’s fault the other day. But the media seemed to jump on it and wrote it the way Tony spoke it, but, anyway, that being said, David definitely belongs in Cup racing. He has all the talents and he adapts quicker than anybody I’ve ever seen when we go to a strange race track. He’s right up to speed immediately. Our program and our team is not where it needs to be yet. They’ve been working very hard trying to get there and they’re making progress, but I think before you can make a judgment on David, the whole thing has to come together. Our speedway program is second to none. Our Daytona and Talladega stuff, there’s not a team out there that has better speedway stuff, and if you look at it that way – and that’s the only really fair chance David’s had this year – and he’s been very competitive in all those races. He’s run extremely well.”
CAN A ROOKIE LIKE MONTOYA BE SUCCESSFUL AT INFINEON?
“I think Juan can definitely be competitive at Infineon. I don’t know if it’s his Formula One experience. In a lot of ways, that can probably be a detriment because those cars are so light and agile compared to a heavy Cup car, but I would not rule him out, especially based on what I saw at Mexico City. At least 95 percent of your passing is done under braking for the corners at Infineon and that’s where he excels. Nobody drives any deeper in the corners and gets by with it like Juan, so I’d definitely put him in there as being one of the favorites. To answer the question, ‘Can he adapt since he’s relatively new to this sport?’ If there’s a place that he’s gonna shine, it’s gonna be at Infineon and Watkins Glen.”
ESPN SHOWED HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ’89 RACE WITH RUSTY. IS THAT ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE MEMORIES OF SONOMA?
“I remember it turned out well for us. I remember that. It was touch-and-go there for a little while, but, to me, that was a lot of fun back when we had the bias ply tires and the cars bounced around and moved around a lot. We spent half of the time with two wheels in the dirt as you did on the race track. Not to say that it’s not the same now, but the transmission in these cars has definitely evened up the competition, which came around shortly after that race – probably in the early nineties – which allows drivers to brake with their left foot, which means no extra coordination has to take place with heel-toe downshifting, so I kind of miss those days because it eliminated a lot of the competition.”
THE ’92 RACE WITH IRVAN BEING BLACK-FLAGGED AND THEN COMING FROM THE BACK TO WIN WAS MEMORABLE. WILL THAT EVER HAPPEN AGAIN, ESPECIALLY WITH THE COT?
“It’s hard to say. The car of tomorrow, the guys that figure it out what I’ve seen is it’s a tremendous advantage for those that hit that combination, where are very few, just right, and then there are a lot of guys that are OK, and then a bunch of them that miss the setups altogether. I could see the chance of somebody hitting on a dominant setup like Ernie and his team did back in the early nineties and he was definitely the class of the field that day for sure. There’s no other way to prove it than to do it the way they did it. They didn’t get it easy. It wasn’t the circumstances of pit stops that put him up there, he just raced his way through the field.”
DO YOU STAY IN TOUCH WITH ERNIE?
“I see him around a little bit. I saw him at Michigan. He was up there doing a charity walk that he does to raise money for the head injury foundation and he looked good. He looked healthy.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON BILL FRANCE JR. NOT BEING AT DAYTONA IN A FEW WEEKS? WILL THERE BE AN EMPTY FEELING?
“Bill definitely had a presence in our sport for many years and then as his health declined we saw less and less of him. We were sort of, I guess, being weaned from his presence. We missed seeing him. Like I said, he was a guy you could go up and have a really good conversation with about the sport and where it’s headed and walk away from there feeling like, ‘Hey, we’ve got a guy here who is really leading us. He’s a strong leader.’ He definitely will be missed. Unfortunately, his health was declining in the later years and we didn’t see that much of him the last couple of years, but he definitely will be missed.”
HOW TOUGH DO YOU THINK IT IS FOR YOUNG DRIVERS TO BALANCE COMPETITIVENESS AND THEIR INEXPERIENCE?
“I will say this that there’s been no better time in the history of racing where a young guy gets a chance to sort of prove himself. The downside of that is if you don’t prove yourself or do remarkable things on the race track, then it seems like your job is in jeopardy as quickly as you get here, so there’s a lot of pressure on these guys to perform once they do get here. Like I say, there’s a lot of pressure there but they’re getting the opportunities. It’s tough on them. Not only do they have to learn how to drive the race cars and race tracks and how to handle the media, there’s a lot of things on their shoulders. It’s a lot different coming along now as a young driver than when I came along, but I necessarily wouldn’t want the pressure that these guys have got.”
HOW MUCH DOES IT HELP THAT THERE IS MORE EFFORT ON DRIVER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS?
“I think what it’s doing is showing the way of the future. At one time you sort of had to come from a certain rank – generally stock car racing at your local track – and it was a pretty lengthy process to get yourself recognized and get to a certain point. You would never go to top equipment. You had to work your way through the Cup division. You might get lucky to get a ride in a C-type effort and after years of proving yourself, you might get a shot at a B level. Nowadays, these guys are being recognized at the early stages and they’re being put into a regular training environment where they can showcase their talents and by the time they get to Cup, they’re pretty prepared. At least they’re used to running the big tracks and such, whereas years ago they didn’t get a chance to see the big tracks until their first opportunity to show up in a Busch car.”
HOW MUCH DID YOU MISS RACING LAST YEAR?
“To be honest, in the early going I didn’t miss it at all. I enjoyed the time off. I didn’t really follow the sport – not because I didn’t want to, we were just so busy doing everything and just catching up on life. It wasn’t until probably September, October – right in that area – that I was fooling around with my go-karts and playing with those a lot and decided to run a race, which I hadn’t done in about 35 years, and I think that sort of got the taste going again when we ran a kart race right outside of Indianapolis. That kind of got it going and then I started missing it.”
WERE YOU COMING BACK REGARDLESS OF THE TEAM?
“There were a lot of opportunities when I first stepped aside early on in January and February, but mainly it was with programs that would be coming on for the 2008 season and not for the ’07 season. Some of it was ’07 season, limited schedule stuff, but I really put all those plans on hold. I told the team honors, ‘I’m honored that you’re talking to me about that, but I’ve got to figure out what I want to do first before it’s fair to sit down and talk seriously about driving your race car.” The Yates situation came in around October or November and about that time I realized I was ready to go back to competition. At that time of the season there aren’t that many opportunities available that late in a season, so as it turns out, the Yates camp called and they were in a major rebuilding process and I felt like I could help contribute to helping get that program turned around a little bit.”
HOW IMPORTANT IS THE CONSECUTIVE START RECORD TO YOU?
“I think right now the number is running up there, but it’s not consecutive anymore. But I think at that time I hadn’t thought that much about it, but with it being brought aware by the media and such that the record was getting ready to be broken, I think it’s a pretty neat record because consecutive means day in and day out – good, healthy, unhealthy, sick – it doesn’t matter, we were still there and we made it happen and kept the consecutive streak going through injuries and so on. But if you look at the honor of the people before me you have to be in awe. Terry Labonte and I think Richard Petty, if I’m not mistaken, was the guy that had it before them so it’s a big honor to be in that company.”
WHAT ARE THE POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES WITH THE COT ON A ROAD COURSE?
“I went to VIR just to answer those questions, not only for what the team needed to know but what I needed to know as a driver. The car at VIR, which is a relatively smooth race track, it wasn’t a huge difference. They didn’t drive quite as well. They didn’t stick in the corners quite as well and they didn’t get the forward traction – we fought that quite a bit – but overall the feel was very similar. We cut through the esses and the cars feel very similar. The car of tomorrow doesn’t like a track that has a high bank or a lot of bumps in it, especially on a high bank. That presents the most problem because one of the bigger differences is that you’re limited to your suspension travel because of that front valance on these car of tomorrows with the splitter. You have a little bit less than I think half of the normal suspension travel that we would normally get, so bumps and banking tend to aggravate that, but more of the banking than the bumps.”
ANY SOLID PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR?
“No, not really. I haven’t thought that far ahead. We’ve been struggling and trying to get our program together right now. We’ve had a few good things happen, but we’re still struggling trying to get going. Our performance is getting better on the race track, but not to the level that we need to be. We’re not nowhere near where we need to be to contend for top 10’s on a regular basis. We did finish seventh at Charlotte and had a good run there, but this Snickers Ford team is working and they’re going at it as hard as they possibly can. I see progress, but I think until we see some good things happen on the race track because the team has gotten stronger, I don’t think until that time it’s time to talk about next year, really.”
INFINEON IS A GOOD TRACK FOR YOU. WHAT ARE YOUR CHANCES SUNDAY?
“I’d hate to even put any kind of odds on it. I was telling someone earlier that with the nature of that race track, you’ve got a car of tomorrow thrown into the equation, it would be hard to pick a favorite. I think we’re gonna be good, don’t get me wrong, but sitting down to predict wins is pretty hard to do. I think anybody, even the guys that are used to winning out there, it’s gonna be hard to predict wins because the car of tomorrow is different from what they normally run, so they can’t just roll out their old setups and roll out their old cars that they sort of pushed aside and brought out twice a year. That car doesn’t exist now. Guys are going with different equipment than they’ve run ever, so I’d hate to pick a favorite.”
TERRY LABONTE IS RUNNING THIS WEEK. HOW HARD IS IT TO STAY RETIRED WHEN OWNERS WANT EXPERIENCED GUYS TO COME BACK? ARE YOU SURPRISED TERRY CAME BACK?
“No, I’m not surprised. I think it was last year that he finished second or third, but Terry is what I call a true road racer. If they gave us the old style transmissions, Terry would still be competitive. I think Terry is coming out there because he loves road racing and he loves road racing in a Cup car. I think he’ll do very well. I don’t think his time away will hurt him at all. What I noticed for me is that I looked forward to going up to VIR, not so much as a test day just to see what our new equipment would do, but really to test myself and get myself back in the rhythm of road racing. That first day, I probably spent the first three outings just trying to get familiar with everything again, and then it’s like that old bicycle. It was like, ‘I remember how to do this now.’ Without that test session, I would not have liked to have gone to Infineon without any practice or any tune-up for the driver, and I’m sure Terry’s got some seat time somewhere just to pin himself up, but I’m sure he’ll be right on his marks when he gets there.”
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Ricky Rudd walks to his garage after practice for the NASCAR 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., Friday, Aug. 17, 2007. Rudd, whose birthday is Sept. 12, and turns 51, said Monday, Aug. 20, 2007, he plans to retire at the end of this season.
(AP Photo/Kendall Newberry)
Lee Spencer
FOXSports.com
Posted: 2 hours ago
After a season fraught with more struggles than successes, Ricky Rudd will step out of the No. 88 Snickers Ford at the end of the year.
Rudd, who turns 51 next month, will make his 898th start on Sunday. Only the King, Richard Petty has more career starts (1,185). But Rudd told team owner Robert Yates last week on the trip home from Watkins Glen he was not committed to running the full season in 2008.
"Out of fairness to him, I wanted to make sure that they understood that I wasn't bailing out on the team. They're headed in the right direction. The organization is showing improvement.
"The main thing is I'm not leaving this job to go look for another job. I know enough to know that I'm done with full-time Cup racing. And I'm not really looking for a part-time Cup job right now. If something came along that made sense, I'd probably look at it but right now I'm not looking for a full-time job."
Although Rudd went on sabbatical after the 2005 season, he never vowed that stepping out of the No. 21 Ford was a retirement. After all, it's hard to find a racer with as much determination as Rudd has displayed during his 32 seasons behind the wheel. Few drivers in today's NASCAR possess the grit of a driver that would tape his eyelids open in order to compete or endure second degree burns in 1998 to continue his streak of 16 winning seasons.
Rudd has posted 23 wins, 29 poles, 194 top fives and 374 top 10s in 897 career starts. His best finish in 2007 was seventh place at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May.
Rudd says he'd be interested in testing for teams. With his experience on a variety of racetracks it would be easy for Rudd to provide a baseline for teams to build upon.
And like fellow veteran Mark Martin, who has mentored up-and-coming drivers, Rudd would be quite valuable in a similar role. Rudd was able to help teammate David Gilliland get up to speed on tracks where he had limited seat time this season, but sees himself working with drivers that are a bit more green.
"David was a pretty solid driver when he got here," Rudd said. "He wasn't like Paulie Harraka or the kid (Aric Almirola) that Mark has helped that may not have as much life experience when it comes to racing. David did a lot of dirt racing and he worked a lot with his father (Butch) so he knew what to expect when he got here. If I could be an asset to someone, I would take a look at that."
Rudd is fairly adamant that the time commitment surrounding a full-time season just isn't for him at this stage of life. At one time he was approached about sharing the seat with a couple of other veterans but the structure of the program would have to appeal to him. He knows for certain that a team like the No. 88 that is in the growing stages requires a greater obligation from the driver than he's willing to make right now.
"This is a young team that's building and it depends how quickly the engineering is absorbed from the (Carl) Haas input of it or how aggressively they blend it," Rudd said. "Right now this team on engineering is probably at the bottom of the rung. It's growing and it's starting to climb from the bottom with the Newman-Haas influence to the highest. How quickly they blend that engineering program will determine how quickly the performance comes along."
Doug Yates was grateful for Rudd's return. The popular veteran arrived during an era of transition for Robert Yates Racing that included a shift from a family-owned business to a partnership with Paul Newman, Carl Haas and Michael Lanigan.
"Having Ricky this year was really good for the company," Yates said. "At a time when we needed someone to lead and set the stage especially with David coming along, he's been a good mentor to David and really helped us get our program back.
"A lot of things have gone on in the last couple of years with drivers and sponsors and things like that so Ricky has been great. I think our performance is getting better and we've picked the right partners with the engineering and the marketing side of things. So, I think the timing is good."
With Rudd's decision made, he has plenty of time to consider what he wants to do with the rest of his life. During the off-season, Rudd contemplated making a transition into the TV booth, but quickly realized that the season was longer than he imagined.
"I look around the garage and think, 'What job slot would I like out there?'" Rudd said. "People who do this job, there's not a job out there in this sport that doesn't have a major time commitment. There's a lot of away-from-home time.
"This sport has been very good to me. But the sport is changing and I've seen a lot of those changes over the years. I've learned you got to roll with those changes. One of the commitments is that you're not at home hardly at all — and I don't want to miss out on any more of that. I'm looking forward to the next chapter and I really don't know exactly what that is but I think I have a much clearer direction of where I'm going."
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Last edited by mrsmopar12 : 08-20-2007 at 09:22 PM.
Reason: added pic
Robert Yates Racing
Team Biography
Son to Take Over RYR
Post-Budweiser Shootout Q&A With David Gilliland
Ricky Rudd Teleconference
Rudd to step out of No. 88 car
