Rudd was going to finish, weather or not
Whether you live in Las Vegas, Detroit, or Winston-Salem, weather is something all of us pay attention to on a daily basis. And whether you like to admit it or not, weather can have an effect on your mood and how you perform in the workplace.
Take last week, for example. When the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers got in their cars for Saturday night’s race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, temperatures were in the upper 40s and dropping. While that wasn’t good news for the fans trying to stay warm in the grandstands, it made for a comfortable night for the drivers, who all too often have to put up with massive heat build-up inside their ride.
During the course of a 38-week season, you’re bound to encounter all forms of Mother Nature. I can recall sitting in the Atlanta Motor Speedway infield media center for the final race of the 1998 season and watching it rain, and rain, and rain. Forecasters said it would stop, so we sat, and sat, and sat. Rumor had it that Dale Earnhardt had a hunting trip planned the next day and was not going to miss it, whether there was a race the next day or not.
Fortunately, the Racing Gods exerted their influence and the rain finally ended, allowing the green flag to fall later that night. The only thing that made this different from any other night race is that NASCAR decided to shorten the distance from the advertised 325 laps to 221 so the fans could get home at a reasonable hour. It was well after 11 p.m. when the checkered flag waved and fans of Jeff Gordon celebrated, as their driver not only won the race, but his third series championship as well.
I also remember the intense heat of southern California a couple of years ago when the mercury reached at least 108 degrees all three days we were at the race track. For those of us fortunate enough to find relief in the media center, it wasn’t that bad. But for the drivers and crew members who had to work around those steaming hot cars, it was like being trapped in a sauna for 10 hours each day.
But the most vivid memory I have of weather and NASCAR came in my first year with Ford Racing more than 10 years ago at Martinsville Speedway, site of this weekend’s Tums Pain Relief 500. The date was Sept. 27, 1998, and while there are generally 43 competitors on the track every weekend, the heat surely made it 44 as temperatures peaked at 96 degrees midway through the race.
For Ricky Rudd, the sports all-time leader for consecutive starts with 788, it was one of the most excruciating yet exhilarating days of his career. He started on the outside front row and knew his No. 10 Tide Ford Taurus was capable of winning, but his cooling unit failed shortly after the start. For the rest of the afternoon, Rudd battled mounting burns and blisters on his back and bottom due to a lack of seating insulation.
Rudd radioed in and said that it was unlikely he would be able to finish the race because of the intense burning sensation. His crew tried to cool him off during a pit stop by dousing him with cold water from the team’s water tank, but that even backfired. It seems the sun had heated the tank so much that when they stuck a garden hose down his back and turned it on, nothing but hot water came out.
Despite his burning backside, Ricky hung in there, which came as no surprise to veteran observers who had witnessed him tape his swollen eyelids open so he could race in the 1984 Daytona 500 after a scary accident earlier in the week. On this day, he showed an equal amount of grit. Ricky took the lead on lap 405 and held it the rest of the way to win his only race of the year and extend his streak of having at least one victory to 16 straight seasons.
I remember working my way over to Victory Lane and looking for him to get some comments because it wasn’t clear if he was going to be able to go to the infield media center or head straight for the infield care center or a local hospital. I couldn’t find him through the maze of bodies and wondered where he was. Well, it turned out that when Ricky got pulled from the car, his crew packed him in ice and laid him down on the ground, where he did his post-race interviews.
I’m sure Dr. Jerry Punch had never interviewed a winning driver while he was prone on his back and sucking in air with the aid of an oxygen mask, but it made for great television.
“These guys had a heck of a race car underneath of me. I was in trouble from about lap five. My helmet wasn’t working. It was really hot in the car,” explained Ricky to a live television audience watching on ESPN. “I’ve got blisters on my back and my butt and everywhere you can think of, but my crew chief Bill Ingle kept me going. I said, ‘If we get this win, I’ll enjoy Monday in a hospital room somewhere recovering.’ But we had a heck of a race car and it was a good deal to win this thing today.”
When asked what kept him in the car, despite the fact he talked about getting out a couple of times and Hut Stricklin was standing by in the pits, he said the following:
“I think the only thing that kept me in the car is I knew I had a winning car. I knew it was a top-two car. It had been a long time since I had a car that would run like that and it was a tough thing. I knew I should have handed the car over to somebody, but on the other side it just felt so good to be up front again. I knew I sure had a shot at winning, and I didn’t want to give that win to somebody else.”
Unfortunately, Ricky won’t be at Martinsville this weekend as he continues to enjoy retirement. But for those of us headed that way, the weather doesn’t figure to be a factor as the forecast on Sunday is calling for party cloudy skies and a comfortable 63 degrees.
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I sure do miss Ricky. He was a AWESOME driver. The wins dont show it but he was the man. This race that happened over 10 years ago was what solidified me as a fan of his. I remember watching that race and seeing him sitting there with oxygen on and just so wore out but happy to be laying in Victory Lane. That got me. I said “This guy is my guy.” Got to meet him when he took over the 28 car in 2000 and was honored to have met him. The sport aint the same without him and I trully miss seeing him out there.