Ricky Rudd Defined Grit
by Tom Jensen January 24, 2025
Excellence, toughness and longevity were hallmarks of Ricky Rudd’s remarkable career.
Editor’s note: On Friday, February 7, Ricky Rudd will join Carl Edwards and the late Ralph Moody as inductees into the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2025. Tickets for Induction Weekend events are available here.
When 18-year-old Ricky Rudd entered the 1975 Carolina 500 at North Carolina Motor Speedway, he had never raced any kind of stock car before.
No Late Models, no Modifieds, no Sportsman Division cars.
No NASCAR experience at all, only motorcycles and go-karts.
And yet there he was at one of the more challenging tracks on the NASCAR circuit, doing battle with some of the sport’s most legendary names - Petty, Pearson, Yarborough, Allison, Waltrip and more.
In a 31-car field at Rockingham, North Carolina, on that day, Rudd finished an impressive 11th.
Ten drivers who competed in that race would go on to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Then a raw rookie from Chesapeake, Virginia, today, nearly 50 years later, Rudd is the newest driver from that race to join the Hall, part of the Class of 2025, along with Carl Edwards and Ralph Moody.
Always focused and intense, Ricky Rudd was one of the sport’s toughest and most determined competitors. Photo courtesy of Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images for NASCAR
Rudd’s NASCAR debut came about because a family friend, car owner/driver Bill Champion, was in his mid-50s and looking to step out of the cockpit for a younger driver. In Rudd’s case, it turned out to be a lot younger.
“I never thought about driving a stock car at that time, but out of the blue it sort of popped up and Bill Champion offered me to drive his car,” said Rudd. “All of a sudden my very first car race is running stock cars at Rockingham and I’m against Richard Petty (Class of 2010) and of course all the gang Bobby Allison (Class of 2011) and then Donnie Allison (Class of 2024) and all the greats at the time, Pearson, Yarborough, all those guys.
“Here I am and I am thinking, ‘This doesn't make sense.’ I'm basically on the track, no testing or nothing, just a few laps of practice and off goes the race,” said Rudd.
It was an eye-opening experience, to say the least.
“I remember I was scared to death,” said Rudd. “I tried not to get anybody's way and tried to survive and didn't think of it being such a big deal other than the fact I wish I'd had some stock car experience, but I didn’t."
In reality, though, it was a big deal, the first of 906 career starts for Rudd in a career that stretched from 1975 to 2007. Along the way, Rudd won 23 NASCAR Cup Series races and made a then-record 788 consecutive starts.
In 1983, Ricky Rudd won the pole for each of the first three races of the season, including the Daytona 500. NASCAR Hall of Fame Permanent Collection, gift of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
“It was kind of on-the-job training, but it was a big day,” Rudd said of his NASCAR debut. “We ended up finishing, well, we ended up finishing I think 11th in the first race. It sounds really great, but probably maybe 15 cars finished the race that day. Anyway, the stats were good. I finished 11th, but learned a lot. I learned a lot and I learned a whole lot of what not to do.”
Rudd’s beginnings may have been humble, but he built a NASCAR Hall of Fame career based on excellence, toughness and longevity.
Along the way were numerous signature moments, starting with NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year honors in 1977.
An expert road racer, Rudd won his first race and the first for Richard Childress Racing at Riverside International Raceway in Southern California in 1983. That would begin a streak of 16 consecutive season when Rudd won at least one race, tied for the fourth-longest such streak in Cup Series history.
The following year, Rudd survived a horrifying rollover accident in the Busch Clash at Daytona International Speedway. A week later, racing with his eyes duct-taped open, Rudd finished seventh in the Daytona 500 and then won the next race at Richmond Raceway.
Despite enduring a massive rollover crash in the 1984 Busch Clash, Ricky Rudd raced one week later and finished seventh in the Daytona 500. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center via Getty Images
Over his long career, Rudd drove for a veritable Who’s Who of NASCAR Hall of Fame team owners, including Bud Moore (Class of 2011), Richard Childress (Class of 2017), Rick Hendrick (Class of 2017), Robert Yates (Class of 2018), as well as Wood Brothers Racing, the team founded by Glen Wood (Class of 2012), with cars prepared by Leonard Wood (Class of 2013).
Rudd would start his own team, Rudd Performance Motorsports in 1994, and three years later drive his Tide-sponsored No. 10 Ford to victory in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The victory at Indianapolis was the most significant race win of Rudd’s career. But it wasn’t his only highlight moment.
A triumph in the 1997 Brickyard 400 was the biggest victory of Ricky Rudd’s career. NASCAR Hall of Fame Permanent Collection, gift of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
There was also the famous 1998 race at Martinsville Speedway in Rudd’s home state of Virginia. Rudd won that race despite receiving second- and third-degree burns on his torso due to a malfunctioning cool suit. He gave his Victory Lane interview on his back, as medics packed his fire suit with ice packs.
Add it all up and Rudd’s body of work truly is impressive, making him worthy of a spot in the Class of 2025.
After winning the 1997 Miller 500 at Dover Motor Speedway, Ricky Rudd was met in Victory Lane by son Landon and wife Linda. Photo courtesy of Craig Jones/Allsport
The honor of being recognized as a member of the NASCAR Hall Of Fame is not something Rudd takes lightly.
“When you look at it from the outside and you see the personalities that are in there, the great drivers that are the drivers I followed when I was a young kid, just a tremendous amount of respect I have for these guys and now I'm alongside of ‘em,” said Rudd.
Ricky Rudd will join Carl Edwards and the late Ralph Moody in the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2025. Photo courtesy of Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
“It almost doesn't make sense in a way because you drive your race, you try to do it your best you can over the years and try to win as much as you can, and you don't really think about the Hall of Fame down the road. My career has been behind me for quite a while now. To be able to go into Hall of Fame, it's a tremendous sense of pride to be able to be in there with the legends that I grew up watching.”
Plan a visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and purchase tickets at nascarhall.com/tickets.
