Pepsi 400 - Ricky Rudd Notes

RICKY RUDD, SPY MASTER

Before the 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup season started a young driver was sent to Daytona to "spy" on a closed test to see what secrets he might be able to gather about the new car the team inside the track was putting through its paces. Here is the story of Ricky Rudd's "mission."

"It was the winter of 1980, getting ready for the 1981 season. And at that time there were some options on what kind of cars to run. This was November or early December.

"Bobby Allison was down there (Daytona International Raceway) to test. They were running that Pontiac that was supposed to be a big secret at that time. As a matter of fact, he brought it to Daytona and he won the 500 with it or sat on the pole. It was really a dominant car.

"I was on a scouting mission, or a spy mission. We used to have a lot of pit personnel in the shop that couldn't afford to go so I was sent down there with a stop watch and a camera and take notes to mainly see how fast they were running.

"It was closed to the public so I kind of snuck across and climbed a fence and a tree that was on the backstretch. I sat up in a tree. It was on the outside of the race track. I don't think there was any backstretch grandstand there then. If there were any seats, there weren't many of them.

"I think it was a live oak tree. They were fairly easy to climb. I was sitting up there where I could see and there was a security guard that would come by about every 30 minutes. He'd come riding by there. And it was kind of funny. I think he picked a shady spot to eat his lunch and it was right under where I was sitting.

"I was sitting up in the tree and taking notes and if the guy had seen me I'd have been thrown out of there.

"Anyhow, I pretty much sat up in that tree most of the day taking notes and came out with all the times and information I needed. The internet wasn't going then so the only information you got would depend on what the speedway said. It was a closed session and they really weren't obligated to tell you anything. So the times you got from the media were the speeds he was running, but we knew he was really a lot better than that because they never put the car in qualifying trim and we would never have known that if we hadn't been down there watching and shooting pictures and known what they were doing.

"Bobby was with the Harry Ranier team and I was doing it on behalf of the DiGard team. We were with the 88 car, Bill Gardner and Robert Yates' team.

"We finished third behind Richard Petty and Bobby Allison that February."

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