EA Sports 500 - Ricky Rudd Notes

Eddie Wood: "It is a little bit of a gamble, I guess, going to Talladega with a brand-new car, but it was better in the wind tunnel."

Eddie Wood, co-owner of the Wood Brothers Racing Motorcraft Ford Taurus Team, talks about his team's change in fortune over the past month and testing Tuesday at Kansas Speedway.

"We've been getting better. This has been coming. It just took some time. We had a good car at Michigan, and then ran into a problem where we got the fender dented. But we went on to Bristol and we had a good car there. We had a shot to win that race. Got in a wreck there, not of our doing, but there was just no where to go. So on to Darlington, and if we hadn't had the power steering failure, I think that was a top-five car.

"And then at Richmond we did finish in the top-five, and we had another good car. Then we were second at New Hampshire, and at Dover I think we had a better car than 11th. But the way the race unfolded and track position and stuff like that, we never got to the front, but our times were top-five times most all day, but just never could get there. And that was encouraging.

"Everything seems to be coming around now. The cars that we have with the aero configuration that we've settled in on seems to be a better package for Ricky. We've got about five cars like that now.

"Ricky and Pat are communicating very, very well.

"We're in Kansas right now, and we've got one brand-new car running against a car that Ricky really likes. It has run well, but he likes the new car a lot so that is the car we are going to bring back out here.

"We haven't changed a lot of things since the first of the year when we couldn't seem to get going. We've changed just little things, not great big things and now it just all seems to be falling into place. And we're running better. I don't really know why, and I don't want to know why. I just don't want to go back through it again.

"The team's attitude is really, really good and everybody is upbeat. We've got eight races left to go and everybody is excited about it.

"If we can get through Talladega -- you know, Talladega is the one you want to get through and not have any problems. But if we can get past that ...

"We've got a new car for this weekend. We're not going to use the one we ran at Daytona (finished third in July). It has reverted to the back-up car. It is a little bit of a gamble, I guess, going to Talladega with a brand-new car, but it was better in the wind tunnel. We just got it done and took it and blew it and it was better. You are supposed to take your best stuff every week so that is what we're gonna do. Hopefully, it'll work out.

"We'll run our car (on the chassis dyno) Thursday morning with the bigger plate so I don't really know what the car will do at this point, but if it gives better throttle response it should be better for the drivers.

"The spoiler change should make it suck up harder and quicker. It'll make a bigger hole in the air with the bigger spoiler and that usually tends to make the car behind you suck up quicker. Our car was built with the current rules in mind. You really wouldn't have built it any different any way.

"It'll be a heck of a race whatever they do. I don't think you could do anything to really mess that deal up down there.

"All in all, everything is pretty good right now."

©Copyright 2003 Race 2 Win