DHL 400 - Ricky Rudd Notes

Ricky Rudd: "One thing I learned was that he definitely had a strong work ethic."

This Sunday the United States celebrates Father's Day. Ricky Rudd, driver of the #21 Ford Parts and Service Taurus, shares childhood memories of how his father, Al Rudd, influenced him. In addition, he answers varied questions from his fans as NASCAR prepares for its first visit of the 2004 season to Michigan International Speedway.

How did your father influence your life, both in racing and personally? "One thing I learned was that he definitely had a strong work ethic. He would leave for his day job about the time I went off to school and then he would come home at night about 6 o'clock, 6:30, eat supper and then he would go out in the garage and rebuild cars.

"I guess he made as much money doing that, fixing wrecked cars, as he did on his day job, so he worked all the time. He did take off Sundays. That is the only time he would take off.

"He spent time with the family on Sundays. So he had a strong work ethic. I guess that is what you have to do when you have five kids in the family and we lived pretty well. He did it by a lot of hard work, paid the bills and we never were short of anything. So I learned that from him.

"And another thing I learned was don't ever give up. I guess I also have that trait and I know where it comes from. It comes from him.

"The racing career started because he had come up with a background of racing, short tracks. He started as a kid, and then he got married and started having kids, the racing stopped. I was exposed to the go-karts through my dad. That is how I got started in go-kart racing. He turned the wrenches on them and I drove them and my job was keeping them all clean. We raced for many years like that. And the early days of the stock-car racing was in his cars. He worked on them and did all the hanging of the bodies and stuff like that. My brother built motors and I got so I did a little of everything, miscellaneous stuff, mechanic."

What do you do in your free time? "What time we are able to get, I try to make my plans to coincide with Landon's time. I'm not able to see him as much as I'd like to. When he is in school I drop him off at school and then go on and do what I need to do. Linda picks him up. And I try to time it so that I'm home when he gets out of school. The other day we went to the skating rink and went roller-blading. I just try to spend time with him and Linda. She handles him when I'm out of town testing or making appearances. Then when I get back in town I try to spend as much time as I can get with him knowing that one day that is going to change. He is coming up on 10 years old and the time is coming when he won't want Mom and Dad around."

What has been your favorite paint scheme over the years? "I'd have to say the one that Landon did last year. I've had some nice-looking paint schemes over the years, but I'd say Landon's, and then the Tide car, because you could always see it. Those folks came out with the neon colors before anybody else came out with them, and it just jumped out. I guess that is why I liked it because the color just jumped out at you. Landon's car ... just sentimental value. It was different and the guys in the pits could see it that day."

What kind of music do you listen to, and who are your favorite performers? "Whatever Landon is listening to. I guess it's the top 40 right now. I really don't listen to the radio that much. I'm not usually in the car that long. But I think XM Radio is a neat deal."

Do you have any pets? "We've got the cat, the Bengal cat named Koda. I like animals and I grew up with cats and dogs. A lot of the drivers have dogs, but it is just really hard. It's hard on the animals, too, when you are at the track. You've got to find somewhere to go walk them."

Do you ever play the NASCAR video games? "Not in a long time. I used to play them with Landon, but he's interested in other things right now."

Would you ever race in the truck series? "No. The truck series really doesn't interest me."

How do the tires get handed out? Do the teams have any choice in the sets they receive? "I don't know. I guess we don't hear too many people complaining about it. They have some sort of system. That's a good question. I don't know how to answer that. Tires are the final link to the race track and there is a lot there. There used to be a code stamped on the sidewall of the Goodyear tire, and you had teams trying to break codes. The main thing they were after was the manufacture date. It got be kind of a mess there for a while. If a guy could break the code then you would start seeing that some guys would get to receive selected tires. They knew what tires were which. They knew what tires were the fresh ones and which ones were not. The fresher you get them out of the mold usually the more grip they have. Goodyear would constantly change those codes. Then they went through a spell where Goodyear actually put the date of manufacture on the tire. That lasted about six months and then they quit. While they were still trying to break codes, there was an ex-employee of Goodyear several years ago that handed out a sheet to someone in the garage, and it ended up circulating throughout the garage area. At one time there was a system for allocating sets according to points. If you weren't up there in the points you wouldn't get the freshest tires. But that has changed. You need to ask Paul (Wood Brothers Racing tire specialist Paul Jamison) about that."

Paul Jamison: "When we show up at the race track on Friday, Goodyear has already mounted three sets of tires for practice and qualifying for us and approximately nine, 10 sets of race tires. They allocate the tires according to points. The tires for the teams highest in points are mounted first. But everyone has the same age tires. The codes are all the same. And all of the tire guys communicate with each other just to make sure that one team doesn't have newer stuff than another team so that it evens out the playing field."