Sirius at the Glen - Ricky Rudd Notes

Ricky Rudd on the road-course experts: "It is always a challenge. They are good at what they do and it brings out the best in us."

Watkins Glen marks Ricky Rudd's 825th career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series start. Rudd, driver of the #21 Ford Genuine Parts and Service Taurus, has run all 18 races at the legendary New York track, scoring two wins, eight top-fives, nine top-10s and a pole. Here are his answers this week to questions submitted by his fans about road racing, in general, and the Glen, in particular.

Would you like to see more road-course races added to the schedule in the years to come, and if so, where? "I've always enjoyed the road courses. We run two a year right now. It wouldn't be bad to have four on the schedule. At least one more additional wouldn't hurt things. They are fun to drive. We've done well on them in years past. I'm open to more. I'd rather see road courses added instead of the cloned race tracks like Chicago and Kansas City and those type tracks."

Since there has never been a road course race in the rain, have you ever tested a road-course car in the rain? If yes, how much slower were the lap times. "I never have, so I don't have a clue. I've run a lot road races, but never have driven in the rain. I drove go-karts years ago with slicks in the rain and did well on them but that was challenge. They didn't have rain tires, just slicks and they'd hydroplane. They've talked about rain tires and stuff, but it is my understanding that it probably is never going to happen. If we thought it was going to happen, we'd probably go somewhere and do a lot of testing in the rain to get used to it."

Will you use a similar set-up for the road course at Watkins Glen as you did for the road course at Sonoma? "For many years, they were different set-ups. The car you would carry to Watkins Glen was a right-hand car - a mirror image of a short-track car. Sonoma at Sears Point was built to go pretty much equally left to right. As time has gone on, they have changed the race track configuration at Sears Point. Now that track uses the same car as Watkins Glen. They have made it a lot easier to drive, and primarily right-hand corners. Now you can run the same type of race car. The same car can run competitively at the Glen and vice-versa."

It is well known that some drivers are better at road courses than others. What makes you one of the better road-course racers? "Some people take to it, and some people don't. I guess my years of racing go-karts; there were some similarities, not a whole lot. At least you knew which side of the road you needed to be on and when and where and where to turn in. You learned your lines, the proper lines, and those are still the same in a car. Turning left and right, I'd been doing that at a very early age so it was easy for me to run a car on a road course. The transmission was obviously different because we didn't have a gearbox, but speeds were not a whole lot of difference. The karts ran about the same lap times as the cars did. But the biggest thing was getting used to all the extra weight you had to sling around and then down shifting. The downshifting was probably the hardest thing to get used to. You have to really time it correctly, and I didn't grow up doing that. But I just took to it. I ran well in my very first road-course race at Riverside qualifying. I remember going out there and qualified third. We'd never tested or practiced on a road course, and we led the race. With 17 or 18 laps to go Bobby Allison and I were in a duel for the win. Then with about 10 laps to go my motor broke, and I didn't finish the race. But from right early on I took to them and I liked them."

What kind of speed are you carrying at the end of the back straight entering that real sharp right-hand turn? And, can you take us through it? "I think speeds are somewhere near 170 (on the back straight). You are in high gear and you brake down and go down to second gear. It's a pretty sharp little kink. They put it in there to try to slow cars down. They put the chicane in because what was happening was you would actually crest a little hill as you were braking down and you just got done running 175 miles an hour, and they put the chicane in to slow the speed so that if you had a problem, if your brakes went out or you had some kind of a mechanical problem, you knew it early. But that chicane is very tricky. Some people have found a way through that chicane that has taken the kinks and straightened them out. Some guys are good at it and some are not very good at it. I like the idea of the chicane, but I don't like the way it's designed. But it's there and it's the same for everybody."

Can you describe entering turn one at speed? "They have markers, 3, 2, 1 and generally you go to the 3 marker to brake. That's really what separates the good cars from the not-so-good cars. Everybody starts off pretty good, runs pretty even with one another and then when the brake systems get abused and heat up some brake systems stay cooler than others. Then all of sudden you might have to start braking at the 400-yard marker instead of the 3 to get slowed down. So a lot of work goes into getting the brakes working good and staying good. A lot of times that is the difference in winning and being at the back of the pack."

How do you feel about road course specialists running these races for some of the Cup teams? "There is no question that those guys are good at what they do. They run the road courses like we run the oval tracks. They go all over the world and see different race tracks. The guys are good, like Boris Said and Ron Fellows, Scott Pruett. They are sort of the measuring stick. They bring new information from the other series that actually helps the Cup guys. But it is hard to beat people at their own game. They not only drive well, but they bring in new information that helps all the cars run better. We enjoy racing against those guys. It is always a challenge. They are good at what they do and it brings out the best in us."

Do you think the start/finish line should be moved farther down to the first turn on the road courses? "It's there. It's been there. I wouldn't make a change."

Would it make a better show for the fans? "I don't know about that. It might make things a little easier on re-starts because right now it is a little tricky because whoever the leader is that starts the race, you've got guys back on another straightaway when the race re-starts. And, if you moved it further down it would probably be a fairer way to re-start the race. It's not really a big issue at Sonoma. Sonoma is actually about the opposite of that. At Sonoma you've already come out of most of your corners. It might be something to be looked at, but it's not a big issue."

What is the hardest part of setting up your race car for the Watkins Glen race track? "A road course is full of compromises. They've got so many corners and you've got to fix it so you get your car good in a few. It would be nice to have your car perfect in 100 percent of the corners, but it's not going to work that way. So you work on the right-hand corners more than you do the left-hand corners. Again, it is a compromise. You are never going to hit everything perfect like you want. You've just got to remember that. You let your lap times sort of dictate how you are doing with that. And then the other thing is Watkins Glen, even more so than Sonoma, you've got to get your brakes worked out because you abuse them very hard all day, and the brake systems will separate the field, not so much the handling, at Watkins Glen."