RICKY RUDD, SNICKERS® RACING
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
AUGUST 12, 2007
RUDD RETURNS TO ROAD COURSE ACTION THIS WEEKEND AT THE GLEN
CHARLOTTE, NC (August 7, 2007) – The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series travels to Watkins Glen International this weekend for the Centurion Boats at The Glen in Watkins Glen, New York. Ricky Rudd and his #88 Snickers Ford will attempt to tame the road course at Watkins Glen, a track at which he has experienced success on a number of occasions. Rudd, who is known in the racing world as a road course expert, has been looking forward to returning to The Glen for this weekend’s event and has been testing his Car of Tomorrow chassis in anticipation for this weekend. The #88 Snickers Ford is proud to have EA Sports and NASCAR 08® as an associate sponsor for this weekend’s Centurion Boats at The Glen.
Quoting Snickers Driver, Ricky Rudd:
How is Watkins Glen different from racing at Sonoma?
“Technically to me racing at Watkins Glen isn’t as technical as racing at Sonoma. It’s a much faster racetrack and aero(dynamics) play a little more of a factor where you don’t have that out at Infineon Raceway. It’s an easier track, and makes more grip, and I also think that Watkins Glen is a more forgiving racetrack as far as how you negotiate the corners so therefore you have a lot more closer competition at Watkins Glen.”
What have you noticed in the Car of Tomorrow’s handling at road courses?
“The new Car of Tomorrow doesn’t corner as well as the conventional car so you’ll see a lot of guys talking about brakes and the high temperatures with the brakes. Since the cars don’t handle as well in the turns, you have to bleed off speed so you either will have to get off the gas sooner which nobody wants to do that, or you drive it like you used to do and just end up using more brake.”
Is timing and rhythm a big thing at Watkins Glen in regards to pacing through the turns?
“It is a road course and you have a lot more things going on compared to oval track racing. There is somewhat of a rhythm actually because you have the S turns at The Glen and it’s a timing rhythm since you have to enter the S’s and then quickly turn to the right after a left. You kind of get into it the more you’re there and you do get settled into a rhythm. It’s a lot of timing that gets involved as far as negotiating the S’s, but the rest of the racetrack is fairly straight up.”
NOTES OF INTEREST:
Tim Boatwright, who is the Jackman on the #88 crew, is originally from Binghamton, New York
Rudd has 20 starts at Watkins Glen which ties him for second with the most career starts among active NEXTEL Cup Series drivers; Michael Waltrip has the most starts with 21 career starts at The Glen
Rudd has an average starting position of 12.2, and an average finish of 13.8 at Watkins Glen
Rudd has completed 1,651 of 1,763 laps at Watkins Glen (93.6 percent) and has led 59 laps
Rudd’s best start at Watkins Glen was from the pole position which he accomplished in 2002
Rudd’s has two victories at Watkins Glen which occurred in 1988 and 1990
CHASSIS #704
Chassis #704 is the car the #88 Snickers Racing team will be running this weekend for the Centurion Boats at The Glen. This is the same Car of Tomorrow chassis the team ran earlier in the season at Bristol for the Food City 500 as well as at Sonoma for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 and finished eleventh.
