Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 8, 1994                   TAG: 9402080059
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

INGLE HAS WORK CUT OUT FOR HIM

"New Shop Hours: 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday. 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Sunday ??"

"They used to get off at 5 o'clock," says Bill Ingle, Rudd's new crew chief. "Being a new owner, Ricky was trying to be too good . . . "

Ingle knows a team must work long hours to keep up with the competition in NASCAR racing. And now that his competitive juices are flowing again after a self-imposed layoff of more than a year, Ingle wasted no time posting the new hours when he officially joined Rudd at the first of the year.

The gray hairs scattered throughout the 37-year-old Ingle's head are evidence of the pressure in the major leagues of stock car racing, but there is a smile on his face and renewed confidence in his voice.

"I'm definitely with a driver now who is capable of winning at any of these events," he said in a recent interview.

Since Rudd has won at least one race every year since 1983, one can understand why Ingle views his new job as his best opportunity yet in the Winston Cup series.

"Ricky knows what he needs to feel in a race car to win," Ingle said. "And with Ricky, he owns it, he drives it and he makes the final decisions."

It took Rudd a lot longer to find a crew chief than he expected. There were false starts and deals that fell through. But in December, when Rudd finally interviewed Ingle, he realized he'd found the man he wanted.

After serving a five-year apprenticeship with Junior Johnson from 1983 to 1987, Ingle worked for Alan Kulwicki and Hendrick motorsports. In late 1989, he was hired by car owner Chuck Rider to be Michael Waltrip's crew chief.

And there he toiled, with increasing frustration, until the day after 1992 Southern 500, where Waltrip finished 35th when his engine failed. After 82 races with Waltrip, the most Ingle had to show for it was two third-place finishes and a couple of poles.

He couldn't understand why it wasn't working and didn't know whose fault it was, but he finally came to realize that whatever the case, something had to give.

"We were kind of at a stalemate, and something major needed to be changed," he says.

Burned out, his spirit broken, Ingle walked away from the sport, joining Kirk Shelmerdine, Joe Gibbs and Michael Jordan in the ranks of those who succumbed to the relentless pressure, much of it self-induced, of high stakes professional sports.

"I didn't want to get out of racing, but considering the mental state I was in, I wouldn't have been any good for myself or anyone else," Ingle said. "I didn't feel right. I had lost a lot of self-esteem. I'm competitive, and I want to win, and I want to be be with someone who wants to win."

But it wasn't easy staying away from it, either. Sure, he was busy. He took a computer course. He tried to start his own Winston Cup team. He bought, refurbished and sold about 30 old Corvettes.

He'd watch on television, "but there were sometimes I would get up in the middle of a race and just walk outside. It was too uncomfortable to watch and not be involved."

He generally stayed away from the tracks in 1993, attending only four races.

But in October, Dale Jarrett's team called. They needed a jackman for the Mello Yello 500 at Charlotte. Ingle agreed to fill in.

"I was standing there on pit wall with the radio headset on, and I knew right then that I had to get back in," Ingle said.

"Man, I'm as happy now as I've ever been in my life. We'll all have our tense moments. But I want to race, and I want to win - and I want to have some fun, too."

Keywords:
AUTO RACING