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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 12, 1994                   TAG: 9404120037
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

BRISTOL CRASH DOESN'T KEEP RUDD DOWN LONG

Ricky Rudd was back to work at his Mooresville, N.C., shop by 9:30 a.m. Monday, suffering only a stiff neck the morning after his high-speed excursion into the frontstretch wall at Bristol International Raceway during Sunday's Food City 500.

Because he had a neck injury, Rudd was carried from the track in an ambulance, his head immobilized, to a Bristol hospital. That was simply a precaution. He was released after an examination.

"It knocked me out," Rudd said of the crash on lap 188. "I remember hitting the inside wall. It was a pretty good lick. I thought I was only out for 20 or 30 seconds, but it was more like three or four minutes.

"My head never hit anything, but my neck stretched so far, I blacked out. They say you've got a built-in circuit breaker - I've blown it before - that blacks you out when your neck stretches so far.

"The biggest hit was that it knocked us from fifth to eighth in points - and losing a car."

He finished 32nd, his worst finish of the season.

Rudd did not have a shoulder injury or suspected shoulder injury, as was reported in the pit notes distributed by the track. It was only his neck.

And he was not a lap down at the time of the crash. Leader Geoff Bodine had passed Rudd on the 131st lap, but Rudd beat Bodine back to the caution flag on lap 134 and remained on the lead lap until the wreck.

Rudd was, however, having handling problems, despite qualifying 11th and having one of the quickest cars in practice.

"We couldn't figure out why the handle went away so bad in the race," he said. "We found it today - an accidental oversight one of the crew members made [on a rear-end adjustment]. I was losing all my speed in the middle of the corners."

Rudd crashed when tagged from behind by the lapped car of Jeff Burton. A few laps later, the rookie was involved in another crash and during a routine trip to the infield care center, spoke to Rudd.

"He apologized," Rudd said. "It was an accident on his part. It wasn't intentional. If he was guilty of anything, he was guilty of racing too hard."

As for the car, "it's junk now," Rudd said.

"It's going to be a show car," said his wife, Linda. "We needed one for the shop anyway."

Rudd said, "This leaves us down to one short track car with two short track races coming up in a row. We were just getting caught up. This just puts us back a little bit."

Keywords:
AUTO RACING

by CNB