Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 22, 1994 TAG: 9411160081
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ED HARDIN LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N. C. LENGTH: Medium
Rudd set a track record at North Carolina Motor Speedway, qualifying his Ford Thunderbird at157.099 mph to win $6,000 and also win back some of the fans he lost two weeks ago at Charlotte.
The Chesapeake driver outran Terry Labonte and Geoff Bodine, who has blown an engine earlier in the day, to earn his first pole since 1992.
``The last time we came here we didn't even have a garage stall,'' Rudd said. ``We had to park down in the dirt.''
The last time the tour came to Rockingham, the track was old and weathered. The record speed before Rudd's run was only 151.716 mph. A repaving job that has resulted in faster speeds and an increase in spins and crashes forced the teams to throw out years of research and start over.
``I think some of the established teams might have treated this like the old Rockingham,'' said Rudd, in his first season as a car owner. ``That worked to our advantage since we didn't have books going back to 1970 on this track.''
Many established teams will start from back in the field Sunday, including points leader Dale Earnhardt, who qualified 20th, and Kyle Petty, who will start 29th.
Rudd will start Sunday's race on probation after losing his appeal this week of the NASCAR sanctions he received following a racing incident with Jeff Gordon during the Mello Yello 500.
Since the altercation at Charlotte, where Rudd bumped Gordon and sent both drivers spinning into the wall, Rudd has received more than $3,000 from fans who want to help pay the $10,000 fine NASCAR levied against Rudd.
``They'll all get their money back,'' Rudd said. ``They'll get a little thank-you note, too.''
Gordon will get no such note. The young Chevrolet star has not spoken to Rudd since Charlotte. He will start15th Sunday, seven rows behind Rudd.
``I think we had a shot at the pole,'' said Gordon, who started the melee at Charlotte by almost forcing Rudd into the fourth-turn wall in the closing laps of the Mello Yello 500. ``We were one of the fastest this morning, and sometimes that can be your worst enemy.''
Rudd said he has no plans to dwell on the fine or the three-race probation NASCAR Commissioner Semon ``Bunky'' Knudsen hit him with on Monday.
``This is an aggressive sport whether anyone wants to admit it or not,'' Rudd said. ``You can't be labeled a pushover. My style is 99 and nine-tenths of the time tolerable of NASCAR standards.''
Rudd said that if he comes up on Gordon from behind Sunday, he will use a different standard than he would on Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace or Mark Martin.
``Those guys wouldn't have wrecked,'' Rudd said. ``The mistake I made at Charlotte was I misjudged Jeff's ability. He's a great driver, but he's not used to bumping around or somebody coming up and taking the air off his car from behind.
``I had no intention of wrecking him. I meant to hit him, but I didn't think he would wreck. I sure didn't want to do that, because we destroyed our own car.''
Rudd is hoping he hasn't destroyed his relationship with the fans, the ones who didn't send in any money this week. But he could care less what anyone else thinks.
``People know me,'' he said. ``They've seen me race for 20 years, and they know what kind of driver I am. They know I'll make a stand if I have to, if it costs me $10,000 or $20,000 or whatever.''
A win Sunday would mean a $60,800 payoff from Unocal for winning from the pole and another $50,000 of the $892,410 purse.
That'll buy a lot of thank-you notes.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB