THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 31, 1995 TAG: 9510310433
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PHOENIX LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Through his first two seasons as an owner-driver in the NASCAR Winston Cup series, Ricky Rudd had prided himself on being able to keep the people he had hired when he formed his Tide Ford Thunderbird team in 1993.
But in the past two months, that's changed dramatically. Rudd is losing three or four key team members, including crew chief Bill Ingle, who will leave at the end of the season to join Gary Bechtel's team for a crew chief opportunity that includes some driving.
This turmoil makes Rudd's victory in Sunday's Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix International Raceway all the more notable. Teams that undergo major changes often fall flat; Rudd's has been on a hot streak.
And his victory, by 0.53 seconds over Derrike Cope, kept alive his streak of winning at least one race a year since 1983.
Rudd said Sunday that he's tried to keep his team pumped up despite the impending changes, and they've responded.
``From a driver's standpoint I'm not letting down, and from a car owner's standpoint I'm still spending money, and I told them, `Let's do it in winning style.' Most teams are not able to do that.
``I was even advised by several people to make the split (with the departing employees) now, that the negative morale was going to be bad for the race team. We didn't take that advice. We decided to pull in there and pull together. We make jokes about it. We have fun with it. That's all we can do.''
Rudd and Ingle have managed to maintain a good rapport despite Ingle's decision to pursue his driving dream and Rudd's obvious disappointment in losing him.
Ingle's decision to leave made him no less furious on Rudd's behalf at North Wilkesboro after Rudd was called back into the pits by NASCAR to replace two missing lug nuts while challenging for the lead. And Ingle lobbied hard on Rudd's behalf after the confused final laps of the Rockingham race.
``Whenever I made my announcement, I think everybody thought I'd quit,'' Ingle said after Sunday's race. ``They thought, `He'll do his job, but it will be an 85 or 90 percent job done.' Well, that's not true.
``I've given 100 percent since the day I joined this team and I'll give 100 percent to try to win that pole at Atlanta and win that race. I'll do that until Nov. 13, when my job is finished here.
``Nobody's given up. We've all worked hard to get this victory to keep Ricky's streak going. But we also needed a win for all these people that work so hard.''
Said Rudd: ``I feel like I made a deal and they made a deal to stick through the year.
``It's kinda hard not to take (the departures) personally. But you just got to work at it.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Only icewater could cool off Ricky Rudd, who had the hottest car at
the end of Sunday's Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix.
by CNB