
DATE: Sunday, August 3, 1997                TAG: 9708030173

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS                      LENGTH:   95 lines

RUDD'S GAMBLE PAYS WITH VICTORY AT INDY OTHERS HAD STRONGER CARS, BUT HE USED FEWER PIT STOPS

With the biggest victory of his career in his grasp, Ricky Rudd came on the radio Saturday afternoon, still the possessor of those cold nerves of steel.

``How bout that, huh? Man, that's only about the biggest race of the year,'' he said calmly about 10 seconds after winning the Brickyard 400 at the Indanapolis Motor Speedway.

It took a few more minutes, and a victory lap in the back of a convertible around the most famous speedway in the world, to bring the awe into his voice.

``It's kinda hard to put into words,'' he said in the postrace interview. ``I've won 18 Winston Cup races (now 19). All those races have a special meaning, but this race here is unbelieveable.''

Rudd earned his trip to the big, rotating Victory Lane, and $571,000 in prize money, on the strength of gas mileage. He took what he called ``a fifth-place car'' to the front because he was able to run 500 miles with only three pit stops instead of the four (or five) used by most of the other competitors.

Bobby Labonte followed suit on gas strategy and followed Rudd across the finish line, a couple of car lengths behind.

Dale Jarrett, who had the strongest car on the track at the end, was third, with Jeff Gordon fourth and Jeremy Mayfield fifth. Mark Martin was sixth, followed by Johnny Benson Jr., Bill Elliott, Mike Skinner and pole-sitter Ernie Irvan. Thirteen other cars finished on the lead lap.

Behind Rudd and Labonte, there was a wild scramble for position on the last lap as cars blocked, passed, shuffled and slammed into one another. Nobody lost control, but Martin and Skinner were victims, losing several positions, while Jarrett and Mayfield gained several spots.

Out front, all was calm in the driver's seat of the No. 10 Tide Ford Thunderbird. Rudd was free of traffic, telling himself over and over not to overdrive the track.

``Our car was very fast as long as it had clean air,'' he said. ``I couldn't run in traffic. I would come up on a lapped car and I couldn't even pass because the car would get so radically tight in the front end and wouldn't turn.''

On the last lap, he said, ``I was just thinking, `Just drive the racetrack like you know how to drive it. Don't overdrive the racetrack.' I drove a conservative last lap.''

But Rudd had time to enjoy himself in the final 10 or 15 seconds of the three-hour, three-minute contest.

``Coming off turn 4, I knew we had it and I kinda enjoyed that stride down the front straightaway and that checkered flag,'' he said. ``Instead of getting to the checkered flag and saying, `Whew!,' I enjoyed that whole straightaway getting to that flag. It was something I hadn't done in a long time.''

Rudd led 15 laps, including the final 14. But the race just as easily could have been a runaway - the Robert Yates Fords of Irvan and Jarrett were the most powerful cars on the track. Irvan led the first 39 laps but faded when he got stuck in traffic and his car wouldn't handle. Jarrett led 31 laps.

Late in the race, Jarrett and Gordon began dueling. Gordon led 25 laps. And it might have come down to a shootout between those two except that neither could make it all the way on gas.

``That's just the way it goes sometimes,'' said Jarrett. ``I think we had the fastest car, but it just wasn't in the cards for us today.''

All of the leaders, including Rudd, pitted under a yellow flag on lap 114 of the 160-lap race. Most of the teams figured on running 40 laps between stops. But with 20 laps to go, the teams of Rudd and Labonte had figured that they might be able to go all the way. Rudd was already backing off then, trying to conserve fuel.

``Our guys said we would probably run out coming in the short chute to turn 4 (on the last lap),'' he said. ``That's how they figured it.''

On lap 147, a yellow flag flew for debris on the backstretch. Rudd took the lead, and Labonte moved into second, when Gordon and Jarrett dove onto pit road for the extra fuel they needed to finish the race.

Cars use less fuel during caution periods, but Rudd was still trying to conserve fuel during the yellow ``because it was still a little bit of an issue.''

But another yellow flag flew with just five laps to go when Rich Bickle crashed in turn 3. Although Rudd was comfortably in the lead then and didn't want to go through another restart, the last caution ``just sealed it,'' he said. ``Fuel wasn't a concern after that.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ricky Rudd kisses the Brickyard bricks after winning the richest

race of the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup season.

Color photo

BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Fans congratulate Ricky Rudd during his postrace parade lap. ``There

were just walls of people . . . cheering you as you ride by,'' the

awestruck driver said.

Photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ricky Rudd pits for tires and fuel. By stopping only three times

during the race, Rudd gained the advantage over stronger cars.