DATE: Sunday, August 3, 1997                TAG: 9708030180

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS                      LENGTH:   54 lines

RUDD'S CREW CHIEF DRIVEN TO PUT HIS CAR OUT FRONT FIRST-YEAR PIT BOSS JIM LONG HAS BEEN A CO-AUTHOR OF THE TEAM'S SUCCESS STORIES IN 1997.

While the spotlight has been on the combination of driver Dale Earnhardt and crew chief Larry McReynolds in 1997, another new duo, Ricky Rudd and Jim Long, has been making the progress expected from the more famous pair.

That point was underscored with a flourish Saturday when Rudd and Long won the biggest race of their careers - the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Rudd has been driving on the Winston Cup series since 1975 and has won 19 times. But Long, 40, is only in his second year as crew chief. And this was only his second victory, following Rudd's win at Dover in June.

``This is about the biggest thing that's ever happened to me,'' Long shouted on the radio as Rudd took his cool-down lap around the track on Saturday. ``Don't tell my wife, though.''

Long is Rudd's third crew chief in the three years Rudd had owned his own team. But when you hear Rudd talk, you get the feeling Long will be with him a while.

``Jim Long and I have a super relationship,'' Rudd said after the race. ``He's kind of a low-profile guy. He lives and breathes and sleeps just to race and put a car out front, and that's all he is concerned with.

``He's not a guy who wants to be known as a world-class crew chief, he wants to get wins. He's just a good example of the American way. I saw him 16 years ago and he was Gary Nelson's right-hand man when (Nelson) worked for (Rick) Hendrick.

``This guy did the work of three people. He's one of these guys who gave up a high-paying job to go racing. He just lives to race. We've got that relationship that usually takes a while to get.''

Rudd said Long has done an outstanding job reorganizing his shop.

``When Jim Long first came on board, we were going this way and we were going that way,'' Rudd said. ``We were kind of a dog chasing its tail.

``This is one of the first weeks of the regrouping plan we've had at the shop. It's all basic, simple stuff you buy off the shelves, put together and come here and race instead of trying to overengineer it.''

On Saturday, the race boiled down to a gas-mileage game. Rudd and Long had decided to pit every 40 laps and try to make all 400 miles on three pit stops.

``We were sticking to that game plan,'' Long said.

But after making the third stop on lap 114 instead of the scheduled lap 120 of 160, ``we knew we were going to have to squeeze a couple of more laps out,'' Long said. ``But we were going to roll the dice and gamble. When that last caution came out (with five laps to go), it was a done deal.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ricky Rudd accepted the honor and glory but gave much of the credit

for his Brickyard 400 victory on Saturday to crew chief Jim Long.

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