Ricky Rudd: Pocono 500 preview

LONG POND, Pa. -- The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series heads to Pocono this week for the first time this year. Ricky Rudd, driver of the No. 21 Ford Parts and Service Taurus answers fans' questions on racing at the 2.5-mile, three-turn track in Long Pond, Pa.

Considering you have had transmission problems at Pocono recently, how concerned are you about the transmission this year?

"We broke a transmission at Pocono the first race last year. Out of all the races there, that is the first time I can remember that we broke a transmission. The transmissions have been redesigned a little bit and been changed around, beefed up a bit. As the horsepower has stepped up over the time, the transmissions have been beefed up. As the cars make more power and make more downforce it puts more strain in the transmissions. I'm not really concerned at Pocono with the gear boxes. We've only had one transmission failure in all the races we've run at Pocono. The transmission people have fixed the problem. Pocono is hard on motors and the valve train, and things of that nature. But you can't look back. Things change so much. Motor combinations are completely different than they were a year ago. I just hope we can get that new motor to run with there."

I know when you brake at the road courses you use the heel/toe technique. Do you do the same thing when braking and shifting at Pocono?

"No. You don't because you don't have time to make your proper downshifts. What happens is that you make a downshift as you are going into turn one, and you are already committed to the turn and your car is going so fast right there. You are probably going over 200 miles per hour. The car doesn't like to be out of gear at all. If it's in gear when you are out of the gas it applies a certain amount of drag to the rear axle. So, to sum that up what you are trying to do, you want to have it in a gear, preferably in third gear, as you are sailing off into the corner. You don't have time to do the proper heel/toe down shifting, to match revs and all. It just doesn't work on that big speedway right there. So you've got to pretty much take it out of one gear and jam it into the next. But, over the years the transmissions have withstood it without many problems."

I know some drivers shift on the straight-aways and some don't. What do you prefer and why? Why Do the drivers shift at Pocono?

"There are a couple different schools of thought on that as the motor combinations have changed over the years and you turn more and more rpm. We used to have a transmission that was really only shifted one time. Usually as you got right around the start/finish line you'd be in third and you'd pull it back to fourth gear. And you'd only run fourth gear from the start/finish line to turn one. And then you would downshift and run in third gear the rest of the way around the racetrack. That was pretty much the normal for many, many years. Then right around 2000, 2001 most teams went to a transmission that you would shift twice. So you will probably shift into high gear in the same spot, downshift to third gear, but the motor will turn too many rpms so you will shift back into high gear before you enter the tunnel turn. You actually up shift and then when you round the corner you downshift again. So you're shifting about twice what you used to because the motor combinations like to turn a lot of rpms, and to turn the rpms you've got to have the gears to do that. If you just left it in gear the motor would turn over 10,000 rpms. The torque curve of the motor is much higher in the rpm band than it used to be. You need to be able to turn the motors at more rpm at the slow parts of the race track than you used to. So, to be able to have the best of both worlds you have to turn more rpms and that means more shifts. Anyway, it happens and you are shifting on two straight-aways instead of just one."

I've been hearing rumors of shortening the Pocono races or taking away one of them. What do you think of this?

"Well, in my opinion, from the first day I came into racing I thought 500 miles was too long. The race can be determined in 400 miles just as easy as it can in 500. I think the fans see a more exciting race when you cut the race to 400 miles. I think all of them should be 400 miles. That is just an opinion."

It has been said that turn two at Pocono, the dreaded tunnel turn, is the most difficult in all of NASCAR. Do you agree with that?

"I don't think so. To me, it is a fun turn. You can really charge that corner and be aggressive with the race car there. I enjoy Pocono. I've always liked Pocono. A lot of the guys over the years - I don't think they've enjoyed it as much as I have. It's just been a fun track for me. I like it, because to me it resembles a road course. It just has left-hand turns."

Pocono has been said to get boring in the middle of the race. Do you like racing there and what is it about Pocono that excites you?

"Pocono is not a boring place. You are pretty busy there. The passing happens down the straightaways. Very little goes on in the corners, a little bit but not much. If you didn't shift, and you used to not shift at Pocono, it could become boring a little bit. But now with the shifts, and watching the tach, and the downshifts it's made it a lot more interesting for the drivers. We've become busier during the race."

Over the years it seems that you do very well at Pocono. Does the track owe you after last year?

"The only time I've felt that track owed me one was in 2002. We led the late stages of the race, and we were fighting Dale Jarrett for that one. We had a flat tire with five laps to go and I stayed out on the track trying to make it to the end. I had to limp around. That was the only one that I really felt got away from us when we'd led the race, and we were going to win. But, last year - I don't remember feeling that we were a ball of fire there and were going to win the race. That wasn't the situation at all, so I don't think it owes us anything from that standpoint."

Does your wife take advantage of the many amenities in the area during the Pocono week?

"We enjoy going to Pocono. It's a pretty part of the country. We're not too much on the shopping deal. We just enjoy the scenery around the area."