'Rooster' Rudd made 875 starts -- 788 consecutive -- in the Cup series. Credit: Autostock

Rudd silently steps away but sounds off upon exit

As a native Virginian, I am, by default, a Ricky Rudd fan. One thing about Virginia NASCAR fans, we cheer for Rudd even if he isn't our alpha driver of choice.

Check that, cheered for him.

	MARTY SMITH •   E-mail Marty •   Opinion Archive •   Store: 'I Agree With Marty' tee

Ricky Rudd excused himself from the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday evening just as he'd introduced himself some 30 years earlier -- stealthy. With little fanfare, he walked away from the sport he'd faithfully escorted through myriad transitions, from skeletal obscurity to gluttonous grandeur.

And he didn't say much unless provoked. I always liked that about him.

Funny how, only now, I discover that very trait answers a question I've long had about Ricky Rudd: Where did "Rooster" come from?

Rudd got word I'd inquired about his nickname, called me out of the blue Wednesday afternoon. I took full advantage.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, folks. Enjoy ...

So where did "Rooster" come from?

It came from a crew chief I had, Richard Broom, in 1995 or '96. Richard was a crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports for many, many years, on (Ken) Schrader's car. He started calling me "Bantam Rooster," because I'd get mad or riled up about something.

Now, I don't know much about farming, but a Bantam Rooster is a little rooster that loves to fight. I'd get mad about something and turn red. "Rooster" stuck. It's probably not the most favorite nickname I could have, but it's not the worst, either.

Does it fit? Seems to me you don't have much to say until you get ticked about something.

That's what it is! Bantam Roosters aren't feisty until you get 'em stirred up. That's how it got going. It fits.

RICKY RUDD •   Driver Page •   Superstore: Rudd gear Inside the Numbers Ricky Rudd's career stats Year Races W T5 T10 1975 4 0 0 1 1976 4 0 0 1 1977 25 0 1 10 1978 13 0 0 4 1979 28 0 4 17 1980 13 0 1 3 1981 31 0 14 17 1982 30 0 6 13 1983 30 2 7 14 1984 30 1 7 16 1985 28 1 13 19 1986 29 2 11 17 1987 29 2 10 13 1988 29 1 6 11 1989 29 1 7 15 1990 29 1 8 15 1991 29 1 9 17 1992 29 1 9 18 1993 30 1 9 14 1994 31 1 6 15 1995 31 1 10 16 1996 31 1 5 16 1997 32 2 6 11 1998 33 1 1 5 1999 34 0 3 5 2000 34 0 12 19 2001 36 2 14 22 2002 36 1 8 12 2003 36 0 4 5 2004 36 0 1 3 2005 36 0 2 9 Totals 875 23 194 373

You bowed out really low-key while some of your competitors had blowout farewell tours. Is that fair. Is it befitting a guy that started so many races?

Yes. I came in quietly, too. Nobody knew who I was because I never ran local tracks. I didn't take the natural progression to Cup. I came from motocross and go-karts straight into a Winston Cup car.

I didn't have a big following because nobody had ever heard of me. The way I got going was unique. It was on-the-job-training, without a lot of pressure. I slowly, steadily got better and better. It wasn't overnight by any means. I had a lot of learning to do.

I came in unnoticed, and I'm going out like that, too.

There are reasons for that. When I was at Yates, my last year there was 2002, and I let those guys know at the midpoint of the season that I wasn't coming back and was probably going to retire. We were second in the standings at that point. You'd have thought a nuclear bomb was set off.

It didn't sit well, and by the end of the year there was a lot of tension within the team. We were very lucky to maintain 10th in the points.

Another reason for it is you must have a sponsor to get behind that program. We've never really had anybody with a tremendous amount of interest in promoting a farewell tour, and farewell tours take money.

Another thing, too, is that some of those farewell tours are sort of a fan gouging: Come out with all sorts of fan merchandise and hit a home run. I didn't want to do that.

Which of those 788 straight starts was the toughest?

There were three or four times, really, when I didn't know. Daytona: I didn't let that thought enter my thought process. I had that bad wreck in the Bud Shootout, which then it was the Busch Clash. It was 1984. You know the story. The tape story.

You duct-taped your eyes open. That's some Clint Eastwood stuff, man.

I wouldn't allow it to enter my mind, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a tough deal to get back on the horse. I should have been in a hospital, not a racecar.

Then the following week I was still banged up, taped up, hurting badly. Getting in the car the next week was almost as tough. It turned out to be two opposite ends of the spectrum of emotion.

I sort of compare it to the guy doing ski jump on ABC Wide World of Sports, who wrecks and tumbles and about kills himself, but comes back and does it again and sticks it. I went out and won Richmond the next week -- extreme high and low on the emotion side.

There were other times, too. I tore ligaments in my left leg. It was during the tire wars, around '88, I blew a right front tire -- everybody did that day -- snagged the fence, tore the medial collateral ligament in my left leg.

I was supposed to be out nine weeks with surgery. I was driving for Kenny Bernstein then, and he sent me to see Dr. (Terry) Trammell, the guy that fixes up all the Indy Car guys. Trammell said 'I don't think you need surgery, we can do it another way.' That, physically, was tough, too.

ALSO Rusty Wallace is retired as a driver, while Ricky Rudd has no idea when his next start might occur, if it ever does.  •   Complete story, click here

Would you duct-tape your eyeballs open today?

Oh yeah, I would. It's just in my makeup.

What most needs fixing in NASCAR right now?

Don't know. Good question. That's tough. I think they need to get the cars more competitive. The races are boring. It's not because the drivers don't have ability, either. It's the current rules structure, where the cars depend so much on aero downforce. It's not good for exciting races. And it won't be until it gets fixed.

What are you going to do now that you're retired?

Haven't got a clue. I've got a lot of people coming to me with different options, mostly driving related, Cup cars to sports cars. Some would be worth looking at. I want to take some time off and not read the newspaper or watch TV about racing. I want to detox from it.

I'm not ready to sit in rocking chair, I know that.

Financially, I'm fortunate. We've made some good decisions. We're not pressured there to keep food on the table. It's the right time to figure out what I want to do. This sport, you know, you're either in it 100 percent or you're not. It's gotten busier and busier and busier. There is no free time any more.

Have you spoken with Bill Elliott or Terry Labonte?

No. I look at what they're doing, that limited schedule deal. In theory it sounds good, but the reality of it is it's not working. My feelings on why it's not working, and I don't want to step on any toes, but it appears you make it a third effort.

Like Bill's deal, the third team is not going to be made up of all No. 1, key guys. There are a lot of guys with talent, but still in training. The guys working on the car, it's a scattering of experience mixed with inexperience.

I'd think it's probably a mixture, whereas with the Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield operations, they're getting the best of the best. It certainly wouldn't make sense to put the best guys on Bill Elliott's car when they're needed on cars shooting for top-10 cut. It's not really doing Bill any good.

He hasn't really performed that well, and it's not because Bill Elliott can't still drive a car.

Your thoughts on the Chase format?

It's not bad. It's different. All attention and media is put toward that effort after the first 26 races, where the rest of the guys don't exist. If I'm a sponsor spending money for 36 races, I'd feel cheated.

I'd say we'll sponsor you for 26 races, and if you make the cut we'll pay the for the other 10. If not we'll stop funding at 26 races. That's some of the potential negative consequences I see coming. There are positives, too, though. It keeps fan interest right up to the end.

There are a lot of things right about the sport. One of the things that's wrong now is it seems that with the tremendous money from TV, NASCAR no longer controls the sport like they once did. It's like a TV series, like a Desperate Housewives or whatever. That's not all bad, but what happens if it's not working anymore? TV creates the stars now.

I'd have preferred, as a competitor, that a big TV contract had never gotten signed. It was a much happier time and a much better time when races were run and TV covered it, rather than the races being run for television.

The purses are getting better, but as a competitor I'd take a lot less money to go back before the TV commentators weren't the stars. The drivers were.

With that, Rudd and I traded Happy Thanksgiving wishes and went on our respective ways. Then, minutes later my phone rang again.

Ol' Rooster was riled up.

The bottom line on the points deal is there's way too much emphasis on watching points accumulate, whereas in the old days TV covered the racing on the racetrack. Fans want to see racing. They don't want to count points.

They want to see the action on the track, and the cameras used to go where the action was on the track. I get it over and over and over again from fans on my website that they're losing out on the racing action on the track because television is always showing the top 10, and not the action.

It's also gotten way too political. It's about whose sponsor buys network time and whose doesn't. I miss the old way.

Many fans agree, Ricky. They yearn for the old way, too. And on many levels.