Ricky Rudd was a youngster in NASCAR at a time when the term described anyone under 30 that drove around in used equipment and hoped someone noticed their talent before the wheels fell off.
Richard Childress was a 36-year-old independent, an owner/driver with a potential sponsor that wasn’t interested in 36-year-old owner/drivers, independent or otherwise.
Brought together by nothing more than necessity — Rudd needed a ride and Childress needed a driver — the pair spent just two years together.
But in two years’ time, a stellar driving career and a legendary ownership role were launched.
“Even today I can’t thank Ricky enough for what he did for RCR,” Childress said recently during an unveiling of throwback paint schemes to be run by two of his organization’s three cars later this year in the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. “Those were the breaking points that we needed to get both of our careers jump-started. I think it was a great time for both of us.”
Austin Dillon, grandson of the team owner, will drive a No. 3 Chevrolet bearing the likeness of Rudd’s No. 3 Piedmont Airlines entry at Darlington.
“I’d been talking to Piedmont prior to that,” Childress said of the 1982 sponsorship agreement. “Even talked to them back when Dale (Earnhardt) was running … races (for us).
“They said, ‘We’re an up-and-coming airline, we want an up and coming driver.’ I said, ‘Well I know exactly the person.’ I convinced Ricky to run for us. We didn’t even have it done when he came over to drive for us.”
Childress had gone the independent route for roughly a dozen years, earning 76 top-10 finishes but never a victory in 285 career starts as a driver.
Rudd had begun to climb the racing ladder, but saw his career stall at the end of ’81 when he was replaced at DiGard Racing by veteran Bobby Allison.
“About that time I got a call from Richard,” Rudd said. “He said, ‘Hey, nothing concrete but I’ve got some good equipment that I’m going to Daytona with, would you be willing to drive our car?’ That’s how it started.
“That phone call didn’t take place until late December, maybe early January. … I didn’t have anything going that was better than what Richard had to offer. I went to the car that I thought gave me the best chance to win races. Even though the prior half season Dale Earnhardt was driving the car and everyone knows Earnhardt’s capabilities but they never really performed that well. There were reasons for that, but Richard was in a major rebuild during that time.”
Earnhardt drove for Richard Childress Racing for the final 11 races of ’81, but departed to spend the next two years with Bud Moore where he won three times.
Meanwhile, the RCR organization was beginning to make strides.
“Before we went to Daytona, things had started happening. Piedmont Airlines had stepped on board as a sponsor. Goodyear came on board and helped us out with some tires … there were a lot of people that got on board and liked what they saw,” Rudd said.
“The team just continued to snowball in the right direction after I was asked to join it, not because of me, but the timing was perfect for me as a driver and was perfect for Richard as an owner, through all the hard work and people he had. It came together and worked.”
Rudd and Childress went winless in their first season together, but the driver did finish ninth in points.
The following year, Rudd began the season with three consecutive poles — at Daytona, Richmond, Virigina, and Rockingham, North Carolina — career win No. 1, for Rudd and for Childress, came in the season’s 13th race, at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway.
Rudd led 57 laps of the 95-lap race, including the final 41. The victory came in his 161st start in the series.
“It gave every one of us confidence,” Childress said. “It gave him confidence to progress in the sport, gave us confidence that we could win as a team and as a company and we just had to keep digging.”
“It wasn’t a road-race car,” Will Lind, now Business Director of Competition for RCR, said. “It was our Martinsville car with the gas hole moved and the oil cooler for the transmission. The only thing specialized about it was him (Rudd).”
Afterward, as Childress and crew chief Kirk Shelmerdine began the long trek back to the Carolinas, the team owner said he pulled off on the side of the road.
“Kirk and I looked at each other and Kirk said, ‘You know what we just did?’
“I said, ‘Yeah, we won.’ “
“He said, ‘No, you won right outside of LA, with all the big sports going on … we just won a major race here in Riverside, California.’ “
Rudd won once more that season, at Martinsville Speedway, and again finished ninth in points.
The following season, he moved on to join Bud Moore Engineering; Earnhardt, meanwhile returned to RCR where he went on to win six premier series titles for the former owner/driver.
Rudd retired from driving after the 2007 season, with 23 career wins and 374 top-10 finishes in 906 starts. He finished fifth or better in points five times, including second in 1991.
He is one of five new nominees on this year’s 20-person ballot to be considered for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame for 2017. The NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel will meet Wed., May 25 to decide next year’s five-member class.
“It’s an exciting time for me,” Rudd said. “It would be great if I make it but there are some guys that are probably better qualified than me. I’d love to be elected this year but hopefully that day will come. At least I’m in the pool anyway; you’ve got to get in the pool before you can be elected. We’ll see how it turns out. But there are some guys that deserve to be in there before I do.”
It is Childress’ eighth year on the Hall of Fame ballot. In addition to six premier series titles and 105 victories, RCR teams have also XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series titles.
“You could tell early on that there was something special about it,” Rudd said of the organization. “Richard was more than just being a car owner … it was family. They live, eat, sleep and breathe racing. …
“At the time there were no victories here but as a group it all started happening. And it was just a neat time to be a part of it.”
MORE: Cast your NASCAR Hall of Fame ballot