Iron men

Rudd one start from breaking Labonte's streak

CONCORD, N.C. -- Ricky Rudd and Terry Labonte aren’t big men, loudmouths or scene-stealers.

Neither favor hoopla, unless it’s in victory lane, and neither have much use for the term, "spin," unless it’s on the race track.

"Terry’s probably a little quieter than me," said Rudd, whose recent comments on NASCAR’s promotional tendencies touched off a firestorm. "My mouth has probably gotten me in a little trouble over the years."

For now, he’s in the spotlight for something else: breaking Labonte’s record of 655 consecutive Winston Cup starts. Rudd tied the mark two weeks ago at Richmond International Raceway. He’ll surpass it when he starts next week’s Coca-Cola Family 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

"Terry, he’s a racer through and through," Rudd said Thursday during a commemorative luncheon at the Speedway. "[I] came up a similar way. I have a lot of respect for what Terry’s been able to accomplish over the years."

"And really, our careers have been a parallel to each other," Labonte said.

Rudd’s Iron Man streak began at Riverside (Ca.) International Speedway in 1981; it was his 87th career start dating back to 1975. Labonte’s streak began in January, 1979, and ended in August, 2000 when he missed the Brickyard 400 because of inner ear problems associated with a July crash at Daytona.

NASCAR’s original Iron Man? Richard Petty. Labonte surpassed the King’s mark of 513 consecutive starts in 1996.

"Trophies are nice and money’s nice, but really at the end of the day, all you want is to be thought of highly amongst your competitors," Rudd said.

Both he and Labonte are 40-something elder statesmen. Both have been acting like sprites lately. New crew chief Jim Long has been crucial to Labonte’s 2002 rejuvenation -- the latter currently stands 17th in Cup points -- and Rudd, in his third season at Robert Yates Racing, has already been reborn. He finished fourth last season behind champion Jeff Gordon; is 10th so far this year.

There are other similarities. Both Rudd and Labonte can evoke a wry sense of humor.

"I think it’s kind of smart-aleck," Rudd said. "I think that’s what it’s called."

They’re also the same age. Rudd turns 46 in September, Labonte in November. Their statistics even dovetail: Rudd has 742 career starts, Labonte has 720. Rudd has 22 career victories, Labonte has 21.

Both drivers have also worked for owner Rick Hendrick. Following the 1993 season, Labonte replaced Rudd in the No. 5 Chevrolet. He’s been there ever since. Rudd spent four years with Hendrick -- 1990 through 1993 -- before leaving to form his own team in 1994.

"Ricky is a great competitor," Hendrick said. "Terry’s just a funny guy. They’re a lot alike. And they’re both champions."

Well, not really. Labonte is a two-time Cup champion, in 1984 and 1996. Rudd’s best points finish was second, in 1991. But according to Robert Yates, who called both men, "Good Christians, God-fearing," during Thursday’s luncheon, both Rudd and Labonte are champions off the track.

"They don’t go out and race because they’re running from debt collectors or bill collectors," said Yates, recalling his young-man impressions of NASCAR’s earlier, seedier generations. "It’s something they chose to do … I thought you had to be a little dirtier, and little meaner to cut it. Good guys can win, and we certainly want to praise them for that."

A little vinegar apparently helps, too.

"Both of them, when they’re mad, you want to stay away from them," Hendrick said. "Cause they both are mild-mannered and calm, but when they get hot, boy, you give them time to calm down."

Yet upstanding doesn’t mean soft. In the early years of his own Iron Man streak, Labonte suffered a horrific accident at Riverside.

"I broke my right foot," he said. "All the bones where your toes go, it crushed all the end of it, right there. Then I broke my left leg. And I broke my nose, cut my face up real bad. Cut my nose up."

The force of impact, "pushed the steering wheel back," Labonte said of why he suffered a broken nose. "Broke some ribs." Completely serious, he added, "That was about it."

During the latter stages of the 1996 title run, Hendrick recalls Labonte suffering a broken hand. The following week, the owner watched as his driver received a pre-race injection at Phoenix. Labonte finished fifth that day.

"If I had to face that needle, I’d have quit right there," Hendrick said.

Rudd’s tenacity is equally unquestioned. In the infancy of his Iron Man streak, a February, 1984 barrel-roll at Daytona banged him up so badly that doctors had to tape open his swollen eyelids so he could see to race the next week at Richmond.

In May, 1988, Rudd tore the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during a crash at Charlotte. Doctors advised surgery, but his then-car owner, NHRA great Kenny Bernstein, dispatched him to noted open-wheel guru Dr. Terry Trammell in Indianapolis. Trammell prescribed therapy, and the streak stayed intact.

"Really, you have to have a lot of faith," said Rudd’s wife, Linda. "You can be just walking across the street and get hit by a car, and that’s the way we’ve always looked at things. And things happen for a reason."

Including longevity. There are a lot of numbers -- absurd only in terms of quantity -- attached to Rudd’s feat. His to-date total of 193,181 laps, a translation of 235,097 miles, equals 9 1/2 trips around the equator, 95 trips between Los Angles and New York, and almost a one-way trip the moon; he needs a few more Daytona 500s to complete that 238,900-mile lunar journey.

And despite all their similarities, he and Labonte don’t finish each other’s sentences.

"We cross paths a lot," Rudd said. "But really, it’s one of these deals where you’ve been around each other 20-some years, but you really don’t truly know each other than the fact that he’s a class-act guy -- I know that."

Neither can remember exchanging a cross word, or harboring a reservation about the other.

"And the garage area is one thing, but on the race track is another," Rudd said. "You race so many years together, and you have to trust one another so many times. If someone’s underneath you and you’re running 190 miles an hour in a corner, you have to know that guy beside you. You have to have confidence in him."

Labonte’s confidence in Rudd is so complete that he would hire him.

"He would be one of the guys that if I was an owner, I would want in my car," Labonte said. "And I could probably count those people on both hands here -- people that I would want as a car owner."

When told, Rudd appeared stunned.

"That’s an honor," he said, pausing to repeat it. "Yeah. Thanks."

 

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