"It's just like Robert Pressley, who drives my truck now and he drove the 77 (Cup) car last year. He doesn't run (road courses) and last year they sent Boris Said out there. I told him, 'Robert, if you'll get the right kind of car and go run those places one time, you'll be happy with them.' It's the same old deal with all these guys. How many guys have you seen in the past who have run good on road courses that don't run good at all now? I mean, the list just goes on and on. I guess the moral of the story is it comes right back down to having that perfect race car at that perfect time, at that perfect race. Without that I don't care how good you are, you aren't going to run good."
For Rudd, adapting quickly to road courses involved a variety of factors-good equipment, certainly, but primarily background, talent and desire-and he is quick to profess his enthusiasm for road racing today.
"It's like the biggest hoot you can have," he says, "to go out there in a heavy car, with a tremendous amount of motor and not very much rubber on the ground, and then somebody says have at it."
King Of The RoadWinston Cup Drivers With The Most Wins On Road CoursesSears Point* Jeff Gordon 3* Ernie Irvan 2* Rusty Wallace 2* 1 Each: Ricky Rudd, Davey Allison, Geoff Bodine, Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart.
Watkins Glen* Jeff Gordon 4* Mark Martin 3* Rusty Wallace 2* Ricky Rudd 2* 1 Each: Tim Richmond,Buck Baker, Billy Wade,Marvin Panch, Ernie Irvan,Kyle Petty, Geoff Bodine, Steve Park.
Top all-time road course winners* Jeff Gordon 7* Rusty Wallace, Richard Petty, Bobby Allison 6* Ricky Rudd, Darrell Waltrip, Dan Gurney, Tim Richmond 5* Mark Martin, David Pearson 4* Geoff Bodine, Ernie Irvan, Cale Yarborough, Tim Flock 3* Terry Labonte, Marvin Panch, Fireball Roberts, Marshall Teague, Billy Wade, Ray Elder, Parnelli Jones 2* 22 drivers with one win each
Keep 'Em or Trash 'Em?Road course races were favored by 70 percent of readers responding to a recent poll on our Stock Car Racing Web site, stockcarracing.com. Below we've included a sampling of comments from the survey.
"Keep them. The road courses make NASCAR that much more exciting, although I am of the opinion that Winston Cup drivers should be the only drivers allowed to race. Leave the road course drivers in their own races. Don't mix the two. It's not fair to our great Winston Cup drivers."
"Keep 'em. They provide some of the most exciting racing on the circuit. Make the big-money boys turn right every once in a while."
"I don't like the road courses. They are boring to watch. Every once in a while there is a little action, but that's it."
See For YourselfSeries: NASCAR Winston CupLocation: Sonoma, CaliforniaTrack: Sears Point Raceway(2-mile road course)Date: June 23