page_title: Ricky Rudd
section_title: 1994–1999
hierarchical_section_title: Ricky Rudd / Career / 1994–1999
caption_attribution_description: English: 1994 NASCAR Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Ricky Rudd in car #10.
context_page_description: Richard Lee Rudd, nicknamed "The Rooster," is an American former racing driver. He is the uncle of actor Skeet Ulrich and former NASCAR Busch Series driver Jason Rudd. He retired in 2007 with 23 career wins. He was named the 2006 Virginian of the Year and was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. In October 2010, he was selected to the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame, which honors those who have contributed to sports in southeastern Virginia.
context_section_description: Rudd took Tide and formed his own race team in 1994, Rudd Performance Motorsports and drove the No. 10 Ford Thunderbird that season. His first win as an owner/driver came at New Hampshire International Speedway, which led to a fifth-place points finish. 1995 saw his consecutive winning streak almost end before he won the Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix, the second-to-last race of the season. He had another near miss in 1996, but won at North Carolina Speedway.
  In 1997, Rudd had two wins, one in the Brickyard 400 and the other at Dover International Speedway, making this his highest win total since 1987, but he dropped to 17th in the points standings, making this the first time he finished outside of the Top 10 in nine years. His only win in 1998 came at Martinsville Speedway, dealing with high air temperatures and a faulty cooling system. As a result, Rudd suffered burns and blisters over most of his body, and gave his victory lane interview lying on the ground breathing from an oxygen mask. This would be the last win of his consecutive victory streak, as he struggled with mechanical failures and wrecks throughout the season. The following year, Rudd failed to win a race, snapping a 16-season streak with at least one victory. When Tide left his team, Rudd chose to liquidate his equipment and close his team.
caption: Rudd at 1994 Brickyard 400.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image DateTime": "2014:07:02 21:58:30", "Image ExifOffset": "2142", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "0", "Thumbnail YResolution": "0", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4316", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7935", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "C536A2291535473992A459523ADFB122", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}