page_title: Bud Moore Engineering
section_title: 1980s
hierarchical_section_title: Bud Moore Engineering / History / 1980s
caption_attribution_description: w:Ricky Rudd in his #15 NASCAR car for Bud Moore. Rudd moved to the Bud Moore team in 1984 and won 6 races in 4 years for them.
context_page_description: Bud Moore Engineering was a championship-winning NASCAR team. It was owned and operated by mechanic Bud Moore and ran out of Spartanburg, South Carolina. While the team was a dominant force in the 1960s and 1980s, the final years were tumultuous due to lack of sponsorship and uncompetitive race cars.
context_section_description: After Allison won four races in 1980 and finished sixth in points, he left for other opportunities. He was replaced by Benny Parsons, who won three races and finished tenth in points. He too, decided to move on after that season. Moore hit paydirt in 1982 by hiring a hotshot young superstar named Dale Earnhardt and signed Wrangler Jeans as primary sponsor. Earnhardt had one win  in his first year, and finished 12th in points. After only improving slightly the next year, Earnhardt departed for Richard Childress Racing, and was replaced by Ricky Rudd (who was driving the No. 3 Childress car that Earnhardt was going to be driving, both with the same Wrangler sponsorship). After a demoralizing start that resulted in Rudd flipping over several times in a crash in the Bud Shootout, Rudd won at Richmond and finished seventh in points. Armed with new sponsor Motorcraft, Rudd won five more races from 1985-1987, and had a best points finish of fifth.
  After 1987, Rudd departed for King Racing, rookie Brett Bodine replaced him. Compared to the teams' previous success, Bodine's performance was disappointing, and he left to replace Rudd at King.
caption: Rudd in Moore's No. 15, from 1984
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