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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Ricky Rudd, the tough-as-nails driver from Virginia, was selected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Tuesday, along with driver Carl Edwards and mechanic and race strategist Ralph Moody, who made it in on the pioneer ballot.
Dr. Dean Sicking, who created the SAFER barrier after being commissioned by NASCAR to make racing safer following the death of Dale Earnhardt at Daytona, was selected as the Landmark Award winner for his contributions to the sport.
They will be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame in January at a ceremony in Charlotte.
Rudd was one of the few successful driver-owners in the modern era, having won 23 races during his 32-year racing career and 29 poles.
The 67-year-old Rudd held the Cup Series record for consecutive starts with 788 before Jeff Gordon broke the record in 2015.
A permanent fixture on race weekends, Rudd started 906 Cup races, second only to Richard Petty’s 1,185. He finished in the top five 194 times and 374 times in the top 10, and won a Cup race in 16 consecutive seasons from 1983-98.
The 1977 Cup Series rookie of the year, Rudd went on to win six races for the Rudd Performance Motorsports team he operated from 1994-99, including the 1997 Brickyard 400.
The 44-year-old Edwards’ career included 72 career wins across the NASCAR’s three racing series, including 28 in Cup Series racing — most of which were capped by a celebratory backflip.
His success on the Truck Series success earned him full-time rides in both the Cup and Xfinity Series in 2005.
He broke onto the big scene by winning his first races in each series during an early season weekend sweep at Atlanta Motor Speedway and became a popular budding star in the sport. He won the Xfinity Series championship in 2007 and amassed 38 wins over seven full seasons at that level.
Edwards won the Coca Cola 600, Southern 500 in 2015 and was the Cup Series championship runner-up twice, including the closest finish in NASCAR history when he lost by tiebreaker in 2011.
Moody drove a tank under the command of General George S. Patton in World War II, then moved moved to Florida in 1949 so he could race year round.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing