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A LESSON FROM THE 'IRON MAN'
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July 2012
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by Claire B. Lang
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Category: Claire B. Lang
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Maybe when you're reading this column it's the best day of your life or just maybe it's one of the worst. As you ride down that long and lonely highway today, maybe your challenges seem insurmountable.
Hang on, the "Iron Man," Ricky Rudd, is pulling up beside you to ride shotgun for a few minutes.
Rudd recently told his personal story about battling adversity just before being inducted into the 2012 class of the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame.
As a driver, Rudd had 23 Cup wins in the NASCAR ranks over the course of 32 years. He drove for some of the sport's premier owners, including Bud Moore, Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, Robert Yates and the Wood Brothers, and he also won races competing as an owner/driver.
In 1984, Rudd was involved in a horrific crash in the Busch Clash at Daytona. His car became airborne and he suffered a severe concussion. His eyes were swollen so badly that he taped his eyes open to race in the Daytona 500.
"I just remember going to Daytona in 1984, having a career opportunity driving for Bud Moore. It was going to be our first race out of the gates in the Bud Shootout (I think that was before they were restricted and we were running 200-plus mph laps) and I remember getting tapped in the back bumper," recalled Rudd.
"The car does one of those reverse flips and goes way up in the air. I remember hearing the wind getting knocked out of my lungs when I hit the ground." Rudd recalled thinking he was going to end up in the Goodyear suite high above the fence before the car came down. Then, he was on a stretcher and on his way to the hospital.
After being treated, Rudd told his wife that he wanted to return to the racetrack. She immediately helped him over to the mirror to show him how bad he looked and since he didn't recognize the face looking back at him, he decided to stay in the hospital. The next day, however, in horrible pain, he went back to the track and got back inside his race car.
"I was hurting pretty bad internally - ribs, torn cartilage, rib cage, things like that - but I could tolerate it," Rudd said. "I got in the car, made a few laps and go down in turn one and all of a sudden my eyes crossed. I could see but everything was distorted and I just didn't need to be in the car going that fast with that happening. During that time, the lights would go out, it would get dark and I'd get to the straightaway and it would get light again; (I was) still dizzy, but it would get light again."
Rudd came into the garage area and told owner Bud Moore that he could not see when he drove into the corner. "(Bud) looked back and he thought a little bit and I don't know who said it but the duct tape came out and they taped all the excess loose swollen eyes up to my forehead ... and we went (back) out," Rudd said. "That fixed the darkness. I still got dizzy but, anyway, that's how it went for about three weekends after that."
Rudd was badly injured and he thought that the injury could be a career ender. But then, he decided that he simply could not give up.
So what's Rudd's advice for those who are going through adversity? "I think I was driven," Rudd told me. "I had a goal and focused on what I wanted to do. I don't think it matters if you're driving race cars or what you are doing, I think if you're that passionate about something I definitely would recommend seeing it to the end. Don't give up."
He added, "I was always the gung-ho 'Put me in, Coach, I'll do it' (kind of guy), you know," Rudd said. "... It's OK to dream about stuff but you gotta have the desire to follow it through."
Despite multiple injuries, and in a physical state that NASCAR would never allow a driver to race in today, Rudd started fourth and finished first at Richmond, the second race after the crash.
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