Why Ricky Rudd's Hot Victory Celebration at Martinsville in '98 Was One for the Ages

Over NASCAR’s past quarter-century, few victory-lane celebrations can match the one at Martinsville Speedway Sept. 27, 1998.

And that’s a good thing.

Ricky Rudd won the NAPA 500, leading the final 96 laps and outrunning Jeff Gordon by a half-second at the finish. The overlapping story of that win is that it came on one of the most oppressive weather days in NASCAR’s modern era. Temperatures for the afternoon race reached into the mid-90s, meaning drivers in the tight confines of the race cars were wrestling with numbers closer to 140 degrees.

Although certainly uncomfortable for everyone in the field that day, the heat was generally tolerable for drivers using some form of cooling systems. Rudd’s Ford Taurus was similarly equipped, but the system failed on lap five, and Rudd knew he was in trouble with 495 painful laps to go.

As the race progressed, the pounding heat inside the car grew worse and worse, and Rudd told crew chief Bill Ingle to find a relief driver, saying he doubted he could finish the race. Hut Stricklin was summoned to the Rudd pit and, fitted with uniform and helmet, was ready to go.

In most circumstances, Rudd would have made the smart decision to pit during a caution and climb out of the car. Conditions were such that heat exhaustion was a stark reality. It didn’t help that water sprayed onto Rudd’s uniform during a pit stop burned his back.

But here was the “problem”…Rudd’s car was so good that he didn’t want to leave it. He had not won a race that season, and his streak of 15 years scoring at least one victory was in jeopardy.

The race rolled on. During pit stops, crew members put small bags of ice inside Rudd’s firesuit in an attempt to negate some of the heat.

Finally, it was over. Rudd was helped from the car in victory lane. Near collapse, he rested on the floor of victory lane and was given oxygen and IV fluids. He participated in the winner’s television interview on his back, obviously still suffering.

Rudd had second-degree burns on his back and buttocks. He recovered quickly, but it was a day he and those who helped him make it through the race will remember for years to come.

Heat inside race cars generally isn’t viewed as a major issue these days. Drivers race with so-called cool helmets and shirts and cockpit fans that make the driver’s space livable, but the matter became something of a topic during development of the Next Gen car when early tests showed that the interior of the car would be toastier than the previous model. Changes, including an air duct in the windshield and slots in the back window, improved the situation.