Another time, when the cooling system in his car failed, his team tried to help by pouring water into his firesuit. But the process backfired and Rudd suffered second-degree burns. He finished the race and did his media obligations laying on the ground.
"He had a job to do, and nothing was going to stop him,” said seven-time NASCAR champion and fellow Hall of Famer Richard Petty.
Rudd also didn't stand down to anyone — he told The Associated Press his father taught him young how to handle bullies — and his ability to defend himself prevented many confrontations that might have happened during NASCAR's rougher days.
Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon recounted a time the two crashed into each other and had to share an ambulance to the care center. Gordon said he was so relieved to see Rudd already seated in the front seat because if they'd been in the back together, Gordon figured he was about to lose a fist fight.
“He’s a guy who demands respect and deserves to be in the Hall of Fame,” said fellow Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace.
Also inducted Friday night was Carl Edwards, a popular driver who abruptly quit the sport after his second controversial loss of a Cup Series title.
Edwards, always extremely popular, was tough to get a true read on during his career as many of his fellow competitors found him to be fake. Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, who beat Edwards on a tiebreaker for the 2011 championship, used to call Edwards “Eddie Haskell” for his penchant of being polite and friendly in front of cameras and fans, but not so nice to his fellow competitors.
He lamented in his speech “the facade of reputation” and admitted he was “kind of being a douchebag," in not being friends with his fellow competitors. Edwards said, “If I had been a little more mature, a little bit less self-centered, had a little more perspective... we could have been more than enemies on the racetrack.”
When Edwards lost a second title in 2016 and abruptly quit the sport — and literally vanished from the NASCAR community — he thought he'd never again be part of the community.
“I left eight years ago and I thought I was truly turning my back on this whole sport. I thought I was making a choice between this sport and my family,” Edwards said. “And you know, every prize has its price, and for me, the prize of my family was worth that price. What you've done here, though, is you've let me win both ways.”
Now that he's back, Edwards told AP he plans to come to the track some in 2025 and is interested in television work — and Amazon still has positions to fill in its broadcast portion of the upcoming season.
“He had a real focus in his professional career, he is a real credit to our sport and he was a superstar,” said Hall of Fame team owner Joe Gibbs, who Edwards drove for when he quit after the 2016 season finale.
Edwards had been leading late when a questionable caution was thrown and Edwards was wrecked on the restart.
“I remember him sitting down and saying ‘Hey, Joe, I think it’s time for me to step away from racing,'” recalled Gibbs. “And I go, ‘What? Here’s a guy who is in his prime, and for him to say that, I think it was one of the more shocking things that happened to me in sports.”
Also inducted Friday night was the late Ralph Moody, who was elected on the pioneer ballot. Dr. Dean Sicking, who is credited with creating the life-saving SAFER barrier following Dale Earnhardt's 2001 death, was the Landmark Award winner for contribution to the sport, and retired motorsports writer Mike Harris of The Associated Press was honored as recipient of the 2025 Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence.
Moody served under Gen. George S. Patton in World War II, then returned to Florida in 1949 to pursue racing. He won five races as a driver, then partnered with John Holman in 1957 to form Holman-Moody Racing, which from 1957 to 1973 won consecutive championships with David Pearson in 1968 and 1969, and gave Mario Andretti the winning car for the 1967 Daytona 500.
Holman-Moody won 96 races and 83 poles with drivers that included Hall of Famers Joe Weatherly, Fred Lorenzen, Fireball Roberts, Bobby Allison and Pearson.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
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