Tag: rudd

1994 – Bill Elliot in a Cup Pontiac?

Posted on by Pontiac Racing

01/12/2024 – The mid 1990’s were notoriously grim time for Pontiac in Cup, and – to a degree – they appeared to be looking outside of the box for a solution to right the ship after Pontiac ace Rusty Wallace and Penske left the Pontiac camp for Ford at the end of his wildly successful 1993 campaign. This was an article from the web archives –

https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1994/rt9406/940612/06140181.htm

Alternative history image and source –

My McDonald’s Pontiac
byu/Familiar_Delivery790 inNr2003

Readers of the blog recall a similar article from the internet archives was covered by the blog regarding a possible Rudd-Pontiac connection in 1995/1996 (Rudd fans are quick to point out that he had driven a Pontiac in Cup for Richard Childress in the early 1980’s) –

When Ricky Rudd Almost Switched to Pontiac for 1996

PONTIAC TRIES TO FILL ITS GARAGE

While its five Grand Prix teams continue to struggle through a tough year in the Winston Cup series, Pontiac has been courting new teams for the 1995 season with generous offers of factory assistance.

After failing to lure Bill Elliott into the Pontiac fold (he’s contracted to Ford for another year), Pontiac has turned its sights on Ricky Rudd and Dale Jarrett, sources familiar with the discussions report.

Rudd started his own team this year with Ford, and Jarrett is in the GM camp with Chevrolet.

“We have been approached,” Jarrett said Saturday. ”But I would say right now we’re pretty happy where we’re at. Chevy has a new car [Monte Carlo] coming out and [crew chief] Jimmy [Makar] has been working hard with GM on that. So at this particular time I couldn’t foresee us making a change from where we’re at.”

Rudd said he couldn’t comment on whether he has been approached by Pontiac or what his team might do for next year, “but we’d have to have open ears, as would anybody in the sport” to any offers of assistance.

Rudd would seem to be a more likely prospect than Jarrett because he’s in a Ford. Sixth in points, Rudd also is doing the best of the new car owners. While he gets help from Ford, he’s not at the top of Ford’s pecking order.

Pontiac has Kyle Petty, Wally Dallenbach, Bobby Labonte, Michael Waltrip and Bobby Hamilton. The best finish among them in 1994 is Waltrip’s third at Talladega.

Don Taylor, the Winston Cup program manager for GM’s Motorsports Technology Group, said he could not comment on whether Pontiac is courting Rudd and Jarrett. He did say: “I don’t believe Pontiac would want to be in a situation where they’re adding teams just to add teams. Pontiac has had a small number of teams, and the MTG has been working very closely with those teams. Our first priority is working with the existing teams to optimize their performances and get them back in the winner’s circle.”

  Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994                   TAG: 9406140181
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LONG POND, PA.                                LENGTH: Medium

When Ricky Rudd Almost Switched to Pontiac for 1996

Posted on by Pontiac Racing

06/19/2021 – Another ‘what could have been’ for Pontiac fans.

  THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
  Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, June 30, 1995 TAG: 9506300614
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines


RUDD SAYS HE IS NOT SWITCHING TO PONTIAC


Ricky Rudd, assuming that NASCAR will not keep the Fords at a disadvantage for long, said Thursday he will not switch to the new Pontiac Grand Prix for 1996.

Rudd said he decided to stay with the Ford Thunderbird after Ford’s top racing officials promised him more technical support.

‘I think by staying with Ford we’ll get more engineering support and more wind tunnel time,’ Rudd said. ‘Pontiac is going to have a great race car, but I think that will be short-lived. I think NASCAR will get the cars evened up. I just can’t see Ford staying down that long.’

Pontiac had been courting Rudd for a couple of months, reportedly offering him $640,000 to switch brands and $225,000 a year. Pontiac has five teams in the Winston Cup series and wants to expand to six or seven.

Ford already has more than 20 cars in the series, and Ford’s top racing officials reportedly did not want get into a bidding war over Rudd. Nonetheless, they decided they didn’t want to lose him and mounted an aggressive effort to keep him in a Thunderbird.

‘We were one of the first teams Pontiac was after, and we were interested in them,’ Rudd said. ‘But I think we’ve now got better access to engineering support and time in the wind tunnel than we did before. So I guess the bottom line was we would have had to switch cars to gain that (technical support), but now we don’t.’ Another big determining factor was the strength of Rudd’s engines. ‘I’ve got a great motor program now and that would be in jeopardy,’ he said.

Rudd leases engines from Peter Guild and his Pro Motors company. Guild can build both GM and Ford engines, but he’s coaxed more horsepower out of the Fords. Rudd frequently has had one of fastest Fords this year, and his engines have been one of the reasons for that.

Rudd also was concerned about the timetable for the development of the new Grand Prix stock car. He noted that Chevrolet began seriously testing the new Monte Carlo race car two years ago. Pontiac has built one Grand Prix test race car for all the teams to share, but Rudd said he didn’t know when Pontiac was going to let his team build and test one on their own.

“You don’t need to wait until January,” he said.

Finally, Rudd did not want to alienate car-conscious fans. `Fans get pretty upset when you switch brands,’ he said.

‘It’s very, very disappointing,’ said Pontiac’s Brian Hoagland. ‘I think Ricky had a good opportunity with us.’

https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1995/vp950630/06300614.htm