Richmond Wins Again at Riverside : His Record Is Perfect Since Coming Back After His Illness

Fun-loving Tim Richmond, who lives life on the ragged edge, drove the same way Sunday to continue his remarkable comeback from a serious illness.

Driving a new Chevrolet Monte Carlo prepared by Harry Hyde for car owner Rick Hendrick, Richmond finished two seconds ahead of Ricky Rudd to win the Budweiser 400 NASCAR race at Riverside International Raceway.

It was the former Indianapolis 500 rookie of the year’s second straight Winston Cup win after missing the first 11 races with a siege of double pneumonia. He won the Miller 500 last week at Pocono, Pa.

It was also his second straight at Riverside after taking the Winston Western 500 here last November.

“I had to run awful hard today, harder than I’d planned,” Richmond said after surviving a 2 hour 26 minute nose-to-tail battle with Rudd and pole-sitter Terry Labonte around the 2.62-mile road course.

“The longer we ran, the better Alice (Richmond’s name for his Chevy) seemed to get,” he said after leading 48 of the last 57 laps on a hazy afternoon.

“I ran it hard all day, I didn’t give it a chance to breath. Every time I’d get out ahead and want to let up, I’d look up and there was Rick or Terry right on my tail. Terry had an awful strong car at the end.”

The closest thing Richmond had to a scare came on lap 71 of the 95-lap race.

He was leading during a caution period with Labonte and Rudd right behind him. When the green light came on, the pace car didn’t get out of Richmond’s way in time and he slowed enough for Labonte to hit him in the rear.

This not only dented Labonte’s front end, but permitted Rudd to circle out and take the lead.

Five laps later, however, Richmond ran down Rudd with one of the day’s most daring moves--a 140 m.p.h. side-by-side race through sweeping turn nine.

“My car worked a little better off (turn) nine, so I could pull up alongside him,” Richmond explained. “The place to be coming off nine is on the inside, but this time I had to take the outside line, up against the wall on the left. Luckily, his car couldn’t hold the inside line, which let me get to the next corner ahead of him.”

For all intents and purposes, that settled the race although Phil Parsons tried to steal it when all the leaders pitted on lap 83. Parsons did not pit and assumed the lead but held it only two laps before Richmond caught him.

“We know we gambled by staying out on that last caution,” Parsons said. “We were taking a chance on a number of things, like getting slower cars between us and the others. It was a good gamble, we were trying to win the race.”

Two laps from the end, Parsons spun into the dirt and finished 11th.

Rudd, in a Ford Thunderbird, finished second, just ahead of Neil Bonnett, in a Pontiac. Labonte was fourth and Bill Elliott fifth, all finishing in a pack. There were 11 cars on the same lap with Richmond at the end as a race record crowd of 55,000 was treated to one of the tightest stock car race finishes at Riverside.

Rudd gave it his all, but it wasn’t enough to beat Richmond.

“We were just a little bit short today,” Rudd said. “Tim ran off and left me when he needed to. He’s done an awful good job and he’s a good guy, but I just wish he’d stayed gone a little bit longer.

“Maybe we could have won this race today if he was still out, but I congratulate him and the whole team.”

Richmond won $36,450 and dedicated the win to his father.

“This is Father’s Day, so I think I should dedicate it to him as long as I’m not a father, at least I don’t think so,” he said.

Remarkably, 25 of the 41 starters were running at the end of a clean, hard race. There were only four caution periods, for 14 laps, and three of them were to clean the track of oil and debris.

The other one was when Geoff Bodine hit the wall in turn nine after blowing an engine near the end of the race.

Labonte, who set a race record during qualifying of 117.541 m.p.h., was fortunate to finish fourth, even though he had a strong car.

During practice Saturday, a tie-rod broke when Labonte was going down the backstretch, sending his car into a series of high-speed spins through the dirt. Junior Johnson’s crew spent most of the day replacing the car’s suspension.

Despite this, Labonte led 28 laps and was the most serious challenger to Richmond until his final pit stop. The crew changed two tires, but Labonte apparently needed four because he came right back in after one lap for the other two.

“If we hadn’t had to come in again the second time, maybe we could have won it,” Labonte said.

Joe Ruttman, filling in for the injured Richard Petty, finished sixth. Because Petty drove the car in the parade lap before Ruttman took over, Petty is considered the official driver.

This means that the results show Petty having his highest finish here since 1981 when he finished third--even though was was in the TV tower during the entire running of the race.

The change in drivers dropped Ruttman to the rear of the field but the former Upland driver moved up rapidly. He passed 12 cars in the first lap and by the 10th lap was 20th.

“I’m pleased,” Ruttman said. “I really wanted a top five (finish) but got hurt when (Geoff) Bodine hit the wall. He covered my windshield with dirt and at certain spots, because of the sun, I couldn’t see anything.

“As long as Richard (Petty) and Dale (Inman, crew chief) are pleased with what I did for them, then I’m thrilled I was able to help them out. I guess now it’s back home to the TV and the lounge chair.”

Ruttman also drove for Petty last week at Pocono, but Petty is expected to return to driving next week at Michigan. By the quirk of NASCAR rules, Ruttman extended Petty’s stretch of consecutive Winston Cup races to 464.

It was a particularly satisfying drive for Ruttman, who has been unemployed since being dropped by Kenny Bernstein in favor of Morgan Shepherd in Bernstein’s Buick. Shepherd finished 35th.

Defending race champion Darrell Waltrip, who left Junior Johnson’s team last year after winning three championships, continued his streak of ill fortune. His Waddell Wilson-prepared Chevy lasted only 15 laps before a broken fan belt sent him to the pits for 15 laps.

“I felt something vibrating, but didn’t know what, so I came in,” Waltrip said. “I guess something hit the fan blade and bent it and that broke a belt and ended up denting the radiator. The crew installed a whole new radiator.”

Waltrip returned to the race but was so far back that he finished 30th.

Hershel McGriff, defending Winston West champion, extended his 1987 lead in that series by being the first West Coast finisher. The 59-year-old McGriff wound up 12th, followed by Chad Little, who was 15th, and Ruben Garcia, who was 19th.

Todd Snyder of Anchorage, Alaska, took over after pole-sitter Ken Pedersen stopped with a flat tire and led the final 13 laps of the Formula Russell Pro Series race.

Snyder and Pedersen exchanged the lead three times on the eighth lap before Pedersen’s tire went flat.

Norm Breedlove, who finished second, led from the start but was quickly passed by Pedersen and Snyder.