On This Day June 5, 1983 – Riverside International Raceway

Ricky Rudd wins his first Winston Cup race and gets car owner Richard Childress his first Cup win as a car owner.

Starting from the 4^th position, Rudd lead 57 of the 95 laps including the last 41 for a convincing victory over 2^nd place Bill Elliott (from 19^th), 3^rd place Harry Gant (from 6^th), 4^th place Dale Earnhardt (from 15^th), and 5^th place with a great run, Dick Brooks (from 20^th). Pole sitter Darrell Waltrip finished 7^th.

As was the norm, instead of towing the travel trailer home on a Sunday evening, we would stay at a local motel, relax, have a nice dinner, and drive home on Monday after the morning L.A. rush hour traffic cleared out.

By chance, the Childress crew was staying at the same motel. Not only did they win the race, but they also won the party. On the balconies, by the pool, a good time was had by all. But I came away with one question after watching the festivities: Does anyone from North Carolina own a pair of swimming trunks?

Friday Practice:

Ford Motorsports previewed the 1984 Bud Moore car:

Early race action had Neil Bonnett drop a wheel off in Turn 3 and finish it off in Turn 5

Pole Sitter Darrell Waltrip finished in 7th

Tim Richmond, who started 2nd, challenged Rudd early but ended up in 28th with a DNF

Finishing 5th & 6th: Dick Brooks & Kyle Petty

Finishing 4th, Dale Earnhardt:

Finishing 3rd, Harry Gant:

Finishing 2nd, Bill Elliott:

The Winner, Ricky Rudd (And the crowd went wild):

Rudd and the RCR team calmly enjoying victory lane before moving the festivities to Scott’s hotel –Getty Images

Nothing better than a first time winner in victory lane –Getty

AP wire race report published in Spartanburg Herald Journal

A follow-up column about the popular win for the young Rudd and fledgling RCR team

Video highlights as aired on the old TBS show, Motorweek Illustrated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxtzGBC4cRc

The whole enchilada as packaged and apparently aired later – the notable lack of Boogity, Boogity is refreshing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMoRkC2dXtc

Great add Chase! And the comment on the Victory Lane’! HAHAHA

The full length video completely missed Bonnett’s spin.

In December 1982, I purchased a $40 Polaroid camera at a Service merchandise store in Greensboro, NC. Inside the camera box was a coupon from Delta Airlines for a free accompanying round trip flight anywhere in their system. So, in June 1983, my wife, Joyce accompanied me on her first trip to California thanks to the camera purchase. The photo below is of the two of us on race day morning at riverside on June 5, 1983.

What a great post, Scott, and great follow up Chase. I love this stuff.

On the same day the Cup teams raced at Riverside, the newly formed National Pick-up Truck Racing Association series raced at Rockingham. One of the entrants was Randy Baker. One of his restored trucks is on display at Memory Lane Museum in Mooresville NC.

FromSpartanburg Herald Journal

Baker’s truck at Memory Lane Museum – fromTMC collection

Rudd’s victory also got him the cover of the September 1983 issue of Grand National Illustrated

The “Bud Moore” Wrangler Thunderbird in Scott’s photo previewed under the Ford Display tent was actually built by our RR member, Will Cronkrite. You can see Will’s White Crown Engineering logo on the c-pillar. I had my own Wrangler Thunderbird show car owned by our parent company, Blue Bell, Inc., touring the country, but talked Mickey Matus in Ford SVO Marketing into featuring the Wrangler colors on the car they used in Ford’s touring display.

Checking online, I see that Mickey Matus is still with Ford and now in his 37th year. He is currently the Marketing Communications Manager for Ford Racing and one of the nicest guys I ever met at Ford.

Thanks Tim! Appreciate the kind words

Great info Dave. I’ll pass this along to my buddy, Lee Porter

The guys setting up the display asked Lee if he’d park his car alongside the tent

Nice ride!

Sorry I missed you 🙂

bump

In December 1982, I purchased a $40 Polaroid camera at a Service Merchandise store in Greensboro, NC. Inside the camera box was a coupon from Delta Airlines for a free accompanying round trip flight anywhere in their system. So, in June 1983, my wife, Joyce accompanied me on her first trip to California thanks to the camera purchase. The photo below is of the two of us on race day morning at Riverside on June 5, 1983.

We really enjoyed those trips from the east coast out to Riverside. I guess RC and team had to change travel arrangements, since they always booked an 11:00 pm Sunday night redeye flight out of L.A. back to the east coast. In 1983, Bud Moore continued to use the ’82 shoebox Thunderbird on the road courses and short tracks as seen in Scott’s photo of Earnhardt in the #15 ahead of Richmond’s #27 Raymond Beadle car. I suspect that a heavy acquaintance with Mr. Daniels and Mr. Beam contributed to the lack of swimtrunks by RC’s North Carolina based team!😃