Believe it or not, Dale Earnhardt was not the first driver to win a race for Richard Childress Racing. “The Intimidator’s” first win for RCR came in 1984.
A year before that, at Riverside International Raceway, RCR’s first trip to victory lane came via Ricky Rudd on June 5, 1983.
In a No. 3 Chevrolet sponsored by Piedmont Airlines, Rudd scored the first of RCR’s 105 Sprint Cup wins. It was also the first win of Rudd’s career, which would end in 2007 with 23 victories.
That first win will be commemorated by RCR in this year’s Southern 500 with the cars of Austin Dillon and Ryan Newman.
Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet, sponsored by American Ethanol, will have the same paint scheme Rudd’s car had 33 years ago.
We've thrown back to Ricky Rudd's No. 3 for @TooToughToTame. #NASCARthrowback pic.twitter.com/naMnW6mzKw
— RCR (@RCRracing) May 11, 2016
Newman’s No. 31 Chevrolet will have a similar paint scheme with the colors of his sponsor, Caterpillar.
#NASCAR ... Ryan Newman with his Southern 500 paint scheme with Richard Childress and Ricky Rudd. @NASCARonNBC pic.twitter.com/CXvMN0BDhD
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) May 11, 2016
“Ricky’s win in 1983 was a special one because it catapulted RCR into one of the elite performance organizations in NASCAR,” RCR Chairman & CEO Richard Childress said in a press release. “Every time I think back to that afternoon in California, I think about how far we’ve come as a company. This will be a great opportunity to pay tribute to our past.”
RCR will reveal the paint scheme for Paul Menard’s No. 27 Chevrolet at a later date.
The Southern 500 is scheduled for Sept. 4 on NBC.