Transcript of the entire Rudd/Yates Conference

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I've seen bits and pieces, but here's the total transcript. Is there enough common ground left for this combo??

Ricky Rudd, driver of the No. 28 Havoline Taurus, and team owner Robert Yates provided an update on where things stand as far as contract negotiations for next season. Rudd had said he hoped a decision could be reached by today, July 15.

RICKY RUDD --28-- Havoline Taurus -- IS THERE ANYTHING NEW? "I'm working as hard as I can trying to get things worked out."

HAVE YOU ELIMINATED ANY OPTIONS? "I'm getting close. I think that's what I'm coming down to is being able to eliminate some options. I really feel like this week we'll probably have something to tell you about that. I was hoping I could wrap everything up and have some answers, but it's not working out that way. A lot of it is timing and details."

IS IT DRIVING YOU NUTS? "Oh yeah, it is -- without question. Again, it'll all unfold and then I can give you the low-down, but it's getting pretty intense and pretty nerve-wracking."

A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SAYING THAT IT'S A CASE OF WHEN YOU MAKE A DECISION, BUT IS THAT REALLY THE CASE? "You'll understand when we get done that a lot of it's not my decision. I'm not sitting here holding everybody up. A lot of things that are going on is not my decision to make and when it all comes out, it'll make sense. But right now it's a lot more complicated then maybe you can realize. It's a two part deal -- where I stand with Yates Racing and then what are your options if Yates Racing doesn't work out and a lot of the things that go on at Yates Racing are beyond my control. One thing I can lay to rest -- it's real simple -- at Yates Racing, regardless of what you read it's not a money issue and what I will say about that is I wasn't getting answers that I needed to have. Right after Dover I said, 'Well, let me put it on paper and I'll give it to Robert,' so he's had that now for over a month. There are some issues in the contract that, when it came to money, we worked through the issues. Just so you know, when I came in and took the ride at the 28 I took rookie pay. I never complained about a dollar. I made my deal and we lived by it, but it was to get my foot back in the door in good equipment. Money was never an issue there then. We get to the end of a three-year contract and I said, 'Robert, now is the time to catch up. I feel like I deserve top-five pay. We've been in the top five every year. We've won races. We got the team back on winner's circle.' But I said that I'm not asking for top-five pay, pay me top-10 pay and that became a sticking point for a while. Sponsors have stepped in to try to make that work out, but there's another key issue in there that is a stumbling point and that is that I want to make sure that if I come back to the 28 that it is indeed the 28 team as we know it today and not all the people have been moved off my team to a third team. So that's a sticking point."

HOW IS THE COMMUNICATION WITH ROBERT? "Well, to be honest with you, we never really have a lot of conversations. Since I've been there we've talked maybe once every one and a half months. We probably talked more in the last week or so than we have in quite a while, but, again, regardless of what someone says about the money issue, we have actually worked through that issue. The stumbling block is that if I'm gonna come back and start with a brand new team again, it might be time to look around. I don't even know who the people are who are gonna be working on the car next year, so how can I agree to sign when I don't know who the people are gonna be working on the car. And that's what it's about -- it's about people. Again, there's a third team that's gonna be started at Yates Racing. I do know the crew chief is gone (Michael McSwain). I identified key people who I felt was the heart of Yates Racing in my paperwork and Robert said, 'I cannot agree to the terms of that. I can't guarantee that you're gonna have those people.'"

SO YOUR CREW CHIEF WON'T BE BACK WITH THE 28 NEXT YEAR? "The crew chief will not be with the Texaco 28 team next year, if I stayed."

WILL THERE BE A THIRD TEAM? "I don't know. If I move on, there probably won't be a third team. If I stay, there will be a third team."

SO YOU LOOK AT A CREW CHIEF CHANGE NEXT YEAR. "I'm looking at not only a crew chief change, but I could be looking at a car chief, I could be looking at a whole new structure, which, again to me, doesn't make any sense when you've got a team that potentially could have won four races to this point and is seventh in the points. I'm a racer. I don't understand why you would sacrifice one when it's the best performing team that they have in the camp right now week in and week out. The other team is, I don't know, 11th or 12th in the points. I don't understand why you would sacrifice one. Maybe Robert can answer some of those questions, but that's what I mean when I say a lot of these things are beyond my control. It's not like, 'Hey Ricky, re-up with the 28 and go on.' It's not that deal at all."

DOES IT COME DOWN TO ALL THE GUYS OR ONLY A CERTAIN NUMBER? "We haven't gotten into that part of it. I think it's telling me that when there are no guarantees that the 28 team will be intact, that sort of tells me where Robert's heart is and if the car owner's heart isn't in having the 28 be successful, then I can't do anything to change it. I don't own the team. I don't think it's right, but I can't control it. All I can do is put it in my agreement and I think, quite frankly, it surprised him when that showed up in my agreement -- that the 28 team needs to stay intact as it is today."

IS THIS RELATIONSHIP STARTING TO CRACK WHERE IT MIGHT MAKE SENSE NOT TO BE BACK NEXT YEAR? "I don't know. Robert's issues always seem to come up about money. I think Robert has a hard time dealing with, in his opinion, that Texaco underfunds the team and he's got another team that is paying six million dollars more a year. He wants two that pay that kind of money. That seems to come up quite a bit and I can't control that. Are there cracks? I don't know. I think it's about money for Robert. If the money appeared some kind of way, then things would be back together and go on."

WHAT ABOUT BETWEEN YOU AND HIM? "Let me just say that a certain amount of respect that I've had for where I'm at is not quite there anymore."

DO YOU ALMOST FEEL LIKE A LAWYER WITH ALL OF THESE BACKDOOR POSSIBILITIES? "First of all, we had that retirement issue and that was not just a made-up tactic to get more money, regardless of what Darrell Waltrip will say. He'll always be controversial and try to stir things up, just because he likes stirring stuff up. But that's a possibility that still hasn't been eliminated. If all the chips fall and I end up with a team that can't win races right out of the box, then I'm not ruling out retirement. I'm not playing it like, 'if I don't get what I want I'm leaving.' It's simply that I don't have time. This team that we've got today has been under construction since probably the middle of '95-'96 and a lot of those key people that have been identified are the ones that basically came with me over to this team. So, it's not like, 'Hey, you built this thing in a year.' It took a long time and that's why I'm not willing to bail out on it and I'm kind of working it right up to the very end. But if you have to go somewhere and start over again with all new people, I feel like I was a big contributing factor. Robert said I was the guy that got this team where it is today and I said, 'No, wait a minute, we got here together as a group.' But I don't know if I have that in me again -- to get a team under three years or so -- to get it to where it can compete as a championship team. I don't mean me by myself, but my contributing part. I hand-picked a lot of people and I think we're seeing a team that's very strong and how well our recruiting did. I don't know if I could go through another several years of building up again. It takes a while to reap the benefits once you start over. So, again, as far as that retirement card -- it's not some wild card contrary to what Darrell is saying. I'm facing real possibilities here."

CAN THE RESPECT FACTOR BE REPAIRED? "I don't know. Just so you, many of these multi-car teams you have one that's a lot heavier funded than the other one, but the money goes in a pot and it all works out at the end. The two teams thrive off each other and it really contributes to the whole overall success. I'm a racer. I don't understand. OK, one is making a lot of money and one is breaking even. I guess I don't quite understand the greed factor when you've got two successful teams. I can't comprehend that -- why you would sacrifice the chance of a performance downgrade by making the changes. I respect people that race to win and not about money. I don't understand it, but, again, Robert has been in this sport 15 years longer than I have. Maybe when you get to a certain point you start looking at, 'Hey, I'm x-amount of years old. Maybe it's time to put a little bit in the bank.' There will be cutbacks in the 28 team, if it stays as it is -- I know that. That's another thing. You can't afford cutbacks. You need to be going the other way."


ROBERT YATES, Car Owner --28-- Havoline Taurus --

WHERE DO YOU SEE THINGS RIGHT NOW? "I probably have only imagined what was going through his head. Without going around trying to be a private investigator, I knew he had several good, solid deals and offers. We really have been enjoying what we've been doing and probably all want it to continue, but Ricky wanted to be paid at a certain level. It's not all about money. I'm not trying to paint Ricky as a greedy money guy, but that's the way life is. When the first guy moved out of the cave, just about everybody else wanted to follow. I'm the same deal. I'm trying to run a business and it's got to be financially sound as well as how much can you trade for trophies. Racing is fun and, certainly, there are days more stressful than others, but as long as your healthy you really like to race against people that you know -- better than the ones you don't know. Brothers always race harder than others. You think they're mad at each other, but they actually know each other so they can deal with it better. I like to know people I race against and, saying that, I may be racing against Ricky Rudd next year. My goal 10 years from now is when we look back on this deal that we look back on it as a fun experience, instead of going through two and a half years and botching the whole thing up and remembering the bad times. I thought yesterday was an excellent day. Everybody did their job very professionally even though we had a malfunction in the pits and cost us a good top five. Everybody's doing it professionally and this is a small business world. I keep reminding all of us -- 'Don't say or do something that you'll regret,' because they're all good people here. There isn't anybody who was born better than the next one or worked harder to be better than the next guy. It's about choosing up sides in racing. I would really like to see a win for everybody. I hate the last year (of a contract). I hate negotiating. I never could play poker because I can't b.s. anybody. I just hate that last year. I wish we would have addressed this last year, but the whole thing about last year was it was gonna be retirement. So we didn't need to address it and didn't want a farewell tour. I think that's what got us. Again, it sounds like I'm throwing all of this on Ricky's lap, but that's really what went on. We didn't think about us dealing with another race team or anything other than a farewell retirement. The good part is that Ricky's back has healed up and that's not bothering him. In fact, that's what he sort of told me. He said, 'I didn't realize my back was gonna be to where it doesn't bother me. I'm enjoying sitting in the seat now.' So we're not bashing him. We're glad he came back healthy and thinks he can race for years and years. We got into this last year because of that. From a sponsor standpoint, some inexperienced people got involved. They elected to take on Ricky and negotiate with him and I gladly dumped it in their lap, but they didn't get it done."
IS THERE ROOM FOR RICKY RUDD AT RYR NEXT YEAR? "I'd say it's slim. I won't say none, but I'd say slim because I think his best situation would be he goes somewhere that will be very competitive and pay very well. That's just not in my deal. My deal is too thin. Very honestly, it's just too thin. In the best year, unless it's a championship win, it just comes out upside-down. I don't have deep pockets. I don't have any other business to rely on. In a way it's sad, but I've looked at the numbers and they haven't lied to me. I don't see where I can go cut any people out of the deal. In fact, I need more, so it just comes down to a business. I would really like for it to be read as 'there's room for everybody here. Nobody's leaving. Nobody's going away mad. Nobody is gonna throw any rocks.'"

WHEN DID IT BECOME APPARENT IT MIGHT NOT WORK OUT FOR RICKY TO COME BACK? "After the people that were negotiating with him came back and said, 'We can't do it.' That was in the past week. They do business everyday looking at one and two and three and four percent increases. They don't look at big increases. Ricky Rudd deserves it. I mean, he's absolutely not wrong about what he deserves. I don't think this side of the fence gets paid enough anyway, but I can't do anything about that. I have a wonderful sponsor in UPS and, certainly, Texaco has been a great sponsor for a number of years but, like Ricky Rudd, I'm sure he enjoyed racing and owning his own team, but when he counted his money at the end of the year it's like, 'What am I doing this for?' Some things are aggravating. There are a lot of things in it for sure. Everybody needs to come out on the financial side. It's a balance of, 'Yeah, we have a team that can win.' 'How much would you pay for that win?' You can't pay anymore than you take in. You can't sell the trophies for enough money to pick up the bottom line, so it's choosing up sides. I worked with Ricky Rudd in 1981 and I've got a cut from here to here (signaling about a three inch vertical line on his chest) because of so much stress we put into it trying to help him come along. I put that all behind me. I never had a bad moment. I went on and he was successful and we were successful. We stayed friends and that's certainly what I would like to come out of it from here on. We're having three really good years. That's what we agreed to do. If his back would have been good last year and we would have tacked on a year to this deal, we wouldn't be standing here today with this. That would be my wish, but I can't back that up. I think we should have gone to the sponsor together and we didn't. They took it on their own and said they would handle it and they did, so here we are."

ELLIOTT SADLER IS AVAILABLE. IF YOU WANT HIM YOU KIND OF HAVE TO GRAB HIM NOW DON'T YOU? "Timing in this sport is everything. I don't know if it's so much how smart you are or just where you're standing at the right time. Certainly, he was a guy that I wanted to put on my list to compete against so I could sit down and make a deal. You can't get one without two kind of a deal. You can't go and negotiate when you don't have a choice. You can't go out in the middle of the ocean in a row boat and have only one life line and not give everything that you own, so I didn't want to go into that deal with Ricky. This sport has been super to me and I'm lucky to even be a car owner. I don't even feel like I am one. I love working here and I want to be fair to people. People say, 'Why would you do that for somebody else?' I don't want anybody spit out. I would like for Ricky to feel the same way about me in that I didn't trash anything he's got going or anybody else. It just gets back to the bottom line and that comes from our only source of income practically and it just wasn't in their budget to do it. I think a lot of us have to get used to corporate America not tightening up, but seizing up. We still work hard, play hard, the races are good and we still earn that money, but it's different. When you go into an executive's office now, they have to really do it by the numbers. They can't do it just because they like to. Unfortunately, I have to look at my business the same way. I don't have deep pockets and I can't do what I love to do. I'd love to pay my guys twice what they're making, but I can't do it."

SO NEXT YEAR WILL YOU HAVE ONLY TWO TEAMS? "That is our desire."

WOULD DOUG HAVE A TEAM AND YOU HAVE TEAM? "This deal is slim, but it was never our desire to do three teams. I had to cover myself because Texaco has an out. It's one of the few contracts out here that is that way. They could have walked, but they didn't exercise it. I was actually surprised they didn't. We've learned to live on two paychecks and I wanted to cover ourselves. It wasn't our desire to do multiple teams. I won't say that we are not in control and we were forced to do something, but I guess we have been fortunate to have good people and good offers. There have been people coming around offering deals and that means the sport is healthy and that means we're healthy. That's good and it hasn't been that way for about a year or two. People want to see what we do and sponsors what to be a part of it, but, at the same time, everybody is trying to make their best deal."
 
The one item that I read in Yates statement that I have never heard before, was that apparently Rudd was gonna retire after this year. The decision was made and there was not gonna be a farewell tour or any big deal. But his back surgery was so successful that he wants to keep gong for at least another year.

If those were the plans, I have a completely different read on this years back and forth with Sadler and Rudd.
 
Looks like personell conflicts to me, not a money issue. Was shocked to see he never really speaks to Yates and that McSwain will leave if he is in the 28 next year. I think Rudd is done. No farewell tour, just fade away.
 
I sure hope you're wrong, Gordon Fan. But if Ricky's unwilling to put in another three years to help build a championship caliber team, then what choice does he have but to retire? I doubt he'd be willing to go to a lesser team, at this point.

What are the chances he can walk into a great ride, right off the bat? Hmm, maybe DEI WOULD be a good place for him, after all...
 
I didn't know there was such a difference in funding between the #28 and the #88. I always assumed they were about the same.

Looks like there's been more things that family life that's made him consider retiring. He doesn't seem to want to leave the sport just yet, but he doesn't want to spend the last few years of his career building a new team, like Darrell Waltrip.

What ever the result of this should be very interesting.
 
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