NASCAR
75 Greatest Drivers Edwards and Rudd, Legendary Engine Builder Moody Make NASCAR Hall of Fame 2025 Class
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Friday saw the NASCAR Hall of Fame grow to 67 members. Carl Edwards, Ricky Rudd, and Ralph Moody were the centers of attention in uptown Charlotte’s crown ballroom. They represent a racing pioneer, one of the longest tenured drivers, and a unique modern day star. 2025’s class of inductees exemplifies a true balance and respect for all eras of American stock car racing. Here are their respective stories that led them all to be forever enshrined in the Queen City.
Ralph Moody
Spending time in the European WWII theater as a tank driver under decorated General George S. Patton, Ralph Moody is the Greatest Generation personified. Once fighting ended, the Massachusetts native moved south to Florida with racing aspirations at the top of mind.
Moody was an intermittent NASCAR Cup Series competitor during the 1950s and 1960s, winning five times. His victories all came driving for 1925 Indianapolis 500 winner Pete Depaolo. Following a transition into joint team ownership alongside John Holman, Moody’s NASCAR impact only grew.
Holman-Moody was the new factory-backed Ford entry in Cup, with a laundry list of iconic drivers. David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Bobby and Donnie Allison, Mario Andretti, and AJ Foyt are just a few names fielded by Holman-Moody. This team saw victory lane 96 times across a 16-year span, including two championships with Pearson (1968, 1969). Aside from being a formidable team in the sport’s founding era, Holman-Moody was also an innovative racecar designer and high performance garage. This facet of the Holman-Moody brand continues in operation to this day.
Holman-Moody set up shop in Charlotte, leading other race teams to establish themselves in the surrounding area. The Ford outfit calling the Queen City home ultimately led to NASCAR’s roots taking hold here.
Ricky Rudd
Chesapeake, Virginia’s own Ricky Rudd holds a few very elite driving distinctions at NASCAR’s highest level. At 18 years old, Rudd made his first stock car start of any kind in the 1975 Cup Series Rockingham event. The very unproven young talent turned heads that day, finishing an impressive 11th-place. It would be until 2006 when Rudd would not make another Cup Series start, racking up 23 wins in more than 900 premier division showings.
Rudd continues to hold the second-most all-time Cup Series starts (906), only trailing ‘The King’ Richard Petty (1,184). Rudd’s career was most defined by its versatility and duration, with ‘The Rooster’ winning a race across 16 consecutive seasons (1983-1998). This mark is still tied at fourth-most ever, and came with six different teams. Rudd’s wins came for a variety of legacy team owners including: Richard Childress, Bud Moore, Rick Hendrick, Robert Yates, Kenny Bernstein, and his own Rudd Performance Motorsports.
Two of Rudd’s most remembered moments perfectly encapsulate his never-say-quit attitude.
The 1984 Busch Clash at Daytona saw Rudd’s No. 15 Ford barrel end over end through the frontstretch grass, leading to cracked ribs and a concussion. Rudd refused to sit out, instead preferring to tape his eyes open to see through immense swelling. Rudd amazingly went to victory lane two weeks later at Richmond Raceway.
Another gritty win that showed Rudd’s tenacity came in 1998 at Martinsville Speedway. Literally cooking inside his Tide Ride with severe burns and blisters, Rudd never wavered in chasing down another checkered flag. This victory extended Rudd’s aforementioned consecutive winning seasons record to 16 years.
Only a few years later, Rudd earned another elite NASCAR distinction–the Cup Series ‘Iron Man’ label for consecutive starts. Rudd took over this streak from Terry Labonte at the 2002 Coca-Cola 600. This marked Rudd’s 656th-straight Cup start, a record he extended to 788 races without an absence. This record stood strong until Jeff Gordon’s final season in 2015.
Rudd last made a Cup Series appearance in 2007, capping off a career spanning 30 years at the sport’s highest level. While he never won a Cup title (best result of second in 1991), defining accomplishments for Rudd include the 1997 Brickyard 400, six road course victories, and five short tracks wins.
Carl Edwards
Truly no driver’s path to the top of NASCAR was an unorthodox as the one taken by Carl Edwards. Moving to Charlotte as a substitute teacher in the early 2000s, his off time saw him go shop to shop handing out business cards. This gamble eventually paid off with a call back from Jack Roush, who gave the Missouri kid a Truck Series ride in 2003. The rest of this journey turned into one of NASCAR’s most prolific driving careers, earning 72 wins across all three series.
Edwards’ breakout moments in NASCAR’s top two divisions came 24 hours apart. In the 2005 spring weekend from Atlanta, Edwards went undefeated. The unknown prospect took his maiden Xfinity and Cup Series triumphs 24 hours apart, upsetting Jimmie Johnson in a Sunday photo finish.
Edwards’ stock as a perennial contender only shot up from here. Five-straight years of Xfinity domination saw him end the year top-two in points, with the 2007 title. On Sunday’s, Edwards was a near-constant win and championship threat as well. His first winning year 2005 saw the No. 99 end 3rd in points. This was followed by two painstakingly close title losses in 2008 and 2011. The latter of these two was a tiebreaker with Tony Stewart, regarded by many as one of the best heavyweight title fights in NASCAR history.
After more than a decade’s worth of loyalty and winning at the sport’s highest level with Roush, Edwards moved to an expansion Joe Gibbs Racing effort for 2015. This newly branded No. 19 Toyota took off immediately, winning the Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500 in year one. 2016 was another banner season for all of JGR, but especially Edwards. The 19 was a threat for the points lead all season long, and a clutch rainout win at Texas sent Edwards to the Championship 4. As that year’s title finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway dragged on, Edwards appeared to be the man in command.
Few have to be remembered of the caution that changed the course of NASCAR history, completely altering the 2016 title picture. On a restart with 10 laps left, Edwards was turned from second place by an ever-aggressive Joey Logano. Edwards climbed from his mangled and destroyed Camry to tell the Penske No. 22 team good luck on winning the title, and walked off into obscurity.
January the next year saw Edwards announce his immediate retirement from NASCAR, and he’s hardly been seen or heard from since. Edwards was admittedly a bit surprised to be voted into the Hall of Fame. These past few months as an inductee have rekindled a NASCAR love that Edwards called absent from his current life.
Other Award Recipients
Dr. Dean Sicking was also a distinguished honoree with the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR. Sicking, from the University of Nebraska, played an influential role in the development of the SAFER Barrier that has radically cut down on driver injuries over the past two decades.
Longtime Associated Press (AP) was lastly named to the esteemed Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Peter Stratta/TSJSports
