Rick Mast

Infobox NASCAR driver


Name = Richard Mast
Birthdate = birth date and age|1957|3|4
Birthplace = flagicon|USARockbridge Baths, Virginia
Best_Cup_Pos = 18th - 1994 (Winston Cup)
Cup_Top_Tens = 36
Cup_Poles = 4
First_Cup_Race = 1988 Busch 500 (Bristol)
Last_Cup_Race = 2002 Pontiac Excitement 400 (Richmond)
Years_In_Cup = 15
Total_Cup_Races = 364

Rick Mast (born March 4, 1957, in Rockbridge Baths, Virginia) is a former NASCAR driver. He competed in both the Winston Cup and Busch Series before retiring in 2002. Despite never winning in the Cup Series, he was still a fan favorite in the series.

Early & Busch career

Mast grew up in racing as his father and uncle were both race team owners. He began racing at age 16 at Natural Bridge Speedway and Eastside Speedway, after he traded an Angus cow for his first car. After dominating at the hobby track level for the decade, Mast began running the Busch Series in 1982, and had four top-ten finishes in 11 eleven starts in his #22. Mast's first full-time season came in 1985, where he had fifteen top-ten finishes. Two years later, he would win his first NASCAR race at the Grand National 200, then followed it up with another win the next week. He finished 11th in points that year. He improved to eight positions in 1988 the same year he made his Winston Cup debut for Buddy Baker at the Busch 500, finishing 28th at that race. Mast won five races while running full-time the next two years, before focusing his efforts on Cup.

Car #1 years

Mast ran 13 races for Mach 1 Racing in 1989, finishing sixth at the Daytona 500 in an unsponsored car, which Mast called his proudest achievement in racing. He still believes he would have won had his team been willing to gamble on fuel mileage. Mast ran selected races in 1990 for D.K. Ulrich before finishing the year with Travis Carter Motorsports. In 1991, Mast signed to drive the #1 Skoal Classic Oldsmobile for Precision Products Racing. He had three top-tens and finished 21st in points. The next year, Mast won his first career Cup pole at the 1992 Hooters 500, but a first-lap crash kept him from challenging for the win. The team switched to Ford in 1993. Mast had a career year in 1994, with ten top-ten finishes, finishing a career-best second at Rockingham Speedway (barely losing to and running almost side-by-side with Dale Earnhardt at the end), as well as winning the pole at the inaugural Brickyard 400, finishing eighteenth in points. 1995 was disappointing in comparison, with only three top-tens. Skoal left at the end of the season, and Hooters replaced them, as the team switched to Pontiac. He had three top-tens late in the year, but when the season came to a close, he and Hooters left PPR.

Late 90s

Mast signed to drive the #75 Remington Arms Ford for Butch Mock Motorsports in 1997. An omen of what was to come appeared early as Mast failed to qualify for the Daytona 500, and rumors started about Butch Mock firing Mast after the race. Those rumors were later proved to be unfounded, but the season was a struggle, and Mast finished 32nd in points that year. 1998, started off better as Mast won the pole at the GM Goodwrench Service Plus 400, but the struggles continued, and he left the team when the season came to a close.

After rumors spread that Mast would return to Travis Carter to drive a car sponsored by Kmart, he joined the #98 Cale Yarborough-owned team, despite the fact that the team did not have sponsorship. Midway through the season, the team got sponsorship from Universal Studios, and Mast posted two top-tens and became the first driver since Yarborough to go the whole season without failing to finish a race. Unfortunately, Universal did not renew their contract, and with questions surrounding Yarborough's plans on continuing to own the team, Mast was out of work again.

Final years

During the early part of 2000, Mast climbed on board to drive the #41 Big Daddy's BBQ Sauce Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Larry Hedrick Motorsports. But after the Food City 500, Mast departed for A.J. Foyt Racing, and had two top-ten finishes.

Mast began 2001 with Midwest Transit Racing, but due to sponsorship issues, they only ran part-time, and Mast soon left to drive the #27 Sauer Pontiac Grand Prix for Eel River Racing, but late in the season, the team closed down, and Mast was out of work once again. Fortunately, he was able to get a deal with Donlavey Racing with Sauer continuing to sponsor for 2002.

Not long into the year, Mast began feeling ill suddenly. He had lost weight and was forced to miss races to take medical tests to find out what was wrong. It turned out that he had suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. The illness forced Mast to retire. He currently resides in his hometown of Rockbridge Baths, Virginia and owns and operates RKM EnviroClean, Inc. (www.RKMenviroclean.com) which specializes in environmental clean-up services, underground utilities contracting, and site demolition. Additionally, Rick also remains actively involved with his charitable organization, the Rick Mast Foundation [http://www.RickMastFoundation.com www.RickMastFoundation.com] .

Memorable Moments

* In the 1991 Winston 500, Rick Mast pushed teammate Harry Gant who was running out of fuel to keep him chugging along to make it to checkered flag. NASCAR rules prohibit another car from assisting another on the final lap. Mast was not fined.
* In 1994, Rick Mast won the first ever pole at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Quotes

"Missing the Daytona 500, took ten years off my life, I'll know when I die of natural causes but if hadn't been for missing that race, I would have lived another ten years.—Mast after missing the 1997 Daytona 500.

External links

* [http://racing-reference.info/driver?id=mastri01 Rick's career stats]
* [http://www.tbo.com/sports/autoracing/MGBYFOK3DQE.html First Brickyard Pole Winner Breathing Easier These Days]