(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.
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.
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
Hooters 500 , but a first-lap crash kept him from challenging for the win. 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. He had three top-tens late in the year, but when the season came to a close, he and Hooters left PPR.
Mast signed to drive the #75
Remington Arms Ford for
RahMoc Enterprises in 1997. An omen of what was to come appeared early as Mast failed to qualify for the Daytona 500, and rumors started about RahMoc co-owner
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.
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 was wrong. It turned he had suffered
Carbon Monoxide poisoning. The illness forced Mast to retire. Today, Rick can be heard weekly on
Rowdy Racing News , a podcast devoted to NASCAR news (www.rowdy.com), as an expert commentator. 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 (www.RickMastFoundation.com).
- 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 .
"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.
