Ryan Rudrick Continues Family’s Racing Tradition Behind The Wheel Of His 1970 Plymouth Duster

Kids who grow up watching their dad race always picture themselves driving the car he’s making laps in at the track. Ryan Rudrick spent his childhood trackside watching his dad, Rodney, race a 1970 Plymouth Duster. These days, Ryan is the one campaigning the Duster in NHRA Stock trim.

The Duster joined the Rudrick family back in 1985 and proved to be a great bracket car. Ryan took over the driver’s seat when he turned 16 and has been wheeling the car ever since. While he enjoyed bracket racing, Ryan always wanted to step things up and try his hand at NHRA class racing.

“I went to an NHRA divisional race when I was 13 years old and just fell in love with Stock class racing. Right then, I decided that’s what I wanted to do, and I was going to make it happen no matter what. Racing in Stock is fun for me because it’s a mixture of bracket racing and heads-up racing. It challenges you as a driver and as a tuner, so it’s really easy to get hooked and want to do better,” Ryan says.

The Duster is powered by a 340 cubic-inch Dodge engine that Ryan built himself. Vickers Performance built the TorqueFlite 904 bolted behind the small-block mill. In D/SA trim, the car has run a best of 10.93 at 120 mph. What’s even more impressive is that Ryan assembled the engine himself at the family’s shop.

Ryan and his father are a great example of a family that truly enjoys the sport of drag racing. The passion for racing has been passed from one generation to the next,  and that’s part of what makes drag racing so special.