Ricky Rudd, driver of the #21 Motorcraft Racing/U.S. Air Force Ford Taurus observed a cargo drop over the Ft. Bragg North Carolina Army base on his way to participating in a 600 NEXTEL All-Star Race ticket give-away at Pope Air Force Base on Tuesday. ÃÂÃÂIt was a real unusual day for me,ÃÂÃÂ said Ricky. ÃÂÃÂWe got to see how they drop cargo out of the back of one of these big airplanes. You see it on television, but you never experience it. It is a pretty neat deal with a lot of precision how they do it. It was a lot of fun.ÃÂÃÂ Following the C-130 flight from Concord the plane, carrying Rudd and the U.S. Air Force crew, landed at Pope Air Force Base just outside Fayetteville, North Carolina. Pope is surrounded on three sides by Fort Bragg allowing a unique relationship between the two branches of the United States Armed Services. Following a tour of the base, Ricky went to the Pope Club where he was greeted by over 200 Airmen based at Pope. Ricky signed autographs and posed for photos while NEXTELÃÂÃÂs John Dunlap hand out 600 tickets to the NEXTEL All-Star event scheduled for May 22 at LoweÃÂÃÂs Motor Speedway. ÃÂÃÂGiving away the NEXTEL All-Star race tickets ÃÂÃÂ that was a neat deal. It was really nice on NEXTELÃÂÃÂs part to donate all those tickets to the Air Force Base. There was a really good response. All of the Airmen really appreciated it. And, it gave me an opportunity to meet a lot of the guys and gals stationed at Pope. The Air Force has been such a great part of our race team, and I always enjoy having a chance to meet these men and women who are working so hard to protect our freedom. Ricky added, ÃÂÃÂItÃÂÃÂll be nice to have 600 of our associates at the NEXTEL All-Star race at LoweÃÂÃÂs in two weeks.ÃÂÃÂ(Wood Brothers Racing Site)(5-13-2004)
