Winston Cup vet Mast retires due to carbon monoxid

Elwood · January 24, 2003

Winston Cup vet Mast retires due to carbon monoxide poisoning

By Bruce Martin

SportsTicker Contributing Editor

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Ticker) - Carbon monoxide poisoning, until recently a condition that was virtually ignored in NASCAR Winston Cup racing, has forced veteran driver Rick Mast to retire.

The 45-year-old from Rockbridge Baths, Virginia made the announcement Wednesday during the Lowe's Motor Speedway media tour.

One of stock car racing's most popular drivers, Mast's career highlight was winning the pole for the Inaugural Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1994. He failed to record a victory in 364 Winston Cup starts.

Mast said the symptoms he suffered were comparable to the "worst hangover of your life."

"You wake up feeling nauseated and you want to throw up and you can't," he told reporters. "Your head is pounding all the time and you just feel awful. That is what I lived with for 5 1/2 weeks, seven days a week."

Mast said he lost 43 pounds and made numerous trips to a variety of doctors before it was determined he was suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Doctors are unsure when the poisoning will be completely out of his system. Sometimes it takes up to a year.

"I cut grass one day in June and the air was blowing just a certain way and the fumes were blowing and I was down for five days after it," Mast said. "I was a grease monkey of sorts. In the winter time, we worked in the garage with the doors shut and the windows closed and all the cars running."

According to Gary Nelson, NASCAR managing director of competition, the sanctioning body is investigating the problem of carbon monoxide poisoning at its Research and Development Facility in Concord, North Carolina. The $100 million facility was unveiled Tuesday.

Air filter systems are being tested and evaluated for possible use in race cars.

"What we're looking for is a way to get drivers to breathe the freshest air possible in the car," Nelson said. "The way to do that is to find a way to bring air from the outside through a hose into the helmet."

Even Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart suffered effects of carbon monoxide poisoning during his run at the title.

"I have been pleasantly surprised with the way NASCAR has handled this and attacked this," Mast said. "From the moment I told (NASCAR president) Mike Helton, they have taken this thing and run with it in trying to get data on it and solve this problem."

Mast's best career Winston Cup finish came at North Carolina Speedway in October 1994, when he placed second to Dale Earnhardt in the ACDelco 500. He ended his career with 36 top-10 finishes and seven top-fives.

Mast won four career poles, most recently for car owner Butch Mock in the 1998 GM Goodwrench Service Plus 400 at North Carolina Speedway. His first came with car owner Richard Jackson in his 93rd career start at the 1992 Hooters 500.

Mast was a regular on the Busch Series from its inception through 1990. He ran a limited number of races from 1982-84 before joining the series full-time in 1985, when he finished seventh in the standings. He scored his first Busch Series win in 1987 at Dover International Speedway and won again the following week at Martinsville Speedway.

From 1985-90, Mast started 175 consecutive races and finished outside the top 10 in the standings just once. Over the same span, he collected four poles, nine wins, 33 top-fives, 73 top-10s and $545,692 in earnings.

Mast's first Winston Cup start came in August 1988 at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Baker-Schiff racing team. He was running on the lead lap before he was taken out in an accident just past the halfway point of the event.

He started his driving career in 1973 at 16 in the hobby division at Natural Bridge Speedway and Eastside Speedway near his Virginia home. He traded a cow from his farm for the car he used to race in that division.

January 25, 2003

Too bad for Mast. Although he never had real success in WC, I always liked his style.

General Lee 01 · January 26, 2003

I'm gonna miss him too.

But I find something very wierd.

Up til last week there were reports that he was getting "back in the saddle", and then out of the blue, he retires.

On a side note, did he ever win any races?

Shaners · January 26, 2003

Too bad for him... I didn't realize what his age was! I thought he was older...

Elwood · January 26, 2003

On a side note, did he ever win any races?

He failed to record a victory in 364 Winston Cup starts.

Although he never won he was pretty successful at one time. When he ran the #1 Skoal car as Harry Gant's teammate he did pretty good. And as the article says, he did really well in Busch from 85-90.

General Lee 01 · January 26, 2003

On a side note, did he ever win any races?

He failed to record a victory in 364 Winston Cup starts.

Although he never won he was pretty successful at one time. When he ran the #1 Skoal car as Harry Gant's teammate he did pretty good. And as the article says, he did really well in Busch from 85-90.

Oops, sorry, must've skimmed over that part.