When most Indycar fans speak about the golden era of the brickyard there mind often goes to the sixties and seventies, an era in which saw unprecedented global interest as well as some of the most colourful and legendary drivers to grace the speedway. In today’s update we’ll be taking a look at one of the most successful drivers, a hard-charging Texan who would become one of five men to win the Memorial Day classic on three separate occasions.

Born on the 12th of March 1938, John Sherman Rutherford first began his racing career in 1959, competing in modified Stock Car races at the infamous Devils Bowl speedway in Dallas before joining the United States Auto Club to compete in the 1961 Sprint Car season. Despite his relative inexperience in the formula, Rutherford found almost immediate success, making his first start in the Hoosier Hundred on his way to claiming the sprint car championship in 1962, and in the process attracting the attention of NASCAR team boss Smokey Yunick, who hired the Texan to drive for him at next season’s Daytona 500. Driving for Yunick, the 25 year old Rutherford caused waves in the motor racing world when he picked up victory in one of the 500’s twin qualifying races in his first ever NASCAR race, in the process becoming the youngest man ever to win a full points paying event in the division. Over the years Rutherford would go on to make 35 starts in the series, picking up four top ten finishes between 1963 and 1988.

Later that same year Rutherford made his first appearance in Indycar racing, driving an Offenhauser powered Watson owned by Ed Kostenuk at that season’s Indianapolis 500, qualifying in 26th place before transmission issues early in the race forced him to settle for a 29th placed finish. Although the early stages in his career would see wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Rutherford quickly earned a reputation as a talented but incredibly accident prone driver, with his early seasons in the sport being defined by a number of high profile injuries as well as his failure to finish in any of his first eight appearances at the Indianapolis 500, a record that he earned the nickname of ‘Johnny Wreckaford’ from both fans and the media alike.

After failing to secure a leading drive due to his accident-heavy reputation, Rutherford made the decision to leave his Michner Petroleum team to serve as the lead driver for McLaren in their upstart Indycar operation in 1973. The move proved to be the catalyst that Rutherford needed, as the success of the machine, added with his growing maturity as a driver, saw the Texan soon emerge as one of the standout names in the sport, qualifying for pole position for the 1973 Indianapolis 500 as well as two wins on his way to third place in the championship.

The following year however brought further success, as Rutherford overcame a 25th placed qualifying effort to power his way to victory at the Indy 500, taking over the lead away from AJ Foyt on lap 139 on his way to a dominant victory, The win would be the first of a purple patch at the speedway for Rutherford, as during the next seven years he would go on to claim six top ten starts as well as four top ten finishes. In 1976 Rutherford returned to victory lane at the Brickyard, taking advantage of a rain shortened race in 1976 to claim the final 500 victory for the legendary Offenhauser engine, before driving Jim Hall’s ground effect Chaparral 2K to a dominant win in the 1980 event, in the process helping to rid himself of his reckless early reputation and solidify himself as one of the sport’s all-time greats.

Following his victory in 1980 Rutherford’s career began somewhat to fade, the Chaparral chassis had begun to show its age by 1982, and a move to Patrick Racing in 1983 would be blighted by a crash in Indianapolis practice that would rule him out for the majority of the season. There was however one high note in those later years, with a victory at Michigan in 1986 seeing Rutherford become the first man ever to win all three of Indycar’s 500 mile showpiece events at Indy, Michigan and Pocono. Rutherford made his 24th and final Indianapolis 500 appearance in 1988, driving Kenny Bernstein’s King Racing machine to a 22nd placed finish, but despite making multiple attempts in the forthcoming years was never able to add to his total and claim his elusive 25th start, failing to qualify in 1989, 1990 and 1992 whilst being unable to secure rides for the 1991 and 1993 events. A sixth successive failure in 1994 proved to be the last straw for Rutherford, who announced his retirement in victory lane before taking a ceremonial final lap around the Brickyard.

Much like we saw with Graham Rahal last season, Rutherford is a testimony to how a change of team or a stroke of luck can prove to be the catalyst to a great Indycar career, maturing from a reckless accident prone figure of ridicule to one of the sports most revered and popular figures, as well as one of the Speedway’s all-time greats.

In today’s video we have an episode of the ABC series ‘A Race For Heroes’ focusing on Lone Star J.R. himself:

In tomorrow’s update we relive a dark 500 weekend that saw three fatalities and one of the speedway’s worst ever accidents.