Joe Ruttman (born October 28, 1944) is a retired American

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

driver who competed in

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

, and

Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

. With 13 career wins in the Truck Series he is currently tied for 13th on the all-time wins list with

Mike Bliss Michael Duane Bliss (born April 5, 1965) is an American professional stock car racing driver. A journeyman NASCAR competitor and the 2002 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, he has run in all three national series. Racing career Bliss began ...

(as of October 13th, 2021). He is the younger brother of

Troy Ruttman Troy Ruttman (born March 11, 1930 – May 19, 1997) was an American race car driver. He was the older brother of Jimmy Ruttman, and NASCAR driver Joe Ruttman. Ruttman won the Indianapolis 500 in 1952, at the age of 22 years and 80 days. , he is ...

USAC Stock Cars

Ruttman was the

United States Automobile Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapol ...

's 1978

USAC Stock Car The USAC Stock Car division was the stock car racing class sanctioned by the United States Auto Club (USAC). The division raced nationally; drivers from USAC's open wheel classes like Indy cars, Silver Crown, sprints, and midgets frequently comp ...

Rookie of the Year, and the 1980 USAC Series champion.

NASCAR

Ruttman made his

NASCAR Grand National Series The name NASCAR Grand National Series refers to former names of the following NASCAR series: *National-level stock car series: **NASCAR Cup Series (known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 to 1970, then the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand Nation ...

(now known as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) debut in 1963 at

Riverside International Raceway Riverside International Raceway (sometimes known as Riverside, RIR, or Riverside Raceway) was a motorsports race track and road course established in the Edgemont area of Riverside County, California, just east of the city limits of Rivers ...

, finishing 10th at the Winston Western 500. He drove in three more Series races between 1964 and 1980, while racing local tracks in between. Ruttman caught a big break in 1981 when J.D. Stacy, who had just bought

Rod Osterlund Rod Osterlund was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series car owner spanning from 1977–1981, and then again from 1989–1991. He earned his money off rental property in California. Osterlund's first race as a car owner was at the 1977 Cam 2 Motor Oil 400 whi ...

's team, hired him to take over for Dale Earnhardt, who left the team mid-season to join

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard ...

. Ruttman went on to run a full Series schedule from 1982 through 1984, 1986, and 1991. His best season was in 1983, when he finished 12th in points. During his 20 years in the Sprint Cup Series he had 60 top-ten finishes and 19 top-fives. He came very close to winning a race at Richmond in 1982, but a late power-steering failure sent his car into the wall and gave Dave Marcis the victory. He also picked up a runner-up finish at the same track, finishing 5 seconds behind

Kyle Petty Kyle Eugene Petty (born June 2, 1960) is an American former stock car racing driver, and current racing commentator. He is the son of racer Richard Petty, grandson of racer Lee Petty, and father of racer Adam Petty, who was killed in a crash d ...

in 1986, although, had Ruttman not been collected in a final-lap accident, he would have actually won. In 1995, Ruttman competed in the inaugural NASCAR SuperTrucks Series (now known as the Gander Outdoors Truck Series), where he would finally reach his potential. Joe Ruttman would dominate the middle of the season, winning two races that year on his way to finishing second in the championship. His success as a full-time driver in the Truck Series continued as he went on to win 11 more races between 1996 and 2007. He won his last race at age 56, making him the oldest race winner in any NASCAR division. At Rockingham in 2004, Ruttman made his first Cup Series start since 1995, driving a one-off race for Phoenix Racing. However, it was a controversial "start-and-park" run. Ruttman contributed to an ongoing controversy by not showing up with a pit crew, and only coming to collect a small share of the prize money. Ruttman was ordered off the track by NASCAR after one lap and team owner James Finch was admonished by officials. At the time, there was a controversy over unqualified "field-fillers" being in the race and led to changes in the NASCAR rulebook.

Personal life

Born in Upland,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, Ruttman is a resident of North Port, Florida. He is the younger brother of Indianapolis 500 winner

. His father, Ralph "Butch" Ruttman, was an award winning mechanic on top Indy teams.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Grand National Series

Nextel Cup Series

=Daytona 500

Nationwide Series

Craftsman Truck Series

ARCA Re/Max Series

(

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruttman, Joe Living people 1944 births People from Upland, California Racing drivers from California NASCAR drivers USAC Stock Car drivers ARCA Menards Series drivers American Speed Association drivers Sportspeople from San Bernardino County, California RFK Racing drivers