Joe Ruttman Returns to Daytona 37 Years After His ARCA 200 Win

On February 7, 1982, 37 years ago today, Joe Ruttman drove Robert “Booby” Harrington’s slick Olds Cutlass 442 to victory in the ARCA Talladega Super Car Series “Daytona ARCA 200”. Ruttman would go on to drive Harrington’s J.D. Stacy-sponsored Buick to third in the Daytona 500 the next week.

Leap forward 37 years and Ruttman is back at Daytona, making an appearance in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards garage area and even asking a question in the driver’s meeting held before practice.

A three-time ARCA winner, Ruttman would go on to a successful Cup Series career before transitioning into the NASCAR Truck Series in 1995. As a Truck regular, Ruttman continued to be a fan favorite and would close out his career as a 13-time Truck Series winner, including at Daytona in 2001.

Ruttman was very much in demand in his appearance in the garage area and media center, despite his worries that no one involved in the sport today would remember him.

“I came here with my neighbor Peter, who isn’t a big race fan at all, hoping to show him around and tell him some stories but I was nervous because it’s been so long since I was here that I didn’t think anyone would remember me,” Ruttman said with a laugh. “It was great to come and see people I hadn’t seen in a long time and get to tell some racing stories. When you get to my age, people just want to talk about whatever ailment they have and how bad their health insurance is. All I want to do is talk racing. It’s all I ever knew.”

Ruttman’s family was deeply involved in racing, to say the least. His brother Troy was the 1952 Indianapolis 500 winner, and like Joe, a three-time ARCA winner. Their father Ralph was Troy’s crew chief at Indianapolis when he won, then was Art Cross’s crew chief the following year when he finished second and was named the 500’s first rookie of the year. Then, 27 years later, Ralph was Joe’s crew chief when he won the 1980 USAC Stock Car championship.

“When I won the USAC championship in 1980 my dad patted me on the shoulder and said ‘I won Indianapolis with your brother and now the Stock Car championship with you. I’m done,” Ruttman laughed. “Racing is all I ever wanted to do and it’s all I’ve ever known.”

A stroll through the garage with Ruttman saw just how much he still loves racing. His eyes lit up as he saw the cars for the first time.

“I want to get up next to the cars and see them up close, but I am not sure how much is the same from when I was driving. The kids are so young now. There’s not a lot of similarities to when I was doing it but I still really love it. I will be here all weekend and I am just excited to be a part of it.”

Ruttman also visited with his former crew chief Tony Glover, who worked with Ruttman in 1985 at Morgan-McClure Motorsports. Glover is now the technical director for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and is at the track assisting ARCA with inspection for the week.

“I don’t know how he does it,” Glover said. “I haven’t seen him in 20 years and he looks just as young as he did back then. He doesn’t age. He looks the same, sounds the same, and is the same.”

The Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire is scheduled for Saturday, February 9 with the green flag expected shortly after 4:30 pm ET. The race will be shown live on FS1 and ARCARacing.com will have live timing & scoring, live chat, and live track updates for ARCA for Me members. New members can register at ARCARacing.com/login.