Joe Ruttman Ron Drager 6.jpg

Lots of Legends in ARCA Menards Series Garage Area at Daytona

www.arcaracing.com February 20, 2019

Several former ARCA Menards Series drivers made high-profile visits to the garage area throughout the week at Daytona International Speedway.

Joe Ruttman has been a regular visitor to the ARCA garage at Daytona over the years, and made a return visit on the 37th anniversary of his ARCA Daytona 200 win in 1982. Ruttman is also a two-time third-place finisher in the Daytona 500 and a 13-time NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series winner. Ruttman spent much of the weekend laughing with friends, and was also a visitor to the ARCA Menards Series driver’s meeting before practice on Thursday.

Ruttman made the trip to Daytona with long-time friend Jerry Makara. Makara, originally from Michigan, was a long-time late model driver at Flat Rock and Toledo and eventually competed in divisions such as the American Speed Association and made occasional starts in the ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Speedway Modified division.

Ruttman and Makara visited with fellow Michigan-area late model veteran and former ARCA Menards Series winner Larry Lamay in the garage area before qualifying. Ruttman, known for his sense of humor, thanked LaMay for “only saying (bad) things about me” in his book.

Ninety-three year old Dick Mitchell was also in the garage area on race day. Mitchell, who relocated from the Midwest to the Daytona Beach area a couple of decades ago, visited the track with his daughter Toni and watched the Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire from pit road. Mitchell was a familair face at ARCA-sanctioned Flat Rock Speedway in the 1960s and 1970s and made several ARCA Menards Series starts throughout his career.

The 1989 ARCA Menards Series champion Bob Keselowski was back in the garage area at an ARCA event for the first time since 2016. Back then he was serving as crew chief for his son Brian, who ran a limited schedule on the short tracks that season. Bob was at the track last weekend as crew chief for eight-time Daytona winner Bobby Gerhart.

Also spotted in the ARCA Menards Series garage area was former driver Roger Blackstock. A former street stock driver at Flat Rock Speedway, Blackstock jumped into the ARCA Menards Series in 1985 and made 166 career starts with 8 top-five and 31 top-ten finishes.

While he never made a start in the ARCA Menards Series, former NASCAR driver Frank Warren made a trip through the ARCA garage area on race morning. He chatted with several familiar faces, including team owner Ken Schrader and FS1 analyst Phil Parsons.

Noted crew chief and engine builder Waddell Wilson was also in the garage area on race morning visiting with friends. Wilson was the engine builder for Ranier Racing when Buddy Baker won the fastest Daytona 500 in history back in 1980, and he also built the engines and was crew chief when Cale Yarborough was the first driver to break 200 miles per hour (and then flipped) in 1983; Cale would go on to win the 500 in a backup car in 1983 and followed it up with another win in 1984.