Ron Hutcherson, the 1972-73-74 ARCA Menards Series champion, who went on to a long and successful career with his brother Dick Hutcherson at their Hutcherson-Pagan Racing Enterprises chassis and racing equipment company, died Thursday, August 25. He was 79.
Hutcherson had been ill and recently entered hospice care at his home in Florida.
Hutcherson began his career in the late 1960s, racing at dirt fairgrounds tracks in the Midwest and experiencing success in IMCA stock car competition including top-5 finishes at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and Wausau Fairgrounds. Also competing in the USAC Stock Car Series, NASCAR Grand National East and ultimately the NASCAR Cup Series later in his career, he experienced his greatest success in what was then the ARCA National Championship Stocks, now the ARCA Menards Series, from 1972-1977, making 72 starts with 5 poles and 12 victories, including his final ARCA start at Talladega Superspeedway in ’77.
His other wins came at Salem, New Bremen, Toledo, Clark County Fairgrounds, Texas World Speedway, the Missouri State Fairgrounds, Flat Rock, Daytona and Avilla. Among the car owners he drove for were his father Leon Hutcherson, A.J. Foyt, Jack Housby, Bill Hendren, Norris Reed, John Gwinn, Woody Fisher, Leonard Blanchard and Junie Donlavey.
Hutcherson was one of four drivers hailing from tiny Keokuk, Iowa, to experience great success in the ARCA Menards Series and beyond. The legendary Ernie Derr paved the way in the 1950s and 60s, winning 11 races and finishing 9th in points in 1955 despite running a limited schedule. Ron Hutcherson’s brother Dick followed, before moving on to the NASCAR Cup Series, where he won 14 races in 103 starts in the mid-60s, primarily driving for the renowned Holman-Moody Ford team.
Ramo Stott was next to follow the trail from Keokuk to ARCA, capturing 27 victories, 16 poles and consecutive ARCA Menards Series championships in 1970 and 1971. Ron Hutcherson picked up where Stott left off. His best performance in 10 NASCAR Cup starts was in the 1978 Daytona 500, starting on the outside pole and finishing 4th behind Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough and Benny Parsons in a car fielded by A.J. Foyt.
Following his driving career, Ron Hutcherson joined his brother Dick and Eddie Pagan, who in 1971 had formed Hutcherson-Pagan, at the time among the premier chassis building and repair businesses in major league stock car racing. Ron Hutcherson helped usher the company into a prosperous era with the advent of Hutcherson-Pagan’s racing parts supply. The rolling warehouse was a fixture in the NASCAR Cup and ARCA garages, traveling with both series for decades.
Services are pending.
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