Dick Hutcherson

The Ford GT40 MK.II, with Ronnie Bucknum and Dick Hutcherson 1966 third overall at the 24-hour race at Le Mans reached

Dick Hutcherson (born November 30, 1931 in Keokuk , † November 6, 2005 in Columbia ) was an American racing car driver and entrepreneur.

Career as a racing driver in NASCAR

When Dick Hutcherson took up motor racing in 1956, his hometown Keokuk was often jokingly referred to in the US touring car scene as the Home of Champions and Racing Capital of the World . The Keokuk gang included Don White , Ramo Scott , who both won USAC stock car championships , and Dick's younger brother Ron . In the late 1950s, he first began to drive local stock car races and in 1960 entered the national IMCA championship, winning the overall standings in 1963 and 1964.

He became known and popular nationwide as a NASCAR pilot. He made his debut in March 1964 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway . To the astonishment of the drivers, team owners and the specialist journalists who were present, he secured pole position and led the race for the first 60 laps. After driving 109 laps, he had to give up prematurely after a puncture. David Pearson was waved off as the winner . His second race was at the Occoneechee Speedway , where he finished second (this event also ended with the success of David Pearson). In 1964 he contested only four races in the Grand National Series . With the fifth place at Columbia Speedway (winner Ned Jarrett ) he ended his first NASCAR season.

For the 1965 season he received a contract with Holman & Moody and competed in all racing events of the year. With the silhouette car of a Ford Galaxie , he won nine championship races and finished the year behind Richard Petty in second place overall. In 1966 he stayed with Holman & Moody, won three races of the season, but only contested a fraction of the races, as Ford withdrew from NASCAR at the beginning of the year (the operations were carried out by Holman & Moody).

Dick Hutcherson's NASCAR career coincided with the almost total domination of Richard Petty. The next Dale Earnhardt most successful Sprint Cup driver in the history of this series won in 1967 27 of the 48 races in which he started, including ten in consecutive races between August 12 and October 1, 1967. He also secured himself his second championship this year. Besides Bobby Allison, Hutcherson was the only driver who could stand up to him. He was victorious twice and finished second no less than ten times. In the overall ranking this means third place.

Appearances in the 24-hour race of Le Mans

In 1966 , Dick Hutcherson came to the Le Mans 24-hour race as a member of the extensive Ford works team . Ford officials had committed the NASCAR factory drivers, including him, to test work with the Ford GT40 , and Hutcherson had driven more than 1,000 miles with the MK.II. In Le Mans he drove the Holman & Moody MK.II with starting number 5. Teammate was Ronnie Bucknum . Although he had experience with the car, he had never competed in a race with a team-mate in his life, had not driven a distance of more than three hours and had never driven a racing car in the rain. All of this came together at Le Mans. Ronnie Bucknum drove the starting stint and brought the car forward from ninth on the grid to third. After Hutcherson took over the car, he drove long laps behind Graham Hill and his GT40 to get used to the racing pace. When the expected rain set in, he pitted immediately and didn't want to go any further. Team boss John Holman asked him to stay in the cockpit and take it easy. After a few carefully driven laps, he found his rhythm and then drove pleasant times on the wet road. At the end of the 24-hour race , the Bucknum / Hutcherson duo enjoyed a podium finish. Twelve laps behind Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon , the duo reached third place.

10 years later he came back to Le Mans as a driver. It was the time when the Automobile Club de l'Ouest opened the race for NASCAR vehicles for a few years. Due to some adaptations, such as the attachment of vehicle lights in the front and rear, these cars were eligible to start. Hutcherson, who had not competed in races for many years, drove a Ford Torino as a partner of Dick Brooks and Marcel Mignot . The Ford crashed after 104 laps due to a gearbox failure.

Crew chief

As surprising as his NASCAR debut was so surprising was his resignation. At the beginning of 1968 he stopped professional racing and became crew chief of his friend David Pearson, leading him to his overall NASCAR Grand National Season victories in 1968 and 1969 .

Entrepreneur

Even during his time as an active driver, small numbers of chassis had been produced for NASCAR vehicles. In 1971, together with racing driver Eddie Pagan, he founded Hutcherson-Pagan , a company that continued building racing cars. For many years they developed the emergency vehicles for Darrell Waltrip and AJ Foyt, among others .

Dick Hutcherson suffered a stroke while driving from Florida to North Carolina . He died on November 6, 2005 at Columbia Providence Hospital . He left behind his wife Brenda, his son Ricky, his wife and two grandchildren.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1966	Holman & Moody	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Ronnie Bucknum		Rank 3
1976	NASCAR Junie Donlavey	Ford Torino	Dick Brooks	Marcel Mignot	failure	Gearbox damage

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13
1966	Holman & Moody	Ford GT40	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
									3

Web links

Commons : Dick Hutcherson  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Information on Dick Hutcherson
• Dick Hutcherson's list of winners

Individual evidence

1. ^ Greenville 200 1964
2. ↑ Joe Weatherly 150 1964
3. ↑ Columbia 200 1964
4. ^ 1967 NASCAR Grand National Season