Rutherford marking 50th anniversary of his second Indy 500 victory with Team McLaren
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio
His second Indianapolis 500 victory in May 1976 capped a remarkable three-year run of success for Fort Worth’s Johnny Rutherford and his favorite Papaya Orange McLaren race car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Johnny Rutherford. Photo courtesy of IMS
Fifty years later, “Lone Star J.R.” retains a prominent place in the INDYCAR history of Team McLaren, Ltd. _ and its current iteration, Arrow McLaren _ during “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
“Well, I suppose, yes,” Rutherford said during a phone interview from IMS this week with racedaySA.com. “I was the first to put McLaren on the map at Indy and they put me on the map.”
As has been the case for the past several Months of May, Rutherford is embedded with Arrow McLaren Racing via his friendships with CEO Zak Brown and Team Principal Tony Kanaan.
“You know, those days I had a really good race car,” said Rutherford, a proud resident of River Oaks who turned 88 on March 12. “The M16 McLaren as it turned out was the fastest flat-bottomed car to ever run around the Speedway and I was fortunate enough to have been hired to drive it. We worked good together. It was the first time I’d ever been able to run flat-footed _ throttle flat on the floor _ all around the racetrack. It was the M15 until we ran 200 mph with it, and then it was named the M16.”
Johnny Rutherford – Photo by Lisa Hurley
Beginning with his first Indy 500 victory on May 26, 1974 over Bobby Unser, Rutherford strung together consecutive Race Day finishes of 1-2-1 through May 30, 1976. Ironically, the races in 1975 and ’76 were cut short by rainy weather. Unser won the 59th Indy 500 on May 25, 1975 over Rutherford under caution after completing 174 of the scheduled 200 laps.
Rutherford’s win over A.J. Foyt Jr. of Houston in 1976 was declared official by the sanctioning United States Auto Club after 102 laps/255 miles _the shortest race on record. Those three races saw a total of 476 laps run out of a possible 600, with Rutherford leading a combined total of 175.
The 1976 race took the green flag under threatening skies, and the early pace was slowed by a flurry of five yellow flags during the first 94 laps. By then, the race had morphed into a battle between fellow-Texans Rutherford and Foyt and No. 2 qualifier Gordon Johncock.
Johnny Rutherford and Roger Penske – Miller Lite Carb Day – Photo by Joe Skibinski
Foyt _ who was chasing his fourth Indy 500 victory _ had qualified fifth in his No. 14 Gilmore Racing Team Coyote/Foyt, a variation of Ford’s V8 engine. Rutherford took the lead from Foyt for what proved the final time on Lap 80, and was holding P1 when rain halted the action on Lap 103.
At that point, Foyt was dealing with a broken sway bar linkage that was affecting the handling of his Poppy Red Coyote. Two hours after the event was red-flagged, the track was declared dry enough to resume racing.
“Speedway owner Tony Hulman was poised to announce, ‘Gentlemen, re-start your engines!’ when the bottom fell out of the skies. It was a real frog-strangler,” Rutherford recounted in Lone Star J.R./The Autobiography or Racing Legend Johnny Rutherford with author David Craft. “The fans scattered and the rest of us just got drenched. Because it would take another three or four hours to dry the racetrack, and because we’d lose most of the fans if we resumed the next day, USAC officials finally just called the race.”
Rutherford had qualified his No. 2 Hy-Gain McLaren/Offenhauser on-pole on May 15 with a four-lap/10-mile average speed of188.957 mph.
Johnny Rutherford – Miller Lite Carb Day – Photo by Joe Skibinski
“It was two laps past halfway, which made it an official race,” Rutherford said. “It rained-out the rest of the day…so my wife, Betty, and I got to walk into Victory Lane. And well, I’d take the win any way I could get it.”
Rutherford noted that Foyt and Johncock were livid over the decision, as both wanted the race to finish the next day. “I was still conflicted,” Rutherford admitted in his autobiography. “I also wanted the race to go on. With three fiercely competitive racers chomping at the bit to go wheel-to-wheel for 245 more miles, the race was shaping up to be a real thriller. But sometimes being in the right place at the right time is the name of the game.”
It was still sprinkling when Rutherford’s crew pushed his car into Victory Lane.
Sponsor-wise, the M16 Rutherford wheeled as the Gatorade McLaren/Offy in 1975 had been re-badged as the Hy-Gain McLaren/Offy in ’76. Hy-Gain was a manufacturer of CB radios, antennas and radio gear for the military during the “breaker-breaker” craze that swept the general population in the mid-1970s. In fact, that sponsorship association actually led to Rutherford’s nickname.
During a pre-Indy 500 meeting with Hy-Gain officials, it was suggested that Rutherford come up with a catchy CB handle/radio name that could be used in the company’s advertising campaign.
“I don’t remember who actually came up with the nickname,” Rutherford said in his autobiography. “But ‘Lone Star J.R.’ was perfect because my helmet carried the Lone Star flag _ my connection to my home state of Texas. Betty’s CB handle was ‘the Yellow Rose of Texas.’^”
Rutherford’s victory in 1976 would be the last at IMS for the venerable Offenhauser engine. And it was the last victory for the organization founded by racer/engineer Bruce McLaren of New Zealand at IMS until Mika Hakkinen of Finland won the Formula One United States Grand Prix on the track’s combined oval/road-course in 2001.
Completion of the 1976 season also marked the end of the four-year run for the M16 chassis, as open-wheel racing worldwide began exploring the dark science of ground-effects. Team McLaren’s immediate answer in INDYCAR was a derivative of its M23 Formula One car with a chassis modified to handle the unique stress of oval-track racing.
“That was the M24, which was a chassis that was a Formula One car we ran for three years,” Rutherford said. “Tyler Alexander (Team Manager) wanted to try to get into the ground-effects (design), which I had heard about. We tested the new car a lot during the winter of 1976-77. We had a lot of problems with it, don’t know why, but never did quite get there.”
Indeed, Rutherford qualified 17th and finished 33rd and last in the 1977 Indy 500 at the wheel of the No. 2 1st National City Travelers Checks McLaren/Cosworth. Rutherford’s Race Day ended after 12 laps due to a gearbox issue. Ironically, rookie Cliff Hucul finished 22nd in the No. 29 Team Canada McLaren/Offy _ the same chassis in which Rutherford had won the 1976 Indy 500.
“I know Hucul got one of the cars because that’s what they (Team McLaren) did every year,” Rutherford said. “They made positive changes with the new car and sold the old cars to a few people _ but never told them all the tricks. Yeah, Hucul had one.”
Rutherford started fourth and finished 13th in the No. 4 McLaren/Cosworth in the 1978 Indy 500. His run with McLaren at IMS ended after the 1979 race, in which Rutherford started eighth and finished 18th _ the last car running but a massive 32-laps down in the No. 4 Budweiser McLaren/Cosworth to first-time champion Rick Mears and his No. 9 The Gould Charge Penske/Cosworth.
McLaren opted to turn its sponsorship resources to Formula One after the 1979 season, leaving Rutherford as a free agent. “Tyler Alexander called Jim Hall (of Midland, Texas) and said, ‘You need to hire Rutherford because he’s ready (to win again).’ I got the timing right and Jim Hall hired me to drive the Chaparral.”
Rutherford replaced Al Unser in the Pennzoil Chaparral/Cosworth, in which J.R. scored his third Indy 500 victory from pole-position on May 25, 1980. The No. 4 Chaparral 2K was a leader in the ground-effects movement sweeping F1 and about to be copied in the INDYCAR paddock. Unlike the flat-bottomed McLaren M16, Hall’s Chaparral 2K was designed to reduce air pressure beneath the car. With less pressure beneath the chassis, the normal amount of air pressure above it pushed the car down, allowing Rutherford to whip through the corners _ particularly on ovals _ with complete confidence.
“The fans dubbed it the ‘Yellow Submarine,’ and I’m disappointed in the announcers here this year,” Rutherford said. “They’re calling that car from Penske (No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet driven by New Zealander Scott McLaughlin) the ‘Yellow Submarine’ _ but it is not the ‘Yellow Submarine.’ There’s only one of those.”
NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 237; 2, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 210; 3, David Malukas, Team Penske, 185; 4, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 182; 5, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 162; 6, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 148; 7, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 148; 8, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 141; 9, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 141; 10, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 123;
11, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 116; 12, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 112; 13, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 110; 14, Will Power, Andretti Global, 107; 15, Dennis Hauger, Dale Coyne Racing, 100; 16, Rinus VeeKay, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 94; 17, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 93; 18, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 90; 19, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 86; 20, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 76;
21, Caio Collet, A.J. Foyt Racing, 70; 22, Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing, 69; 23, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 65; 24, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 55; 25, Mick Schumacher, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 54.
FOX SPORTS’ 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST SCHEDULE/(RACE WINNER)
Note _ All times Eastern
Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)
Saturday, March 7 _ Phoenix Raceway, Avondale, Ariz., (Josef Newgarden, Team Penske)
Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)
Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)
Sunday, April 19 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)
Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course, (Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren)
Sunday, May 24 _ 110th Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval, 10 a.m.
Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Downtown Detroit, 12:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill., 9 p.m.
Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., 2 p.m.
Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, 12:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 19 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn., TBA
Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway, 4 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 16 _ Streets of Markham, Canada, Noon
Sunday, Aug. 23 _ Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., TBA
Saturday, Aug. 29 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 1, West Allis, Wis., 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 2, West Allis, Wis., 1 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 6 _ WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., 2:30 p.m.
Note _ Dates and times subject to change.
2026 INDYCAR NXT BY FIRESTONE SCHEDULE/(RACE-WINNER)
Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)
Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Max Taylor, Andretti Global)
Saturday, March 28 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)
Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alessandro de Tullio, A.J. Foyt Racing)
Friday, May 8 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 1 (Enzo Fittipaldi, HMD Motorsports)
Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 2 (Tymek Kucharczyk, HMD Motorsports)
Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Downtown Detroit
Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill.
Saturday, June 20 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 1
Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 2
Saturday, July 4 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 1
Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 2
Sunday, July 19 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn.
Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway
Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis.
Saturday, Sept. 5 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 1
Sunday, Sept. 6 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 2
