Johnny Rutherfords 1966 Imperial

[boltupal]

Years ago i brought a very straight solid original 66 crown sedan. Got it in Irving Texas. Once i cleaned it out i found the Certi Card of the original owner. Rutherford won the Indy 500 just before buying this car. Read his address very carefully .

 

[Big_John]

I was an Indy 500 fan back in the sixties, so I knew that Jim Clark won the 65 Indy 500. I looked it up and Rutherford finished 11th that year. He did win the USAC Sprint Car championship in 1965. He did win in 73, 76 and 80.

 

[78Brougham]

In a Lotus... Nice!!!
It didn't stop there, there's nothing like a 4 wheel drive Indy car being powered by a Pratt and Whitney turbine engine!

In fact Colin Chapman / Lotus built a lot of chassis for Americans also. It's unfortunate that Indy, not unlike NASCAR of today, had their favorites and changed the rules so often that Colin Chapman told them where the bear shits in the buckwheat. That was the end of Team Lotus in the Indy 500. They still did sell some chassis to private owners, but never competed as a team again. Too bad.

 

[boltupal]

Well raise my rent , i thought for sure he won in 64 .

 

[CBODY67]

Are you sure that's THE Johnny Rutherford of Indy car fame? Reason is that the Johnny Rutherford that raced at Indy lived in River Oaks, TX (in Fort Worth, TX) in the 1980s. Just curious.

CBODY67

 

[Big_John]

Well raise my rent , i thought for sure he won in 64 .

In 1964, Rutherford went out in the second lap in a crash where Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald were killed.

AJ Foyt won the 64 race. IIRC, his was the last front engine car to win the 500.