The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

damaged a half-shaft at the start and pitted after one lap for an hour to get it fixed. Despite being solidly in last place, the pair delivered a professional result during the race to keep their car running and moving up in contention, with Hutcherson bringing it home 3rd OA, 12 laps behind McLaren and Miles. (April 5, 1936 – April 23, 1992) Yet an- other son of California (Alhambra), Bucknum made his way up the ranks via small bore racing in the ‘50s. He first appears in the race record at Pomona in October 1956 in his own Porsche 356, upgraded to a Speedster in 1957. By 1960/61 he was mostly seen in an AC Ace for Rene Palladini, before dominating regional SCCA events in 1962 and 1963 in a variety of small bore cars, winning 52 of 56 races entered, usually for Hollywood Sport Cars. Improbably, that terrific regional record led to his being handed the ride for Honda in their inaugural F1 sea- son. Bucknum’s debut was at the Au- gust 1964 German GP where he became the first person to drive a Honda-engined car in Formula One. As an aside, Richie Ginther who joined Bucknum at Honda in 1965, would produce Honda’s first victory the next year in Mexico, a race where Bucknum finished 5th OA. By September 1964 Bucknum was back in the States driv- ing a Cobra for Carroll Shelby, first at Road America where he finished 28th OA, 4th GT+2.0 in CSX2431, followed by 6th OA, 2nd GT+2.0 at Bridge- hampton where Shelby American en- tered ten cars and gathered maximum FIA points with a 1st through 6th sweep in class. That led Bucknum to the GT40 program in 1965 and his first ride at the 1000KM Nürburgring race where he and Chris Amon brought GT/104 home 8th OA, 3rd P+3.0. February 1966 found Bucknum at Daytona in P/1016 (the two-speed automatic 427 MK II) for Holman- Moody where he and Ginther DNF’d after the transmission broke during the night and a month later at Sebring in the same car with A.J. Foyt where they finished 12th OA, 3rd P+5.0. The highlight of Bucknum’s sports car racing history awaited as he and Dick Hutcherson nursed P/1016, now with a T-44 transaxle, home to 3rd OA to complete the epic 1-2-3 finish for Ford at the 1966 LeMans. Bucknum then dabbled in IndyCar road races, (and won a circle track event in Michi- gan, beating Mario Andretti by a full lap!) before joining Roger Penske’s Trans-Am operation in 1969 where he produced some podium finishes. 1970 found Bucknum back at Day- tona, Sebring and LeMans, this time in a Ferrari. His best finish was 4th OA at LeMans with Sam Posey in 512S for N.A.R.T.. There was some fur- ther work for N.A.R.T. in 1971 and 1972, the best finish being 2nd OA with Tony Adamowicz at the 24 Hours of Daytona in ’71, after leading most of the race before a faulty valve spring slowed their pace. Ronnie Bucknum died in San Luis Obispo. from compli- cations of diabetes. He was 56. (November 30, 1931 – November 6, 2005) He better known at the end of his life as a businessman, but his short stock car career was notable. Born in Keokuk, Iowa, Hutcherson was careful to say he was a “mid-westerner” when describing his roots when down south. He started racing on the dirt in 1956 and moved up to the International Motor Contest Association in 1959 which, at the time, focused on stock car racing on dirt tracks. As an aside, the IMCA was founded in 1915 and is still in business, still headquartered in Iowa and now the oldest active sanc- tioning body in American automobile racing. An aggressive and quick study, Hutcherson claimed the IMCA Cham- pionship in 1963 and 1964. In the spring of 1962 Curtis Turner pro- moted a race at Virginia International Raceway to compete with Bill France’s race at Richmond on the same day. A few NASCAR regulars broke ranks with France and entered Turner’s race, including two-time NASCAR Champion Tim Flock and NASCAR convertible Champion Bob Welborn. Hutcherson finished 3rd OA behind those two that day and he quickly moved over to NASCAR events. He took a job at Holman-Moody to pay the bills, which allowed him to work on cars between races. In March 1964 Hutcherson put his Ford on the pole at the Greenville 200 in South Carolina. He led for 60 laps before a wheel issue brought him into the pits. He won 14 NASCAR races in 103 starts for Holman-Moody between 1965 and 1967. Ford dominated the 1965 season with its conventionally cammed 427 cubic-inch engine as NASCAR had banned “non-stock” en- gines which led Chrysler and Dodge to retire their Elephant 426 hemi en- gines. Hutcherson won nine races that year and was hands-down the NASCAR Rookie of the Year, finishing second to Ned Jarrett in Champi- onship Points. Except in 1965, points didn’t matter; NASCAR officials sim- ply picked who they thought should be the Rookie of the Year and in 1965 it went to good-ole-boy Georgia-born Sam McQuagg. The SHELBY AMERICAN Fall 2021 68 P1016. Ronnie Bucknum Dick Hutcherson