Rutherford to appear at Darlington Historic Festival

DARLINGTON — Open-wheel racing legend Johnny Rutherford has signed on to be a featured guest at the upcoming Darlington Historic Racing Festival presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts.
Rutherford, a three-time Indianapolis 500 Champion, will participate in a question and answer session and autograph session with fans Sept. 26.
“Having Johnny Rutherford, a three-time Indy 500 Champion, at the Darlington Historic Racing Festival presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts will be a special treat for our fans,” Darlington Raceway president Chris Browning said. “Victories in racing’s most prestigious events will be well represented with our current schedule of legends with nine Southern 500 victories, seven Daytona 500 victories and three Indy 500 victories between Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Ned Jarrett, Junior Johnson, Marvin Panch and Johnny Rutherford.”
Although best known for his Indy racing accolades, Rutherford is no stranger to stock cars. Rutherford posted 35 starts in what is now the Sprint Cup Series with two starts at Darlington scoring a best finish of 28th in the 1981 CRC Chemicals Rebel 500. Rutherford also started two races for legendary car owner and South Carolina native Bud Moore at Daytona during the 1964 season.
Moore and Rutherford will be reunited at Darlington for the autograph and Q&A sessions during the Darlington Historic Racing Festiva.
The event will also give Rutherford the opportunity to be reunited with one of his former cars. Vintage racing enthusiast Bob McConnell owns the 1963 Watson Roadster once driven by Rutherford and will have the care on display throughout the event weekend.
The festival presented will take place Sept. 26-27. The event will offer fans two days of excitement featuring question and answer sessions with racing legends, exhibition laps by over 100 historic race cars including stock cars, Indy roadsters, midgets and modifieds, autograph sessions, a large display and vendor area, car corrals, and a variety of other activities.
Tickets can be purchased by calling the Darlington Raceway ticket office at (843) 395-8802 or online at http://www.darlingtonraceway.com/tickets

September 26
Q & A Session
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Cale Yarborough & Junior Johnson
  2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Johnny Rutherford & Bud Moore
  Autograph Sessions
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Cale Yarborough, Junior Johnson, Marvin Panch, Ray Fox
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Ned Jarrett, Charlie Glotzbach, Reb Wickersham
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Johnny Rutherford, Bud Moore, Waddell Wilson
Sunday, September 27
Q & A Session
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
David Pearson & Leonard Wood
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Humpy Wheeler & Jim Hunter
Autograph Sessions
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
David Pearson , Leonard Wood, Marvin Panch, Charlie Glotzbach
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Donnie Allison & Rex White
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Humpy Wheeler & Jim Hunter