Johnny Rutherford Collection Heads to Starting Line in Heritage’s Auto Racing Showcase Auction

Dale Earnhardt Sr. racing suit, Eddie Gossage Collection and Robbie Knievel leathers also among June 6 event highlights DOWNLOAD DIGITAL PRESS KIT DALLAS, Texas (May 19, 2026) — It’s an old cliché: Good things come to those who wait. The thought can be applied in any number of scenarios, but in the world of auto racing — an industry in which success is reached at high speeds — it is a mantra that can be applied to one of the greatest drivers of all time. Johnny Rutherford started driving modified stock cars in Dallas in 1959, a couple of years before he joined the International Motor Contest Association sprint car circuit, and eventually the United States Auto Club (USAC). He won his qualifying heat race for the 1963 Daytona 500, becoming the youngest winner of a Duel as a championship race, and made his first start in the Indianapolis 500 the same year. He won the Indy 500 for the first time in 1974, a victory that was the first headline win in what turned out to be one of the greatest careers in the history of auto racing. After that first win at Indianapolis, the victories kept coming for Rutherford. All told, he took the checkered flag 27 times in 314 career starts, won the CART championship in 1980 and is one of just six drivers to win the Indy 500 three times. Racing fans everywhere can rev their engines at the chance to acquire items from Rutherford’s personal collection when an array of trophies, helmets, racing suits and championship rings cross the auction block in Heritage’s June 6 Auto Racing Sports Showcase Auction. Any list of IndyCar’s greatest drivers includes Rutherford, who will be honored at this year’s race, May 24 — marking the 50th anniversary of Rutherford’s second victory in the event often referred to as “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” “Johnny Rutherford is one of the greatest drivers who ever got behind the wheel in any style of race,” says Chris Ivy, Heritage’s Director of Sports Auctions. “Many of the items in his collection are enormously significant — not just because they’re his, but also they’re important pieces, including championship trophies, as well as helmets, racing suits and rings.” Rutherford’s racing résumé compares favorably with the greatest ever to strap on a racing suit and helmet before climbing behind the wheel. When asked what one defining moment from his legendary career he would want engraved on a plaque, the legendary driver also known as “Lone Star J.R.” replied with a chuckle, “you haven’t got a big enough plaque.” His list of accomplishments is lengthy and filled with some of the highest honors in the sport … and made even more impressive by the fact that he drove during what many felt racing was at its highest level. “There are a lot of people that feel like when we raced, it was the ‘golden era’ of racing,” Rutherford says. “A lot of people like to be a part of it ... owning some of the things that all of us drivers had during our time … and it’s good that we get older, to hope that this stuff we’ve collected is good for somebody besides us.” Among the treasures from Rutherford, a member of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, is the 1976 Borg-Warner Trophy Presented to Johnny Rutherford for His Second Indianapolis 500 Victory a half a century ago. In addition to the celebration of Rutherford finishing first, for the second time, in IndyCar’s biggest event, the trophy also underscores his role in the technological evolution of the sport: After Rutherford joined the startup Team McLaren in 1973, he immediately placed his car on the pole for the Indianapolis 500, and he won the event for the first time a year later. Rutherford was the first name driver to get behind the wheel for McLaren. Now one of the dominant cars in racing, McLaren has finished first three times at the Indy 500 — all with Rutherford in the driver’s seat. Also offered is his 1980 Borg-Warner Trophy Presented to Johnny Rutherford for His Third Indianapolis 500 Victory. The 1980 race represented the pinnacle of open-wheel racing in the U.S., as teams relied more and more on engineers to gain even the slightest edge over their competition. Driving for Team McLaren, Rutherford opened the 1980 season with a win at Ontario Motor Speedway — a track often described as “the Indianapolis Motor Speedway of the West — and weeks later won the Indianapolis 500 in dominant fashion, leading for 118 of 200 laps to secure his third checkered flag at the hallowed venue. Fans will remember a memorable pre-race moment in which a ladybug landed on Rutherford’s shoulder, which he viewed as good luck. “I said tell these (other drivers) to load up and go home,” Rutherford says. “We just won this thing … and we did win the thing, and that story got out, and if you look in my trophy case, there are ladybug radios — all sorts of ladybug stuff I’ve received from the fans.” This trophy puts Rutherford on the short list of three-time winners at the Brickyard, a roster that includes Al Unser, Louis Meyer, Wilbur Shaw and Mauri Rose. This trophy is one of several items from the auction that will be on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum through race day: Sunday, May 24. Rutherford’s Indianapolis 500 trophies are just two of more than two dozen that will be in the auction. Others include his 1963 NASCAR Grand National 100 Mile Qualifying Race Winner’s Trophy, his 1963 NASCAR Grand National Fastest Qualifier Trophy, his 1980 PPG Champ Car Championship Trophy and his 1965 USAC Sprint Championship Trophy. Rutherford’s collection also includes several race-worn helmets, including his Simpson Pennzoil Helmet Race-Worn in 1980 while winning his third Indianapolis 500 title, one of the most significant and important victories of his illustrious career. Rutherford amplified his image as “Lone Star J.R.” in this helmet, which features an immediately recognizable Texas flag design. Like many drivers of the era, Rutherford initially wore open-faced McHal and Bell helmets, but later transitioned to Simpson after his friend, Bill Simpson, engineered a design built from a racer’s perspective, emphasizing comfort and structural integrity. Also offered is a selection of his 1966 Race-Worn Items from His Near-Fatal Sprint Car Wreck at the Eldora (Ohio) Speedway. Along with race-worn gloves and goggles, the lot includes the helmet Rutherford wore during the race in which he “hooked a rut” and flipped over the outer wall and into a ravine, resulting in two broken arms, a broken finger and a head injury. The reigning National Sprint Car champion at the start of the race, Rutherford’s accident occurred in the season opener, ending his season and almost his life. His near-fatal crash contributed to the adoption of improved safety measures, including arm restraints. “You never think about risking life and limb,” Rutherford says. “You know, that’s something that if you do, then you might get it, you know? So you just go race, and know in the back of your mind that the thing you’re riding in can kill you, so you don’t want to let it.” Other Rutherford helmets in the auction include, but are not limited to:   • His 1973 Race-Worn Indianapolis 500 Qualifying Race Helmet   • His 1980 Race-Worn Simpson Helmet That Saved His Life at the Phoenix International Raceway   • His 1963 Race-Worn Helmet from First Indianapolis 500 Appearance The Inaugural 1911 Indianapolis 500 Mile Auto Race Pennant (Framed), one of 15 pennants in the auction, is an incredible relic from the very first running of the Indianapolis 500-mile auto race that took place May 30, 1911. In the inaugural race, 32-year-old Ray Harroun, an engineer with the Marmon Motor Car Company, won by driving the Marmon “Wasp.” He completed the 500-mile race in six hours, 42 minutes, eight seconds, with an average speed of 74.602 miles per hour, famously utilizing an early rearview mirror instead of a riding mechanic, when two-man cars were the norm. Offered is a nicely preserved felt pennant from the initial race. Sporting a patriotic red-white-and-blue theme, the pennant, complete with a large white tassel on the end, stretches 28 inches long and 10 inches wide at the very top. In addition to all of the extraordinary items from one of the all-time legends of racing, collectors also can bid on a chance to spend time with “Lonestar J.R.” The Johnny Rutherford Experience - Lunch With A Racing Legend - Benefitting Victory Junction is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have lunch with the three-time Indy 500 winner and hear his stories about the Golden Age of racing. Rutherford and Heritage Auctions are donating every dollar from this experience to Victory Junction, an organization founded in honor of the memory of Adam Petty, whose goal is to give children living with complex medical and physical needs the opportunity to participate in the activities they love. The auction also includes 10 items from the collection of racing pioneer Janet Guthrie, who in 1976 became the first female driver to qualify and race in the Indy 500. Offered in this auction is her 1976 Indianapolis 500 rookie test driving uniform that she wore for that historic qualifying as well as numerous awards and trophies from her trailblazing career behind the wheel. Other highlights from her collection include, but are not limited to:   • Her 1963 Race-Worn & Signed Bell Toptex Helmet   • Her 1962 Conference of Long Island Sports Card Club Ladies Champion Trophy   • Her 1966 Continental Daytona Second Women’s Team To Finish Trophy The auction also includes 20 lots from the Eddie Gossage Collection, the former motorsports executive and promotor known best as the president of the Texas Motor Speedway, the Fort Worth venue that featured stock car racing and Indy car racing. Among the highlights is the 2002 Tony Stewart Signed NASCAR Winston Cup Series Championship Trophy. Gossage received the trophy as a gift from driver Tony Stewart after Stewart took top honors in the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series standings by 38 points over Mark Martin. Stewart endured a brutal start to the season — he ranked 43rd in points after the Daytona 500 — but rebounded with victories in Atlanta, Richmond and Watkins Glens to surge to the top of the standings. Also from the Eddie Gossage Collection: a 2001 set of Robbie Knievel Jump-Worn Leathers - Worn During Texas Motor Speedway Jump that Knievel wore during his Sept. 16, 2001 jump at Texas Motor Speedway, when he cleared the starting grid of 20 Indy cars on the front stretch before the Chevy 500. As a piece worn during one of Knievel’s headline stunts the suit ties directly to his continuation of his family legacy started by his father, Evel Knievel. Other top lots from the Eddie Gossage Collection include, but are not limited to:   • A 1993 Davey Allison Race-Worn Simpson Helmet   • A 2001 Tony Stewart Race-Worn Simpson Helmet   • A 1987 Bobby Allison Race-Worn Helmet   • A 2005-07 Carl Edwards Race-Worn Simpson Racing Suit Images and information about all lots in the auction can be found at HA.com/70028. Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world's largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Heritage also enjoys the highest Online traffic and dollar volume of any auction house on earth (source: SimilarWeb and Hiscox Report). The Internet's most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has more than 2 million registered bidder-members and searchable free archives of 7,000,000 past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. Reproduction rights routinely granted to media for photo credit. For breaking stories, follow us: HA.com/Facebook and HA.com/Twitter . Link to this release or view prior press releases . Hi-Res images available: Steve Lansdale, Public Relations Specialist 214-409-1699 or SteveL@HA.com