This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Dick Hutcherson" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Richard Leon Hutcherson (November 30, 1931 – November 6, 2005) was an American businessman and a formerstock car racer. A native ofKeokuk,Iowa, Hutcherson drove inNASCAR competition from 1964 to 1967. He won 14 races, finishing runner-up in his first full season in1965 and third in 1967, but after four years of top-level racing he retired at the season's end to devote his energies toHutcherson-Pagan Enterprises, a chassis-building business inCharlotte, North Carolina. His younger brotherRon also became a stock car racer.

Dick hailed fromKeokuk, Iowa, which has long been called the"Home of Champions" and the"Racing Capital of the World". He was nicknamed The"Keokuk Comet".^[1] The“Keokuk Gang” consisted of“Old Man”Ernie Derr,Don White,Ramo Stott and Hutcherson himself. Dick Hutcherson said of Derr:"Got to beat the old man. The old man will be tough to beat if you have to haul him out in a wheelchair." He started racing in 1956 and moved up to theInternational Motor Contest Association (IMCA) circuit in 1959. Hutch was a quick learner and very competitive and took theIMCA Stock Car championship in 1963 and 1964. He was theLate Model champion atHuron, South Dakota’sDakota State Fair Speedway in 1960 and 1964. He has 81 IMCA wins to his credit. During this time he also raced in theMidwest Association for Race Cars circuit.

In the spring of 1962,Curtis Turner fielded a race atVirginia International Raceway in an attempt to compete head to head with NASCAR. The American Road 250 was held on April 1, in direct competition with the regular event atRichmond the same day. Most of the NASCAR regulars chose to compete at Richmond, some because they were afraid to incur the wrath ofBill France. Entries in Turner's race included two-time NASCAR championTim Flock, three timeNASCAR Convertible Division ChampionBob Welborn, and Hutcherson. Hutcherson made an impression by finishing third behind Turner and Welborn.^[2]

While racing in the Midwest, Hutcherson kept hearing about the great racing and the big purses inNASCAR, so he moved south and started on theGrand National circuit. On March 28, 1964, at theGreenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina, the former IMCA champion was a surprise entry and put his Ford on the pole for his debut race. He led the first 60 laps before being overtaken; failure of lug bolts on his right front wheel forced him to the pits after his 109th lap.^[3]

He won 14 NASCAR races in 103 starts in the #29Holman Moody car from1965 to 1967. Holman Moody dominated the 1965 season and Dick was the hands-down favorite to win rookie of the year, but was ruled ineligible because he was a past champion in IMCA. Hutch took nine victories that season, including the impressive feat of winning the pole position in back-to-back events atMyrtle Beach (which he won) andValdosta. He nearly won the NASCAR championship in his first full season, settling for second behindNed Jarrett.

In1966, Ford briefly withdrew from official factory participation in NASCAR. Contracted to race for Ford, Hutcherson was assigned to the team of drivers in theWorld Sportscar championship as part of Ford's challenge to the dominance ofFerrari. Hutcherson andRonnie Bucknum co-drove the third place #5GT-40 Mark IIA at the24 Hours of Le Mans, completing a three-car photo finish orchestrated by Ford executives to increase world-wide photo publication of the achievement. Despite only competing in 14 NASCAR Grand National races that season, he took three wins as part of Ford's factory team run by Holman Moody.^[4]

In 1967 Dick Hutcherson made 33 starts with two wins, 22 top 5s, and ranked third overall in points.^[5] He won the Smoky Mountain 200 atMaryville on July 27 and theDixie 500 atAtlanta on August 6, the latter coming afterRichard Petty blew an engine while leading and immediately preceding Petty's streak of 10 straight wins. A string of top 5 finishes toward the end of the season, including leading late in the race atRockingham only to succumb to engine problems,^[6] solidified third in the points despite running only 33 times compared to Petty's 48 andJames Hylton's 46. Dick averaged 1,020 points per race as compared to Petty's 885 points and Hylton's 792. Hutcherson retired at the end of the season.

With 22 poles and 14 wins between 1964 and 1968, Hutch retired from full-schedule racing to concentrate on his chassis-building business inCharlotte, NC. After four years of top-level racing he became crew chief for his friend and fellow driverDavid Pearson in 1968. The combination won the championship in 1968 and 1969. In 1968 he also appeared in theElvis Presley stock car racing movieSpeedway.

Another step in his career became a reality after his tenure with Pearson when he was named general manager ofHolman-Moody, a position he held until December 1971 when he and West Coast driverEddie Pagan formedHutcherson-Pagan, a business to build and repair race cars. The two were very successful as they built cars forA. J. Foyt,Darrell Waltrip,Rick Wilson, and others.

Recalling his involvement with Foyt, Hutcherson said that"A.J. had bought a Camaro to run USAC stock cars and we were running atTexas World Speedway at College Station. He had gotten mad about what some reporters had written about him in the days before the race. Well he sat on the pole and was leading the race when he pulled in with just a couple laps to go. I leaned in the car and asked him what was wrong and he said, 'Overheating.' I looked at the gauges which were normal and said, 'Why'd you pull out?' He looked at me and said, 'I didn't want to talk to those reporters in Victory Circle.' We had the race won and he parked the damn car!"^[7]

In 1976, Hutcherson un-retired to drive at the24 Hours of Le Mans again. He co-drove a 7-literFord Torino withDick Brooks andMarcel Migiot. The Torino retired in the 11th hour with an oil leak.

Hutcherson become sole owner of the firm after the death ofEddie Pagan in 1984. One of the sport's most successful car building operations over the last 30 years, Hutcherson-Pagan parts trucks are still a familiar site around the nation's race tracks.^{[citation needed]} After being a former owner, President, and one of the founders of Hutcherson-Pagan, Dick retired. He died on November 6, 2005, on his way home from Florida.

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1966	Holman & Moody /Essex Wire Corp.	Ronnie Bucknum	Ford GT40 Mk.II	P +5.0	348	3rd	3rd
1976	Donlavey Racing	Dick Brooks Marcel Mignot	Ford Torino	NASCAR	104	DNF	DNF

• Circle Track magazine, August 1993

• Hutcherson Racing
• Dick Hutcherson driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Hutch-pagan.com
• Hutcherson's win list

• 1931 births
• 2005 deaths
• NASCAR drivers
• Sportspeople from Keokuk, Iowa
• Sportspeople from Lee County, Iowa
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• Racing drivers from Iowa
• World Sportscar Championship drivers
• Daytona 500 drivers

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from July 2015
• All articles needing additional references
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2021