McLaren-Honda-Andretti has announced that Indy 500 legend Johnny Rutherford will join the team’s IndyCar programme as its official ambassador for the month of May.
The 79-year-old Texan, or ‘Lone Star JR’ as he is affectionately nicknamed, won the Indianapolis 500 on no fewer than three occasions, twice for McLaren, and was champion of the Indy Car World Series in 1980.
However, it is his victories at Indy for which he is most widely remembered. His first win came in 1974, driving a Papaya Orange-liveried McLaren M16D, a feat he repeated in ’76, driving a similarly coloured M16E. His third 500 victory came in 1980, driving the distinctive bright-yellow Chaparral 2K ground-effect car, which was designed by the British engineer John Barnard, who later became McLaren’s pioneering technical director in the early 1980s.
For this year’s Indy 500, Rutherford will once again don a McLaren team shirt for the month of May, working as the McLaren-Honda-Andretti team’s official ambassador and guest of honour.
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