The other car involved in the Joe Ruttman / Sumner McKnight incident was Ron Eaton's # 7 Buick. A close look reveals his BONDO sponsorship on the hood & driver's door. Looks like he was his sponsor's best customer that day !
Nice write - up, however I feel a few corrections may be in order. 1) Joe Ruttman's ride at the November, 1982 Riverside race was in the primary ( and only ) Ranier Racing entry. Recall that halfway through the 1982 NASCAR Cup season Buddy Baker had replaced Benny Parsons in the Ranier Racing # 28 Pontiac. At seasons' end Ranier announced the deal with Cale Yarborough as driver for 1983 & '84. Buddy Baker, not at all a fan of road racing, gave up the ride early and Ranier hired Joe Ruttman for Riverside, a track he had run well at in the past. Ruttman even brought his own special " Riverside - only " transmission for the car, though it failed him in the event. This Ranier Racing Pontiac Lemans was brand new, also built for " Riverside - only " with many items moved to the right side of the car for better weight distribution. This would be the only time this Riverside - Only Pontiac Lemans was run by Ranier Racing: as the team cut back to a limited schedule for Cale in 1983 through 1985 w/o Riverside the LeMans was sold to the new Blue Max Racing team for driver Tim Richmond.
2) The Joe Ruttman / Levi Garrett car having to change their car number from # 98 to #8 was due to a NASCAR rule that gave car number priority to Winston West teams at Stand - Alone West races; Johnny Keiper had used car # 98 for many years as a West Series driver and owner. This car number deal was reversed when West teams ran in combination Cup / West races ( Ontario, Riverside, Phoenix, Sears Point ); in these events car number preference was given to Cup teams and the West teams had to change their number ( I.E. -- Keiper would often use # 93 for these events ).
3) Bobby Allison's Chevy Monte Carlo used at the Phoenix West race in November was likely DiGard's short track car, quite possibly the same car he ran in the June, 1982 Riverside Cup race. It was normal for teams battling for the Cup Championship to bring a back - up car out to Riverside " Just - in - Case ", as the road course was hard on equipment. Also, sometimes Cup teams would bring slightly used cars out West in hopes of selling them to WW teams. BTW, The LeMans Bobby raced at Riverside in November, 1982 was only run once before -- at TALLADEGA !!!
4) I don't recall Joe Ruttman being Bobby Allison's " teammate ", at Phoenix or any other NASCAR race.
