Johnny Rutherford Photo ~ Melisa Lalich

Their role is not one of Big Brother in an Orwellian sense but rather of “fraternal” Big Brothers in helping to guide young driver rookies and in some rare instances, veteran drivers in avoiding potentially dangerous incidents on the track and in the pits. “We look for little things that could lead to bigger things down the road.” says Rutherford. “We watch everybody’s move in the race...and address anyone that we see causing, or getting into a situation that would cause trouble”.

The role of coaching is one that is optimally more proactive than reactive.

Rutherford, who hails from the Lone Star State, concedes that “at the close competitive speeds we’re racing, we’re bound to have things happen so unfortunately as in all of racing; it’s a matter of closing the barn door before the horse gets out”. One way the league tries to close that door is through the mandatory driver’s meetings before every race. “The drivers meetings are very precise and situations are talked about and we solve problems. Usually the guys are pretty good about remembering and getting things right. Like I have said before, we’ve got a great bunch of drivers as witnessed by some of our qualifying speeds.” says Rutherford.

The coaching needs of Rookies vs. Veterans varies according to Rutherford. “Most of them (rookies) aren’t used to pit stops when they get here. And so there’s a lot of pit action that they have to learn. You see them coming in and doing things that might get them in trouble during the race. You make suggestions and tell them that they don’t want to keep on the path that they’re on -- on the race track. A lot of them are making sudden moves. Many of them are also running slower cars before they get here (IRL) so they can make moves like that but coming to the IRL and going the speeds that the IRL cars are going, you’ve got to be very deliberate and very smooth if you’re going to be successful.”

Does every driver coming to the IRL need a “coach”?

Not necessarily as Johnny is quick to emphasize. “They’re on they’re own and if they don’t make mistakes we can pick out, then we let them go”. Since they’re on they’re own, you can’t do a lot because it’s up to them to learn. All you do is keep an eye on them and make sure they’re doing the right thing.”

What about the “veteran” drivers in the IRL? Do driver coaches address potential issues with them? The answer is yes and occasionally a driver is pulled in after a race for a “conference” with the coaches and Brian Barnhart. “We call in the driver and have a chat with him. You did this and that could lead to…. most of the veterans don’t need coaching but there are still things that happen.” “The big thing is blocking.”

This is where Rutherford’s tone changes to one of passion, pride and firm resolve and where one gets a clear indication that Rutherford feels he has personally accomplished a significant good through his role in this effort.

“We are dead set against anybody blocking anybody else. And in the “other” series -- it doesn’t seem to be part of their action (in NASCAR and some of the others too). But at these speeds if somebody shows up behind you and you look in the mirror and they weren’t there 3 laps ago and (suddenly) they are there, they didn’t fall out of an airplane and just land there! They caught ya', so they’re (now) going faster. The farther up the line from first on back, it gets lesser and lesser as you get deeper in the field. The leaders did tend to want to block to protect their position. At the speeds they were running, they would try to block, then touch and spin out and crash! So we try to monitor that. That’s probably the big single item- is blocking on the race track and we are against that 100% and that’s what we look for during the event-someone protecting their position and blocking. If he’s faster, then let him go and if he’s faster, then there’s nothing you’re gonna do about it anyway. We preach that in the Pro Infinity Series as well where Rick Mears has come on as a coach about two years ago. We’ve had incidences of teammates blocking for each other too but we’ve been able to nip that in the bud and we’ve put the word out that -- that’s a no-no.”

In years of talking with people, this writer has learned that sometimes the most significant things are things which are not said or spoken. As he spoke of the “other” series, it became obvious that the word CART never showed up on the ever-loyal Rutherford’s lips much less on his radar screen, but names such as NASCAR flowed much more easily throughout his conversation on the topic of driver coaching. That said, Rutherford tells SpeedNewsNow.com that: “Yes, other series do also use coaches-

NASCAR does. They have veterans that observe and they have conversations with guys that are creating problems or doing things and they are probably more out in the open about it so at a race when you see someone do something stupid and creating a logjam and causing a big crash—they tend to their own store just like we do. All of them do”.

Driver coaching before and after races is not all that a coach for the IRL does. “Coaches” also administer rookie driver tests and evaluations, most of which Rutherford has done in the eight years since the league’s inception. However in Johnny Rutherford’s case in particular, he gets to do ONE more thing outside of his coaching that he enjoys tremendously: driving the pace car at all of the races.

When asked what part of his job he liked most, with a tell-tale gleam in his eyes he readily replied: “all of it I guess, I’m a racer at heart, always have been and I enjoy being involved in the event. I like working with the drivers and I enjoy my pace car job. I drive the pace car at all of the events and I enjoy that because it keeps me up close and personal. Besides that… I still get to lead a few races!”

At a time in life when many of his non-racing peers are enjoying retirement status along with AARP privileges, Johnny Rutherford only proves that once racing is in your blood, it never really leaves. Nor does the ability to productively contribute to it. He has taken his love of the sport a step further and found a proactive way to use his considerable experience, talent and skill to actively improve the safety of his beloved sport by mentoring and consulting those most at risk.

Tell me.

Who could be better suited to continue leading a few races other than the “Coach”?

You can contact Melisa at.. Speed News Now