Bill Rutherford

William "Bill" Joseph Rutherford was an American race car driver, race series operator, race series director, and entrepreneur. He is the son of former Piston Cup Racer, Jackson Bradford Rutherford, and the father of former Piston Cup Racer, Winford Bradford Rutherford, and former Nitroade Weekly Racing Series racer, Dominic Rutherford.
== Early Life ==
Bill was born on August 7th, 1948 in Athens, Georgia to Jackson Bradford and Marie Rutherford. Growing up, Bill's father, Jackson became a Piston Cup Racer in 1956 when Bill was just 8 years old. Bill then traveled with his parents to all of his father's races. His father only won once in 1958 after a sandstorm blew into the Las Vegas dirt track but in 1959, Bill's father suddenly died from later found out to be dust in his lungs from the sandstorm. His father was just 47 years old. Bill decided to become a racecar driver to make his father proud.
== Racing Career ==
In 1964, at the age of 16, Bill joined the RLA (Racing League Of Atlanta), which hosted multiple dirt and asphalt tracks around not just Atlanta but the entire state of Georgia. Bill won the 1964 and 1965 championships of this series. This caught the attention of RPM owner, Bob Yack. Bob was looking for another racer on his ALA Series team (Auto League Of America), the Auto League Of America was kind of Piston Cup rip-off founded in 1956. In 1966, Bill competed and won 10/18 races and cruised to his championship. Bill competed in this series for the next 3 years, and from 1967-1969, he won all 3 championships with multiple wins. The ALA Series closed following the 1969 season due to the death of series owner and founder, Kurt Billard. Bill won 3 championships and 34 races during his time in the series.
Following the ALA closure, Bill was unable to find another ride in any other racing series. He took this opportunity to use his saved up money to start his own dirt racing series called Rutherford's Dirt Series. Bill himself competed in the series in the inaugural 1971 season but mid-way, he was unable to build enough money off of it and sold 80 percent to the Piston Cup Racing Series. The now Piston Cup Dirt Series still belonged to Bill a bit and he continued to race in it, even gaining RPM sponsorship for himself. From 1971-1985 Bill competed in the Piston Cup Dirt Series. He scored multiple wins along with 2 championships in 1974 and 1979. At the age of 37 following the 1985 season, Bill decided to retire and focus on expanding the Dirt Series with the help of the Piston Cup.
== Entrepreneurial Career ==
=== Piston Cup Dirt Series ===
In 1988, Bill signed a 4 year deal with the Humberstone Speedway track in Port Colborne, Ontario Canada to race at the track from 1988 to 1991. The Piston Cup however didn't like the fact that their Dirt Series was going international since they have been planning to start a Canada Series themselves. At the end of the 1991 contract, Bill wanted to sign on for another 4 years with the track and also carry the series to Mexico. The Piston Cup however refused and was able to buy the 20 percent Bill had still owned from him ahead of the 1992 season.
=== International Dirt Association (IDA) ===
Following his share of the Piston Cup Dirt Series being bought out, the now 44 year old held a 2 week event called the Springfield Derby in Springfield Missouri at the Springfield Raceway dirt track. A total of 33 racers entered it with 20 making the show after 2 heat races and 1 LCQ leading up to the main event. He himself ran in the event and finished 6th, however, his 17 year old son, Winford Bradford Rutherford, was able to win his first ever major event in auto racing. This event was a huge success to all of the Springfield residents. By 1993, Bill had got funding to turn this 1 event into an actual dirt series. Bill was able to get 5 tracks, including Springfield onboard for a summer series in 1993 called the International Dirt Association (IDA), this included 3 USA tracks, 1 Canada track, and 1 Mexico Track.
In 1994, Bill took the series further, he expanded to 8 tracks throughout the months of July and August and had a total of 28 racers full-time, along with 18 other part-time racers. He ran races in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Greenland. This same schedule lasted until 1998 when Bill added 2 more tracks, 1 in the United Kingdom and the other in Puerto Rico. In 1999, Bill's cousin, Jeremy Rutherford had a horrible crash in the Charlotte North Carolina race. The 46 year old was rushed to the hospital where he was put in a coma. This was the first major accident of the series. In February of 2000, Jeremy did wake up from the coma and was okay.
The 2000 IDA Season was the first one with a major sponsor, RPM and CEO Kurt Billard came back to Bill with an offer to sponsor the series. The IDA became the RPM International Dirt Association. This lasted from 2000-2005 when once again, the Piston Cup intervened with Bill. Since RPM signed on to sponsor the Developmental Piston Cup Tour Series for 2006, they were not gonna allow them to sponsor the IDA anymore. Billard was forced to back out of the IDA. From 2006-2010, the IDA and Bill struggled to stay afloat. 2010 was the lowest point of the series with only 4 events, all but 1 inside the USA since Bill couldn't afford to go to other countries.
But the 63 year old had hope still, and after multiple negotiations leading up to the 2011 season, he was able to put together an 8 race schedule with 2 US races, 2 Canada races, 1 UK race, and 1 Cuba race. He also gained multiple international partners, one including Vodaphone, a major UK company. The popularity skyrocketed in 2011, the series soon became even more popular than the Piston Cup Dirt Series and more US fans wanted to watch the IDA instead. In 2012, the Piston Cup sent their Dirt Series to Spain for a 1 off race in order to win over the international pride but a Russia and Australia race were added to the 2012 IDA schedule which really launched the beginning of the IDA's Golden Age.