So, who's the guy in the middle with the leather jacket??

umm.......... the prisoner ? crossing the hands like that tends to somewhat hide the cuffs....

Johnnie Rutherford! - and the car behind us - - ------

They all look old to me....not that I am not far behind...

beats dead

I'd guess JR as well, and the midget appears to have a V4 SBC in it. Nice touch on the number surround (aka "roundel").

The Arizona Hard Chrome Special.

Built by Joe and Myron Stevens, owned at one time by Bud Trainor.

Bud Trainor owned and sponsored the car through his company, Arizona Hard Chrome. Car is now owned by Dan Ricehouse, who found it and had it restored a few years ago. Pic was taken at the annual midget hall of fame induction ceremonies' held each year at the "Chili Bowl" midget races in Tulsa, Oklahoma last week. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the ceremony's and races by Ron Trainor ( Bud's son ). After the races in Tulsa, I accompanied the car to the Unser museum in Albuquerque, Nm. where it presently resides. Car has quite a history as it was driven by both the Unser brothers as well as Parnelli Jones Brother back in the 60's. Engine is also very unique ( half a small block Chevy ) and competed well with the Offy's of the day.

i vaguely remember the car, but i thought for some reason rutherford cashed in some years back. i need a mind or memory infusion ! glad there is still one more legend alive ! i sure didn't recognize him. where are my glasses ?

He had a fairly big accident years ago (1966), that may be why you think he cashed out.

Rutherford never drove the Hard Chrome car. He was just at the induction ceremony. Al Unser was supposed to be there, but bad weather forced him to cancel. Rutherford did have a bad crash in a sprint car some years ago that caused multiple breaks in both his arms ( no arm restraints at the time and the roll over had his arms outside the roll cage). Still looks pretty good at 76 though. I'm still in recovery after 3 days of indoor racing at the Chili Bowl.