Rick Muther

For other people named Richard Muther, see Richard Muther (disambiguation).

Rick Muther (August 13, 1935 in Alhambra, California – March 12, 1995) was an American racing driver.

Biography

He was for the most part The Indy 500's first hippy race driver. Muther started in SCCA sports car racing in Southern California at Riverside winning the prestigious Tim Mayer award. He drove in the USAC and CART Championship Car series, racing in the 1967-1975 USAC and 1980 CART seasons, with 46 combined career starts, including the Indianapolis 500 in 1970-1971 and 1974 and finished in the top ten 13 times. A highlight of Rick's career was racing for four-time Indy winner A. J. Foyt in the 1975 California 500. Eventually, Foyt hired another teammate, fearing he would be beaten by Muther. Muther's best Indy car finishes were in 5th position in 1968 at Riverside and in 1972 at Milwaukee. He was considered a very capable racing driver and was respected by his peers even though he was not a front-runner.

One of Indy's all-time most colorful drivers, Muther always had the wildest helmet paint jobs by Gary Finoe, a disciple of Von Dutch. Muther's attire was wild Kelly Mouse design flying eyeball clothing. He did, however, sport business attire in sponsorship meetings. Muther had many friends in the California music and art scene. A proud "double Leo", he often incorporated Lions in his helmet designs. Muther died of heart failure in his sleep, in San Juan, Washington.

Complete motorsports results

American Open-Wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

Year	Track	Car	Engine	Class	Finish	Start	Status
1964	Riverside	Lotus 23		F Modified	1	12	Running

Indy 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
1968	Cheetah	Ford	Qualifying Crash
1969	Gerhardt	Offy	Failed to Qualify
1970	Brawner Hawk	Offy	15th	8th
1971	Hawk	Offy	18th	21st
1972	Hawk	Offy	Failed to Qualify
1973	Eagle	Offy	Failed to Qualify
1974	Coyote	Foyt	24th	27th
1975	Eagle	Offy	Was first alternate getting bumped in the final minute of qualifying.
1976	Eagle	Offy	Failed to Qualify
1980	Penske	Cosworth	Very fast in practice Muther spun-out in turn one while qualifying after front roll bar arm snapped off, only to be left in line as qualifying was ended early for rain.