Dick hailed from Keokuk, Iowa, which has long been called the "Home of Champions" and the "Racing Capital of the World".
[1] The “Keokuk Gang” consisted of “Old Man” Ernie Derr, Don White, Ramo Stott and Hutcherson himself.
Most of the NASCAR regulars chose to compete at Richmond, some because they were afraid to incur the wrath of Bill France.
On March 28, 1964, at the Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina, the former IMCA champion was a surprise entry and put his Ford on the pole for his debut race.
Holman Moody dominated the 1965 season and Dick was the hands-down favorite to win rookie of the year, but was ruled ineligible because he was a past champion in IMCA.
Hutch took nine victories that season, including the impressive feat of winning the pole position in back-to-back events at Myrtle Beach (which he won) and Valdosta.
Despite only competing in 14 NASCAR Grand National races that season, he took three wins as part of Ford's factory team run by Holman Moody.
A string of top 5 finishes toward the end of the season, including leading late in the race at Rockingham only to succumb to engine problems,[6] solidified third in the points despite running only 33 times compared to Petty's 48 and James Hylton's 46.
With 22 poles and 14 wins between 1964 and 1968, Hutch retired from full-schedule racing to concentrate on his chassis-building business in Charlotte, NC.
Another step in his career became a reality after his tenure with Pearson when he was named general manager of Holman-Moody, a position he held until December 1971 when he and West Coast driver Eddie Pagan formed Hutcherson-Pagan, a business to build and repair race cars.
One of the sport's most successful car building operations over the last 30 years, Hutcherson-Pagan parts trucks are still a familiar site around the nation's race tracks.