TOLEDO, Ohio – Ramo Stott, the 1970 and ’71 ARCA Menards Series champion who raced in the series in every decade from the 50s through the 90s and won 27 races, passed away on Thursday.
He was 87 years old.
Stott was a key driver in the Keokuk, Iowa, pipeline of talented racers who made national stock car racing headlines in the IMCA, ARCA and NASCAR stock car series including Ernie Derr, Dick Hutcherson and Ron Hutcherson. Stott won his first ARCA race in 1969 at Crown Point, Ind., and recorded his final victory in 1988 at Hazard, Ky., at the age of 54. In between, he won series races at tracks in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin, including four at Salem Speedway, two at Talladega Superspeedway and the crown jewel of the series, Daytona Int’l Speedway.
Stott was among a group of ARCA drivers in the 1960s and 1970s who moved into the NASCAR Cup Series and enjoyed success including Charlie Glotzbach, Nelson Stacy, Benny Parsons, and fellow Iowans Dick and Ron Hutcherson. They helped pioneer the pathway from ARCA to NASCAR, commonly referred to as “driver development,” to this day a key to ARCA’s longevity as a home for career professional racers as well as upward mobility to NASCAR’s National Series. In 35 NASCAR Cup Series starts from 1967-1984, Stott led 10 races and was the 1976 Daytona 500 polesitter.
Stott was retired from driving for many years, for a time working as a NASCAR Cup Series official with duties including driving the pace car. His sons Lance and Corrie both drove in the ARCA Menards Series and worked in the motorsports industry. Stott, although too ill to attend, was honored along with Ron Hutcherson, team owner Larry Clement, and driver Mason Mitchell as ARCA National champions who are Iowa natives at the 2021 Iowa Speedway ARCA Menards Series race in July.
Stott is survived by his wife of 66 years, Judy, who served as his scorer and was at his side in the race car garage and at the hundreds of races comprising his career; sons Corrie Stott and Lance Stott; daughters Cindy Masterson and Ramona Savage; 8 grandchildren; 21 great grandchildren; and 3 great-great grandchildren.