YORK, Pa. – In 2017, Ron Rutherford obtained a lifelong goal when he became the business owner of Mamma’s Pizza of Wellsville.
Next year, he’ll step into another dream with the formation of Ron Rutherford Motorsports, a winged sprint car team set to debut at dirt-tracks in and around Central Pennsylvania during the 2022 racing season.
Matt Campbell will be the driver of Rutherford’s No. 19R in the 410 ranks while Rutherford’s son, Tylar, will embark on a sprint car career in the 358 division.
Rutherford’s business, Mamma’s Pizza of Wellsville, is the team’s current primary sponsor as Rutherford actively seeks partners for the 2022 racing season and beyond.
The team will be based out of York, Pa.
“A few years back, I told myself I wanted to start a team, but not just a team, a successful team,” Rutherford said. “I want to be competitive and go out and win races against the best of the best.
“Back then, I could afford to do it but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to do anything half-ass. I wanted to get stuff together where we have two complete cars with plenty of spares and just wanted to wait until the time was right. I felt like this year was going to be the right time.”
Rutherford has a tight knit relationship with Campbell that extends back to 2016 when he sponsored Campbell’s family race team.
In 2016, Campbell won the 358 track championship at Lincoln Speedway and picked up two 410 wins this past season for Jerry Parrish’s Premier Racing No. 21 team.
Rutherford and Campbell are targeting roughly 40 races next year in Central Pennsylvania, many being at Williams Grove Speedway, Lincoln Speedway and BAPS Motor Speedway.
“I’m really excited for this,” Campbell said. “At the end of the day, Ron’s my friend. I see this as we’re teaming up to do this. I’m honored that he picked me to go in it. That means a lot to me. I think we’ll do some good things together. It’s a new team. We’ll fine tune things as we go. We have people helping. We’re fortunate to start off in the right direction.
“Overall, the best thing I can say is I’m really excited for this. Thanks to Ron for hiring me to do this. I’m ready to go to the track. I think it’s going to be fun.”
Two of Pennsylvania’s best, Brent Marks and Danny Dietrich, are helping Rutherford piece together his new team.
Rutherford will run Maxim Chassis and Rider Engines, with Marks helping assemble Rutherford’s race machines.
Dietrich has helped provide and facilitate race parts through his business, Racers Used Parts Warehouse, in Aspers. Pa.
A crew chief and remaining team personnel will be named at a later date.
“As most people know, Brent is one of my best friends,” Rutherford said. “He’s like a brother to me. … He’s been helping me through it. I’ve got Danny Dietrich in my corner. He’s been a big help.”
Rutherford considered hiring a driver outside Pennsylvania. Then Campbell became available when he recently split with Parrish.
Rutherford’s decision-making process then narrowed.
“Me and Jerry just decided to part ways. Thank you again for 2021,” Campbell said. “This whole deal came together and I’m pretty excited for it. We’re getting the gears turning on things. We’re working hard to get the team up to speed and ready to go.
“I think we’re going to have a lot of fun with it. I think if we get things rolling good in time, I have good expectations of what the team can produce.”
“I’ve always liked Matt as a driver,” Rutherford added. “I know at first he had that wild, go-get-it attitude and that’s what I really like about him. Obviously he’s mellowed out now. He’s getting a little older and he’s grown into a good driver.”
The year after Rutherford took over Mamma’s Pizza of Wellsville, a struggling business at the time, he sales improved by 300 percent.
Much of the business’ rise is attributed to Rutherford’s involvement in the Central PA racing scene, whether supporting fundraisers, sponsorship exposure or simply showing a face at the tracks.
Rutherford’s pizza shop is an ideal location for Central Pennsylvania race fans — eight miles southwest of BAPS Motor Speedway, 12 miles southeast of Williams Grove Speedway and 16 miles north of Lincoln Speedway.
Now he wants to advance his auto racing involvement to the highest position possible.
“I’m big with the community,” Rutherford said. “I’m just that person that likes to step up when the community’s in need or anything along those lines. … When you build something like that with the racing community, they show appreciation. I wouldn’t be where I was today if it wasn’t for the racing community. That’s honestly probably 20 percent of my business.
“That’s kind of where it got us to where it is now. We’re very successful. To be where I’m at today, I would have never guessed that back in 2017 when I decided to purchase this place. It’s been a pretty good ride. I feel like the numbers are steady enough to do what we have to do. That’s why we’re going where we’re going.”