Yahoo Autos Why race car drivers love to borrow this 'rather famous' 1989 Ford Country Squire
The Jetson Wagon was the pace car for the Chili Bowl Nationals midget car races. The car is famous in auto racing circles.
Flea Ruzic was cruising around his hometown of Springfield, Ill., several weeks ago in his 1989 LTD Country Squire, showing a friend some historic sites. Mostly, they were experiencing the cush of the 34-year-old station wagon’s thick padded velour upholstery and the glide of a vehicle as wide as a living room and longer than many garages.
Ruzic, a 49-year-old former race driver who’s now a master fabricator of open-wheel race cars and parts, was having a great time until the lights of an Illinois Secretary of State Police vehicle flashed from behind.
“Generally, the Secretary of State Police guys are (bleep)holes and slam the book at you,” Ruzic said, recounting his “visit” with the officer:
“Know why I pulled you over?” the officer asked.
“Because I don’t have a seatbelt on? Because my friend doesn’t have a seatbelt on?”
“Nope. It’s because the license plates on this thing are three years expired.”
“If you’re going to write me a ticket,” Ruzic told the officer, “then you’ve got to sign the guest book.”
“A car with a guest book?” the officer asked.
Ruzic tried to explain that the car was up-to-date on its registration but it didn’t seem right to put new license plates on such a classic.
“I wish you’d told me something different than that,” the officer said, looking at the Country Squire and its oxidized blue paint, fading fake wood grain, a badge on the right fender saying “Police Interceptor” (oops!), and a windshield banner identifying it as the “Jetson Wagon.”
“What is this thing?” the officer asked.
“It’s an ’89 station wagon,” Ruzic said. “Officer, this car is rather famous.”
The officer didn’t seem impressed, and Ruzic braced himself for a citation.
“If you’re going to write me a ticket,” he told the officer, “then you’ve got to sign the guest book.”
“A car with a guest book?” the officer asked.
Ruzic told him the history of the wagon, that many well-known people in American auto racing had driven it and how it had become a crowd favorite at dirt tracks across the Midwest.
“I’m telling you, this car is famous,” Ruzic said. “It’s been to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s house. Ryan Newman has driven it.”
The officer must have been a racing fan because he signed the guest book and not a ticket, then told Ruzic, “You know what? Just get the (bleep) out of here!”
That’s the latest tale in the life of a well-traveled wagon whose adventures are reflected in its patina, along with its own Twitter account (@jetsonwagon).
Dale Earnhardt Jr. with the Jetson Wagon
Jetson Wagon owner Flea Ruzic, and Flea with Earnhardt.
Meet Rip Jetson
Ruzic bought the wagon for $500 in 2016 after a friend, Kansas City-area race driver Tucker Klaasmeyer, noticed an online listing for sale at a nearby title/loan business.
“Tucker sent me a picture of this station wagon and I said, ‘Man, that’s (bleeping) cool. Buy it! I’ll pay you for it at the race next weekend,’ ” he said.
Paperwork Ruzic found after buying it makes him believe the previous owner had been deported to Mexico. All that mattered to him is that the wagon was in the hands of someone who appreciated it and planned to drive it to race tracks and have fun with it.
The wagon is a late-’80s land yacht that chugs gas, leaks oil and transmission fluid, and spews character with its turbine wheels, power windows and door locks, tilt steering wheel, third-row facing seats, AC that blows cold (for now) and a speedometer that needs a conversion chart.
“When it says 35 mph, that means you’re going 45,” Ruzic said. “Fifty means 54, and it’s about right when it’s at 70. I’ve got it calibrated so when you’re at highway speeds you don’t get pulled over. But once it gets past 75 it starts getting slow again. When it says 80, you’re actually at 77.”
Ruzic named the old Country Squire the “Jetson Wagon” based on his alter ego from his racing days. He often would enter races as a driver named “Rip Jetson from Cornbelt, Iowa” when he preferred his real identity not be known.
“I didn’t want to sign in and suck and everyone would know it was Flea driving,” he said. “The Jetson thing, well, that sounds fast. And the Rip part, there was a sprint car racer named Rip Williams. I thought Rip was a badass name.”
(Side note: Ruzic won’t divulge his given name, other than to say it’s a fourth-generation name and he got tired of people at family gatherings shout it and have he, his dad and granddad all respond at once. So, he’s been known as Flea since he was young.)
The Jetson Wagon became so popular at the tracks that racers would ask to borrow it for any number of reasons — to make burger runs, or shuttle race car parts, or just joy rides. Ruzic showed up at one track with a full sprint car frame strapped to its roof, thus the crease in the luggage rack.
It has been used as a pace car at the prestigious Chili Bowl Nationals midget races and a race-week rental car for NASCAR star Ryan Newman at the annual event in Tulsa. It’s the most photographed Country Squire in racing, having become the focal point for pictures in dirt track victory lanes and the famed yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
