Ron Bouchard

Ronald Rodgers Bouchard (November 23, 1948 – December 10, 2015) was an American NASCAR driver who was the 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. His brother Ken Bouchard was the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. His father-in-law, Ed Flemke, and brother-in-law, Ed Flemke Jr., were also NASCAR Modified racers.

Local driving career

Bouchard began racing career at Brookline Speedway as a substitute driver in 1963 by replacing the ill driver for his father's car. After high school, he began racing in his father's car, and he rapidly moved up the ranks to late models at Seekonk Speedway. He claimed five consecutive track championships from 1967 to 1971. He began racing at other local tracks in the Camaro, and he was noticed by Bob Johnson.

Johnson quickly put Bouchard in his modified car at the famous Stafford Speedway, and he won his first of his 35 career victories at Stafford in April 1972. He won the 1973 and 1979 track modified championships. Bouchard also drove for car owners Bob Judkins (No. 2x, grandfather of RFK Racing driver Ryan Preece) and also Len Boehler (No. 3), where he won numerous races at Stafford Speedway, Thompson Speedway, Seekonk Speedway, Waterford Speedbowl and Westboro Speedway. One of Bouchard's biggest modified victories came at Thompson Speedway driving Dick Armstrong's No. 1 in the Thompson 300 in 1980.

Bouchard was also a notable rival of fellow New Englander, Geoff Bodine, whom he beat several times for modified victories and vice versa. Bodine also beat Bouchard in the NASCAR race at Martinsville in 1984. In spite of their rivalry, however, Bodine recommended Bouchard when Hendrick Motorsports began their Busch Series program later in 1984, allowing Bouchard to drive one race for the team.

NASCAR career

Bouchard began his NASCAR career in 1981 in the No. 47 Jim Stacy Buick for owner Jack Beebe (Race Hill Farm team). He captured the 1981 NASCAR Rookie of the Year title even though he only raced in 22 of 31 events. He posted twelve top-ten finishes in the 22 races, including his only career win, in the Talladega 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Running third to Darrell Waltrip and Terry Labonte on the last lap, he swooped under both of them as they battled side by side out of the final turn. The three cars crossed the finish line nearly simultaneously, with Bouchard winning in a photo finish. After the race, Waltrip, who had been watching Labonte and not seen Bouchard pass him, asked, "Where the hell did he come from?" Waltrip has stated in interviews over the race that part of the reason he lost was because he did not try to block Bouchard as he believed that Bouchard was a lap down.

Bouchard's victory is considered by many as the biggest upset in NASCAR history and the win essentially clinched the Cup Series rookie of the year award for Bouchard. In 1982, Bouchard finished a career-high eighth in the final points standing with fifteen top-ten finishes in thirty races. He ran full-time in 1983, 1984, and 1985. He finished between eleventh and sixteenth in the final points standing each of those years. Bouchard also came close to winning races at Martinsville in 1984 (finishing second to Geoff Bodine) and Rockingham in 1985 (where the roles of Talladega were reversed and he finished second to Waltrip).

In 1986, Bouchard changed to the No. 98 Valvoline Pontiac for owner Mike Curb (Curb Agajanian Performance Group). The team generally finished in the top-twenty when they completed a race, but they had nine DNFs (did not finish) in their seventeen events.

In 1987, Bouchard raced in the No. 1 Bull's Eye Barbecue Sauce Chevrolet for owner Hoss Ellington in five events. Their two finishes were eighth and twelfth.

Awards

In 1998, Bouchard was inducted into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame in its inaugural class.

In 2016, New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame began awarding the Ron Bouchard Award for lifetime service to motorsport in the area.

After racing

After racing in Winston Cup, Bouchard returned home to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, opening Ron Bouchard's Auto Stores, which currently represents Honda, Acura, Stellantis, Kia, and Nissan.

Bouchard married Paula Flemke, daughter of New England Modified racer "Steady" Ed Flemke Sr. and sister to Ed Flemke Jr., in June 1983. The couple had five children—Eugene, Robert, Michelle, Tracey, and Chad. Chad once played golf on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica and Korn Ferry Tour after coming from the University of Tampa before settling into the dealership, currently serving as General Manager for Ron Bouchard Auto Stores.

In September 2015, Bouchard opened a museum at his Stellantis dealership celebrating his motorsport history, three months before his death to cancer on December 10, 2015.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1981	Race Hill Farm Team	47	Buick	RSD	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI 24	NWS 8	DAR 27		TAL 20	NSV	DOV 27	CLT 26	TWS	RSD	MCH 10	DAY 9	NSV	POC 10	TAL 1	MCH 29	BRI 5	DAR 11	RCH 25	DOV 4	MAR 6	NWS 5	CLT 5	CAR 11	ATL 39	RSD 10	21st	2594
Pontiac		MAR 9
1982	Buick	DAY 6	RCH 9	BRI 8	ATL 36	CAR 16	DAR 34	NWS 13	MAR 19	TAL 36	NSV 3	DOV 6	CLT 10	POC 31	RSD 9	MCH 12	DAY 3	NSV 10	POC 4	TAL 34	MCH 10		DAR 26		NWS 7		MAR 14	CAR 8	ATL 32	RSD 6		8th	3545
Olds		BRI 12		RCH 15	DOV 8		CLT 35
1983	Buick	DAY 26	RCH 12	CAR 20	ATL 12	DAR 18	NWS 11	MAR 7	TAL 20	NSV 9	DOV 34	BRI 7	CLT 41	RSD	POC 34	MCH 28	DAY 4	NSV 27	POC 13	TAL 12	MCH 12	BRI 7	DAR 32	RCH 25	DOV 16	MAR	NWS 7	CLT 15	CAR 6	ATL 35	RSD 11		16th	3113
1984	DAY 27	RCH 29	CAR 21	ATL 12	BRI 3	NWS 7	DAR 17	MAR 2	TAL 10	NSV 5	DOV 9	CLT 3	RSD 19	POC 19	MCH 20	DAY 34	NSV 4	POC 7	TAL 16	MCH 10	BRI 14	DAR 33	RCH 13	DOV 8	MAR 19	CLT 11	NWS 28	CAR 14	ATL 12	RSD 35		11th	3609
1985	DAY 38	RCH 4	CAR 33	ATL 7	BRI 17	DAR 16	NWS 13	MAR 28	TAL 28	DOV 20	CLT 29	RSD 32	POC 29	MCH 13	DAY 4	POC 9	TAL 3	MCH 38	BRI 7	DAR 5	RCH 18	DOV 8	MAR 6	NWS 6	CLT 26	CAR 2	ATL 16	RSD 10		13th	3267
1986	Curb Racing	98	Pontiac	DAY 6	RCH 18		ATL 40	BRI 25	DAR 37	NWS 17	MAR	TAL 9	DOV 27	CLT 19	RSD	POC 12	MCH 36	DAY 41	POC	TAL 17	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR 30	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 21	CAR	ATL 42	RSD		31st	1553
Buick		CAR 13
1987	Ellington Racing	1	Chevy	DAY 32	CAR 36	RCH	ATL 12	DAR 8	NWS	BRI	MAR		48th	440
Buick		TAL 38	CLT	DOV	POC	RSD	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	RSD	ATL

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
1982	Race Hill Farm Team	Buick	22	6
1983	23	26
1984	18	27
1985	15	38
1986	Curb Racing	Pontiac	14	6
1987	Ellington Racing	Chevy	17	32

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NBGNC	Pts	Ref
1983	Boehler's Racing	08	Pontiac	DAY	RCH	CAR	HCY	MAR	NWS	SBO	GPS	LGY	DOV	BRI	CLT	SBO	HCY	ROU	SBO	ROU	CRW	ROU	SBO	HCY	LGY	IRP	GPS	BRI	HCY	DAR 5	RCH	NWS	SBO	MAR	ROU		61st	320
Race Hill Farm Team	74	Pontiac		CLT 3	HCY	MAR
1984	DuBee Racing	47	DAY 26	RCH	CAR 3	HCY	MAR	DAR 1	ROU	NSV	LGY	MLW		CLT 22*	SBO	HCY	ROU	SBO	ROU	HCY	IRP	LGY	SBO	BRI	DAR 1*	RCH	NWS	CLT 28	HCY	CAR 2	MAR		31st	956
All-Star Racing	15	Pontiac		DOV 2
1985	Race Hill Farm Team	47	Buick	DAY 28	CAR	HCY	BRI	MAR	DAR 25	SBO	LGY	DOV	CLT 40	SBO	HCY	ROU	IRP	SBO	LGY	HCY	MLW	BRI 24	DAR 29	RCH	NWS	ROU	CLT 11	HCY	CAR	MAR 23		42nd	507
1986	Spencer Racing	28	Pontiac	DAY 4	CAR	HCY	MAR	BRI	DAR	SBO	LGY	JFC	DOV	CLT	SBO	HCY	ROU	IRP	SBO	RAL	OXF	SBO	HCY	LGY	ROU	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	ROU	CLT	CAR	MAR		98th	0
1987	Shepherd Racing	97	Buick	DAY 40	HCY	MAR	DAR	BRI	LGY	SBO		67th	80
Shugart Racing	90	Buick		CLT 42	DOV	IRP	ROU	JFC	OXF	SBO	HCY	RAL	LGY	ROU	BRI	JFC	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	CAR	MAR

External links

driver statistics at Racing-Reference
Deprecated link archived 2002-08-12 at archive.today